SWL Winterfest

• North of Philadelphia in the Lansdale area - best route is on the PA turnpike
• Many pirate stations on the air - FM, SW, MW. Partial India Radio, Radio Azteca, WBZO
• Three days of forums this year. We attended the following: Free Satellite Broadcast Dxing, Cool Software for the SWL, Radio on the Road, Digital Radio, Dxing Worldwide, The Year in Pirate Radio, Scanning with the Scum, Receiver Market Review and the Broadcasters Forum.
• Equipment we used
• Recorded pirate broadcasts using a laptop computer and the following software: Audacity, ScanRec and Free Hi-Q Recorder
• HF receivers: ICOM IC-745, Sony ICS-SW7600G, Grundig S350, MFJ-8100W Regenerative
• Scanners: Radio Shack Pro-96, ICOM W-32A HT, ICOM R-100
• Antenna: Wire loop in the hotel window into a Vectronics active antenna
• Misc: MFJ Passive Preselector, MFJ DSP audio filter, Datong audio filter
• http://www.swlfest.com/ - (Official SWL Winterfest Web Site)

Pirate Broadcasters

• Most often heard weekends and holidays but can be anytime.
• Frequencies usually AM or USB: 1600-1710, Euro 6200 - 6400 (esp. 6220, 6305), 6850-6875, 6925, 6950, 6955
• Shortwave pirates we've heard: The Crystal Ship, KIPM, Grasscutter and Sunshine Radio, Take It Easy Radio, Undercover Radio, WMPR, WHYP, Mystery Radio (European), Captain Morgan, Captain Ron, Commander Bunny (WBNY)
• The Free Radio Network's "The A*C*E* Loggings" forum is a good place to find current pirate activity - http://www.frn.net/vines/
• FM: Not anything ever heard locally but there have been some in Cleveland
• Web Sites
• http://www.frn.net/vines/ - (Free Radio Network Vines forums under "The Grapevine Pirate Shortwave" and "The A*C*E* Loggings" and "PIRATE OPERATORS EXCHANGE")
• http://www.frn.net/links/ - (Free Radio Network Top 20 Pirate Links)
• http://wfzr.net/ - (WFZR)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_radio - (Wikipedia)
• http://www.blackcatsystems.com/radio/pirate.html - (Pirate Radio Central)
  
  

Broadcast stations (on the decline, especially Europeans)

• Some digital (using DRM, Digital Radio Mondiale) but still up in the air. Check http://www.drm.org
• Many religious broadcasters seem to be taking spectrum abandoned by the traditional broadcasters.
• Heard recently: Radio Havana Cuba, China Radio International, Radio Slovakia, Radio Canada International, Radio Ukraine International, Radio Budapest (Hungary), Radio Romania International.
• Many European broadcasters no longer broadcast to North America but there is still plenty to listen to.
  
  

Utilities, Clandestine, Numbers Stations, etc.

• http://www.ominous-valve.com/uteworld.html (Utility World)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_station (Wikipedia - Utility Stations)
• http://www.frn.net/vines/ ("URS Unidentified Radio Signals")

Utilities, Clandestine, Numbers Stations, etc. (continued)

• http://www.shortwave.be/cla.html (Clandestine & Opposition SW Radio)
• http://www.dxing.com/clandest.htm (Dxing.com Clandestine Radio)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station (Wikipedia - Numbers Stations)
• http://www.spynumbers.com/ (Spy Numbers Stations SW Radio)
• http://www.dxing.com/numbers.htm (Dxing.com Numbers Stations)
  
  

Other Shortwave Related Web URLs

• http://www.ac6v.com/swl.htm (Shortwave, Longwave, etc.)
• http://www.frn.net/ and http://www.frn.net/vines/ (Free Radio Network)
• http://www.passband.com/ (Passport to World Band Radio)
• http://www.wrth.com/ (World Radio and TV Handbook)
• http://www.nrcdxas.org/ (National Radio Club)
• http://www.monitoringtimes.com/ (Monitoring Times)
• http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/ (Monitoring Times SW Central)
• http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Shortwave_Radio/ (DXZone Shortwave)
• http://www.amlogbook.com/ (Online AM Logbook)
• http://www.dxtools.com/ (Radio Plus+ DxTools)
• http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/ (Primetime Shortwave)
• http://www.blackcatsystems.com/radio/shortwave.html (Shortwave Radio Links)
  
  

Misc.

• SWL Clubs
• NASWA http://www.naswa.net/
• CIDX http://www.anarc.org/cidx/
• BADX http://www.naswa.net/badx/
• Scanners
• All Ohio Scanner Club http://www.aosc.org/
• "Scanner Scum" http://www.scannerscum.org/
• Portable radios
• Sony IC-2010 - Out of production a few years now but a favorite
• Eton E-1 - Current high-end portable, about $500
• Magazines
• Monitoring Times
• Popular Communications
• Streaming audio on the web
• BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/
• Deutsche Welle http://www.dw-world.de/
• Radio Netherlands http://www.radionetherlands.nl/listenonline/livebroadcast
• WBCQ http://johnlightning.com:8020/listen.pls