Free Radio Weekly #1415

Free Radio Weekly #1415, Saturday, May 6, 2023
Covering free radio activity from April 29 - May 5, 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 1415 - May 6 - Larry
FRW 1416 - May 13 - Harold
FRW 1417 - May 20 - Dave
FRW 1418 - May 27 - Larry
FRW 1419 - June 3 - Dave
FRW 1420 - June 10 - Larry
FRW 1421 - June 17 - Dave
FRW 1422 - June 24 - Harold


== Contributors ==

Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA
5525 Whitehall St., Midland MI 48642-3156
Drake R8B + 185' RW

William Hassig
williamhassig@yahoo.com

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

Ron Hunsicker
1238 Cleveland Avenue
Wyomissing, PA 19610-2102
rjhpe@ptd.net

Mark Taylor
Madison, WI
markokpik@gmail.com


== North American shortwave ==

** Ballsmacker Radio

4/29, 0058-0238*/0240*, 6960am. Opened with the Ballsmacker IS. The programming began at 0100 with an ID. Bluegrass, Rock, and some blues. 6500 Hz sounded best. Program ended at 0238 and the carrier disappeared at 0240. (35343, Hunsicker, PA)

4/29, 0103, 6960am. End of song, ID, "Dark Star" - Crosby, Stills and Nash … 0122 ID and offer for an eQSL for ID'ing tonight's theme. … 0236 Closing ID and eQSL offer, "Wildfire" IS, 0238 Off. Poor to fair in noise from solar storm. (Taylor – WI)

** Doghouse Radio

4/30, 0056-0125*, 6925usb. Began with hard Rock, then SSTV in Scottie 2. Non-profane invective and gongs at the end. (25342, Hunsicker, PA)

4/30, 0105, 6925/6930/6925/6935usb. Doghouse Radio playing cat and mouse with a Pirate Jammer. Doghouse started on 6925 playing "Night of Excess" - Retrofoguetes, a mellow OM ballad, SSTV (didn't decode here), unfamiliar rock. Jamming CW & Sfx started over music. After a couple of minutes Doghouse went off. Jammer continued with a series of insults, pause, looped same insults, sfx, went off just after Doghouse moved to 6930U at 0126. Doghouse started with sound effects, an SSTV (didn’t decode here), then music by Tool. Jammer found station with sfx., "Hello, how are ya", vocal sounds. 0145 Doghouse was back to 6925U with more Tool. 0147 moved to 6935U; "Stinkfist" by Tool then into a piece with guitar and ensemble, 0136 SSTV (didn't decode). Signals were poor – fair, noisy with solar storm, for Doghouse. Jammer was loud and clear. Others on HF Underground had SSTV decodes for Doghouse Radio. Not quite sure what happened next… Signal came up significantly to the jammer level with a parody of an informational documentary about drugs, series of disconnected words related to current affairs, Op. comments & ID for Doghouse R., Sfx, off. Others posted this last section as a continuation of Doghouse Radio, however even with the ID, I’m not sure due to the improvement in signal and completely different content. (Taylor – WI)

4/30, 0124-0145, 6930usb. Started before the 0056 BC ended. Diving airplane with gunfire, odd electronic noises, and more airplane noises. There is a persistent carrier on 6931, and associated het, which a 20 Hz notch made irrelevant. Rock music, too. SSTV in Robot 36. 3000 Hz worked. (25342, Hunsicker, PA)

4/30, 0144, 6930usb. On Brookfield WI sdr with weak signal, suddenly shifted to 6925 usb. (Hassig-IL)

4/30, 0148-0158, 6935usb. Program and music started at 0148 but were “unusable” due to a weak signal. SSTV in Robot 24 at 0156 I faded at 0158. (25342, Hunsicker, PA

** Mystery Science Radio

4/28, 2333-0005*, 6935usb. Carrier without audio appeared at 2333 then repeating music and “Night Train.” Cherokee Jack Perkins gave an ID. An eclectic mix of music. Clip from The Dead Talk Back. 2800 Hz fit. (35454, Hunsicker, PA)

4/29, 2351, 6935usb. On Traverse City MI sdr with fair S9+ signal, old swing guitar tune from 40's or 50's. (Hassig-IL)

** Radio Free Oz

4/30, 1316-1359*, 6925am. A new one for me, I think. Big on electroshock. Deep Fried Munchkins seemed to cause a revolt in the Emerald City. 8000 Hz fit best. A parody production of The Fox and Sick Puppy Productions. (35343, Hunsicker, PA)

** Radio Vixen

5/5, 2228-2242+, 6935am. Music at QRN level. Brief ID @2238. Poor. My 1000th “different” pirate heard,
not counting all the Zeeky mutations, which would add 20 more. (Frodge-MI)

** Radio Vostochnaya Zvezda

5/1, 0642, 7400am. Music at S6/S9 and good modulation from presumed R. Eastern Star, Russian ethnic pirate Vostochnaya Zvezda. Strangely enough, this has never been mentioned in RUS-DX (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

5/4, 0640, 7400am. R. Vostochnaya Zvezda with W&M dialog/drama in Russian with yelling, music background, S9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** 77 Lima Juliet Sierra

4/30, 1440-1505*, 6925usb. Opened with by reading Ecclesiastes 11:5, then an ID, and the date. Broadcasting from Elephant Cage North. Program was a reading from The Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes. (25453, Hunsicker, PA)

** (Toxic) Thunder Chicken

4/28, 2301-0106*, 6950usb. Seemed to begin at 2301 with electronic tones. Except for SSTV images, the BC was mostly unusable until 0015 when the strength increased. Five SSTV images, all in Martin 1. Good at 3000 Hz. Closed with an ID and then clucking chickens. (35453, Hunsicker, PA)

4/29, 2310, 6950 "Weit weg" - Rammstein, pause. Into a program of Primus including "Hennepin Crawler", "Last Salmon Man" "Eternal Combustion Engine”, “Jilly’s on smack” and many others. SSTVs (Drawing of a wild looking chicken behind a drum set "Toxic Thunder Chicken", African tribal dancers w/ funny head masks; head of "the thinker" sculpture, "The dildo of consequences rarely arrives lubed."; Primus cover picture - 3 men dressed in white with giant rubber duckies.) Fair signal with noise from solar storm. (Taylor – WI)

4/28, 2348, 6950usb. On Barrington Hills IL sdr with good S7 to S9 signal, blues rock tune, at 0007 utc SSTV/FAX, more music, at 0021 SSTV/FAX, more music, at 0030 SSTV/FAX, at 0036 SSTV/FAX. (Hassig-IL)

4/30, 1137-1329, 6950usb. Never an ID, but there was an SSTV of the Thunder Chicken. Wandered between “unusable” and “just usable.” Rock music. Signal weak and unreliable and SSTV images restarted spontaneously. (25242, at best, Hunsicker, PA)

5/2, 2213-0020*, 6950usb. In honor of Gordon Lightfoot, plays his music. At least five SSTV images. (25342, Hunsicker, PA)

** Unid

4/30, 0318, 6950usb. Tuned into an ongoing show with “Too old to die young" - Brother Dege, few chords of another song, off. Poor – fair in solar storm noise. (Taylor – WI)

4/30, 0301-0322*, 6950usb. Buzzing, music, an odd voice, and “Pirate radio, no rules, no directive, no protocol.” Lotsa Blues. Ended mid-song. (25342, Hunsicker, PA)

4/30, 2210, 6955usb. Whistle sfx at QRN level (Frodge-MI)

5/1, 0330-0335+, 6925usb. Guitar instrl’s; SSTV & short digi-thingy. SIO=3+44 w/hiss bursts during SSTV. (Frodge-MI)

5/2, 2304-2310=, 6950usb. Railroad buildin’ Westerm ditty; 2308:28 SSTV start/stop/restart w/some talkovers. SIO=3+54 (Frodge-MI)

5/2, 6925/U, 2310-2317+, 5/2; Pump Up the Volume rap. SIO=353- peaks, fady (Frodge-MI)

** WDOG

4/28, 0154, 6955usb. Program of punk music with OM talking briefly between songs (from a documentary?) Music included: "Trash" - New York Dolls, "Chinese Rocks" - Johnny Thunderbird and the Heartbreakers "Fall Out" - The Police, “ (Get a) Grip (on yourself) - The Stranglers, "Endangered Species" - U.K. Subs, "London Girls" - The Vibrators, "Under the Big Black Sun" – X and “Feeling called love" – Wirea. Periodic dog barks over music and IDs. 0302 - Op. “Do you know what time it is? Time to end.” Shout outs to folks who logged WDOG on HF Underground, IDs repeated several times, “time to go. Ta ta.”, off 0303. Fair. (Taylor – WI)

4/30, 0227, 6925usb. Puppy Chow ad into the same program of punk music as WDOG played on 6955 USB on 4.28.23. Music included "In the city" - The Jam, "Trash" - New York Dolls, "Fall out" - The Police, and "I'm a rocker" … (Get a) Grip (on Yourself)" - The Stranglers, then off at 0240 immediately after The Stranglers finished. Fair in noisy conditions. (Taylor – WI)

** Wolverine Radio

4/29, 2357-0103*, 6950usb. Opened with “Testing, 1, 2, 3, can anybody hear me,” then an ID and some Dixieland music. Changed to Rock at about 0021. Closed with an SSTV image in Scottie 1. Sounded good at 4000 Hz. (55454, Hunsicker, PA)

4/30, 0007, 6950usb. On Barrington Hills IL sdr with fair S9 signal, Mae West(?) with "come up and see me sometime", Wolverine ID, 30's and 40's swing tune, various songs with the words something or someone or somehow in them, at 0030 switched to Brookfield WI sdr with much better S9+10 to S9+20 signal, at 0101 echo ID then SSTV/FAX. Thanks for the nice program. (Hassig-IL)

4/30, 0035, 6950usb. "Someday never comes" - CCR, ID, "Gotta serve somebody" - Bob Dylan, "There must be a better world somewhere" - B.B. King, "Someday, Someway" - Marshall Crenshaw, ID, "Somebody's Baby" - Jackson Browne, "Something to talk about" - Bonnie Raitt, "Someday?" - Concrete Blonde, 0101 "Echo" ID, SSTV (didn’t decode here), off 0103. Fair to good in F=3 solar disturbance. (Taylor – WI)

** WORK

4/27, 0142, 6935usb. WORK via NAPRS. Listening for some time before. At 0142 came up with some talk, "You are listening to WORK" into long jazz bridge, announcement (indistinct), rock a billy, spy numbers – SS, YL, 5# sets looped, YL talk, 0142 "Making whoopee", YL w/ UK accent w/ recipe, ID, maildrop address, pause ... "WORK" repeated many times. "You are listening to North American Pirate Relay service" 0154 off. Signal up and down with parts quite audible and others inaudible. Received a nice e-QSL the next day for my post in HF Underground. (Taylor – WI)


== North American medium wave

5/1, 0335-0344+, 1620am. Oldies including Venture’s Walk Don’t Run, Peter Paul & Mary Where Have All the Flowers Gone. S9 peaks, fady; 0344 gave way to sports, probably KOZN Bellvue NE. Tnx to tip from Radio Animal on the Free Radio Net. (Frodge-MI)


~~~~

Regards, Lw