Free Radio Weekly #1446

Free Radio Weekly #1446, Saturday, December 9, 2023
Covering free radio activity from December 2-8, 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)
Ron Hunsicker (frwrjh@ptd.net)
Dave Turnick (caodwolf@gmail.com)
Larry Will (radio@zappahead.net)

FRW 1446 - December 9 - Larry


== Contributors ==

William Hassig
williamhassig@yahoo.com

Ron Hunsicker
Wyomissing PA
frwrjh@ptd.net

Mark Taylor
Cambridge WI
markokpik@gmail.com

Glenn Hauser
P O Box 1684
Enid OK 73702
wghauser@yahoo.com
P- or E-QSLs welcomed
NRD-545 with 100-foot E/W longwire
R-75 with E/W Wellbrook loop or interior N/S shortwire


== North American shortwave ==

** Ballsmacker Radio

6960 AM, 0201, 12.2.23. Carrier up since at least 0159. 'Wildfire' IS, 0203 "Ballsmacker Radio. Broadcasting from somewhere in the Northeast", pin strike sfx, 'Purple Rain' - Dolly Parton. … 0215 ID & pin strike, 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me' - Elton John into program of music and IDs. Fair throughout program which continued after 0300. (Taylor – WI)

** Bork Bork Radio/WDOG

6950 USB Bork Bork Radio / WDOG, 0205, 12.2.23. SSTV (didn't decode here), 'Under the Milky Way' - The Church, 'Love Song' - The Cure, prank phone call, "bork … bork, bork, bork" into more borking, 'Silent Night' / Holy Night Jam' - Joe Satriani. More music with borks between and sometimes over songs, 0152 SSTV send (partial decode - motorcycle), bunch of borks, "WDOG", 'Loosing my Religion' – Gregorian. Fair. (Taylor – WI)

** Brocket 99

6935 USB, 0248, 12.5.23. 0249 "Legislation approved by Congress …" and other similar brief peaks of comprehendible words of phrases, perhaps a skit between woman and man, soft spoken OM for some time. Long, slow QSB w/ few words audible at peaks, however not enough to tell topics. F/out or off by 0305. ID per HFU. (Taylor – WI)

12/06, 0155-0305*, 6935am. Via a recording, opened and closed with North American Indian music. Regular IDs by men and women. Rock music. Frequent identification of the music by the operator. Mostly “unusable,” due to a weak signal and when it was usable, Peskies on LSB made listening miserable. (23342, at best, Hunsicker, PA)

** Captain Morgan Shortwave

12/03, 2310-2359*, 6934.1am. Via a recording, a carrier appeared at 2310, and at 2313 we heard the Blues. A noisy evening with a weak signal. Forty minutes of good Blues. Regular IDs and requests for reception reports. (35342, Hunsicker, PA)

** Cloudsplitter Radio

12/07, 2204-2258*, 6938usb. Live and via a recording, opened with God Bless the USA and closed with The Red, White, and Blue. We Can Work It Out, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Only in America, others. Frequent ID and email announcements by YL. 3000 Hz seemed right. (35453, Hunsicker, PA)

** LeeRoy

12/03, 0130-0302*, 6930usb. Via a recording, a program in progress with Silver Bells. A Christmas show that included many renditions, straight and parody, of Jingle Bells. An ugly night on 43 meters with weak signals. There was an SSTV image in Robot 24 that suffered from the weak signal. There was a much better one, an SSTV ID, in Scottie 2 at 0258. Also a few seconds of a waterfall image that was pretty sketchy in Wyomissing. All-around, 2800 Hz sounded best. (25342, Hunsicker, PA)

** Radio Free Whatever

2/02, 2133-2220*, 6950usb. A program in progress, playing "Radio Fiction." Music, IDs, and information about the artists from Dick Weed. 3200 Hz was nice. (35352, Hunsicker, PA)

** 77 Lima Juliet Sierra

12/08, 1411-1613, 6930usb. Live, a program in progress with solo piano pieces—nice morning music. IDs at 1414 and 1524. The artist was said to be Tom Say. A significant distortion for a portion of the show was a low-level data stream that planted on 6930. 2800 Hz was best. (35443, Hunsicker, PA)

** Shroom City Radio International

12/6 & 12/7, 2316-0010*, 6954usb. Both via a recording and live. Opened with “Power on, Bluetooth Mode” by a YL, then psychedelic music—Too Much to Dream Last Night, Eight Miles High, Incense and Peppermint and similar—until 2334 when Zeeky announced a pre-holiday show. The programming switched to Techno music. Vented at Kissinger. Noted that the transmitter was on a timer that would turn off at 10 minutes past the hour, which it did, plus 20 seconds or so. 4000 Hz fit well. (45454, Hunsicker, PA)

** Thunder Chicken Radio

4180 usb, 12-2-23, 0126 utc on Barrington Hills IL sdr with weak noisy S7-S9 signal, two SSTV/FAX. (Hassig-IL)

4180 USB, 0220, 12.2.23. Contemporary dance music, "cluck, cluck, cluck" over music then back to music alone, SSTV (Thunder Chicken w/ "Thunder Chicken - Free Range Pirate Radio" on a sign, few indistinct words by Op., "cluck, cluck, cluck," 2 SSTV (neither decoded) - "yeah, I know" over the 1st send. ... into more music. Poor to fair signal. (Taylor – WI)

** Unid

6925 USB, 0044, 12.3.23. 'Silent Night, Holy Night Jam' - Joe Satriani, off 0051. Fair. (Taylor – WI)

6925 usb, 12-3-23, 0046 on Brookfield WI sdr with weak S7 signal, heavy metal guitar playing "silent night" then off. (Hassig-IL)

6930 USB, 0134, 12.3.23. Alternating Christmas music with music by Metal Church: 'Carol of the Bells' (Symphonic Heavy Metal Version)' - Onion's Reign, indistinct OM (maybe ID or intro. from next song), 'Beyond the Black', 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' - Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 'Metal Church', 'The First Nowell' - Eric Johnson, 'Merciless Onslaught', 'Amazing Grace' - Jeff Beck, 'Gods of Wrath', 'Oh Holy Night' – UnId performer into program of alternating Christmas music and music by Metal Church. Good. (Taylor – WI)

6925 USB (Yosemite Sam), 2308, 12.3.23. OM w/ repeated loop, another OM w/ sfx into another loop w/ buzz at end of loop (later identifiable as Yosemite Sam loop on recording - thanks, Shortwave_Listener who had a better signal than here) - just audible, 2310 break, 2311 back w/ OM loop, Yosemite Sam, 2314 pause, 2321 Yosemite Sam, same OM as at 2314 w/ another loop, Yosemite Sam, same OM w/ another loop, 2329 off. Varying from poor to very poor. (Taylor – WI)

6927.7 AM, 2349, 12.3.23. Man with “bork, bork, bork” continuing until 2350. Fair. (Taylor – WI)

Unidentified, 12/04, 0020-0045*, 6950usb. A program in progress with the Voice of Kasey Kasem with the American Top 40. Just a bit above the background noise. Generally unusable due to a weak signal. (15241, Hunsicker, PA)

6950 USB (American Top 40), 0036, 12.4.23. 'Mystery Lady' - Billy Ocean, "Amer. Top 40" spot then Casey Kasom answering a question about studio and live versions of song released at the same time, #14 'Not Enough Love in the World' - Don Henley, talk, ads: summer festival ad at "101.com" web site, RV sales and park ad, YL talking about current events, "101 FM", 0045 off. (Taylor – WI)

"Greetings from the FCC", 12/05, 2200-2208*, 6950usb. Via a recording. “This is the FCC, you are being RDFed, enjoy.” Nothing else, repeated many times until sign-off. 30% Noise Reduction helped clarity. (25342, Hunsicker, PA)

12/05 & 12/06, 2333-0035*, 6035am. Via a recording and live, a very faint program of talk and music which was completely unusable. The carrier appeared at 2333 and disappeared at 0035. 20 dB above the noise, which is not enough oomph here. (unusable, Hunsicker, PA)

“Sternradio” per HFU, 12/07, 2131-2201*, 6948am. Via a recording, opened with “We are experiencing technical difficulties,” which was repeated many times, and “Radioactivity” and closed sounding like they were experiencing technical difficulties—the transmitter sounded like it took a dump. In between, techno music. 10,000 Hz might have been too narrow. (45454, Hunsicker, PA)

** Wave Radio

6955 USB, 0052, 12.2.23. Tuned into (the dreaded and hard to understand) synth woman w/ ID into techno, 0057 ID and off. Fair, although noisy. (Taylor – WI)

** WDOG

12/02, 2209-2233, 6930usb. Via a recording that ran out at 2233. The program opened with Barking dogs and the WDOG opening music, then “Do You Wanna Dance?” Blue Suede Shoes, La Bamba, Ain’t That a Shame, and the Lion Sleeps Tonight. Nice selection of music. 2800 Hz fit nicely. (35443, Hunsicker, PA)

6930 USB, Dec 2 at 2325 rock and DJ talk, S9+10. Many reports at HFU say it`s WDOG. Some editors refuse to publish linx to that: why? [www.hfunderground.com] (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

6930 usb, 12-2/3-23, 2344 utc on Barrington Hills IL sdr with poor S5-S7 signal, "blue suede shoes" by Elvis, a Carl Perkins song, at 2349 Brookfield WI sdr with much better S9+10 signal, WDOG ID and dog barking, "my gal is red hot" at 2355, "whole lotta shakin goin on" at 0007, "poison ivy" at 0014, off at 0021. Thanks for the old tunes. (Hassig-IL)

** WTF Radio Worldwide

4185 USB, 0053, 12.3.23. ID, 'Les polis' - EXTRASYSTOL, 'Forgiving Ties' - Deer Tick, 'The High Road' - Broken Bells, Op w/ talk about the music into ID, song, "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System" into whistling then end of system test, whistling and drumming, into program of somewhat mellow rock music with talk about music and IDs between. Fair to good. (Taylor – WI)

4185 usb, 12-3-23, 0101 utc on Brookfield WI sdr with fair S7-S9 signal, soft pop music, at 0113 "test" of the EBS with weird tones. (Hassig-IL)

6935 usb, 12-3-23, 0030 on Brookfield WI sdr with fair S7-S9+10 signal, hard rock music, at 0037 DJ said he'd switch to 4180 but then he played song. (Hassig-IL)

** Yeah Man Radio

12/03, 0130-0223, 6925usb. Via a recording, a program in progress with the Million Dollar Weekend. I don’t know if the broadcast was over at 0223 or if it faded into nothingness. Lots of old, pleasant, Pop/Rock. Often unusable due to a weak signal. ID at 0140. Hard to tell, but call it 2800 Hz. (Hunsicker, PA)


~~~~

Regards, Lw