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

I was at my in-laws’ house for Easter weekend with only a Degen 1103 portable and a noisy listening environment. So, instead of trying to fish poor signals out of the noise, I thought I’d give Europe a try and I listened via a web receiver in the UK to European pirates. It was a lot of fun hearing some new stations for the first time and with excellent signals. It was also kinda weird to be sending e-mails to the stations while they were on the air and have them say hi to me, etc. I could almost imagine that I was DXing from a flat in the UK. Anyway, I know that web receiver logs are kind of second rate, but I thought that some people might be interested in seeing the details and also from an American’s perspective.

Radio Merlin Int’l 6300, 4/22/11, 1850-2000 Hi to everyone on Dr. Tim’s chat. Lots of short echo jingles. ‘50s & early ‘60s American rock music: “My Boyfriend’s Back,” “Stand by Me,” “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Rubber Ball,” “Tequila,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “That’ll Be the Day.” DJ with some time checks, said hi to me for my e-mail, comments about how the records were skipping and he needed to put coins on the tone arm to keep it steady. Said one was a 12” arcade record. 4/22/1985 is RMI’s anniversary. Also 6300, 4/24, 1200-1300+ YL DJ with music by Argent, George Michael, Foreigner, KISS, ZZ Top, etc. Gave out e-mail and phone numbers. Said she was located in Liverpool and she pre-records her shows. Sounded like it was running from cassette that was either tight or being run from an unstable voltage because the playback speed varied a little. A lot of bleedover from an adjacent-channel station. (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Radio Underground: 3905, 4/22/11, 2000-2100+ Steve listening to Radio Caroline’s RSL from Ross Revenge, RC having tech problems with Internet, etc. Said he could hear storms on 48 m, so 76m probably wasn’t the best choice. Giving phone numbers for those inside & outside the “uck” (UK). 44-077-510-13709 Odd mix of pop music, including one whistling tune. Occasional brief blasts of digital data from a utility. Played Alan Parsons “I, Robot” & said it makes him think of Austin Powers, but he couldn’t think of the name, so he asked for some listener participation. (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Radio Trans Europe: 6300, 4/23, 1400-1414* Played a few rock songs, then signed off. Said 70 watts and that he hoped to be back later. Nice signal on the tuner. (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Misti Radio: 6290, 4/23, 1430-1440 Light pop, “I Never Knew Love Like This Before,” reggae song, “Rock Me, Baby,” + some organ schlager. Misti John IDed, said hi to listeners on Iann’s chat room & asked if people liked the music. He said “Roni, you make an old man very happy.” (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Mustang Radio: 6325, 4/23, 1451-1452 Just heard end, OM DJ saying “Radio Mustang…low-power…5 watts.” Off after ABBA “SOS.” (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Bogusman: 3932, 4/23, 1950-2140+ Prog rock “Anathema”, a song I didn't know that he said he bought in 1999, early XTC “Tissue Tigers.” Talk about looking at the price of some used motorcycles, but 100 pounds was too much. Another batch of talk about the website being up on weekends. Program looped after about an hour or so. Said he had a guy announce the address in Liverpool every week but no one could understand it, so consequently no one wrote in. Said he's only mildly interested in Rachel next door. Guy tried to convince him to buy his bike shop. (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Radio Star International: 6205, 4/24, 1300-1402* Playing album tracks or less-known singles by Cliff Bennett & the Rabble Rousers, Sam Cooke, Elvis, Johnny & the Hurricanes, Brenda Lee, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Billy Lee Riley, Wanda Jackson, Paul Anka, Bill Haley & the Comets. “The brightest sound on the international dial.” Pro-sounding deep-voiced DJ, Rob Murray, with occasional info about early rock stations, such as KING Radio & Radio Luxemburg. (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Northcoast Radio: 6300, 4/25, 1430-1745+ Lots of pop & dance music, including New Order “Blue Monday” at 1436. Hi to Chris, but no IDs. Went on Iann’s chatroom & asked Chris who it was myself (so ID per Chris). Later, IDs and “Highway to Hell” AC/DC, “They’re Coming to Take Me Away Ha Ha” Napoleon XIV, Slade, Madness, ZZ Top, Steppenwolf, Sweet, Supertramp, Shocking Blue, Shania Twain, Santana, Guns & Roses, Queen + occasional schlager. Mostly music with very rare IDs. For about an hour or so, nearly every artist started with “S” (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Radio Barones: 1633, 4/25, 1753-1915+ 2 Rolling Stones songs, incl “Time Is on My Side.” The Baro in Dutch, with a few words in English. Mostly Dutch songs, incl some schlager. “Auf Wiedersehen” Dutch version of “Sounds of Silence” Mashup of “Sex Machine” and “Led Zep “While Lotta Love.” (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Unid: 6315, 4/25, 1917-1941+ Not really an unid; I just couldn’t copy the ID on my first try. Billy Idol “Eyes without a Face” “Flesh for Fantasy” (Yoder, PA via UK web receiver)

Hi Andrew!

Your logs are certainly not second rate! They are a very interesting read! I don’t know about the others here, but I would love to see more such logs from North American listeners (or listeners elsewhere for that matter!)

Andy in London said (in one of his posts in the ‘Pirate Crap Heap’ that he would like to see more cooperation between Europe and North America. So would I! There is of course some cooperation already. We do at least (to a certain degree) listen to each others’ stations! But gone are the days when you would hear relays of NA pirates in Europe and of Euro pirates in North America (there was quite a bit of that in the 90s). Perhaps the ops don’t see the point now with the Internet and everything?

Thanks for mentioning my NA logs on the FRN, by the way!

73

Kai