To get you started with your pirate QSLing, here's my October column for Monitoring Times. Copyright 2010, Gayle Van Horn and Teak Publishing. May not be redistributed.QSLing the Unpredictable and Unlicensed
Urban legends, things that go bump in the night. Even in shortwave radio, one night a year brings out the bizarre and unpredictable.
Radio Bob, one of my favorite former pirate broadcasters, once graced the airwaves on Halloween with an unforgettable radio voyage through the bizarre world of ghostly goings-on from Shake Rag, Georgia. Who knows what became of Bob, but last years Pumpkin Patch Radio reminded us that The Devil Went Down to Georgia - and perhaps you’d like to QSL “if you dare.” Satan Radio made an appearance with a mixture of backwards talk and death metal music, followed by Rig-O-Mortis’ multimedia special from the Voice of Doom.Historically, Halloween produces more pirate radio broadcast than other holidays. This years weekend holiday on Sunday, October 31, will likely find more pirates haunting the airwaves, so begin checking on October 29-30 around 6925 (AM or USB), plus or minus 30 to 40 kHz. The majority of U.S. pirates operate between 2000-0400 UTC, however, some may opt for earlier broadcast.
If the station QSLs, most operators will announce their email address or postal maildrop address during the broadcast. Others may announce “QSL via FRN,” a reference the operator prefers to verify by scanning the logs posted at Free Radio Weekly website at www.frn.net. Include please QSL in your FRN Grapevines log post. To find our more about Free Radio Weekly, or contribute, send an email to freeradio@gmail.com . Ragnar Daneskjold keeps the pirate community up to date on pirate news through his Pirates Week Podcast on the Shortwave Pirate Info website at www.piratesweek.info/
European pirate stations may offer a Halloween special, though most appear to be a scaled down version from North American stations. European activity is best heard in North America from 2100-0200, around 3900-4025 and 5800-7490 kHz upper or lower sideband. Check too between 1300-1900 UTC on 15055-15080 kHz.
If you hear Mystery Radio, you can use that station as a propagation indicator, for other European pirate stations. Programming is modern dance music and broadcast are daily on 6220 kHz. The best time to log Dutch pirate, Cupid Radio is during their frequent DX frequency test, usually on 15070 kHz anytime from 1200-1600 UTC. Send your details to cupidradio@hotmail.com or to the Oldebroek address.
Does the bizarre appeal to you ? Maybe you’re just curious and that first pirate has eluded your log book so far. Don’t be surprised if you hear the likes of Ghostbusters from Pumpkin Patch Radio gracing the airwaves for Halloween 2010.
PIRATES
Europe
Atlantic Radio, 3910 kHz. Full data personal letter and post card from Stephen Prendergast. Received in 31 days for a pirate report to: atlanticradio12152@gmail.com or postal: Ballyvary, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland. (Silveri Gomez, Italy/playdx2003)
Borderhunter Radio, 6205 kHz. Full data e-QSL showing Frans at the mic and mixing board. Received in one day for pirate report to:borderhunterradio@hotmail.com (Andrew Yoder, PA/Cumbre DX)
Radio East Coast Holland, 6220 kHz. Full data e-QSL from Ronald, received in four days for pirate report to: eastcoastholland@hotmail.com (Gomez).
Radio Playback International, 6870 kHz. E-QSL received in 90 days for pirate report to: playbackinternational@gmail.com (Norbert Reiner, Germany/playdx2003)
Radio Skyline, 3980 kHz. E-QSL received in 14 days for pirate report to: skylinehorizon@hotmail.com (Reiner).
Radio Spaceman, 3900 kHz. E-QSL received in two days for pirate report to: 3927am@rock.com (Reiner).
U.S.
Outhouse Radio, 6925USB. Date/frequency with Radio Caroline logo e-QSL. Received in a few hours for pirate report to: outhouseradio@gmail.com (Yoder)
Radio Ronin SW, 6950 kHz. Large full data color samurai card. Received in two weeks for email report to: radioroninshortwave@gmail.com (Yoder).
Pirate Mail Drops
U.S. addresses require three mint stamps. European drops recommend at least two IRCs.
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 Deutscheland
(station name)
Postfach 10 11 45
DE-99801 Eisenach
Germany
Merlin
Box 293
Merlin, Ontario NOP 1W0
Canada
Neede
P.O. Box 73
7160AB Neede
Netherlands
Oldebroek
P.O. Box 9
8096 ZG
Oldebroek
Netherlands
Santiago
Casilla 159
Santiago 14
Chile
Ytterby
c/o SRS News
Ostra Porten 29
S-442 54 Ytterby
Sweden
US Email Contact List
Though not a complete list of all U.S. pirates, the following list are stations that have been monitored within the year.
All Aboard allaboardradio@gmail.com
Ann Hoffer (FRN post)
Barnyard Radio barnyardradio@gmail.com
Blue Rhino Radio bluerhinoradio@gmail.com
Blue Ridge Radio blueridgeradio@gmail.com
Brando Radio MarlonBrandoRadio@gmail.com
Calling Marco Radio callingmarcoradio@gmail.com
Captain Morgan captainradioshortwave@gmail.com
CE3K radioce3k@gmail.com
Channel Z (Blue Ridge) channelzradio@gmail.com
Dead Cat Radio (FRN post)
Derby Shortwave derbyshortwave@yahoo.com
Eccentric Shortwave eccentricsw@yahoo.com
Grasscutter Radio (Merlin)
Grey Rhino Radio greyrhinoradio@gmail.com
Iron Man Radio (Belfast) ironmanradio@hotmail.com
KBOX kboxradio@gmail.com
KUSA North America kusanorthamerica@gmail.com
KXMN (Belfast)
Liquid Radio wwrbfm@gmail.com
MAC Shortwave macshortwave@yahoo.com
Mack Truck Radio macktruckradio@gmail.com
Maple Leaf Radio (Belfast) radio.mapleleaf@gmail.com
Northwoods Radio northwoodsradio@gmail.com
OTH Radio (FRN post)
Pirate Radio Boston pirateradioboston@gmail.com
Pirate Radio Saint Helena piratesainthelena@gmail.com
Polka Dot Rhino Radio polkadotrhinoradio@gmail.com
Pumpkin Patch Radio pumpkinjpatchradio@gmail.com
Punxsutawney Pothead Radio (Belfast) puxradio@gmail.com
Radio Bronco radiobronco@gmail.com
Radio Casablanca radiocasablanca1@gmail.com
Radio Cinco de Mayo radiocincodemay@gmail.com
Radio Free Speech (Belfast) radiofreespeech@gmail.com
Radio Free Whatever radiofreewhatever@yahoo.com
Radio Ga-Ga radiogaga6925@gmail.com
Radio Is My Friend cherokeemental@yahoo.com
Radio Jamba International krackerradio@pnlol.com
Radio Josephine radiojosephine@gmail.com
Radio Lunchbox piratelunchbox@gmail.com
Radio Marlene radiomarlene@gmail.com
Radio Paisano radiopaisano@gmail.com
Radio Pigmeat International pigmeat_voab@yahoo.com
Radio SRV radiosrv@gmail.com
Radio XXP radiostationxxp@gmail.com
Red Rhino Radio redrhinoradio@gmail.com
Satan Radio satanradio@gmail.com
Somebody’s Gotta Say It Radio somebodyradio@gmail.com
Sycko Radio syckoradio@gmail.com
The Crystal Ship tcsshortwave@gmail.com
Thinking Man Radio thinkingmanradio@gmail.com
Undercover Radio (Merlin) undercoverradio@gmail.com
VUDU vudu11@hotmail.com
Voice of the Beast (FRN post)
Voice of Doom (FRN post)
Voice of Honor thevoiceofhonor@gmail.com
Voice of KAOS voiceofkaos@gmail.com
Voice of Next Thursday voiceofnextthursday@gmail.com
Voice of the Robots voiceoftherobots@gmail.com
Voice of Spike voiceofspike@gmail.com
WBNY (Belfast) wbnyradiobunny@gmail.com
WDDR World Wide ericblair@wddr1027.com
WEAK Radio weakradio@gmail.com
WFUQ dj_jack_hammer@rocketmail.com
WHJR heyjoe6925@gmail.com
WHYP whypradio@gmail.com
WNKR relay wnkr@rock.com
WTCR 20th Century Radio (Belfast) morbius@nyms.net
Weather Radio (FRN post)
Wind Up Radio (FRN post)
X-Ray Radio broadcastrecption@hotmail.com
Yellow Rhino Radio yellowrhinoradio@gmail.com
(Gayle Van Horn/Oct 2010 Monitoring Times QSL Report)