Free Radio Weekly #1435

FREE RADIO WEEKLY: #1435

Covering free radio activity from 16 September through 22 September 2023

Editor this week: Ron Hunsicker

Date emailed:

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 is distributed to those who contribute.

WEEKLY DEADLINE: Saturday at 0000 UTC (Friday night in North America) Please send your logs to all the editors as the editing schedule is subject to last minute changes.

To subscribe to the FRW, please send an email to all the editors with a request to be added to the mailing list. Also, when changing your email address, notify all the editors.

EDITORS:

Harold Frodge (99crawdads@gmail.com)

Ron Hunsicker (frwrjh@ptd.net)

Dave Turnick (caodwolf@gmail.com)

Larry Will (radio@zappahead.net)



Contributors to #1435

Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing PA
William Hassig, Mt. Prospect IL, williamhassig@yahoo.com
Ron Hunsicker, Wyomissing PA, ronhunsi(at)ptd(dot)net
Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, wghauser@yahoo.com
Ron Howard, CA

Mark Taylor, Madison WI



OUR EDITORIAL POLICY: All times and dates are assumed to be UTC.



North American shortwave stations

Ballsmacker Radio

Ballsmacker Radio, 09/16, 0058-0236*, 6960am. Opening music and ‘Old Man Down the Road.’ “Old” seemed to be the theme for the night. Closing SSTV in Scottie 2. 8000 Hz audio. Listened rather than logged. (55444, Hunsicker, PA)

A person holding a bowling ball

Description automatically generated

Ballsmacker Radio, 09/16, 0114, 6960am. Via Traverse City MI sdr with fair S9+10 to S9+20 signal, song "old fashioned love song" then Beach Boys "little old lady from Pasadena", Ballsmacker ID then "my old school", variety of songs with the word "old" in them, thanks for the program. (Hassig-IL)

Ballsmacker Radio, 09/16, 0231, 6960am. 'If You Don't Know Me By Now' - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, SSTV, ID and eQSL offer for tonight's theme, 'Wildfire' IS, off 0236. The show had been poor prior to this time and improved to poor – fair at the end. Via NA5B Kiwi in the Washington DC area (where I was on vacation.) (Taylor – WI)

Filibuster Radio

Filibuster Radio, 09/15 & 16, 2330-0126*, 6930usb. Live and via a recording, the program was in progress. Regular “Filibuster” IDs and a broad mix of music. A discussion of songwriting with a woman. Best at about 3000 Hz. Weak signal on a noisy night, so hard to establish the best audio bandwidth. (35343, Hunsicker, PA)

Filibuster Radio, 09/15, 2337, 6930usb. Via Barrington Hills IL sdr with noisy S7 to S9 signal, soft instrumental pop music then "lets do the time warp again" from Rocky Horror Picture Show, at 2342 switched to Traverse City MI sdr because Barrington sdr went belly up, quiet S9 to S9+10 signal, unid pop song playing. (Hassig-IL)

Filibuster Radio, 09/16, 0016-0033, 6930usb. A number of unrecognizable tunes with a woman announcer with simple “Filibuster” station IDs repeated several times. Poor to fair. (D’Angelo-PA)

Filibuster Radio, 09/17, 0230, 6930usb. 'A Fellow Needs a Girl’ - Doris Day, repetitive instrumental music, synth YL w/ ID "I am Ann(?), your host … I have to pee." "I Am David also your host. I don't have to pee." '6-Pak' - The Sandals, OM "You are listening to ...", 'You Are' - Dolly Parton w/ YL breaking in and saying a sentence or 2, OM w/ " You Are by Dolly Parton", 'You Can't Have Everything", 'The Everlasting Arms' both by Doris Day. 'Trailing' - The Sandals, OM & YL periodic break in 1 - 2 sentence comments (some relevant some not) throughout all these songs as though listening to the music and commenting. 0308 YL "We have to go now", OM "We have no status or power." Off. Fair to poor. (Taylor – WI)

Foxy AM

Foxy AM, 09/16, 0131-0224*, 6925am. The carrier appeared at 0131 and them Good Evening, Testing, Testing and faint music. A stronger signal at 0138 and an ID at 0139. Jammed from about 0147 through 0200ish. Operator called out to HFU reporters. Rock and light Jazz. Thanks Poacher for his help. (35342, Hunsicker, PA)

Mix Radio International

Mix Radio International, 09/11, 2348-0036, 6875usb. Electronic music with a woman announcer with several station Ids (“This is Mix Radio International”) including “the sound of FM radio on shortwave”. The only selection I recognized was the “Look of Love” at 0016. Fair to good signal. (D’Angelo-PA)

Radio 48

Radio 48 on Mix Radio International, 09/16, 2359, 6885usb. 'Perhaps' - Guns n' Roses, ID - "Radio 48" bumper. Synth YL "Radio 48 on Mix Radio International", tone jammer started and jumped to 6850U at 0034 then played cat and mouse with jammer jumping; 6865, 6870, 6850, 6860, 6870, 6890, 6895, 6860, 6870, 6875, etc. Jammer using a piercing tone followed by crude talk, BFO sweeps or multiple tones. Fair to good. Mix finally went off and reappeared on 7390 USB later in the evening. (Taylor – WI)

Radio 48 via Mix Radio International, 09/17 & 18, 2353-0407* 6865usb. Music and an ID by a YL and an OM in background. Waterfall images throughout. The audio bandwidth was about 10,000 Hz, but the overall bandwidth was 14,000 Hz or so. The waterfall images appeared in the upper 4,000 Hz of bandwidth, transmitted simultaneously with the audio portion. Rock and Pop music. Occasional instruction to destroy our f****** cell phones. (55555, Hunsicker, PA)

A blue screen with white text

Description automatically generated

Radio 48 via MRI, 09/18, 0128, 6865usb. Via Brookfield WI sdr with good S9+10 signal, wideband signal with vestigial LSB, 2 modern pop tunes sung by women, Radio 48 ID then heavy metal tune, at 0142 Mix Radio International ID, nice selection of pop tunes, at 0300 ad for US army, at 0347 protest song by male with acoustic guitar saying "join a union" among other things (I'm a retired former union member IBEW, UNOIN YES!), C&W tunes, at 0404 funny ad for gov surplus stuff by male sounding like Bill Clinton, at 0406 said "this free radio station is now closing down, off air at 0407 utc, excellent marathon program, thanks. (Hassig-IL)

Rado 48 via Mix Radio International, 09/17, 0215, 7390usb. Moved up here since being chased around in 42 meters by a jammer. 'Rooster' - Alice in Chains, chaotic music w/ IDs over, 'Untitled' - Snot, IDs, 'bad idea right?' - Olivia Rodrigo, IDs, 'Bad Habits' - Ed

Sheeran. Noisy conditions with a lot of lightning QRN. (Taylor – WI)

Radio Free Whatever

Radio Free Whatever, 09/14, 0256, 6950usb. At tune in DJ Dickweed was calling for one person to log they were listening on HF Underground or he would figure no one was “out there.” I logged RFW and DJDW did a shout out and continued the program. The program ran about another hour “late for a week night” with DJDW playing Indy music with many IDs between songs and breaks for talk (“I am blitzed off my ass, but I’m going to keep playing.”) Several shout outs to us listeners who kept up the logs on HFU. Music included: 'Living Dangerous (feat. Dorothy)' - Tempt, 'Doomer' - Thick, 'Man or Machine' - Off Lights, 'Gonna Get Better' - Uninvited, 'Ours' - Oarts, 'Idle Eyes' - Puddle Splasher, and many others. Very good to good. Via NA5B Kiwi in the Washington DC area (where I was on vacation.) (Taylor – WI)

Sycko Radio

Sycko Radio, 09/17, 2045-2121*, 6952usb. Program in progress on a recording. General silliness with occasional IDs—2047 and 2104. (Hunsicker, PA)

Unidentified

Unidentified, 09/12, 2330, 6930usb. Playing songs from Broadway musical “Annie” from a couple of different cast productions. Music included: 'Easy Street'; 'You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile', 'Tomorrow (Reprise)', 'Something Was Missing', 'I Don't Need Anything But You', 'A New Deal for Christmas'. Then into what might have been Broadway show overtures? 2325 'All of My Life', 'I Finally Found someone' - Barbara Streisand, Overture / I Guess it was 5:00 AM', 'Let's Have Lunch', - Andrew Lloyd Webber, Original Broadway Cast of Sunset Boulevard. Got up for a few minutes and was gone when I returned. Fair. Via NA5B Kiwi in the Washington DC area (where I was on vacation.) (Taylor – WI)

Unidentified, 09/17, 0501, 7300V. The gospel huxter pirate is
back, sermon about Daniel stuff. I last logged it Sept 2, no luck
since on occasional but not nightly chex. Tnx to tip from Lucas
Bandura at 0454: ``WOR] UNID religious 7300v AM --- Glenn’s UNID station on this frequency is on tonight, I finally got it. S7 on TWR Raleigh, North Carolina KiwiSDR. Just a carrier direct in British Columbia, no audio heard. Preacher now, music at tune in around 0450 UTC. Interesting, at 0513 UTC I saw the operator bump the VFO up [with screenshot]. I have heard religious pirates on AM mode in the 80 meter ham band, I’m sure this is another one of them. Likely using an
antique transmitter and VFO tuned right up to the top of its range for
40 meters.``I`ve brought up the TWR NC SDR too and let it run for quite a while. Very steady signal strength but noisy, maybe near local range. Frequency constantly varying, and SDR calibration is accurate compared to WWV 10000. At first it`s on 7300.125, shortly downward to +100.5, 97.5, 72, 69. 0522 no ID but cut to ``holy`` hymn, but not the well-known ``Holy3``. Now it`s offset minus 30 Hz. 0527 back to preacher IDing self as Robert Breaker ? sounds like, with website southchurch.org - I go there and find that`s in New Britain CT, but searching on name with as many alternate spellings as I can think of finds no one. Visual reference, and podcast mentioned. 0541 happens to attain 7300.000 but not for long! Still going 0608 at +155 Hz. 0639, +368 Hz. At 0648 I finally tune in direct and he`s S9+10 but due to noise, JBA on 7300.389 varying upward to 7300.425 by 0652 when I quit. (Hauser, OK)

Unidentified, 09/17, 0730, 7300. Hearing 7300 at 0730 UT with
extremely weak signal at Asilomar Beach. (Ron Howard, CA)

Unidentified, 09/17, 2045-2128*, 6930usb. Via a recording, a program in progress. Synthesized voice reads a story, also noting chapter numbers. Included a long passage with a graphic description of cremation and the follow-up. Another, male, synthesized voice, threatens to launch MIRVs. (35453, Hunsicker, PA)

Unidentified, 09/18, 0124-0159*, 6975am. Via a recording, a program in progress. Faint and often unusable. ‘Highway to Hell.’ 20 dB over the noise, not enough for good AM here. At sign-off, “Sylvester” thanked listeners for David and Birin. 3000 Hz sounded best on a noisy night. (Hunsicker, PA)

Unidentified, 09/18, 0137, 6975am. Via Brookfield WI sdr with fair S9+10 signal, modern pop tunes playing. (Hassig-IL)

Unidentified, 09/20, 2331, 6910usb. Playing show tunes: 'Leaving Los Vegas' - Mike Figgis, Synth YL w/ poem, YL mentioning 'my favorite movie theme', 'Novo Cinema Paradiso' - Ennio Morricone, comment on love themes, piano version of theme from 'Chairots of Fire', YL comment, brief talk, YL few sentences, 2345 off. (Taylor - WI)

Unidentified, 09/21, 2048-2053*, 6925usb. Jazz and a male synthesized voice. Notched a signal at 6928. (35342, Hunsicker, PA)

Unidentified, 09/21, 2253-2344*, 6910usb. Via a recording, the program started at 2253 with dance music. Then, dinner music and some rock. Notched a signal on 6912. 3400 Hz sounded best. A synthesized YL chatted, noting that she was a computer, and then repeatedly lied about which song was the last one of the night. Ended the program to run a subroutine. (35454, Hunsicker, PA)

WAVE Radio

WAVE Radio, 09/15 & 16, 2344-0245*, 6950am. Via a recording. Carrier appeared, then weak music, which built to ID at 0245. Jammed from about 0129 through 0200ish. Java by Manhattan Transfer and techno music. 9000 Hz sounded best. (35343, Hunsicker, PA)

WAVE Radio, 09/15, 2347, 6950am. Via Traverse City MI sdr with fair S9+10 to S9+20 signal, pop tune sung by woman. (Hassig-IL)

WAVE Radio, 09/16, 0033-0050 6950am. Woman announcer with station ID as “W A V E, ride the wave” between vocal selections. Generally poor in noisy conditions. (D’Angelo-PA)

WAVE Radio, 09/16, 0212, 6950am. Light contemp. instrumental music, 'Der Telefon Anruf', 'Autobahn' both Kraftwerk with ID by synth woman’s voice between songs. Fair – poor. Via NA5B Kiwi in the Washington DC area (where I was on vacation.) (Taylor – WI)

Wild Mountain Radio

Wild Mountain Radio, 09/15, 2330-2354*, 6938usb. Via a recording. “Wild Mountain Times” of Wild Mountain Radio. Folk music; Road to Never, Merrimac County. IDs at 2339 and 2354. 2800 Hz was best. (45454, Hunsicker, PA)

Wild Mountain Radio, 09/15, 2345, 6938usb. Via Traverse City MI sdr with fair S9+10 signal, soft pop tune playing. (Hassig-IL)

Yeah Man Radio

Yeah Man Radio, 09/14, 0245, 6925usb. ‘Shank', 'Boozer' - John Schofield, 0251 "goodnight everybody" over music, 0252 off. Good. Via NA5B Kiwi in the Washington DC area (where I was on vacation.) (Taylor – WI)

Yeah Man Radio, 09/18, 0106-0149*, 6925usb. Via a recording. Seemed to open with Cry Like a Baby, then a promo for the Million Dollar Weekend. Old rock and pop—'Last Train to Clarksville,’ ‘’Age of Aquarius,’ ‘Mellow Yellow.’ (35443, Hunsicker, PA)

Zeeky

Zeeky Radio, 09/16, 2348, 6952usb. Via Traverse City MI sdr with fair S9 to S9+20 signal, DJ is talking about radio. (Hassig-IL)

European shortwave stations

None

Latin American shortwave stations

None

QSLs

The Voice of Tralfamadore via the USPS. Full-color, full-data, signed and co-signed, #6, including a history of Tralfamadore. For a 25 August 2023 broadcast on 6935AM. (Hunsicker, PA)

Otherness

On 15 & 16 September, a jammer alternately screwed with WAVE (6950) and Foxy AM (6925), transmitting a variable frequency CW signal that swept about two KHz above and below the frequencies these two stations were using. The jammer went off and did something else around 0200 (Hunsicker, PA)

Electronic Mail Addresses for stations
[piratedatabase.webhop.net]

Best regards,

Ron


Addenda

Glenn Hauser emailed that I had missed a few of his logs. They follow.



WAVE Radio, 09/16, 0026, 6950am. JBA carrier direct, the OPOB. My HLNL makes my pirate DXing even more minimal. By 0102, NH SDR is getting drumming at S7. 0108 dinging and YL ID as ``W-A-V-E Radio`` 0117 ID again this time adding it fonetikaly (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR) As also reported here: [www.hfunderground.com]

WAVE Radio, 09/16, 0125, 6950am. Just a bit after posting my previous log, another ID: ``WAVE Radio, we are very existential, ride the wave`` as heard via NH remote (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

Unidentified, 09/16, 0059, 6960am. JBA carrier direct, slightly stronger than 6950. 0102 into NH SDR, S7 with rock. Bet this one is Ballsmacker, regular frequency and UT Saturday time. Yes, as here:
[www.hfunderground.com]

(Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

Unidentified, 09/17, 0105, 6952usb. Weak talk from pirate way below what sure seems like jamming, much stronger random tone beeper like someone wiggling a VFO a few kHz above and below, S9+30 also vs line noise at S9+12. By 0133 recheck, none of this. Many reports here
of Zeke taking requests and being jammed:
[www.hfunderground.com]
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)