Listening
to Pirate and Free Radios is very popular among European and North American
listeners & hobbyists. However, sitting here in the eastern part of the
Indian subcontinent, it is next to impossible to hear these broadcasts. The
chief roadblocks are – low powered transmitters (mostly a few wattage of power)
and the broadcast timings (mostly early
mornings and late afternoons CET & GMT) which is mid-day to early evening
in this part of the world, hence unfavourable day-time propagation on the SW
band plays havoc. To add to the tough luck, my QTH is in the busiest part of
the city and full of QRM (human-generated
interference) from use of everyday electronic gadgets. So it leaves me with no
choice but to log and monitor Pirate and Free Radio stations from Europe and North America through
remote receivers over an internet connection. The WebSDR at University of Twente, in
particular, is my wonder toy! I spend hours listening to Pirate and Free Radio stations operating from
the Adriatic to the British Isles and even across the pond from the Appalachians to the Rockies and beyond.
I am
amazed to find so much interest in Pirate and Free Radios among listeners at a
time when international broadcasters are closing their doors for shortwave radio listeners and
dismantling historic transmitting facilities citing lame reasons like lack of
funds, lack of listeners, policy change, evolving to a digital only presence
and so on. I am
into DXing for over 18 years now and I like to enjoy my hobby in all its
shades. Having said that I must also confess that nothing beats the sheer charm
of slowly turning the tuning knob of radios and adjusting the fine tune/ BW
filter to hear voices from across the seven seas! Notwithstanding, Web-SDRs and
remote receiver logs are equally fascinating to me.
With the intention to explore the world of Free Radios and Pirate Radios, I started sending e-reports of my monitoring of Pirate and Free Radio broadcasts since early 2015. I was fascinated to receive my first WebSDR* logged QSL from Radio Geronimo. Then one QSL followed another - Radio Quadzilla, Europa 24, Radio Underground, Radio Merlin International, Atlantic 2000 Internationall, and a few more are in the queue.
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| Radio Geronimo Shortwave QSL, Germany |
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| Quadzilla Radio QSL, East Holland |
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Europa 24 QSL, Germany Atlantic 2000 International QSL, Germany Radio Underground QSL, England Radio Merlin International QSL, England |
Radio Merlin International QSL, England
Radio Carrierwave QSL, The Nederlands
