Pirate Report from Dunlo, PA, USA, 24 October 2010

[Dave Valko]

Not much to report this time. Conditions were pretty bad here.

6304.9 R Marconi 2305-2315 Hard Rock mx including "Running With the Devil" by Van Halen. 2314 anmnt w/ID in DT. Good w/some QRN. Freq. drifting. (22 Oct.)

23 OCTOBER 2010: A few stations were already coming in at 2030. And when Terry said that conditions appeared fair to good, I decided to go up to the SGLs to listen. Heard a few things but conditions were poor here.

RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 55°.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 2100-2210 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 84 A Index =22 K Index = 4 (Haven't had an A and K like that in a while). No storms.
WX: Partly cloudy. Around 62° F. (17° C.)


6304.82 R. Paardenkracht Came on the air at 2121:07. Poss. live mx at 2126. 2132 live anmnt w/ID and mention of testing. 2145 sounded like mx from a musical. 2152 closing anmnts in DT and EG w/ID, tnx for rpts, a little more mx and off at 2154:43. (23 Oct.)

6307 R. Oldtimer 2059 "I Want to Go Home" by I think Tom Jones. Into an instru. song 2103-2106+. Stopped the recording here and when I returned at 2120, it was gone. ID per Terry in Newfoundland. Tnx. (23 Oct.)

6324.85 UNID. Signal came on at 2132:16. Hopelessly too weak. Could only manage snatches of audio at 2147 and 2201-2202 on peaks. Someone (Black Bandit??) tuned a xmtr here briefly at 2200. (23 Oct.)

6465 Black Bandit R. Signal on the air at 21:23. Didn't get any audio until 2128 when C&W mx started. 2157 live anmnts w/ID, mention of the antenna, the freq, and asked if Terry was receiving him. Some coughing. A few more choppy words, then went off at 2159:29. Could then watch the freq drop down to 6360 and back up to 6370, and then seemingly down across 6325 for about 20 seconds before disappearing back up the band. (23 Oct.)

6959.61 Atlantic R. 2120-2208 Not very strong and QRM from a carrier and also SSB traffic just above. Really just weak Pop and Rock mx. Never did get any better. (23 Oct.)

7610.05 R. Amica 2111 Dance mx. 2118 cow mooing and canned IT ID bu M. Fair signal. (23 Oct.)


When I checked the bands at 0600-0620, all I could get was a weak carrier on 4026 LHH, nothing else. Nothing on 6210, no 6960 Atlantic R. or 7610 R. Amica. I did however hear Outhouse R. in USB on 6310 at that time. A and K Indices were still way up. MUF was 6 mhz over the north Atlantic. Went right back to bed. (24 Oct.)