Dit Dah Radio

Being a fan of Morse code (or CW), I have a special affinity for pirates that use "the sacred language" in their broadcasts.

Last night, around 00:30 UTC (only a few minutes after WKND began broadcasting) I heard Morse Code on 6.935 MHz USB.

If you, too, love Morse code, you'll love "Dit Dah Radio;" after their preamble in Morse code, they follow with The Capris' 1960's hit, Morse Code of Love.

You can download the full recording as an MP3 file by clicking here, or listen via the embedded player below:

Dit Dah Radio

Download

WKND

The holidays are a great time to listen for pirates on the shortwave spectrum. Since many pirates are on holiday leave from their day jobs, they have a little more time to broadcast.

Last night, the first pirate I heard was WKND on 9,625 kHz AM.

His station was quite clear, but modulation, perhaps, a tad low. Other noises, including Spanish SSB, can be heard in the background.

Click here to download the full MP3 recording of WKND, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

WKND

Download

Saturday Night Country takes you 'down under' for the holidays

If you've been reading the SWLing Post for long, you'll know how much I love ABC's Saturday Night Country, which I tune to every Saturday morning starting on 9,580 kHz.

Yesterday, host Felicity Urquhart produced another great mix of interviews and music, including some uniquely Australian Country Christmas songs.

You can download the recordings of the show as MP3s by clicking here for the first hour of Saturday Night Country on 9,580 kHz and here for the rest of the show on 11,945 kHz, or by simply listening via the embedded player below:

Saturday Night Country 1

Download

Saturday Night Country 2

Download

Liquid Radio

Last weekend, I also managed to record the shortwave radio pirate known as Liquid Radio--perhaps best known for their activity on the FM spectrum and on the web. Liquid Radio's format couldn't be more different than our last pirate recording from Radio Casablanca; Liquid Radio plays a trance/techno/dance mix. Their last broadcast was nearly three hours long, and you'll hear how fickle the propagation was as the signal waxes and wanes. I started recording their AM signal on 6.94 MHz around 4:00 UTC on Dec 16th.

You can click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen in the embedded player below:

Liquid Radio

Download

Radio Casablanca

On Sunday, December 17th, around 22:00 UTC, I happened to pick up the last thirty minutes of Radio Casablanca; a pirate that plays a nostalgic mix of music from the 1930's and 1940's. They were broadcasting on 6939 kHz in AM. Close your eyes, and you can imagine what it must have sounded like back in the day Phyllis Jeanne Creore Westerman graced the shortwaves.

You'll hear me tweaking the receiver in the first three minutes while, in the background, I was entertaining my children. I though about cutting it out but, on second thought, simply uploaded it as-is. I switched from a very wide AM bandwidth to AM sync and then AM sync with only the lower sideband (to kill some noise in the upper side band) after adjusting the center slightly below 6940 kHz.

I love how the recording starts on a tone and then morphs into Close as Pages in a Book by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra.

You can download the MP3 by clicking here, or simply listen in the embedded player below:

Radio Casablanca

Download

Wolverine Radio

Wolverine Radio's upper side band signal came in loud and clear last Sunday (December 9, 2012) sometime around 2:25 UTC on 6940 kHz. Another great mix of music, complete with their interval signal. It seems that their broadcast ended abruptly--no eQSL to decode at the end. Still, signal strength was quite good, as I've come to expect from this HF pirate.

Click here to download an MP3 of the entire show, or simply listen in the embedded Archive.org player below:

Wolverine Radio

Download

True Classic Rock Radio

Last weekend, I caught a shortwave pirate I'd never heard before: True Classic Rock Radio. Well, at least I'm pretty confident that's their name. When I first heard their ID I couldn't confirm it, but when I passed the clip to my buddy Andrew, he nailed it.

Funny thing is, when I go back and listen to the station ID now (check it out around 17:30, and then again at the end of transmission) it sounds so obvious.

This short broadcast includes some great classic rock and ends with Hendrix. I didn't note the exact time they began to broadcast, but I heard them on between 3:00-4:00 UTC, on 6,925 kHz AM, December 8, 2012. Click here to download the mp3 directly, or listen through our Archive.org player:

True Classic Rock Radio

Download

Radio Australia: Saturday Night Country

Yesterday, like most Saturday mornings, I sipped my coffee while listening to ABC's Saturday Night Country from Radio Australia's Shepparton shortwave transmission site on 9.58 MHz. In this program, SNC's host, Felicity Urquhart, shuffled in some holiday tunes with her normal mix of country music, news and interviews. Fortunately, I captured the whole show in two recordings (starting on 9.58 MHz for the first hour, then moving to 11.945 MHz for the rest of the show).

Enjoy:

Saturday Night Country 1

Download

Saturday Night Country 2

Download

Voice of Greece music

For your listening pleasure: over three hours of music, and a little Greek commentary, from the Voice of Greece. Recorded on  November 26th, on 9.42 MHz. In the last half of the recording, after an adjacent station went off the air, the audio fidelity is simply amazing--especially for a station over 5000 miles from my receiver.

Click here to download the MP3 of the recording, or listen below:

Need more Voice of Greece music in your day? Click here for more.

Voice of Greece music

Download