Halloween Tricks and QSL Treats

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Tis the Season ... Of the Witch
Touted as broadcasting from Salem, Massachusetts, Witch City Radio was heard throughout the eastern seaboard, that fateful Halloween night 1993. Scores of others have joined Witch City and you can bet that pirate radio operators are planning this years Halloween broadcast. With this years holiday on Saturday, the ghouls will be haunting the airwaves once again.

The volume of pirate broadcast increases substantially on Halloween and is one of the more popular radio events for pirate fans and operators. Radio activity varies from those that reactivate their station for an annual broadcast, to stations that opt for special programming.

Unfortunately for fans, pirate stations do not adhere to a set broadcasting schedule. Almost all North American pirates are heard on 6925 (AM or USB), plus or minus 30 to 40 kHz. Broadcast hours can be at any time, however the majority of North American pirates operate between 2000-0400 UTC. Pre-Halloween shows are popular too, so begin checking the weekend of the 23-24, as well as Friday the 30th of October.

Various pirates scattered throughout Europe broadcast special Halloween programming, though not on the same scale as the US operators. European activity is best heard in North America from 2100-0200 so begin as early as Friday afternoon on the 30th. Most can be found on 3900-4025 and 5803-7490 upper or lower sideband. Check too on the weekends between 1300-1800 on 15055-15080 kHz. Operators present a variety of programming, usually with a mix of techno, pop, rap, rock or German schlager music.

Most pirates in the U.S. and Europe use mail drops to handle their mail. Letters to the drop are received by a “go-between,” who forwards the letter to the station operator. This method eliminates any trace of where the station is located.

As postal rates increase, a growing number of stations are using email for electronic QSLing. A few stations offer either drop or an email option. Usually the station will include their email address or postal drop announcement during the broadcast. This month’s Email Contact List comprises active stations using email correspondence. Some stations prefer bulletin logs or internet web site reports.

The best method for submitting your pirate logs for a verification, is the Free Radio Weekly electronic newsletter. Produced weekly, FRW is devoted to the hobby of pirate listening. Editors alternate duties and distribute the electronic newsletter free to those who contribute. Newsletters focus on logs of the previous week, station news and of course QSLing. To request a sample or contribute to the FRW, send your email to freeradioweekly@gmail.com For additional pirate news, programming, and the Pirates Week Podcast link, Radnar Daneskjold runs the Shortwave Pirate Info website at www.piratesweek.info/ . Programming is biweekly and covers general pirate news.

Some pirate operators also verify by regularly scanning the logs posted on the Free Radio Network website at http://www.frn.net/ for potential QSLing, so be sure to include please QSL in your post. The site includes a Pirate Radio Photos & QSLs photo link of nearly 20 years from unlicensed stations.

Pirate operators may release special QSL cards for their Halloween broadcast. Former broadcaster He-Man Radio, broadcasting in upper sideband as “the manliest of modes,” pictured He-Man lifting an oversized pumpkin on his shoulders. Tommy Pickles from Radio Halloween graced his veries with tombstones and bats, and a photo of a lighted jack-o-lantern.

Fans can only speculate on who will grace the airwaves this year. Will Voice of the Purple Pumpkin or Voice of Halloween revive their shows ? Maybe Ann Hoffer Radio will revive last years Werewolves of London or the Door’s People are Strange on 6925AM around 2200 UTC.

Tis the season ...of the Witch

Email Contact List
USA
Balls to the Wall Radio ballstothewall@gmail.com
Barnyard Radio barnyardradio@gmail.com
Blind Faith Radio blindfaithtadio@yahoo.com
Blue Ridge Radio blueridgeradio@gmail.com
Calling Marco Radio callingmarcoradio@gmail.com
Captain Morgan Shortwave captainmorganshortwave@gmail.com
Channel Z Radio channelzradio@gmail.com
Crystal Ship tcsshortwave@yahoo.com
Dead Cat Radio cattus.mortuus@gmail.com
Derby Radio derbyradioshortwave@yahoo.com
Grasscutter Radio grasscutterradio@yahoo.com
Grey Rhino Radio greyrhinoradio@gmail.com
Gypsy Radio piratepolka@gmail.com
Ironman Radio ironmanradio@hotmail.com
KUSA kusanorthamerica@gmail.com
Liquid Radio via Radio Jamba International wwrbfm@gmail.com
MAC Shortwave macshortwave@yahoo.com
Northwoods Radio northwoodsradio@yahoo
Over the Horizon Radio orthradio@gmail.com
Radio Casablanca rcasablanca1@gmail.com
Radio Cinco de Mayo radiocincodemayo@yahoo.com
Radio Dismuke radio@dismuke.org
Radio Free Euphoria captainganja@pot.com
Radio Ga Ga rgaga@gmail.com popeonthepoint@gmail.com
Radio is My Friend cherokeemental@yahoo.com
Radio Josephine radiojosephine@gmail.com
Radio Marlene radiomarlene@gmail.com
Radio Mushroom radiomushroom@gmail.com
Radio Pigmeat International pigmeat_voab@yahoo.com
Red Rhino Radio redrhino@gmail.com
Roll Out the Barrel piratepolka@gmail.com
Somebody’s Gotta Say It Radio somebodyradio@gmail.com
Sunshine Radio grasscutterradio@yahoo.com
Sycko Radio syckoradio@yahoo.com
The Hole kahn@whoever.com
The Voice of the Purple Pumpkin wdvlsw@netscape.net
Thinking Man Radio thinkingmanradio@gmail.com
Undercover Radio undercoverradio@gmail.com
Voice of Captain Ron captainronswr@yahoo.com
Voice of KAOS voiceofkaos@gmail.com
Voice of the Beast voiceofthebeast@gmail.com
Voice of Honor voiceofhonor@gmail.com
Voice of the New World Order vonwoun@yahoo.com
Voice of the Robots voiceoftherobots@gmail.com
WBMR Black Mountain Radio wbmrradio@hotmail.com
WBNY Radio Bunny wbnyradiobunny@gmail.com rodentrevolutionhq@yahoo.com
WEAK Radio weakradio@gmail.com
WQAAZ wqaaz@gmail.com
YRTK Your Right to Know Radio yrtkradio@gmail.com
Yellow Rhino Radio yellowrhinoradio@gmail.com

Europe
Though not a complete list of all European pirates, the following contacts represent a sampling of stations monitored recently.
Antonio Radio antonioradio@hotmail.com
Bogus Radio differentradio@yahoo.co.uk
Britain Radio International britainradio@hotmail.com
Cactus Jack Radio cactusjackradio@hotmail.com
DRP Radio drpradio@aol.com
Electric Blues Radio electricbluesradio@hotmail.com
Laser Hot Hits hothits@radiolink.net
Misty Radio misty.shortwave@gmail.com
Mustang Radio mustangradio@live.nl
Mystery Radio radio6220@hotmail.com
Playback International playbackinternational@gmail.com
Radio Albatross radioalbatross@hotmail.com
Radio Alice radioalice@hotmail.com
Radio Borderhunter borderhunterradio@hotmail.com
Radio Contact radiocontact@gmail.com
Radio Halloween halloweenradio@gmx.net

Radio Mistletoe radiomistletoe@live.com
Radio Shadowman radioshadowman@hotmail.com
Shortwave Cowboy webmaster@radiopcn.nl
Spider Radio spider.sw@hotmail.com
WNKR Western Kent Radio wnkrsw@gmail.com

Pirate Mail Drops
Basel
Box 510
CH-4010 Basel
Switzerland

Belfast
P.O. Box 1
Belfast, NY 14711 USA

BRS/ Blue Ridge Summit
P.O. Box 109
Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214 USA

Eisenach
SRS Deutschland
(station name)
Postfach 10 11 45
DE-99801 Eisenach
Germany

Herten
P.O. Box 2702
6049ZG Herten
Netherlands

Merlin
Box 293
Merlin, Ontario NOP 1W0
Canada

Neede
P.O. Box 73
Netherlands

Santiago
Casilla 159
Santiago 14
Chile

Stoneham
P.O. Box 146
Stoneham, MA 02180 USA

Ytterby
c/o SRS News
Ostra Porten 29
S-442 54 Ytterby
Sweden
(Monitoring Times/Oct. 2009 Gayle Van Horn, QSL Report)

http://www.monitoringtimes.com/