LATEST NEWS FROM WMR
Friday 1st December 2023 The show for this week is linked below. A day early this week due to a very busy, and over stretched weekend coming up here at the QTH. This week we have a poor as it turned out, recording of Deckie on RTE2 in an evening in June 1980, Radio Sweden clip, some Radio Zodiac airchecks from 1978, and a Community Radio Youghal ID from the same tape the Zodiac recordings were on. There are also a few recordings of the waterfall art. We also have a sample of the QSL PDF for winter 2023 Sample QSL winter 2023, 20 page pdf WMR SHOW - Recorded 30th November 2023 =================================== Friday 24th November 2023 The show for this week is linked below, and includes some waterfall art, aired every half hour approx, as an experiment. So if you have an SDR Play, or an Elad, or Perseus SDR, or even if you listen on line, widen the waterfall display and see if you can see anything. It is kind of experimental. The American station pictured at Halloween with the witches etc, seemed to have some kind of a sub carrier, so the art was being aired separately..... This is for pure AM.... This was how it looked on AM on Sunday, using an SDRPLAY receiver and basic 40m dipole. Also featuring in todays show is popular 70s sw pirate, European Music Radio. This was a recording from the original EMR C180, which has never been aired on the web or anything...... Thank you to our hard working relay facilities for their continued support for WMR. A move was made last week from 6295 to 6300, during Sunday, because of some QRM. Signals were absolutely perfect, like MW, until at whatever time it was, it was like someone switching off a light. Amazing... WMR SHOW - Recorded 24th November 2023 ===================================
Friday 17th November 2023 The show for this week is mainly music, with a feature in the middle on Radio Impact, a very professional SW pirate station from 1979 / 80. During the show I mentioned hearing some Irish folk music on 1323. It turned out to be an Irish music show on the IRRS, Italy. Also apologies for no Dave Anderson show as promised. Although we had a bit of a get together at the WMR studio last weekend, there was no time for programming, due to touring around old haunts in Scotland on the Sunday.... Maybe next time.. Hopefully you will have good reception this weekend. WMR SHOW - Recorded 17th November 2023 =================================== Friday 10th November 2023 The show for this weekend features the Radio North DX test on 846kHz in 2009, Radio GSV Voice overs, and a clip of Mike Jame from early in 1980 with a recording made for 270m MW to Glasgow. Whether this was a practise to get used to the mixer, or whether someone was going to come up with a mw site and transmitter at some point is anybody's guess... This weeks show is linked below. Apologies for the wrong date being published on the web site last week. Not noticed till this week. It was the right show that was linked though..... WMR SHOW - Recorded 10th November 2023 Last weekend we had superb signals in both Saturday evening and Sunday evening, and within 5 minutes there was a complete fade out. We had been hit with Auroral conditions and even a rarely seen STEVE was reported. A cousin of normal Aurora. Nice for astronomical observations, bad for radio propagation!! QSL PDFs - Currently we have visitors at WMR and anyway there are a few more images to add to the e qsl, so please bear with us a few days longer, while a larger pdf is made up. We should get the mail replied to this coming week. It has backed up again for a few weeks.. ===================================
Friday 3rd November 2023 The show for this weekend is linked below. It is dedicated to the memory of Paul Bentley, a true friend of Free Radio, Broadcaster, and presenter. He was also known to the TOP BAND NET on 1933 and 1920, and was a regular there in the evenings over the years. I have not spoken to Paul face to face since probably 1992!!!! Although I have of course spoken to him many times on the phone, Skype, and radio waves. WMR SHOW - Recorded 3rd November 2023
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WINTER SCHED FOR WMR VIA SHORWAVE GOLD Due to the wintertime conditions there has been a rehash of the frequency sched for Shortwave Radio in Germany. 6160 leaves the airwaves early now due to QRM from high power stations. As a result, the WMR programmes have been rescheduled..... WMR is now running as following: Friday: 21:00 to 23:00 UTC on 3975 Saturday: 16:00 to 18:00 UTC and 21:00 to 23:00 UTC on 3975 Sunday: 12:00 to 14:00 UTC on 6160 and 16:00 UTC to 18:00 UTC on 3975 As always, many thanks for the airtime fellows. So much appreciated.
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HALLOWEEN 2023 There was some interesting stations heard at halloween, 31st October to 1st November. Not least, XFM on 6850. Not only did they have a powerhouse signal on their 6850 frequency, but they had some kind of a sub carrier with a load of very cool graphics that show up on the waterfall display!! A sample is shown below, and also links to view a few others. This page is cluttered enough without adding another 6 or so images to it....... XFM Via Mix Radio 6850 around 0050 1st November 2023 XFM Via Mix Radio 6850 around 0232 inc sign off 1st November 2023
A FEW OTHER IMAGES OF THE WATERFALL
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Saturday 28th October 2023 The show for this weekend has been altered slightly at the start during the bagpipes, to include an announcement about the death of our good friend Paul from Radio North, EI7JM, Paul used to be heard almost nightly on the top band nets on 1933 or 1920...... The updated show is using the same link as below from Friday.... Also remember this weekend may see some extra North American activity, as it is almost halloween. Check 6.8 / 6.9 region of the band....
Friday 27th October 2023 The show for this weekend 27th October is linked below. Many thanks to all concerned with the airtime. This weeks show includes a feature on poor old Mike James who died a year ago mid week next week. We will prob have another few airchecks of Mike next weekend. There may be a technical issue at 6160 this weekend, but 3975 is on...... There will also be a slight update to the show tomorrow with a late item of news that came to us just as the show was being uploaded to Germany. I will still keep the show 2 hours, but the item of news will go in the middle of an instrumental at the end. The sad news is that Paul Bentley / Burbank of Radio North has died. Paul made up one of the jingle / liner packages for WMR, and used to be heard on Radio Fax. He also used to be on / ran WABC from County Donegal.... Paul was often heard on the ham bands of an evening.... EI7JM on the 1933 net on top band. He had been ill for some time. Finally thanks to the operator of 6280 for a few hours of airtime last weekend. Also around 7705 on Sunday. THat was an old friend testing some equipment out...... 6280 was 150 watts, and possibly an ex WMR TX???
WMR SHOW - Recorded 27th October 2023
Saturday 21st October 2023 The show for this weekend 21st October is linked below. Once again many thanks to all concerned with the airtime. Apologies for being a day late in this upload. We had a stressful Friday evening working against the clock due to losing about 40m of programme. This was due to a windows reboot for no real reason on the recording PC, and luckily I had saved the show at 1 hour and 8 mins, This was after another recovery from a crash, which luckily that part of the file was recovered. So guess who needs to make sure theres a different and reliable PC connected up for next weekend!!! I hope with losing the programming, I have not managed to play the same tune twice or anything. There was no time to listen thru to make sure it was ok!!! But after all was done, we had enough time to upload the file for the first airing via Germany 6160. This weeks show includes some clips of some strong MW stations coming through from ASIA, as well as current recordings from Skull n Bones Radio System, and Johnny Tobacco last week. And some chatter and music as usual. One report compared the chatter to a religious station!!!
WMR SHOW - Recorded Friday 20th October 2023
Friday 13th October 2023 The show for this weekend, 13th October is linked below. Many thanks to all concerned with the airtime. This weeks show includes quite a number of features this week. Clips of Radio Sunshine, sw piratefrom 1978, Radio Carousel, Dundalk, and Time Radio from sw 1974.
WMR SHOW - Recorded 13th October 2023
Friday 6th October 2023 The show for this weekend, 6th October is linked below. Many thanks to all concerned with the airtime. Apologies for being a little brief on the web site this last little while. But we have plenty to say on the actual shows!!!! This weeks show includes quite a number of features this week. Clips of Radio Mercury with Steve York and Marc Bolland. Radio Seagull with Tony Allan from 1973. Radio RSA 25790 in 1979, Radio Moscow comments on Korean Aircraft shooting down in 1986, Radio Northsea with James Harding (LBP)
WMR SHOW - Recorded 6th October 2023
Friday 29th September 2023 The show for this weekend at the end of September / beginning of October is linked below. Many thanks to all concerned with the airtime. So much appreciated guys.
WMR SHOW - Recorded 29th September 2023
Friday 22nd September 2023 The show for this weekend has a few radio recordings, as well as music and radio related chatter. Some of the features include a few clips of International Broadcasters, as well as a clip of Mike Johns on Radio Woodstock back in September 1980. NB: Excuse the blooper when talking about Chris Rainbow. The show was recorded and uploaded before I noticed the deliberate error. Chris obviously did "Gime me what I cry for". Not sure where the concentration was during that link lol...!!! Although not yet sent out, the e-QSL has been updated and pages added. A sample is posted below. There should be time over the weekend to get the mail caught up with again. Best regards and good DX WMR SHOW - Recorded 22nd September 2023
Thursday 14th September 2023 The show for this weekend is a day early this time as I have a wedding tomorrow, Friday. So it is going to be a busy few days. Of course I have packed a portable radio just to monitor SW. 6290 is not expected on air this weekend.... Finally, I have updated the e-QSL as the info section was written in June. But there are also some other photos stuck in. It is around 16 pages now. WMR SHOW - Recorded 14th September 2023
Saturday 9th September 2023 The show for this weekend is a day late in being uploaded due to other commitments last night. Apologies. The file was sent as usual to Shortwave Gold however for Friday night and the first play. Thank you fellas..... Now I have to announce that an anon mail arrived yesterday also, stating that 6290 will be off air for a couple of weeks. So nothing to worry about if there is nothing appears on 6290 for a few weeks. Thank you so much for letting us know. I never picked up the mail till after the show was recorded for this weekend so 6290 is still announced.... Just allow me a moment to respectfully thank everyone involved in airing WMR since APRIL / MAY and giving us a chance to return to the airwaves. It has been such a great summer of broadcasting.. And getting back into the habit of doing shows again. A few weeks worth of E=QSLs are backed up again, to respond to. Again, don't worry, the replies will be dealt with soonest. Some updates are also foreseen on the 12 page e QSL, and especially an update on the information sheet page. Thank you for your patience in that respect. WMR SHOW - Recorded 8th September 2023
Friday 1st September 2023 The show for today features a mystery station called Radio Sunshine from Glasgow from 1983, and ERI with WMR station founder, Stewart Scott. Both recordings have some audio limitations. But compared to some of the stuff we have played as features recently.....lol.... Thanks to all concerned for a superb weekend of broadcasting last weekend. Lets hope for another of the same this early September 2023... WMR SHOW - Recorded 1st September 2023
Friday 25th August 2023 The show today has a Scottish rock theme, and a few airchecks from Lee Alvin at ABC Europe from 1975. Also Phil Dixon on South Dublin Radio in 1982.... WMR SHOW - Recorded 25th August 2023
Friday 18th August 2023 The show today plays a few airchecks of John Dawson on WMR from 1981, as well as commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Ross Revenge sailing proudly into the knock deep and beginning the 80s phase of Caroline. The first airing of the show this weekend went out Friday night an hour earlier on the SHORTWAVE GOLD frequencies of 6160 and 3975.. 2000/2200 UTC WMR SHOW - Recorded 18th August 2023
Friday 11th August 2023 The second weekend in August, mid August already. Lets hope this upload is in plenty time....... Best wishes to all... WMR SHOW - Recorded 11th August 2023
Friday 4th August 2023 The first weekend in August, and a little later than normal uploading. We expect our German friends this week to air the show Friday and Saturday 2100 to 2300 UTC, same both nights. Good idea chaps. WMR SHOW - Recorded 4th August 2023
Saturday 29th July 2023 The problem with the cache on the server sorted itself out last night thankfully and the non corrupt version of the WMR show uploaded fine. Apologies for any inconvenience. Tonight on the MW band, there is an up and coming show from "Jack" for Radio Daniella from Dublin, This should be aired from 2100-2300 UTC on probably 1197kHz tonight. The freq of 1233 has had some QRM on there and 1206 is earmarked for the Radio London broadcast from Essex, till August 14th. The Radio Daniella show is linked below. Radio Daniella, Dublin 29th July 2023
Friday 28th July 2023 July 28th and we ask ourselves where the month has gone. The summer seems to drift away so very quickly. Below is a link to a slightly disjointed show today, featuring more interval signals, and some clips of QSOs on the Echo Charlie band. Many of the calls heard are from another era and are long long gone from the world of SW. I wonder if any of them still listen to SW radio? NB:MESSAGE TO OUR FRIENDLY RELAY STATIONS. I HOPE THE GOOD FILE HAS JUST NOT KICKED IN AT 1900 UTC, AND WILL SHORTLY. THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME KIND OF A FILE CORRUPTION ON THE UPLOADED FILE, DESPITE IT PLAYING OK ON THE UPLOAD PC. REPLACED TWICE WITH A WORKING FILE. FINGERS CROSSED.... WMR SHOW - Recorded 28th July 2023
Friday 21st July 2023 July seems to have come and almost gone here pretty quickly. But again thank you to our friendly relays for your invaluable assistance you have given to WMR. The show for this week includes some musical gems, as well as features from ABC Europe with Danny Thomas, and James Harding from 1978. There is also a report from 1979 from Glen Hauser, and some old SW International broadcasters interval signals. There are quite a number of outstanding E QSL requests from the last few weeks, which I thought would have been replied to by now, but things can be hectic here at WMR. Weather forecast for the whole weekend this week is pretty obsene, and it seems like a good time to send out the e QSLs. Thank you all for your patience.
WMR SHOW - Recorded 21st July 2023
Friday 14th July 2023 Mid July already and another WMR show is here for this coming weekend. Today's show features some classic tracks, mixed with radio and music chatter. We also play a clip of AWR DX show which used to be on the air on a Sunday morning on 9670kHz via Sines, Portugal. There is a memory from Skyport Radio as well. Some bits and pieces to upload here on the web site, as time permits, but first of all, the show for mid July is linked below. WMR SHOW - Recorded 14th July 2023
Friday 7th July 2023 Well another week come and gone and another show recorded for this weekend hopefully. Thank you to our friendly relay stations for the invaluable help again this coming weekend, well done chaps. WMR SHOW - Recorded 7th July 2023
Sunday 2nd July 2023 The primary service on 6290 was on around 1000 GMT today, and signals are very armchair most of the time. We keep hearing from old friends, and another one came in from Holland from Otto who wa there for our first transmissions and even visited the studio back in the 1980's I guess?? Or very early 90's.
Saturday 1st July 2023 Our so called primary service on 6290 was on the air by 1130 GMT, till sign off at 2135 not long after the Dutch station that came on top of us signed off. Our German friends, dare I say as usual, had WMR on via 6160 and 3975 from 21/2300, an hour later than the Friday night broadcast. And finally for the broadcasting logs, the 2230/0030 transmission took place this Saturday night on 6955, instead of 6950. A tune around the KIWI SDR receivers between 2230 and 2300 brought in listenable signals in Brazilia, mid Russia, Northern Iceland, Northern Sweden, Kuwait, and weak signals in Bangladesh area, Thailand, and Southern Australia..!! Last weekend a very listenable signal was being heard in Bonaire, as well as being heard in Trinidad. The primary service was already off air by this time to compare, but laser was nowhere near that strength in I think it was the Northern Swedish SDR,
Friday 30th June 2023 So here we are at the end of June and going into early July already. Where does the time go. I have uploaded a show hopefully for this weekend again. I have a load of other logs and comments to make for the last couple of weeks, but below is a link to the show. Thank you very much to our friends a the relay stations for the amazing weekend of short wave broadcasting last weekend..... Tonight courtesy of our German friends at Shortwave Gold, WMR was heard from 2000/2200 GMT on 6160 and 3975kHz.... WMR SHOW - Recorded 30th June 2023
Sunday 25th June 2023 A few notes for this past weekend's broadcasting.
6160 - Shortwave Gold, Germany.. 6160 and 3975. Friday 2000 - 2200 GMT, Saturday 2100 - 2300 GMT.
6950 - Powerhouse relay on a Saturday night. 2230 - 0030 GMT
6290 - Primary service Friday night 1940 - 2140 GMT Saturday on air by 1215 GMT Sunday on air about 1010 GMT
Friday 23rd June 2023 Some further notes still to be updated on last weekends entries, but anyway, here is the mid summer show from WMR recorded on Friday 23rd June 2023. As always, thank you so much to our friendly relay stations in advance. More later, but here is the show to begin with. Some time will be taken over this weekend for replying to station mail, of which there is quite a lot!! WMR SHOW - Recorded 23rd June 2023
Sunday 18th June 2023 The 6290 primary service was early on the air today about 0740 GMT until about 1940......
Saturday 17th June 2023 Well again Saturday became the big day for our signals to be aired via the primary 6295 transmitter. Signals were good at HQ here, but later as evening came in, signals were just fantastic till sign off around 2200 UTC.. There was a freq change maybe around 1900 to 6290 to avoid a bit of QRM from 6297. We noted Laser also moved from 6205 to 6240 to avoid qrm on 6209. Shortwave Gold on 6160 and 3975 relayed WMR 2100 - 2300 GMT. Again great signals from both frequencies. 6950 - What can I say about this unid signal that appeared again at 2230 - 0030 GMT. I took some time to have a listen around the world on the KIWI SDR network. I was surprised by listenable signals in far flung places like Bonaire, Kuwait, Brasilia. Poor but readable in Cyprus, Bangladesh area, and as darkness fell on the East Coast of North America, signals were good in Florida, NH, MA, etc. Signals were booming in on SDRs in UK, Norway, and poland, as well as an area many miles south of Moscow. Mighty impressed. Depending how long 6290 is on for on Sunday we might give the SDRs a try, though often the sign off is a bit earlier.... before the darkness path comes in properly..
Friday 16th June 2023 Almost mid summers day already and here is another show ready for the airwaves of Europe. Today the two hour show features Radio West from Mullingar, Ireland in 1987, and Ecos Del Torbes from Venezuela which used to boom in on 4900. There is also a poor recording of The Happy Station with Tom Mayers. As usual, there are some musical gems intersperced with radio chatter... Best of dx during this extended heatwave here in Scotland. Thank you to our German friends at Shortwave Gold for the first airing on Friday night. As stated on air, signals at night time in mid summer on SW are superb. 2000 - 2200 GMT WMR SHOW - Recorded 16th June 2023
Sunday 11th June 2023 Our 6295 frequency affectionately known as the primary service was on the air by 0800 GMT today on 6294.6/7 again. Sign off this Sunday was around 1945 GMT. Geez, we have had an amazing amount of broadcast hours in the last few weeks...!! I am humbly in debted to all the relay stations. By the way, it would be helpful if you want a full data QSL from WMR, to include full data in your email to WMR. Rather than just using the date the email was sent or the time the email was sent as a guide. During the current heatwave, I have been using a spare PC out in the garden to reply to mail, while enjoying the sun, and have simply copied and pasted a text file from the emails. The web PC with the email has not been the machine used to create the pdf reply during this unusual great spell of weather. Thanks.
Saturay 10th June 2023 The so called primary service of WMR came on the air around 1400 GMT today, Saturday with the current show. Well done you guys. Signal was up to the usual high standards and booming in at WMR HQ by sign off at 2200 GMT. There was a pause in the transmission at 1800 GMT, When it came back on air, frequency had been adjusted to 6295 bang on. (From 6294.6 / 7). Our friends at Shortwave Gold aired the show at 2100 - 2300 GMT, on 6160 and 3975. Thanks again you fellows. And finally for Saturday, as in the previous weeks, the unid transmission came on 6950kHz with the same solid signal as before. A report has come in from MA, USA from an old listener from the past, but SINPO was 45444..!!! So 6950 is really hammering out as well.....
Friday 9th June 2023 New show now uploaded for the weekend of 9th, 10th, 11th June 2023. Thanks to our German friends on 6160, the first play this weekend was on Friday night 2000 - 2200 GMT. As ever, much appreciated chaps. I have also updated the listen again page with the new shows, rather than scrolling through endless text to find them. WMR SHOW - 9th - 11th June 2023
Thursday 8th June 2023 As if to commemorate our 43rd anniversary, the mystery transmitter is on the air tonight on the usual 6295 frequency. It has probably been on air from at least 1515 GMT. Signal is booming as usual, and is very much appreciated by us here at WMR. It went off about 1920GMT. QSLs are being replied to this evening, with the new design e-qsl pdf, see sample below. There should be a multiple emailing either tonight or in the morning. Your patience has been appreciated.
Wednesday 7th June 2023 After a bit of head scratching about some simple basic operational stuff that I haven't done in years, and since forgotten, the final PDF QSL is now being used to reply to WMR mail. I have uploaded a sample here to show what is being used this year.
Saturday 3rd JUNE 2023 As mentioned yesterday, such has been the volume of transmissions during May, a detailed log of known transmissions should be kept, and noted what was on where. Even after a month on air, I had to look through logs and the web etc to try and piece this all together. I think most of the logs below are accurate. Please be advised that Scotland is right in the middle of some kind of a well deserved heat wave, so the new design QSLs have been a little slow to come forth. The weather is too good to sweat it out over a hot computer. But we are getting to them, and hope the pdf will be worth the wait. Apologies again. There is certainly something very special about summer nights and short wave props on 6mHz is superb, and giving armchair listening quality.
WMR LOGS IN 2023 Below are known dates and times noted of the relays of WMR over the various transmitters relaying the new shows since mid May 2023. Saturday / Sunday 29th / 30th April 2023: 6284kHz on air much of the day and evening with old shows. ==================================== Saturday / Sunday 6th / 7th May 2023: 6295kHz. Or rather around 6294.7kHz. On air much of the day and evening. Booming signal with old programmes. ==================================== Saturday / Sunday 13th / 14th May 2023: 6295kHz. On air most of the day and evening though there was some static in the air due to lightning. 6305kHz was used for the last bit on Sunday night, 14th, noted signing off around 2030. New 1 hour test show recorded 14th May wasn't aired this weekend.. 6925 Heard on the 14th May on the Eastern States of North America middle of the day (in Europe), around 1450 - 1600 UTC via a US pirate called TRI.... This was an airing of the new show. ==================================== Friday / Saturday / Sunday 19th / 20th / 21st May 2023: 6295kHz. Noted on Friday night with the first airing of the new test show which was recorded on 14th May. Also heard during Saturday and Sunday with the new 2023 programme only. No old shows.. 6160 / 3975kHz - A nice surprise Friday night around 1800 - 1900 was a relay via the transmitters of SW Gold in Germany on 3975 and 6160kHz, of the first test programme. 6950kHz on 20th May 2023 heard in the USA, audible from about 21:50 to 23:50. Initially this was thought to be the same operator as the 6295 signal, perhaps even moving freq, but on 27th May both transmitters were on the air and not in parallel. The logs suggest the 6295 channel closed around 2200UTC. 6950 was on with the 1 hour test programme for a couple of plays. ==================================== Friday / Saturday / Sunday 26th / 27th / 28th May 2023: 6295kHz was on the air Friday night, Saturday and Sunday 6950kHz - Saturday night, 27th May, 6950 was on the air again from around 2150 - 2350 GMT, with a signal that was being heard across the Atlantic in the States, as well as Columbia. It was also heard at 40 over s9 in Poland!! The signal at the WMR HQ was also really very very strong. Power and location unknown, but thanks very much to the unid station for the very powerful relay. 6160 / 3975kHz aired a relay of the previous weeks show on Friday night, 26th May, and again with an airing of the new show on Sunday night 28th May from 2000 - 2200 GMT. In fact this almost synced up with 6295, whether by chance or maybe the unid relay station read about that coming on air?? Great signals from both stations.. ====================================
6295kHz
on air by about 1400 GMT Saturday. Sign off 2258 GMT. (Continous looping
of current show recorded Friday 2nd June) 6160 / 3975 from Shortwave Gold / Shortwave Radio in Germany. Saturday around 1600 - 1800 ,and again 2000 - 2200. On Sunday night from 2000 - 2200 the 6160 transmitter carried the show from last week, while the 3975 transmitter carried the current show!!! Phew. All these airings..!!! All times GMT / UTC/Z (Multiple one off plays of shows) 6950Khz was on the air again this Saturday, 2230 - 0030 approx. Booming signal again.... and being again reported across the Atlantic. (One off play of shows) Thank you again to the various relay operators, who's efforts are so much appreciated. In fact I feel very humbled at the efforts you guys have went to for the cause of WMR. I hope we can continue this kind of unusual broadcasting. Very unusual..!!
==================================== Thursday June 8th 2023 6295 on the air from around 1515 GMT?? Great signal at tune in here around 1700 UTC/ GMT. Great signal to listen to while writing out the QSL pdf's. It went off around 1920GMT.
Friday night - 6160 / 3975 on the air from our friends in Germany at Shortwave Radio, 2000 - 2200 GMT. Todays new programme aired. Great signals again. Saturday around 1400, 6295 noted with this weekend's show, signing of at 2200 GMT. A nice touch at 1800 when a pause in the transmission took place, and the signal came back on 6295, rather than 6294.7ish. Cool. Shortwave Gold also took the show again from 2100 - 2300 GMT. Both 6160 and 3975 kHz well in parallel. The other unid relay station came on the air again at 2230 - 0030 GMT and again signals were going out all over the place. SINPO 45444 in Ma in the States can hardly be classed as bad. Sunday and the primary service of 6295 was on the air by 0800 GMT, and off around 1945 GMT. Remember we try and stick to GMT / UTC time. An hour behind the UK in summer time.
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Friday 2nd JUNE 2023 And once again WMR had a very successful few days of transmissions last weekend, thanks to our relay friends. This was really appreciated guys. I shall list the frequencies and times known shortly, but first off here is a new show hopefully for this weekend, the first weekend in June 2023. WMR is commemorating 43 years on the air during this broadcast..... WMR SHOW - 2nd - 4th June 2023
26th MAY 2023 Again WMR had a great weekend of broadcasting last weekend via the unidentified relay station. The broadcast was well heard Saturday and Sunday, and the new 2 hour show that was uploaded on Sunday was noticed and also broadcast. The freq of 6295 was used although later on Saturday night a transmitter did appear on 6950kHz. Can this be assumed to have been the same operator?? The new show was also aired again on Friday 26th. Many thanks for this relay whoever you are and it really is very much appreciated. Also on Friday 2000 - 2200 the Shortwave Gold relay again took place on 6160 and // 3975kHz... Again, this airtime is very much appreciated. The only thing with this set up is that I have no idea what type of compression / proccessing is done with the audio, and am unsure if the audio should have some eq on the music, or be fully compressed and proccessed. In the past it was always better that recorded shows were recorded flat and raw, with processing done at the playout system at the transmitter. Is the mic really better with slight echo or none?? We have tried to have that slight 60s sounding slight reverb for years, and thought it sounded not too bad. There have been a fairly large number of emails coming in over the last few weeks and for this we are also greatful and many thanks for your interest. We have a new E QSL to arrange / design, so please be patient just a little while longer, and you will all have your e-QSL. These come in the form of a pdf with a few extra pages of scans of past QSLs and stickers, and even an artists impression of the transmitter from 1992. There will also be of course the much desired QSL part. So a new design is required and being prepared. Below is a link to a new 2 hour show, a little rushed and stressed with other stuff during the recording, but it should sound reasonable. A bit out of practice you understand....!! Jack... May 26th 2023
21st MAY 2023 Another weekend of some superb signals from the fake WMR, but on Friday night he was airing the new show uploaded last weekend to this web site. So that makes the mystery operator a friend of WMR I would say. So below is a new 2 hour show recorded on 21st May. Time ran out on Saturday for recording as part of the studio equipment had been used for a disco on Friday night, and the venue / premises was locked up until 6pm on Saturday for picking the gear up. But another pleasant surprise was the guys at 6160 / 3975 Shortwave Gold / Shortwave Radio (new name??). The show was aired on their transmitters on Friday night. Do they want any more shows from WMR??? Who knows. I have not been in touch with either the guys at 6160, or the fake WMR, so what the future plans are I have no idea as yet... For the first time since the fake WMR came on the air at the end of April, I have checked the email. We have had a fair amount of email reports, which will be acknowledged in due course. Also many thanks to the operator in the States that aired the new show last weekend as well.... Good grief we are creating a bit of interest!!!!! All thanks to the fake WMR for coming on air and giving us a kick up the arse!!! It is although the fake WMR doesn't want to do his own shows and wants to stay anon, And here am I happy to record more shows but currently no tx site. (Not looked too hard though this last little while, busy old life and all that..lol..) So this arrangement might just work !! Below is a link to todays 2 hour show, music and chatter only, no features this time around. Hopefully next time there will be a mailbox section as well as maybe some old recordings featured. Audio is unproccessed, with no eq on the music, and I am assuming it is proccessed at the tx site. But seeing as there has been no contact with the operators, we can't really be sure..!!! What a unique and odd way of operating, but it seems to be working!!!! Jack.... 21st May..
14th MAY 2023 This weekend has been the 3rd weekend that the fake WMR has been on the air. It was heard Saturday and Sunday 29th and 30th April on 6284kHz, and this last two weeks on 6295 ish. Last weekend the signal really was booming out. 6295 is a great channel since Reflections Europe seem to be off air for now. Last weekend, the signal was superb armchair quality most of the late afternoon and evening. The fake WMR has been on the air since 2000, and often popped up at this time of year. This year we thought we would try a little experiment and see if the fake WMR wants to stick out new shows. So for a trial, there is a link below to a new show, recorded on 14th May 2023, There has never been any communcation with the operator of this transmitter, so he may not be interested. But if he is, then I would guess this would turn the fake WMR into a real WMR!! In actual fact, the fake WMR did broadcast current shows in the past, but only after they had their first airing via the WMR transmitters. (These WMR transmitters are in quite a state of disrepair at this time, and need a bit of work done to make them work again, as did the studio recently!!) So the only difference this time is they have not been aired by WMR first. Confused?? Not nearly as much as I will be if these shows get an airing and listeners start to want a QSL from an unknown location....lol...
3rd NOVEMBER 2022 Apologies for the lack of transmissions over the last few years. It has been a particularly hectic few years. Back sometime though. It is with great sadness I have to bring you this obituary for Mike James, who died around the 1st of the month. Jack.... November 2022. RIP old friend. See our TRIBUTE TO MIKE JAMES . For some audio of Neil / Mike, scroll down the listen again page. Is it really so long since he made shows at WMR?? See our listen again page.
9th FEBRUARY 2016 WMR was back on the air again on Sunday morning 7th February with a new show, featuring the closedown in 1988 of Westside Radio, and a few tributes to the various famous rock artist's and presenters that have recently passed away. Signal was very respectable in the target area and the band would have been described as being good to us. The programme is as always available in the "listen again" area of this site. NB: We were on the air last weekend, but it was the repeat of an old show, due to not having time to prepare a new one!!!
2nd JANUARY 2016 WMR has been back on the airwaves this December with a couple of new programmes. We were on the air on Sunday 20th December, Boxing Day, 26th December, and also on 31st December. We have not done too much this year, but at least we managed some transmissions at year end. The broadcast on Hogmanay this year featured a recording of the closedown of ARD Radio from Dublin in 1979. This did drag on a little perhaps, but it was a historic recording worth a play. We were unable to make any live transmissions this year, but who knows what we might conjure up for 2016. The latest programmes are now available in the listen again area.. We are looking forward to some further transmissions in early 2016. But for now we can only wish all the dxers out there a very happy New Year 2016!!
30th DECEMBER 2014 We made it!!! Yes, WMR managed on the air this past Sunday 28th December, and in fact had ran a few tests from Christmas Eve on 6395kHz. This consisted of a few of the shows from earlier in the year. This was all thanks to a last minute offer of airtime from MAGIC. Thanks to Mr Magic for this, which was much appreciated. We honestly thought we'd have to hit it on the head this festive season. The live part of the show went out from 1400 until around 1800GMT. The band had seemed a little flat earlier in the morning or we might have been on the air sooner. A 15mHz transmitter was operational until the propagation fell over on us, on 15705, giving good results in Central Europe. When a report from Southern Germany was heard for 1800GMT, it seems that we should maybe have given it another hour!! The signal on 6395 was booming.... The show is now available on our listen again page.
DECEMBER 2014 WMR and RADIO GSV are taking a break for now to try and find a new remote broadcast site. The last transmission for WMR was 23rd November. This was forced upon us due to web trolls that made broadcasting from the Radio GSV fixed location too risky. We had a good run though. It is just a shame that we probably will not make it on the airwaves this Christmas time as planned. The programme on 23rd November featured a recording from Radio Woodstock from 1980, a Scottish pirate station that ran live from Falkirk for a few months, and took phone calls live on air.
16TH NOVEMBER 2014: WMR on the air again this morning from just after 0800 to around 1000, on 6395 again. Oldies only today. No features. The last show dated 26/10 was aired this past Wed around tea time. Both shows now on the listen again section.
26th OCTOBER 2014: WMR is again on the air on SW, 26th October. There were no recordings made last week, due to lack of time. The show aired this weekend, Sunday 26th included recordings of WMR from 1980, and a tribute to Alvin Stardust. QSLs have again been sent out up to today. Anyone who has not received a reply from WMR should write in again asap, while mail is up to date!!!
8th OCTOBER 2014: The last couple of weekend shows have been uploaded to the LISTEN AGAIN area of the WMR web site. The broadcast for the last weekend in September featured recordings of Westside Radio from Dublin, and good old Prince Terry. The first weekend in October featured a vintage recording of Europen Music Radio. Hopefully we shall manage to find recordings of many of the other SW pirates of the past to feature in up and coming transmissions. We have been using 6395.7kHz in recent weeks. Let's hope this frequency stays clear for us.
29th SEPTEMBER 2014:
We have been trying the 5815 area of the band a couple of times, although we had to QSY back to the 6395 freq on 29th at 1930 as RTE use 5820. WMR used to at one time run bi weekly along with Radio Free London on 5805kHz. These broadcasts were very successful, and who knows, this quieter area of the band may well be a good spot to settle on. But options will be kept open!!!! 5815 was the frequency used by World Music Radio a few years ago, when they got a Danish broadcast Licence.
HOAX WMR RETURNS TO THE AIR Well that was an interesting weekend of listening on the SW. WMR was again on the airwaves on Sunday morning, but was shadowed by our creepy stalker, the hoax WMR. This unhealthy obsession with WMR has gripped the fake broadcaster of these signals since the summer of 2000!! This fake signal was being broadcast as follows (known transmissions, will keep adding dates): Saturday
27th September 2014 - 6400 Saturday evening around 1800GMT The purpose of these broadcasts are unknown. The operator has simply been lifting old shows from the WMR web site and rebroadcasting them. Hence the reason you don't hear the most up to date show on the hoax station. So we have to of course refuse to offer any form of QSL for these broadcasts. They are nothing to do with WMR, and are not planned / authorised by the station. Would the World Service QSL a report for 27185 if a silly CBer keyed the mic up at a radio speaker and relayed the World Service for an hour? I should think not.
WMR AND RADIO GSV (Good Ship Venus): Fur the benefit of the dxers that don't seem to be able to get their heads around a very basic and simple situation with regards to the transmitter that we are using. Our sister station, Radio GSV and ourselves are running through the same transmitter, which is pictured below. Neither station could really be described as being relayed by the other. Both Radio GSV and WMR do our own style of radio, and are part of the same operation. Perhaps it can be compared to Radio Caroline and Radio Moneik from the Ross Revenge in the 80's?? In the 70's at one stage it would have been Radio Mi Amigo that was heard on the air by day, and Caroline would take to the air at night, sharing the facilities. .
LATEST PROGRAMME ADDED: The programme aired last week, from around the 20th has now been uploaded to the WMR web site. See our listen again page.
NEW PHOTOS OF THE TX AND RADIO GSV STUDIO:
THE OLD
ROTEL AUDIO AMP, USED IN IRELAND IN THE EARLY 90'S FOR RELAYS.
FRONT PANEL OF THE RF STAGE. AND RIGHT, RADIO GSV STUDIO.
INSIDE THE TRANSMITTER, EL84 OSCILATOR, AND A PAIR OF 807'S AS OUTPUT
16th SEPTEMBER 2014: This web site for WMR has been largely ignored for a long time. In fact the last Christmas broadcast that WMR made in 2013 was not the most successful transmission ever to hit the airwaves due to band conditions. Our link broke up a few times as well, and therefore we were transmitting dead air for some of the time. So we have not even got around to uploading our live Xmas show 2013 to the web site as yet, as there is quite a bit of editing required to do so. But if you are still listening to the SW bands you will realise that WMR is back on the airwaves again, sharing the facilities with Radio GSV, a new station from Scotland. Our first show was on 10th August 2014. Frequencies to check are 6397, 6850, 6952, or in the 48m band itself. The transmitter in use is one of our old 807 rigs, which has been used in the past for many a broadcast of WMR. Although after lying around for many years a bit of rebuilding work was required. The transmitter was a former mw transmitter in Merseyside for a short lived station called KGW. We fell in with the txer in the 1980's. These days it is an EL84 oscilator, into a pair of 807's. The 807's are driven with about 750 volts, running the valves just nice.
In the photo above, the top section is the modulator, which once belonged to the transmitter that broadcast the various relays in the late 80's from Dublin on 6318, and operated by Gary St John. The middle section is a power unit built for this modulator in August 2014. The bottom section is the transmitter, which has its own built in HT section. We shall have to try and take a decent rig photo of the rf stage, and a better complete setup image as well.
The modulator was originally designed to send audio to a single 813 transmitter using a WODEN UM3 modulation transformer. This match worked very well till the transformer became duff. The rig was resurrected briefly in 1989 from Co Donegal, but modulation was always slightly on the low side, though acceptable, due to a mis matching mod transformer. Today the output of the modulator consists of 2 807's driven by 3 ECC82's. The modulation transformer came from an old Boyneside Radio transmitter in the 80's, and is still working well...!!
The power supply, built in August 2014 to drive the modulation stage properly. The 6V6 supplies negative bios. The black transformer on the left supplies 6.3 heater voltage, and a 250 - 300 volt line. The old brown transformer supplies 750 volts dc approx for the anodes of the 807's. Initially broadcasts were made using a simple amplifier which had been used in the past to modulate little 20 watt transmitters, but it was somewhat unsuitable for the higher power we are running with this tx. It was good enough to get on the air initially though, with our old equipment that had to be rebuilt almost from scratch. This gave us a chance to root out the old components and parts needed. Despite requiring a bit of time to work on equipment, we repeatedly received unhelpful complaints about low audio etc. Yes we knew it was a bit low to begin with. We also have ear flaps on the side of our heads..lol.. It was a temporary measure until the right match of components could be found, in the transmitter room. A photo of the said transmitter room may show what is meant by "give us a chance to find stuff".
The modulator sitting on top of it's power supply, with the first transmitter used for Radio GSV in the background. This rig was a little lower in power than the current tx, due to the voltages on the output valves being a bit lower. (Controlled by the ht transformer that was used)
The underside of the modulator. This has never been used since 1990, but we were able to get it going with relative ease once a suitable power unit was built.
The back side of the modulator and it's fancy connection to the power unit!!
27th DECEMBER 2012: WMR was back on the air on boxing day 26th December 2012, with a good old traditional Christmas broadcast. Only Jack was on the air from around 1130 till sign off at 1710 approx. Poor old Mike was laid up with the flu!! Frequencies used were 5800 and 6400. The latter suffered some some QRM from Korea at times. All in all, a great days transmissions, and we would like to thank everyone that was listening to us direct, as well as via remote tuners across the European continent. As ever, programmes are available on demand on our WMR on line player, or downloadable as an mp3 file for your i-pod etc. Click the LISTEN AGAIN page.
31st DECEMBER 2011: WMR has returned to the airwaves today on 6221kHz, after a long absense. The last proper transmission was Hogmanay and New Years day 2009/2010. So in theory, we have made it by the skin of our teeth, to continue to make the claim of being on the air every year for the last 32 years on the SW. Programmes today were exclusively a Jack three hour show. Mike was unable to come to the studio in time to record the shows. The plan this festive season was to broadcast live on boxing day, 26th December, but due to not being able to get the link to the transmitter site working, and not having prepared any recorded shows, the broadcast never happened. The plan was live with phone calls, like we used to be well known for in years gone by. Todays programmes are available on demand on our WMR on line player, or downloadable as an mp3 file for your i-pod etc. Click the LISTEN AGAIN page. It was nice to hear from our old friends again from the world of SW free radio, including the WMR past presenter, Mark Jones, one of our German DJ's.
MAY 11th 2011: Well despite our lack of programmes over the last couple of years, the Hoax WMR is out and about again. Direction seems to be similar to the last time they were on the air. Was that a couple of years ago?? Let it be said that the transmissions on 6210 in the evening that are playing OLD WMR shows are nothing to do with the station. Quite what the reason for these broadcasts are is a complete mystery. Someone must have an unhealthy obsession with WMR, as they have been heard since the year 2000. That is longer than many land based pirates even last before closing down forever!! You would think that in 11 years the hoax WMR could have bought a mic and produced his own shows!!! (Maybe its a her. . . ..lol) Remember in the past these transmissions have been deliberately malicious, and have jammed WMR.
BAND LOOKING BETTER: The sun has finally come back to life, and the band is looking better for low power broadcasting from the woods. Much of the 48m band has been alive again in the evening, with reliable signals.
Notes about WMR: We did not make it to the airwaves in 2010, bar for the 1st January, even though it was our 30th anniversary. It is difficult to swallow the fact that it was over 30 years ago that three young fellas set off at about 6am to find a suitable secluded woodland to attempt to set up the first WMR broadcast. I bet the woods we initially thought were OK, when we could reach up and touch the aerial, really will be suitable now!!!!
JULY 15th 2010: PLEASE NOTE NEW E MAIL ADDRESS FOR WMR SINCE JULY, DUE TO SPAM PROBLEMS WITH THE FORMER STUDIO@WMR ETC ADDRESS
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JANUARY 22nd 2010: Well here we are, three weeks after the New Year transmission, and the programmes are only just being made available on line. The cold weather snap here in the British Isles and I think much of Europe left little inspiration for web design. Not that we were designing the WMR web site out on the ice. Well not quite. An opportunity arose for a site at Hogmanay, and into New Years day for a limited WMR broadcast. This went out on 6400, and thanks to our site owner, and of course to the old reliable WMR TX, the broadcast ran from evening on 31st Dec, through until lunchtime on New Years day. There was a mad rush to record a Jack and Mike show, which was eventually finished, before it was time to pack up for our Hogmanay celebrations. Such was the rush that Jack has to apologise for playing the same track at the start of his show as he did at the end of it!!!! lol. Well at least WMR was on the air. Again skip was very long and the signals were heard better in Germany than in the UK!! Pity really. There is always the listen again button on this web site.
MAIL: Some mail arrived from the "snail" mail drop, There were 5 from Germany, 1 from Holland and 2 from England. Most people will e mail us these days, but there are still a few who like to send in a good old fashioned letter.
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DECEMBER 21st 2009: We had a successful broadcast on 20th December 2009, from around 0800 thru 1800 GMT. Freq was the old channel of 6400kHz. So far, there have been about 30 e mails, from Germany, UK, Holland, Georgia in the the USA, France, Belgium. It was good to get back on the air again, after a break of about 18 months!!
WMR HOAX BROADCASTER: In the late afternoon, there was an unauthorised broadcast of WMR shows on 3905kHz. WMR would like to point out that these transmissions are completely unconnected with WMR, and we have no control what so ever of them. This transmitter was active when we were on the air before, when the unknown malicious broadcaster jammed WMR a number of times. It is unknown whether there is more than one station/ transmitter involved.
WMR E-QSL: I never thought I would ever go down the road of E QSLing. It was always nice to keep up tradition of hard copy QSL cards. But the QSL replies have already been e mailed out in a pdf format to all the listeners who e mailed us at the weekend. One dxer promised to send a letter as well, with some postcards etc of his qth. If a hard copy QSL is desired, they will be sent out anyway, without the need to send snail mail reports.
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DECEMBER 19th 2009: WMR is back on the air again tomorrow on 6400 for a few hours. Check the "listen again" page in the audio menu to download the programmes. There may be a stream available tomorrow, so that the files start playing straight away. There are four hours, 2 separate 1 hour shows from Jack and Mike.
=========================================== DECEMBER 2009: WMR has at last made it back on line, after some problems with the previous hosting service. The web pages are of a similar design to the site that abrubtly left the web last year. The main difference is that they will be of a much simpler nature and less cluttery. There are two audio download pages. One for short clips and jingles, and the other for full programmes. WMR has not been on the airwaves in 2009 at all, bar a few carrier tests. But we have not given up, so stay tuned to the receivers in the months to come. You never know what you may hear. The SW has not been particularly inspiring of late mainly due to the lack of sunspots. It is said that a spotless sun is good for MW dxing, but for flea power transmitters around 6mHz, it is a different story. Even our last transmission in mid 2008 was difficult to hear in the UK.
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WMR
SEPTEMBER 2008
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WMR DECEMBER 2007 Once again, a summer season has slipped into winter, and WMR is still battling with the propagation on SW. Again we have fallen behind a little with the QSL cards. Here at WMR, we have always believed in old fashioned, hard copy QSL cards, and strive to continue to provide such a service to the DXers who take the trouble to send us in reception reports. It is only fair that we can still verify reports. There are many stations on SW, who simply do not verify reports. This can be annoying to the dxer. Especially if the signals have travelled over a long distance. It is not only hobby pirates who do not verify reports these days. Many of the international broadcasters are reluctant to take the time and reply to mail. Domestic radio stations heard over a long distance can be even more reluctant. Here at WMR, we have to apologise for sometimes being sluggish in getting the mail out to the listeners, but it is hoped that we will always manage to achieve this goal, eventually. Since summer 2007, there have been no QSL cards mailed, but by year end, it is hoped the backlog are all sent out. We thank you for your patience.
PROGRAMMES: Since the summer months, WMR has still been a regular voice on the SW, 6400 and // 3910 (Saturday) and 3945 (Sunday). The following announcers have been heard. Jack, Mike, Dave, (The original WMR team from the start in 1980) Andy Walker, Taff, Nick and Brian. We also relayed Radio RWE, a Polish station during our regular broadcasting sched. We operate a weekly sched and because the shows are all pre recorded for security reasons, this means that the programmes are repeated on an MP3 player throughout the day and night, therefore it is impossible to say what show comes on when. As WMR is a hobby pirate, the programme line up can vary from week to week, depends on other commitments. Currently as it stands in November 2007, we have Jack on a weekly basis, Andy Walker on a weekly basis, and Mike is back after a few months absence, due to an accident, when he broke his ankle. We
have many kind offers from around Europe for budding SW DJs, but we have
no real plans to increase the regular slots. It is assumed the interest
is generated because of the better signal we have had in the last few
months. I doubt if they would have been so keen if we had still been running
20 watts!! One intersting idea though was to try and encourage guest DJ
shows from former SW broadcasters.
=========================================== 1st July 2007 We are actively promoting a new better sounding e mail address of studio a t wmrscotland dot com The old yahoo address will remain open alongside this newer address, which should be ad and spam free, hopefully. Mid summer often brings out the hoax WMR, and this year is no exception. At around 2100 UTC on 23rd June 2007, there was reported to be some slight QRM on the 3910 signal, and a shift to 3945 was temp made. Underground were not on that night on 3940, as they were in Holland at the summer meeting. Anyway, a move was made to check 3910, and it turned out the BBC Singapore relay was especially strong in Europe that night, causing us a little splatter. Fair enough. After 10m on 3945, a large carrier came on top of WMR, and remained there for a while. Just as we moved back to 3910, the carrier burst into life, and turned out to be the hoax WMR, broadcasting an old off air programme from about 2 or 3 years ago. At that time the off air tape would be made from a 20watt signal in a wood. This went on for hours. While this rebroadcasting is weird in itself, it has been going on now for some 8 summers now, it must also be noted that the last known transmission of the hoax was malicious, in the fact that it came right on top of 6400 on a Sunday morning. It also came on top of WMR while we were on 3945, and had we left the transmitters unmanned by that time, it would have deliberately spoiled the complete Saturday evenings transmission. Luckily the transmitters were manned at the time of the malicious broadcast, and a frequency shift back lf was made. The transmission on 30th June on 3910 was interrupted a little on Saturday evening by Radio Atlantis from Holland coming onto the freq of 3907, just 3kHz away from our channel !! This problem was rectified, thanks to the Alfa Lima forum. Thank you also to Radio Atlantis for your cooperation. It is appreciated. ===========================================
22nd June 2007 Added a couple of tunes to the wmr audio page. STV old theme tune Scotlandia, as well as WMR theme, Fancy Pants. On 16th/ 17th June, after a successful Saturday night of broadcasting, the large 48m band tx broke down during the night. The audio died. Anyone who heard a carrier on 6400 earlier in the morning, heard WMR.... Around high noon in the UK, the 3910 transmitter was moved back to 48m, which is the main freq. The signal strength while down, was acceptable. An unknown signal was heard to play a few tunes around 1030 on 6400. The transmitter was repaired and back on air again in the afternoon, and continued till later that night with at one time split frequencies. (ie separate shows). A test on 6400 and 3910 was made on 21st June, to test some antenna repairs. Difficult to swallow, that we are past the longest day already. Quite a lot of QSL packages have been sent out this week in response to the amazing reports coming in via the e mail of late. A few more to get throught, so please be patient... Last
night, 17th June UTC, around 0300UTC, there was a strong North American
pirate signal noted on 6925kHz. A clip of the ID which sounded like Boomerang
Radio is to be found here. ===========================================
13th May 2007 The band was kind to us on Saturday night with both 3910 and 6400 thumping out to the UK by night. The decision was made to use 3910 at the last minute, and not 3945, but don't worry. We know Reflections Europe use the channel at 1500UTC, 1600 in the UK on Sundays. We would not want you to miss your Sunday hymns!!!
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10th
May 2007
After a few months of broadcasting on more or less bang on 6400, WMR has again added a 76m band channel. This part of the SW band has not been used for at least 8 or 9 years by WMR. It almost took another 8 years to find the crystals for 3mHz, but they eventually showed up. Bank holiday Monday brought our 1st test on 3945, and included some slow scan television transmissions. This was just for test purposes, to try out a small free piece of software, MMSSTV. It is available free and is about 2.5meg. search the web for MMSSTV111G.exe. These were received about 150 or 200 miles from the transmitter. Results from the 76metre band tests have been encouraging in the UK, because there has been so many weeks of long skip on 6400. e mails have been very encouraging in recent weeks as well.
Programmes for 12th and 13th May will consist of Jack, Mike, Paul Graham, and Dave Anderson. It was good to record shows with Paul and Dave in the studio. This may encourage Dave to return to the fold a little more regularly. On 6th May we also had our first programme from Taffy, using a strange automated voice!!! Taffy should have his microphone working soon!!!! ===========================================
29th
March 2007
This last month has been a good one for Weekend Music Radio. We have eventually settled on near enough 6400. (6399.9xx), after moving from 6401 to 6400.8, (a huge frequency shift ! ). Thanks to Radio Merlin for the crystal. This will probably be the frequency used for the summer months at least. The middle of the 48m band can unfortunately be subject to stations signing on top of whatever is there!! On 25th March, again WMR was being jammed by person or persons unknown. The freq of the jammer was around 6401, giving a nasty 1kHz tone on WMR's signal. Some crude df tests surprised us, as it seemed to suggest the signal was coming from Eire!! The signal was of a seemingly unmodulated carrier, but during some peaks when WMR signals were not present, it sounded like there was some very very low level audio there. It never crossed our minds to try for // signals in relation to the music, to see if it was a station already on air, with another tx. Watch this space. A recent development is the introduction of streaming audio for the previous weeks show. Anyone who would like to hear our shows in MP3 format, simply click the streaming audio page. Response to the station has also been very good, and we would like to thank so many of you for the continued support and reception reports. It is good to know we are not talking to ourselves.
=========================================== 20th
February 2007
Since summer 2006, WMR has made it to the airwaves on a more regular basis than ever before. Both power and audio have been somewhat increased and improved, making the sound of the station one of the best on the band. Freq is currently more or less 6401kHz. Weekend
Music Radio has now been on the air longer than most of the ILR stations
in the UK. WMR has been on the air longer than any of the SW stations
currently active on the 48m band. (By that we mean, we have never closed
down and have been active every year on the bands, since our birth). BRI
(Britain Radio International) has the qualification of being second, but
only just!! The first successful WMR broadcast (ie widely heard) was 27th
April 1980, while BRI was born on 8th June, also in 1980 (from memory). Free Radio has changed dramatically since the very humble beginnings as three (and shortly after four) very young fellows, with more youth on their side than today, set out to start a SW hobby pirate radio station. Radio 1 was on MW, the AM band was clearer, some European stations still closed down for the night, as did TV. Irish pirates flourished on MW. SW was very important internationally as the only medium available to reach the population centres abroad. Now of course there are both satellite and the Internet. Both are quite capable mediums to deliver radio and TV programmes worldwide, with better more reliable audio quality than Short Wave. In the early days of WMR, there were no mobile phones, no internet, no e-mail, so response to the station consisted of a few phone calls to friends down south to see if the signal was OK. Weeks would go past and a package of mail may arrive. Maybe we would see logs in the dx press. Months sometimes would go past, and quarterly free radio publications would raise their heads. Maybe WMR would be logged within their pages, maybe not. Now we can have text messages, e mails, and logs almost straight away on line. Blog pages run by SW fans show if the signals are being heard or not. On line SW receivers are common, sited all over the world. The studio had no PC as the main source of mp3 music. It was all vinyl and tapes in those days. There were jingles flying around over tracks and records bump starting. The maximum recording time was an hour on a C120 cassette, meaning returning to a live transmitter in the woods every hour. Now mp3 players allow as many hours as you have the time to record almost. (The rare C180 cassettes were tried at one point, but the record levels on these were too low) WMR could be described as a bunch of old fashioned short wave / am radio buffs, who are knowingly no more than a hobby pirate chugging away to an ever decreasing and in general, older audience. That said, it is still with some pride that the station is on SW on a regular basis to this day. As long as possible, it is the intention to remain on the airwaves.
Promotional material: QSL cards from WMR have been mailed out in early Feb, and hopefully all the listeners will have their QSL packages by the end of the month. The new web site and contact details have been included on the cards. Apologies once again for the long time it takes to send out the QSL packages from WMR sometimes. By the end of Feb, all unanswered mail should have been replied to. Anyone still waiting a reply after this time, should e mail details to us again. (Remember to include a snail mail, or postal address, for replies to be sent to. Many e-mail reports do not include such details). In 1995 & 1996 WMR produced a very long 8 page history. There are still a few left, and these will be mailed out. Once they are gone, they are gone. The complete history can be found on the WMR web site, available to most of the listeners these days. Special circumstances to those living is remote countries with no web access will be made, if anyone really wants a hard copy.
Malicious
Jamming:
Since the summer of 2000, WMR has been the victim of a hoax broadcaster. Some character with obviously good reception and recording capabilities has been recording WMR off air and rebroadcasting these tapes at a later time. At first it was curious, then odd when it was still happening year in year out. These transmissions were in general non malicious until 12th November. On this date WMR was deliberately jammed by this unknown source. Most of the Sunday morning was wasted by a signal on 6400 approx, while WMR, the real WMR was on a kHz or so hf. No reason has ever been given or worked out for these hoax broadcasts. Someone is going to a lot of trouble to cause problems for WMR. On that subject, we have suffered some kind of jamming more than just a few times of late. Radio Duck was jamming us on 4th Feb 2007 around 1350. (radioduck@hotmail.com). An e mail to this address produced nothing. On 10th Feb while tune up music was on, a station came on top, more like 6400.6, and played disco and dance music on top of WMR for a time, in the afternoon. The long term plans for WMR would be to move back to the clearer 41m, but at the present point in the solar cycle, we have to remain lower in freq to be heard in the UK.
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16th February 2007 Inserted a form page to contact WMR instead of the e mail address. The main reason for the form is to assist in the fight against SPAM. In the end this caused more spam than it stopped. The yahoo address is still functional to anyone who prefers to use that method of contact.
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11th Feb 2007 Saturday 10th Feb: WMR was being jammed again by an unknown station, while we had tune up music on the channel. The biggest thing to happen to the station this week is finally getting some mail replied to. Anyone sending e mail, remember to send a postal address if you want QSLs sent to you. Check out the rare shot below of mail being replied to!!! Thanks to all the dxers for your patience. A new updated information sheet is linked to from the top of this page. This is being mailed out with the rest of the items in the QSL packages.
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4th Feb 2007 The last couple of weeks have been a busy time at the station, and there have been delays in getting programmes aired which have already been recorded. The shows on 4th Feb were meant to be aired on January 28th. Anyway, they are going out this weekend, and sounding rather well. A couple of photos have been added of the current antenna and transmitter used at the station The WMR web site back on line means that at last QSL cards and billheads can pe printed out using the up to date contact details and web address. This was meanty to be done in the summer and get mail replied to, but the free web site which was signed up for was a disaster, flashing ads etc. It is good to hear from old friends who have tuned in to the SW again. There have been quite a few fellows from the past recently tuned into WMR. Time has to be found to update the WMR site with more images and audio now.
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18th January 2007 The broadcast on 14th January on 6401kHz was a roaring success. Only 2 hours of Jack. Mike was suffering from the cold/ flu which is going around. Be assured he will be back soon. The reports have been quite good, and complimentary on the web. Thank you the Swedish report with SINPO of 4s!! The web site was a complete surprise. No previous announcements were made on line, and we relied on the SW broadcast on 14th to publicise the revamped site. Amazingly from the statistics below, there was about 500 hits!!! Obviously the first few days traffic was testing the server/ setting up.
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5th January 2007 The former web pages we hoped would become our permanent home in 2006, did not materialise. These was far too much of the screen taken up by the banners etc. A new arrangement has been found, and hopefully this will be a permanent web site. www.wmrscotland.com. The station continues to broadcast more weekends on 6401kHz, and since the summer months, there has been a remarkable difference made to the audio. Signals should be a little better as well, despite the frequencies around 6mHz not being ideal at the present point in the sunspot cycle.
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14th June 2006 After a few years of no web site, because we lost the former host, a new free service has been set up. I know it looks like crap with half of the page taken up by advertising banners, but it is free. If there turns out any other alternative, it will be done. Another web site I set up for a local group had one advertising banner at the top, which zone alarm even takes care of, but this is crazy man.....WMR has recommenced SW transmissions on 6400 after a a long 9 month absense. Main reason is the current band conditions. Week in week out even the high power Dutchies are weak, and Laser non existant, so it seems pointless carting a 20w transmitter to the woods. The current set up should be a bit better than this.
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Station News 2003 Our former web space was lost, and WMR had no web pages for a few years. In fact the next web pages were in summer 2006, but was a poor attempt at a return to the www due to using so called free servers.
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21st July 03 The
past weekends transmission was more of a success, running from Saturday
night through to Sunday. Freq again 6400, and a new style modulator held
up no problems. The transformer used is a former Radio Stella modulation
transformer, used extensively in 1983!! The mod amp itself this time was
an old Eagle PA Amp, which seemed to match up fine to the 807 output valve.
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13th July 03 Today our transmissions failed even after a major repair to the mod stage. This resulted in about 30m of transmissions going out, when the mod blew again. The transmission was abandoned.
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9th July 03 Just a thought while digging through some old notes, that some folks may like to view an e mail which WMR received in 1998. This serves as a reminder that e mail has some serious advantages, and what careless use of the bands can result in. The e mail was circulated in the free radio world back then, and stations still pop up around this area of the band. The proper e mail addresses have been edited out, and we ask that these band users are not contacted by anyone. The information shown here is for historical reference only.
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7th July 2003 The transmission on July 6th was hoped to air on the night of 5th July, but because Mike and Jack were away on a sailing cruise on the world famous Waverly, the transmission did not go on air until around 1330 on Sunday 6th July. The Waverly is the last ocean going paddle steamer in the world and at one time made a trip around the Mi Amigo in 1978. Sadly this was after the Mi Amigo sank in March of that year, and we are unsure if the trip was canceled or not. The WMR broadcast started off fine, but a fault developed in the modulator not long after sign on, which was a bit of a pain. Sadly the rest of the transmission was a bit of a disaster, but at least there was a carrier on the new channel of 6400. This should be the frequency used for the rest of the summer months, as the 6310 channel seems to have some heavy digital type traffic on now, which wasn't there a few weeks ago, or at least any time we tuned in. All mail has just been posted now, and should be with the listeners within the week. Let us hope the QSL packages are appreciated, and that they reach their destinations safely.
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1st July 2003 At last after many years of no mail being replied to, WMR has again began to send out QSL packages. These have been mailed out in late June/ early July 2003. There is on July 1st, a large bundle left to post, which should go out this coming week. Hopefully this page will be added to regularly in the weeks to come. Future possibilities include a mailbox page, as opposed to a guest book, which we have no control over.
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