A Quick Guide to Pirate Radio Listening

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ivi

Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 9,091

A Quick Guide to Pirate Radio Listening

#3844348 - 02/27/05 10:05 PM (21 years, 6 months ago)

What?

A pirate radio station is an unlicensed, illegal station broadcasting in violation of the laws of the country it is located in. Yepp, it's not a thing of the past :thumbup:

How?

Basically all You need to listen to pirate radio is a radio reciever with a shortwave (SW) band, antenna and a lot of patience. If you already have a shortwave radio, by all means start with that. You might ask your family or friends if they have an old shortwave set lying around unused that you can borrow. You'd be surprised how many radios with shortwave coverage people have squirreled away in basements and closets.

Because they are usually low powered and use simple antennas, pirate radio stations are more difficult to hear than most other shortwave broadcasters. This is especially true if you are located in western North America, since most pirates are found east of the Rockies. While you can hear some pirates on simple, inexpensive shortwave radios, you will hear far more on better quality desktop shortwave radios and an outside antenna.

Just remember it's about picking up low power (usually 50-watts or less) radio transmissions. So the better quality receiver and antenna You have, the better You will pull out those weak signals. Try to get something like this as the least and attach an external antenna to it:

Where?

Although there are pirates who go on FM, shortwave band is where it's really at. The most popular range for pirate operators is near the 40-meter (7000 to 7300 kHz) ham radio band. Pirates tend to congregate around a frequency that has little interference. For years, 7415 kHz was the de facto "standard" pirate radio frequency, while today most activity centers around 6955 kHz. The most popular frequencies in use for North American and European pirates at the moment are (in order of most use):

6955 kHz in both AM and Upper and Lower Sideband
6950 kHz mainly being used in the AM mode
7415 kHz AM & SSB, the old standby from the 70's & 80's
13900 kHz in the AM mode
15043 kHz both SSB & AM
1650 kHz in the medium wave band in SSB
6240 kHz in AM & SSB (mostly euro-pirates)

European Pirate Frequencies:

6200 kHz - 6300 kHz - very active at all hours
7415 kHz - 7550 kHz AM & SSB
3900 kHz - 4000kHz AM 9995 kHz - AM
11400 kHz - 11725 kHz AM & SSB
12265 kHz - AM 15015 kHz - 15070 kHz AM & SSB

When?

To avoid getting busted by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or similar organizations in other countries, pirates

do not broadcast on a regular schedule and do not announce it
avoid interference to others (others=anything!)
broadcast for short length of time (usually around forty five minutes or less)
if possible, every time broadcast from a different location

So catching one of these *short* broadcasts can take time and patience. Most pirate activity however takes place on weekend evenings/nights, and holidays like Labor Day, New Year?s Eve/Day etc. In the U.S. Halloween produces more pirate radio activity than any other night of the year. Just turn on Your reciever when it's the right time (weekend or holiday evening/night) and browse the frequencies until You start hearing weird shit :smile:

Why?

The airwaves belong to the people, not governments or corporations who inevitably use them to expand their power and wealth and to emulate fucked up paradigms. Besides pirate radio is probably among the most original you will ever hear. However, the program quality is highly uneven. At its worst, pirate radio is crude, imitative, and "high school" sounding. At its best, pirate radio can let you hear stunning original material, especially social and political satire, that you cannot find anywhere else on the radio dial.

I know that nowadays there are thousands and thousands of licensed broadcasters and thousands and thousands of internet broadcasters to fit any taste one can imagine, but I think that the actual pirate radio has this unique aura surrounding it. Give it a try, tune in to captain Ganja, Indira Calling, Lounge Lizard Radio or whatever You may come upon and enjoy...

You can find a lot more information at sites like these:

http://www.frn.net/
http://www.radio4all.org/
http://piratearchive.com/

etc.

--------------------
Every Animal Is Someone 🌱 watchdominion.org

Edited by ivi (02/28/05 04:38 AM)

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