Shortwave magazine column about pirate radio

A place to share all pirate radio related articles, video footage and both short & feature-length documentaries both new & old.
Post Reply
User avatar
radionortheast
proppa neck!
proppa neck!
Posts: 712
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:38 pm

Shortwave magazine column about pirate radio

Post by radionortheast » Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:59 am

It used to be the only way i’d hear about pirates other than listening to the radio. It was a small column about pirate radio, i’ve been trying to see if there might be away to read it online some were, it did have some stuff about stations on fm. Think the author was mentioned on another forum a while ago, my dad would get these magazines others like everyday practical electronics, a lot of the time they weren't that interesting, apart from the adverts for fm bugs.

There was this story about a station been allowed to stay on air for experimental reasons, about the same time there was a station in Leeds on every evening, I suspected this was the station, on 101.9 had a very good signal. Its so long ago i’m not sure, also read another story about a station it was called abc it had been raided the wall clock had been taken, don’t know why they’d take that. I had I look at the pirate archive there was a station called that in Leeds but it was too early, it would been mid-late 90’s era, i’m guessing it must of been some were else. The 101.9 station was mentioned on an early website, don’t know the name of it, it had very good stereo I know that, it said it carried asian programming.

There was another story, i’m pretty sure about this one, it was rsl that got fined for using 180w instead the 10w, (1998?) I do remember this on 106.8, this signal would of been as strong as dream fm. I could hear both on my pocket radio in the back of our car going down near the kilburn white horse, I do remember hearing 106.8 alot on day trips, bhangra type music, quite surprised were I could pick it up, over at Harrogate, Knaresborough. It was interesting too, I didn’t know the power a towerblock pirate would use, then you have a figure, I knew thats what they use. :lol:

jvok
tower block dreamin
tower block dreamin
Posts: 273
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2020 2:44 pm

Re: Shortwave magazine column about pirate radio

Post by jvok » Thu Jan 23, 2025 4:28 pm

Worth having a look if you can find it on here, they've got tons of old mags archived

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/

EFR
no manz can test innit
no manz can test innit
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon May 20, 2024 5:39 pm

Re: Shortwave magazine column about pirate radio

Post by EFR » Fri Jan 24, 2025 9:52 am

Achim has that In This Week series of old pirate memories.

https://www.achimbrueckner.de/freeradio/php/wordpress/
Fight For Free Radio!

User avatar
radionortheast
proppa neck!
proppa neck!
Posts: 712
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:38 pm

Re: Shortwave magazine column about pirate radio

Post by radionortheast » Fri Jan 24, 2025 2:52 pm

jvok wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 4:28 pm Worth having a look if you can find it on here, they've got tons of old mags archived

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/
wow thanks for that, the column is called off the record, the name of the columists was andy

I did find this, someone had deliberately been broadcasting over the top of an rsl and medway fm was fined for upping their power, these were in july 1998, jan 1999 additions.
i’ve not found the other things I was looking for maybe there were else were in it, there was radio active and everyday practical wireless, it seems bit like a needle in a haystack.

The colum would only appear every few months, alot of the time it seemed shortwave centric, he did seem obsess sometimes over the station in the channel tunnel. I do remember the artcle on captain cooke, unusual full page spread, he did look like you’d expect a pirate to look like. I did think its mad people did dx tv, big crts, alot of the stuff went over my head the projects modes.

Theres other stuff too like an actual teleswitch meter, 162khz has been kept going in France, also remember the raid on hope fm,, when they interrupted the last broadcast ris, random advice someone who couldn receive rsls pirates in the car not at home, there were actual things to receive on fm was nice, a vertical was needed, kind of like an early web forum, girls fm been received long distance, discussions on what frequencies could be used for.

User avatar
Persona Non Grata
no manz can test innit
no manz can test innit
Posts: 126
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2021 11:51 pm
Location: North of Belfast NI

Re: Shortwave magazine column about pirate radio

Post by Persona Non Grata » Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:56 am

There were several underground "zines" dedecated to pirate radio but the SWM articles were the only place (pre-internet) in the UK one could read about them in a (somewhat) "mainstream" publication.

IIRC they were threatened with prosecution at one point for publishing frequencies of pirate stations although which law a prosecution could be brought under (at least in the case of land based stations) is fairly unclear.

it was called abc it had been raided the wall clock had been taken, don’t know why they’d take that.

There have been instances of studio furniture been taken during raids.

I did think its mad people did dx tv

Some folk still do although it's more difficult now that it's all mostly digital and UHF and the availablity of thousands of channels on satellite (and the internet) has killed a lot of the novelty of being able to get foreign stations

I occasionally dabbled with Band 1 DXing myself back in the day.

User avatar
radionortheast
proppa neck!
proppa neck!
Posts: 712
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:38 pm

Re: Shortwave magazine column about pirate radio

Post by radionortheast » Mon Feb 03, 2025 2:27 pm

They did seem to make a thing of someone getting into trouble for listening to a pirate, i’m sure it can’t of just been listening, must of had some of other connection, it did seem odd to me. This back when you could listen to stuff on scanners, that was illegal too..maybe sometimes people get caught, with their hand in the till, it was illegal to publish the frequencies of pirates too, definitely think there were some publications that got into trouble over this. :shock: There was one in a book I read about not so long a, got the phone line disconnected I could be wrong, maybe safer having a magazine about other stuff. 8-)

I don’t agree with the tone the off the record colum took later on, it was saying all pirates were set up brats, the brat youth bridgade, it was abit too judgey to me, you didn’t get much information about pirates rsls, it someone giving their opinion. I do have fond memories of the mid 2000's the music i'd download then, some of could be bratty. :tup

User avatar
reverend
tower block dreamin
tower block dreamin
Posts: 260
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2020 12:03 pm

Re: Shortwave magazine column about pirate radio

Post by reverend » Tue Feb 04, 2025 8:02 pm

Persona Non Grata wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:56 amThere were several underground "zines" dedecated to pirate radio...
I remember 'Anoraks UK' which was printed in Blackpool and towards the end of its life had several pages on the London scene as well as a good rundown of what was happening in the rest of the country. Also 'TX Magazine' had lots of articles on the pirate scene. Both were back in the late 80s/early 90s.
if it ain't broke, keep tweaking

Post Reply