European Pirate Report from Dunlo, PA, USA, 30 Sept 2007

[Dave Valko]

6305.83 R. Brandaris?? Just getting a carrier here at 2055. Gone by 2110 check. Thought I saw somewhere that R. Brandaris was here earlier. (29 Sept.)

6220.02 R. Marabu via Mystery R. 2055-2200 Live Rock mx at t/in, M in GM at 2102, followed by a couple promo/IDs, then back to mx. 2106 brief canned GM anmnts, then current Top 40 song. 2114 brief promo/ID, back to mx. 2123 old song by Joe Walsh. Long GM anmnt at 2134 w/many ments of Marabu. More of the same including a few oldie Rock songs such as "Sunshine of Your Love" at 2148, and "White Room at 2152 by Cream. Good signal and surprised it was coming in so well more than 2 hours before sunset. (29 Sept.)

29 SEPTEMBER 2007: Propagation has been suffering the last few days from a Coronal Hole so I didn't except to hear any Europirates this weekend. But when I heard a strong signal on 6220 and others on 6310 and 6400, I decided to go up to the remote site. Besides, the weather was beautiful!! I was really surprised to be able to copy the R. Condor 50 watt signal, and R. Borderhunter was really nice. The quiet conditions away from home certainly help.

RX: JRC NRD-535D
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 45°
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 2225-2315 UTC
Solar Indices: S.F. = 67 A Index = 24 K Index = 3 G1 level storms due to a coronal hole.
WX: Perfectly clear, 58° F. (15° C.)

6310.01 R. Condor Getting a carrier at 2201 at home. At the remote site, hrd Techno Dance mx at the start at 2227. Several nice canned IDs at 2230 including one repeating Condor over and over like an echo, then "This is R. Condor". Sounded like a W anncr w/ID at 2333, and "You're listening to R. Condor Int..." by M, then a couple more IDs, one in electronic voice effect. 2239 seemed like an anmnt then M repeating "This is R. Condor" and "from the Netherlands", and also "Condor" repeated over and over gradually slowing down in pitch similar to a tape recorder with dying batteries!! 2248 only 1 ID this time as "This is R. Condor". 2250 seemingly the same ID as hrd earlier at 2239. 2253 M anncr w/e-mail addr and ending w/ID. 2254 live ID w/poss. ment of USA, and e-mail addr. Vcl song at 2256. 2257 live closing IDs w/ment of "...thank you very much..bye bye", but then more mx. 2302 e-mail addr and ID to end the broadcast, and then signal off at exactly 2303. Voice audio seemed a bit stronger than the music. Very weak and fady but readable in the quiet conditions. Had to turn the AGC off. (29 Sept.)

3924.98 Weak carrier under Hams at 2236. Seemed strong enough to hear audio but didn't get any. Maybe a bit of audio though at 2238. Gone at 2248 check. ukDXer had R. Bogusman here earlier. (29 Sept.)

3940.08 R. Underground?? Just an extremely weak carrier here at 2238 and also 2348 check. Gone at 2310 check. ukDXer had R. Underground earlier. (29 Sept.)

6209.87 R. Borderhunter 2304 Test bdcst w/nice instru. Polka mx repeated over and over and many anmnts. 2306 ID and mistakening anncd freq that it was in 76mb but then corrected himself quickly!! Hello to Walter in the Netherlands and also myself. "Special test to USA". Also mentioned "...from the dark side of the Netherlands". Gave e-mail addr often. ID at 2310 as "CQ DX CQ DX, This is R. Borderhunter testing to the USA". Very nice signal w/good audio. Did hear more anmnts when I tuned in back at home at 2330. Unfortunately the signal dropped way down shortly thereafter. Was still able to just get a bit of audio at 0003 just prior to s/off. (29 Sept.)

6400.1 WMR (pres.) A signal here but getting hammered by UTEs at 2312. Also on 3910.14. (29 Sept.)