Free radio pirates on medium and short wave messageboard of alfa lima

Horrible conditions prevailed again this weekend, presumably due to the low Solar Flux and A Index. The geomagnetic field wasn't stormy but the K Index had jumped up from 1 to 3 during this Sunday morning. As a result, only a few things were heard. Because of the poor conditions, I decided it wasn't worth heading up the remote site to listen.

6220.07 Mystery R. (pres.) Getting a fair carrier at 2008, but couldn't positively detect any audio. This was more than 3 hours before our local sunset!! Heard dead-air when I checked at 2123. (10 March)

0615 UTC: Monaco barely peaking at S-7 and presumed Mystery R. at only S-4. Very noisy conditions, not from thunderstorms but just a lot of atmospheric static. Fady as well. (11 March)

6220.1 Mystery R. (pres.) Still no audio during numerous checks between 0615-0830. (11 March)

6399.90 WMR (pres.) Heard some audio here at 0720. Not on at 0700 however. 0740 end of tlk and into Rock mx. Picked up at 0754 and apparently was in the middle of a program on UK mediumwave free radio as there were mentions of Castle R. from Dublin, mediumwave, kilohertz, R. Carousel, R. Ellinore, ABC, and UK. At 0809, got a partial ID (pgm ID??) as "Anyway this is ?? broadcasting on the shortwave band...1970's and beyond...Sunday morning...", then mentioned Caroline. Anncr kind of sounded like Jack Russel. Went into "99 Red Balloons" by Nena at 0811, jingle at 0815 w/possible mention of Weekend Music R., and then ZZ Tops "Sharp Dressed Man". Would've actually been a decent signal if not for the quick fading and QRN. (11 March)

5724.91 Orion R. (pres.) Very weak at 0727, then Polka started at 0728. Barely there amid QRM at 0757. Up to 5724.97 by 0808 but hardly any audio. (11 March)

6325.33 What sounded like a carrier here at 0806 along with the usual UTE. Maybe Paardenkracht?? (11 March)

I have to give special thanks to Antonio R., R. Lycos, R. Bonofox, and Dr. Tim for their wonderful QSLs recently!! Very nice indeed!! I certainly do appreciate it and enjoy your correspondence.

There won't be many more opportunities left as the Sunday morning fade-out time is moving back rapidly now and the noise is increasing. Hopefully conditions well be better next weekend.

Your WMR - Seems to be a repeat of an old show and is just little off frequency... Could this be the hoax station back again?

I don't think there ever was a hoax station. George Maroti thought there might be one when WMR showed up slightly below their old 6401.07 freq a few weeks ago. According to George, Jack e-mailed saying it really was WMR on 6400.7 using a different crystal. So I believe this is just WMR with another crystal or maybe a different transmitter. I suspect the latter as the signal was the strongest on the band and WMR is typically a fairly difficult catch here. Not to mention the fact that conditions were horrible today.

Thanks for your reply!!

Conditions pretty horrible this side too, this weekend.

Message left on my blog says that WMR has adjusted its frequency to bring it more in line with 6400 - in fact slightly below (6399.8 )

Anyway I heard him this weekend talking about seeing the lunar eclipse - and that only occured last Saturday!

The comment is under Sat Mar 10's loggings.

73s
ukdxer
www.shortwavedx.blogspot.com

Many thanks. I'll update my gear somewhen. Did you know there are these magic things called frequency counters !!??!!
Still, a working valve set for £15 was much cheaper than forking out the money for a half decent receiver.

Hello Dave, thanks for the log, much appeciated.