W8EMV - Whiskey Eight Echo Mike Victor

Pirate radio just in time for Halloween, 2024-10-19 (2024-10-20 UTC)

Halloween is traditionally a strong time for shortwave radio pirate stations. We're getting some of that a couple weeks early on the 43 meter pirate band.

Tonight's show is Sycko Radio, as identified by HF Underground

https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,135371.0.html

I have them on 6950 kHz USB (upper sideband), and can pick them up OK on my home Youloop antenna and much better on the Pembleton Farms KiwiSDR with its amplified loop Wellbrook/Wellgood antenna.

Two screen captures as proof of work: First, from 0123 UTC a capture from my OpenWebRX+ installation showing a good signal but also relatively high background noise:

Next, from 0128 UTC is from the Pembleton Farm KiwiSDR and shows a skull image that was transmitted over the music. Note the much lower noise level.

At 0138 UTC the music is Michael Jackson's Thriller, or perhaps a remix of it.

Rooting for the team with the best reception

Here's what the league series radio spectrum looks like in 2024:

Mets on WHSQ 880 (ex-WCBS), New York (flagship): very easy to pick up day and night from several KiwiSDR servers in or near New York; my preferred remote is run by W2GNN in Princeton Junction, NJ. With 50000 watts, WHSQ can be heard quite well direct in Ann Arbor on my home OpenWebRX+ / Airspy HF+ / Youloop antenna setup, at least most of the time when the ionosphere cooperates. My Kenwood R-2000 with a long wire antenna doesn't do as well, but when it does have favorable conditions the broadcast is about a second or two ahead of the digital path. Note that Detroit's WFDF ("910 AM Superstation") has a 25000 watt broadcast at night in HD. As WCBS, this was an all-news station. All-news WINS 1010 and WCBS 880 were both owned by Audacy, and WINS has picked up an FM translator and pulled way ahead in the ratings. From the New York Times of August 12, 2024:

In a move akin to the New York Yankees and Mets completing a trade, the parent companies of WFAN and ESPN New York have swung a deal that gives ESPN New York a stronger signal, while ending the nearly six-decade-long run of the all-news format WCBS-AM 880, Audacy and Good Karma Brands announced Monday.

Guardians on WTAM 1100, Cleveland (flagship): I missed the postgame show after the Cleveland victory, though I was picking up the end of the game from the "Pembleton Farms" KiwiSDR in Northfield Township just north of here. This 50000 watt station is easy to pick up on the Airspy HF+ but much harder with the Kenwood's long wire.

Yankees on WFAN 660, New York (flagship): Some adjacent channel interference from the much stronger WSCR 670 Chicago makes this a tougher copy on my R-2000's long wire. If I tweak the overlapping signals a little on the OpenWebRX+ display I get less interference. Again, the W2GNN KiwiSDR is my go-to, but lots of other east coast receivers get a good signal too.

Dodgers on KIKI 990, Hawaii (network): Obviously I'm not going to pull in Hawaii locally, especially not with WDEO 990 with a strong signal. But in Hawaii, the Beverage antenna that NH6XO uses in their KiwiSDR pulls in KIKI ("Fox Sports 990") 5000 watt station with perfect copy.

Bonus: I have a Sony ICF-2010 which had an "Error.3" message, fixed by a fresh set of batteries and some cleaning of the slightly corroded battery contacts. For a full teardown and rebuild instructions for this problem if fresh batteries doesn't help enough see https://skootsone.yolasite.com/sony-icf2010-eng.php .