I made the effort this year to spend some time at the dials during the Halloween weekend to judge the current state of pirate activity on the shortwave bands. This is the first Halloween weekend in many years that I’ve done this, and there was no disappointment in the amount of activity taking place! Below are some of the stations that I noted. I had the Perseus recording the whole 6.9 mhz band during various times of high activity and will be reviewing these files for some time to come. After reading reports from others, this is only a fraction of what was to be heard this past weekend. The most surprising, and possibly rare reception, was hearing Radio Face de Blatte on 6505 khz USB which I would have never caught without the tip from “Newfoundlland DXer” over at hfunderground.com.
Voice of Next Thursday, 2245 UTC, 10/31/2010, 6899.6 khz AM – coming in
poorly with music and what sounds like an assortment of odd data bursts
at times.
Pumpkin Patch Radio, 2300 UTC, 10/31/2010, 6925 khz USB – in strong with
Charlie Daniels music and IDs between songs.
Witch City Radio (presumed), 1220 UTC, 10/31/2010, 6937.5 khz AM – with
laughing witch and music. Signal poor and just above the noise floor.
Radio Ronin, 1300 UTC 10/31/2010, 6950.7 khz AM – putting out a
tremendous signal with classic rock – Bowie, Blue Oyster Cult, Rolling
Stones, etc.
Radio Casablanca, 1400 UTC, 10/31/2010, 6939.8 khz AM – blasting into
Michigan with vintage big band music sounding really good, broadcast
lasted a good two hours.
WMPR “Mirco Power Radio”, 1745 UTC, 10/31/2010, 6924.9 khz AM – playing
electronic music, signal around S6 here and strong at times, three
poorly received SSTV images and off at 1750 UTC.
Wolverine Radio, 0020 UTC, 11/1/2010, 6950 khz USB – playing music (i.e.
Oingo Boingo “Dead Man’s Party”) and putting out a killer signal. Audio
was super clear and crisp, signed off with perfect reception of flying
witch SSTV image.
Radio Face de Blatte – French pirate, 0124 UTC, 11/1/2010, 6505 khz USB
– with Golden Earing, Rob Zombie, Monster Mash, Ghostbusters, etc.
Signal about S4 just above noise floor. Off by 0159 UTC.
