When i was responsible for the SWL section in CQ RADIOAMATEUR ( France ) in 1996 i ask two good friends to write articles about Clandestine radios and Pirate radios
After looking at clandestine radio stations, here's a piece on pirate radio.
Michel Ravigneaux, who passed away a little over a year ago, was surely one of the most astute listeners in this field. He had even confirmed over 300 pirate stations via QSL cards. This time, Francis Mougenez has kindly agreed to take up his pen to tell us all about it...
Pirate Radio
By Francis Mougenez
How can you satisfy your passion for shortwave radio when you want to broadcast your favorite records and really want to play cops and robbers? It's simple (and illegal): just create your own pirate radio station!
Perhaps you've already heard, one Sunday morning, on an exotic frequency
around 6.2 MHz, a crackling transmitter playing "AU you need is love" by the Beatles, between two DJ sets with a bizarre accent and a dreadful reverb?
Look no further: it was
a pirate radio station.
The Glorious Era of Offshore Radio
The idea of pirate radio dates back to the late 1950s when strange, decommissioned trawlers took to the North Sea
with, on board, a medium-wave radio transmitter and, on deck, a tall
antenna mast. Disc jockeys replaced the sailors: these boats housed
offshore radio stations.
Radio liberalization was, in fact, not exactly on the agenda. State monopolies and government control were imposed on the media. Radio stations were restricted, and their monolithic programming was rarely questioned. Creating an offshore radio station by broadcasting from a ship anchored on the high seas meant breaking free from the weight of official institutions. From a lawless zone, the In international waters, anything goes.
The famous Radio Caroline
A breath of fresh air and youthful energy swept across Europe. While not the first offshore radio station, Radio Caroline quickly became the most well-known, and its name still evokes glorious memories today. Its programs were innovative and surprising. A significant portion was dedicated to songs that young people loved, and fast-paced, dynamic presentation styles from the United States were introduced, including jingles, previously unknown in Europe.
The Scuttled Pirates
These pioneering radio stations would contribute significantly to changing the mindset
of the public, who discovered that radio was not necessarily static, but also of
governments seeking to control
the enthusiasm generated by offshore radio. Great Britain thus created BBC-1,
a new radio station very directly inspired by pirate radio and which still exists today, ironically featuring former disc jockeys from Radio Caroline !
Simultaneously, several governments exerted legislative and regulatory pressure on these radio stations. Unable to oppose broadcasts from international waters, they instead sought to prohibit ship refueling and the participation of their citizens in such ventures.
The legal framework surrounding offshore radio stations brought an end to the practice by the end of the 1960s. But the path to greater freedom of expression on the radio was finally open, and the protests of spring 1968 would accentuate this trend. Only Radio Caroline continued to broadcast regularly, tenaciously, but without much success, until the early 1990s, overtaken on its own turf by better-equipped private and public competitors.
The Neo-Pirates of the HF Band
Some shortwave enthusiasts were inspired by the philosophy of offshore radio stations and created their own stations with makeshift solutions and other salvaged materials. Such enthusiasts still exist, and you can still hear them broadcasting.
Regularly, especially on Sunday mornings,
provided you know which frequencies to listen to (1). Their sole motivation: pleasure. The activity is, of course, neither lucrative nor political (unlike the clandestine stations that Fabien Serve has
already described in these pages).
The transmitters have only low
power (a few watts at most, in
AM), the clothesline serves as an antenna, and the
transmissions rarely last long.
Most pirate stations broadcast
only a few days a year.
The programs are primarily music, with the occasional DX report.
Most pirate signals don't harm
a fly, and only the rare
abuses seem to be punished by the authorities.
Warm Contacts
Pick-up artists love receiving reception reports
via post office boxes and very often include a short personal note
with the QSL card. This warm aspect of contact with the listener is
not the least appealing aspect of this
hobby. Originality and a touch of whimsy are key:
some stations have even created QSL cards
from coasters or subway tickets!
It is mainly in Great Britain,
Germany, and the Netherlands that one finds
the most pirate stations in Europe.
In contrast, countries like France
or Spain only have one, to my
knowledge.
A Little-Known World
Pirate radio stations suffer from being poorly
known and, unfortunately, sometimes
confused with the unscrupulous operators of 6.6 MHz.
Don't hesitate to listen in one
Sunday morning around 6.2 MHz.
And, when you hear a transmitter
splitting out a Beatles song,
form your own opinion...
To Learn More...
Reliable sources of information on
pirate radio stations are unfortunately
rare. I, for one, write a column
dedicated to these stations in the association magazine "A l'écoute du Monde" (Listening to the World), sold by
subscription (2) or in a few Parisian outlets
like Brentano's (3). On the internet, there's an exceptional site with a logbook of hackers whose communications were monitored in recent days, as well as information.
I was DJ on few legal and 5 Pirate radios !!!
reliable and links to other interesting sites:
http://www-pp.kdt.net/jonny/index.html
Finally, a book in English recounts the epic story of offshore radio: "Pop Went The Pirates" by Keith Skues (4).
Notes
(1) Just as mushroom hunters know their "good spots," pirate radio listeners know they can find them mainly on Sundays, primarily between 08:00 and 13:00 UTC, on the 6200-6400 kHz band.
But there are no hard and fast rules!
(2) Listening to the World, P.O. Box 56, 94002 Créteil Cedex, France.
(3) Brentano's Bookstore, 37 Avenue de l'Opéra, 75002 Paris, France.
(4) This 200-page book is available
in France by mail order for
250 francs from the Amitié Radio club,
P.O. Box 56, 94002 Créteil Cedex.
French Pirate radio in the past
http://radioatlantic2000.free.fr/pirates
Who are pirate radio stations?
Many are confused by the term “pirate radio,” otherwise known as “free radio.” Either term is sufficient, and some stations prefer one designation or the other. For consistency’s sake, I will use the term “pirate radio” in this article.
So what is pirate radio? Andrew Yoder, author and publisher of the 2012 Pirate Radio Annual, defines pirate radio as:
“[A]ny unlicensed hobby broadcast operation that is using more power than the legal limit.”
As Yoder goes on to explain in his introduction of the 2012 Pirate Radio Annual, pirates are often confused with radio bootleggers (who conduct unlicensed two-way conversations), clandestine stations (usually political stations), and jammers (who intentionally try to block broadcasts).
While debunking myths about pirates, I can say that in my years of pirate radio listening I’ve never heard a pirate intentionally jam a legal broadcaster. Pirates tend to occupy swatches of the shortwave spectrum that are relatively quiet, avoid intentionally broadcasting on top of one another, and typically operate at fairly low power. I believe this is why authorities like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) place shortwave pirates comparatively lower on their enforcement priority list.
And while pirate radio stations can be found across the radio spectrum, especially on AM and FM in urban areas, in this primer I’ll be focusing on those that inhabit the shortwaves.
What do pirates broadcast?
Pirates broadcast a wide variety of content, but are usually motivated by sharing their message–or favorite music–on the air. Some pirates simply key down their mike and begin talking, sharing their political or social views; others offer near-professional music productions, complete with listener feedback, and often acknowledge listener reports with QSLs (radio postcards).
Though pirates can be located anywhere on the planet, and therefore can broadcast, hypothetically, anywhere on the radio dial, patterns are actually fairly predictable in order to draw a listening audience. Pirate stations want listeners to discover them, so they broadcast in various “watering holes.”
With that said (and for reasons I don’t fully understand) depending on where you live in the world, you will either find it very easy to locate pirates…or extremely difficult. If you live in North America–particularly on the east coast–or in Europe, you’re in luck: these are the hottest geographic locations for shortwave pirate radio activity. If you live in other parts of the world, pirate hunting can pose serious DX challenges.
Again, I turned to Andrew Yoder for insight about pirate radio activity in the rest of the world; his reply:
“I’m always amazed at how few areas in the world have pirates that are connected to any scene. Back when KIWI was on the air regularly in the ’90s, I assumed that pirate radio would explode in Oceania and Asia. Not just Aussie and NZ pirates, but stations in places like The Phillipines…maybe Japan, South Korea, or Thailand. Nothing. Radio G’Day came on from Australia occasionally, but no one else. And when KIWI went silent, that was it. South America was strong for a while in the ’90s, but that has also fallen silent. I know that lots of pirates operate there, mostly on AM and FM, but no one is on SW…and if they are, they aren’t sending QSLs, [or] operating in places where radio hobbyists would hear them…”
Yoder actually addresses this apparent restriction, to some degree, in the 2013 Pirate Radio Annual, which has only just been released.
Hunting equipment
Before we talk about where to hunt pirates, however, we need to talk about the necessary equipment–i.e., your radio and antenna.
Unlike trying to locate China Radio International, Radio Australia, or the BBC World Service, hunting pirates requires a decent-quality radio and antenna. Keep in mind that pirates are relatively low-power broadcasters. While the magic of shortwave radio can transport a small signal vast distances, to hear pirates regularly and clearly, some precision is required.
If you live in a geographic hotbed of pirate activity (again, eastern/central North America and Europe) you might find a portable radio ample for hearing a number of pirates. Indeed, this past November, I listened to the pirate Channel Z while sitting in my truck; I was only using a Tecsun PL-660 with the antenna extended out of my opened driver’s-side window.
Though Channel Z was broadcasting in AM, as many do, it’s best to hunt pirates with an SSB-capable portable. Why? Unlike major broadcasters, many pirates don’t stick to AM as a preferred mode. Indeed, since pirates are operating at lower power, they get much more bang-for-the-watt out of SSB. To track pirates, you’ll need a radio with both AM and SSB modes. It will also help to have some sort of adjustable bandwidth filter (wide/narrow). I’ve hunted pirates with a range of such radios, among them the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, the Grundig G3, the Grundig G5, the Tecsun PL-600 and PL-660, and even the new Tecsun PL-880.
It’s much better, of course, if you have a table-top receiver, software-defined radio, or ham radio transceiver with a general coverage receiver hooked up to a resonant outdoor antenna–especially if you live outside Europe and North America. I’ve had great results in the past with an old Icom IC-735 and a 40-meter dipole antenna. The important thing here is that you invest in a receiver with a respectable degree of sensitivity and selectivity. You might need that sensitivity and an outdoor antenna to pull these relatively low-powered signals from the ether.
Euro pirates typically broadcast in the 48 meter band (6,200 – 6,450 kHz), but the HF Underground notes that you will also hear Euro pirates on the 75 meter band between 3,900-4,000 kHz, on the 19 meter band (15,000-15,100 kHz and 15,700-15,900 kHz), and even on the 13 meter band (21,000-25,000 kHz). My most recent logging of a Euro pirate from North America was Radio Borderhunter on 15,500 kHz; his signal was quite amazing.
Whether you’re a QSL collector, a “content” DXer, or the casual SWLer, I find there’s something in pirate radio listening for everyone. Speaking for myself, I’m passionate about pirate radio listening because it combines my listening/technical skills, my appetite for highly unique content, and for building a collection of quirky QSL cards. Compared to big-gun broadcasters, pirates are much more elusive game as very few announce their broadcasts in advance, and there’s no telling where a pirate’s transmitter is located: it could be in their home, on a boat, or a portable one dropped in a remote location and later retrieved.
Chasing pirates has also increased my technical know-how. For example, though I’m a ham radio operator, I had never even attempted to decode the SSTV (slow-scan TV) mode until prompted to do so by Wolverine Radio: at the end (and sometimes in the middle) of their broadcasts, Wolverine is known to send electronic QSL cards via SSTV.
I’ve also been encouraged by pirates to hone my weak-signal DXing using exalted carrier reception (ECR)–zero-beating an AM signal in SSB–in an attempt to hear weak AM pirate stations. It’s a simple technique, and although it takes some practice, will work on most any radio with a stable BFO (beat frequency oscillator).
And did I mention the cool QSL cards? Pirate cards are among the most unusual of QSL cards, that often incorporate obscure or vintage imagery–humor, horror, or other graphic oddity–or cast the pirate in a unique character representation. They can be highly entertaining or thought-provoking, and thus are, themselves, a unique art form.
Don’t believe me? Do a little pirate radio hunting yourself. Like me, you might just get hooked!
My favorite pirate radio resources:
The Pirate Radio Annual:
This little book by Andrew Yoder is the equivalent of the WRTH (World Radio TV Handbook) of the pirate radio world. I keep a copy handy as it helps me identify stations and better understand their format. Additionally, you’ll find contact information for QSL requests and mail-drop addresses as well. Each issue also contains a CD of sound clips from various pirates, several articles about the state of pirate radio, and other relevant info.
The HF Underground: http://www.hfunderground.com
An excellent and active pirate radio forum hosted by Chris Smolinski. Loggings are in real time and there are very few–if any–off-topic posts.
Pirates Week: http://shortwavepirate.info
Ragnar Daneskjold hosts an occasional podcast serving the shortwave pirate community; it includes pirate radio news, off-air recordings, and more.
Hobby Broadcasting Blog: http://hobbybroadcasting.blogspot.com/
Pirate radio guru Andrew Yoder started his own pirate blog last year, and has already begun populating it with regular updates, QSLs, and recordings.
Free Radio Weekly:
The FRW is an email-only newsletter devoted to the hobby of pirate radio listening, and is distributed free to those who contribute. You can sign up for the newsletter by emailing any of their editors: John Brewer (freeradioweeklyreports@gmail.com), Ragnar Danskjold (Piratesweek+FRW@gmail.com), Harold Frodge (yukon@tm.net), Dave Turnick (caodwolf@gmail.com) or Larry Will (radio@zappahead.net)
The SWLing Post
OK, I suppose I must also mention my own humble blog, where I continue to amass numerous pirate radio recordings and off-air recordings. Just browse the pirate radio category: https://swling.com/blog/category/pirate-radio/
Note: Even though it is illegal to broadcast on the shortwave bands without a license, and those who do so are subject to hefty fines, it is not illegal to listen or to send and receive QSL cards from such operators.
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