Free Radio Weekly #1400

Free Radio Weekly #1400, Saturday, January 21, 2023
Covering free radio activity from January 14-20, 2023

The Free Radio Weekly (FRW) is an internet newsletter devoted to the hobby of listening to free radio "pirate" broadcasters in the shortwave radio bands. The FRW is produced by the free radio community and distributed to those who contribute.

The weekly deadline is Saturdays at 0000 UTC (Friday night in North America). Please send your logs to all the editors, as our editing schedule is subject to last minute changes. Thank you for your inpoots!


== FRW editors ==

Harold Frodge (99crawdads@gmail.com)
Dave Turnick (caodwolf@gmail.com)
Larry Will (radio@zappahead.net)

FRW 1400 - January 21 - Larry
FRW 1401 - January 28 - Dave
FRW 1402 - February 4 - Harold
FRW 1403 - February 11 - Larry
FRW 1404 - February 18 - Dave
FRW 1405 - February 25 - Harold


== Contributors ==

Rick Barton
Sun City, AZ
RS SW-2000629 portable and short wire antenna

Harold Frodge
5525 Whitehall St., Midland MI 48642-3156
Drake R8B + 185' RW
GMC Car Radio for FMBC logs

Claudio Galaz
RX: Xhdata D-808
ANT: Beverage antenna + Balun 9:1
QTH: Barraza Bajo, IV Región. Chile

William Hassig
williamhassig@yahoo.com

Glenn Hauser
P O Box 1684
Enid OK 73702
wghauser@yahoo.com
NRD-545 with ALA-330S, IC-R75, PL-880, random wires

Ron Hunsicker
1238 Cleveland Avenue
Wyomissing, PA 19610-2102
ronhunsi at ptd dot net


== Commentary ==

This is Free Radio Weekly

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Serving the unlicensed radio community for over 26 years


== North American shortwave ==

** B Side Radio

1/14, 0306, 6935am. Pirate music S6/S7. These say B Side Radio: [www.hfunderground.com] (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** Ball Smacker Radio

1/14, 0307, 6960am. JBA carrier. These say Ball Smacker Radio: [www.hfunderground.com] ``We are simulcasting 300W 4030AM and 200W 6960AM.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

1/14, 0308, 4030am. YL talk and music, S8/S9 with het on plus side. Last log here had Ball Smacker Radio on this late, and more: [www.hfunderground.com] (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

1/14, 0318-0325+, 4030am. Classic rock ditties; Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven & Fats Domino My Blue Heaven; Ball Smacker op anmt @0324:50 but no ID; apparently a heavenly themed offering. SIO=453- (Frodge-MI)

** The Beginning

1/16, 2103-2155*, 6965am. Carrier appeared at 2103 and audio started at 2105 with an ID. 2107, “You are tuned to The Beginning from Providence, Rhode Island, on the shortwave and FM bands.” Techno music and some elevator music. Closes with Boys of Summer, Safety Dance, and Eastern Boys and Western Girls. Email address at 2155. 10,000 Hz bandwidth. (45343, Hunsicker, PA

** Captain Morgan Shortwave

1/17, 0149-0208, 6949.6am. (recording ran out) Severe distortion made the signal mostly "unusable." The shape of the water fall signal was not at al characteristic of AM. 6500 Hz, maybe. C&W music. (Unusable, Hunsicker, PA)

** 80s Forever Radio

1/14, 2222, 6870/6860am. On Barrington Hills IL sdr with weak S7 to S9 signal, operator had just moved down to 6860 to escape big wide noise centered on 6890khz, heard "80's Forever Radio" then more rock music. (Hassig-IL)

** FDR Speech

1/14, 1315, 1341*, 6925am. Carrier appeared at 1315. Either the recording was poor, or the audio was distorted. Circa 1942, perhaps. 6000 Hz contained it. (55442, due to distortion, Hunsicker, PA)

** KIPM / WWV / Radio 1700

1/15, 2209-2234*, 6935usb. BC started with, perhaps, an oboe. Then an ID for KIPM. The story started and was over by 2213. Then the call of “WWV, all time, all the time; every second counts on WWV.” At 2222 a sax and keyboard played until an ID for Radio 17 Hundred—one-seven-zero-zero, Radio 17 hundred” and gone. (35444, Hunsicker, PA)

** Outhouse Radio

1/13, 2358-0129*, 6935usb. [Outhouse exploring digital modes. A weak signal, aggressive noise, a variety of digital modes (and unfamiliarity with the audio signatures of the modes), several SSTV modes, and CW with different pitches made trying to decode the modes difficult even from a recording. Hats off to those who did it on the fly and reported to the HFU!] Program started 2358 with Who Are You? Closed with some chatter from Mr. Outhouse. In-between, music and digital modes. 3000 Hz seemed right. A number of SSTV images were "UNID." (25433, Hunsicker, PA)

** Planet Jackass

1/15, 0356-0422, 6935usb. Maybe it was on before 0356, but the signal was too weak to be sure. A band of noise wandering around 6955 degraded the BC. One SSTV image in Robot 72 and two in Scottie 1; all of the same subject. 3000 Hertz. (Best was 35342 and the worst, unusable; Hunsicker, PA)

** Radio Free Whatever

1/14, 2158-2209+, 6955usb. Variety pop/rock; 2207:23 DJ Dick Weed w/recap, HFU posts & ID. SIO=3+53+ (Frodge-MI)

1/14, 2220, 6955usb. On Barrington Hills IL sdr with fair S7 to S9 signal, rock tune playing, at 2240 read posts on HF underground, played heavy metal rock tune, nice variety of music, thanks, off at 0022 utc. (Hassig-IL)

1/19, 2339, 0112*, 6955usb. Program in progress. I’m starting to like the stuff that Dick plays—whodathought? 3800 Hz or so. (35554, Hunsicker, PA)

** Unid

1/14, 2040, 27155. A string of country songs, sometimes covered by "245, Great Lakes" . Songs were pretty long, unusual for country music (IMO). No ID heard, incl. on-the-hour at 2100. SIO 423. Last heard at 2111; didn't sign off as much as just faded out. (Barton-AZ)

1/14, 2209-2213+, 6936usb. Rock ditties. SIO=3+43 (Frodge-MI)

1/14, 2219-2221, 6870am. Music just o/QRN; covered by hiss @2220:40 (Frodge-MI)

1/15, 0055-0058, 6955usb. “Testing, one-two-three; can anybody hear me" repeated a number of times. About 16 dB above the noise. (Hunsicker, PA)

1/16, 2354-2359*, 6925usb. Opens with “Amy.” 3000 Hz was the fit. A quick burst of another song at 2359 and was gone. (35454, Hunsicker, PA)

1/20, 0127-0140, 6925usb. Program starts with an OM talking. Then, music. Not sure if they quit or the noise and a data stream overwhelmed the signal. (23 dB over the noise, Hunsicker, PA)

** WBLR

1/16, 2140-2218*, 6925am. (ID per HFU) Carrier appeared at 2140 and music started. Greater than 24,000 Hz bandwidth, the Elad’s maximum is 24K and this signal extended beyond the bounding lines on the IF waterfall. Pleasant music. Music and carrier ended at 2218. (45444, Hunsicker, PA)

** Wolverine Radio

1/15, 0057, 4015usb. On Brookfield WI sdr with "testing 1 2 3 can anybody hear me" then said going to 4015 usb, retuned to 4015 with S7 to S9 signal, "testing 1 2 3 etc" then "wolverine Radio", during bcst signal as high as S9+20, good fidelity with wideband IQ setting with good bass, old big band swing tune, wide variety of tunes with the word "one" in them, at 0206 echo ID then SSTV/FAX. Thanks for the excellent show. (Hassig-IL)

** WTF Radio Worldwide

1/15, 1410-1423*, 6925usb. Broadcast started with a parody song asking about the frequency. ID at 1422, including phonetic spelling of call letters. Song repeated and “Kenneth” is involved. (35453, Hunsicker, PA)

** WWWW (Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey)

1/15, 0040, 6945usb. On Brookfield WI sdr with fair S7 to S9 signal, Animals "house of the rising sun", Ozzy "crazy train", song "brown eyed girl", came back at 0210 after Wolverine left air, song "Layla" playing then Grateful Dead "I will get by". (Hassig-IL)

1/15, 0035-0226*, 6955usb. Program in progress. Many great, old rock songs—a fine broadcast. Sultans of Swing, a favorite, played at 0120. 2800 Hz was good. BC ended in the middle of Ballroom Blitz. (35443, Hunsicker, PA)

** XFM

1/15, 0228, 4185 CQUAM. On Traverse City sdr with fair S9+10 to S9+20 signal and some storm static, listening in CQUAM stereo with good fidelity, at 0415 still good with S9+20 signal but with a few static crashes, I'm feeding computer audio out to stereo FM transmitter on 88.1 and listening on a Bose wave radio I got at estate sale, thanks for the excellent show. (Hassig-IL)

** Zeeky

1/14, 2216, 6936usb. (Goat Herder Radio) On Barrington Hills IL sdr with fair S5 to S9 signal, rock music, DJ ranting about national politics, nice variety of tunes, thanks, bells at 0032 utc then off. (Hassig-IL)

1/14, 2209-2219+, 6936usb. Pop/rock; 2217:10 “Dr. Zeeky here”; ragging on Republicans & Trump for having secret documents; said that Biden just misplaced his...yeah, sure. Talked about his xmtr problems. SIO=3+53 ID’d as Goat Herder Radio per Radio Animal post on the Free Radio Net (Frodge-MI)

1/16, 2222-2324*. 6925usb. (Goat Head / Infected Mushroom Head Radio) Zeeky rips Justice Thomas a new one. Talks about bringing back Skunkhouse Radio. Here and there played music—Who Are You, Behind Blue Eyes, and two Johnny Cash tunes. 3800 Hz fit well. Goes off on person butting in on frequency. (35454, Hunsicker, PA)

1/18, 0043-0046+, 6973usb. Tuned in to Big Bird song; 0044 Zeeky “Let’s all sing like the birdies”. SIO=434- w/slight echo & w/break-in QRM comments. (Frodge-MI)


== South American shortwave ==

** Radio Compañía Worldwide

1/10, 2300-2359, 6925am. RCW. Radio Francia Intl, Portuguese Service. 45444 (Galaz-Chile)

1/11, 0000-0049, 6925am. RCW. Radio Francia Intl, Portuguese Service with news. 45444 (Galaz-Chile)


== FM ==

** Michigan

87.9 Bay City MI LPFM relay; 11:24-11:38AM, 1/14; Wide variety of ditties; Who Let the Dogs Out, marching band, If you’re going to San Francisco; “WTB(M?) The ?” No WTBM in Radio Locator & WTBN is a religious station. +++ 1:59-2:06+PM, 1/15; Olde ditties; My Sharona, Mickey, Chiquita Banana. (Frodge-MI)


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Regards, Lw