With the summer doldrums here, why not join other DXers in chasing the pirates on shortwave radio? Operating illegally, North American pirate radio operators primarily use 6925 kHz, plus or minus 40 kHz. Pirates are also being reported active on 4000-4050, 5400, 7500, 8000 and 9290-9320 kHz. You may also hear pirate activity on 13900, 15800 and 21800 kHz. European pirates prefer 6200-6350 kHz range for broadcasting. Pirate operators may broadcast at any time, although they primarly broadcast on weekends and holidays.
Reception reports to pirate stations require three first class postage stamps for United States mail drops, or two U.S. dollars to foreign addresses. Currency defrays return postage cost for mail forwarding and a souvenir QSL to your mailbox. Mail drop addresses, if one is used, are usually announced during programming, as well as any email addresses.
A number of pirates prefer email correspondence, bulletin logs or posting on internet web sites instead of regular mail.Some station have both options available.
The best bulletin for submitting pirate loggings, and possibly obtaining a verification, is Free Radio Weekly newsletter, free to contributors via yukon@tm.net. A few pirates verify loggings posted on the Free Radio Network at: www.frn.net and don't forget Monitoring Times Outer Limits pirate column by columnist George Zeller.
The following loggings have been gathered in recent weeks, and represent the most active stations.
kHz/UTC * sign-on -sign-off*
6220 AM Mystery Radio (Euro Pirate) 2045+ (A. Slaen, Argentina)
6220 AM Mystery Radio (Euro Pirate) 2340 (D. Valko/Cumbre DX)
6275 AM Laser Hot Hits (Euro Pirate) 2353-0202 (D. Valko/Cumbre DX)
6875.9 AM The Crystal Ship 0158-0207* (L. Russell, MI/FRW)
6925 USB Canada (or Canadian) Free Radio. 0134-0144* (J. Wood, TN)
6925 USB James Bond Radio 0057-0119* (J. Wood, TN)
6925 USB Ground Zero Radio *0117-0152* (G. Zeller, OH/Free Radio Weekly)
6925 USB Ground Zero Radio 0140-0212* (L.Will/FRW)
6925 USB KIPM 0106 (B. Finn/FRW)
6925 USB KIPM 0005-0113* (R. Hunsicker, PA/FRW)
6925.2 AM Radio Boston 0211-0239+ (R. Hunsicker, PA; R. D'Angelo/FRW)
6925 USB Radio Free Speech 0002-0041*; 2104-2109* (G. Zeller, OH/FRW)
6925.4 AM Radio Pigmeat Int'l 1323-1352 (Ragnar/FRW)
6925 USB USB Sunshine Radio/Grasscutter (joint broadcast) *0008-0039* (G. Zeller, OH/FRW)
6925 USB WBNY 2327-2341 (J. Wood, TN)
6925 USB WMPR 0054-0118* (Micro Power Radio) (G. Zeller, OH/FRW)
6950.6 AM MAC Shortwave 0246-0307
6950.45 AM MAC Shortwave 0200-0307 (W. Hassig, IL/FRW)
6950 LSB Northwoods Radio 0119-0202 (J. Wood, TN)
6955 AM WMPR 0152-0201+ (J. Wood, TN)
6955 AM WMPR 2325-0000 (J. Wood, TN)