Wednesday, January 04, 2017

Tuning in to the Dutch pirates

For listeners, dxers, pirate fans and general radio nuts who might be new to having a look at this blog, I thought I'd start the new year with a recap on some of the equipment here. 

The receiver I use most of the time is the Kenwood R5000. I also have the Lowe HF150, which spends most of its time in the living room rather than the radio room, the Lowe HF225, which has incredible audio quality, and countless other receivers I have accumulated over the years. In actual fact you don't need fancy radios to hear the bigger Dutch pirates. I've heard them on all sorts of devices, from clock radios to a novelty radio shaped like a can of Pepsi. The key to reception is the antenna.

For most of my listening I hook up a Wellbrook loop out in the garden, just a couple of metres above the ground. I have tried various models from this company over the years and am now using the ALA1530LNP. I also have a couple of portable loops, which work great with the smaller receivers.

To help eradicate local interference and to get the noise level as close to zero as possible I use a noise cancelling signal enhancer - the MFJ-1026 which is hooked up to the loop and to a second antenna - a dipole cut for 48 metres shortwave.

Below are my Dutch MW pirates logs so far for this year. The first figure is the frequency in kHz, followed by the time which, as ever, is given using UTC/GMT (Dutch time is one hour in front). The italicised figures represent the SINPO code.


Wednesday, January 4, 2017
1621       1910       Mike 34433-44444 music programme
1629       1911       Turftrekker 45444 testing
1660       1930       Veldwachter weak signal
1619       2135       Uniek 34333-45444 music programme
1638       2136       Armada 45333-45444 testing
1615       2136       Malibu 24322-34333 music programme. Later on 1612
1625       2159       Blauwe Koe 34333 music programme
1654       2210       Noordzee 35333-45444 music programme
1635       2242       Monte Carlo 33333-45434 report for Noordzee
1622       2255       Napoleon 33333-44444 music programme

Tuesday, January 3, 2017
1630       2035       Marianne 45333-45444 music programme
1611       2044       Zwarte Boer 23322-34433 music programme
1620       2046       Moonbreaker 25322-35443 music programme



Monday, January 2, 2017
1620       0613       Bootsman 35333-45444 music programme
1620       0741       Schaduwjager 45444 report for Bootsman
1620       0814       De Friese Piraat 25222-35333 qsoing
1645       1918       Bandoeng 44444 music programme
1625       2003       Brandaris 43333-44444
1655       2213       Dikke Betta 45333-45444 qsoing
1635       2215       Ruisbreker 25222-35333 music programme
1655       2216       Digitaal 35333-45444 qsoing
1654       2220       Kristal 35333 qsoing
1656       2223       Noordzee 35333-55444 qsoing
1655       2231       Noorderzon 25222 qsoing
1630       2315       Monte Carlo 34333 qsoing
1640       2319       Noorderzon 35222-35333 report for Ruisbreker

Sunday, January 1, 2017
1647       1735       Witte Tornado 45333-45444 music programme
1620       1745       Derdeman 25222-35333 music programme
1615       1811       Moonbreaker 25222-35333 music programme
1626       1910       Capri 54434 non-stop music programme with jingles
1645       0022       Bandoeng 45444 music programme



Thursday, December 29, 2016
1620       0625       Zonnester 43433-55444 music programme
1645       1810       Casablanca (Twente) 25432 qsoing
1655       1818       Dikke Betta 45444 qsoing
1620       1820       Zwarte Arabier 45444 music programme
1647       1840       Quintus 45434-55444 music programme
1620       2100       Sapporo 25222 report for Zwarte Arabier
1620       2105       Edelkampioen 44434-55444 report for Zwarte Arabier
1620       2110       Pioneer 33333-44433 report for Zwarte Arabier
1615       2115       Twentana 35333
1638       2135       Twentana 35333 music programme
1615       2143       Noordzee 35333 qsoing
1620       2159       Noordzee 35322 qsoing

1 comment:

  1. Best wishes for 2017. Always enjoy reading your logs

    ReplyDelete