What the world of UK-based shortwave free radio looks like today

If I am to use the 48-metre band as a default focal point for where to locate today's crop of shortwave free radio stations, it looks very different to its early 1990's counterpart.

To identify the level of modern-day pirate activity strictly from how busy 6.2-6.4 MHz happens to be is perhaps as specious today as it was thirty years ago, but that area of the radio spectrum was always the 'go to' place to locate hobby stations and for all intents and purposes, it is the same today. 

There are though some subtle and obvious changes to where else free radio can be consumed, with for example 3 MHz at times being very busy between 3900-3945 kHz, as it could be in the 1990's during the evening, but nowadays it is often used by those stations that have 'gone legit', for example the Dutch duo Radio Piepzender and Mike Radio. The band can also become swamped with high-powered signals that I hesitate to say emanate from 'relay' stations but from transmitters of unknown location, although perhaps situated in the Republic of Ireland, who live-stream for example Zenith Classic Rock, an Irish-based station who numbers FM, Medium Wave, and DAB as its usual homes. I am not suggesting that because of the aforementioned trio of stations that 3 MHz is out of bounds for other operators, but as a direct comparison with the 1990's the band would only normally come alive in the late evening when the likes of Live Wire Radio, Subterranean Sounds, Weekend Music Radio, and Radio Armadillo, to name just a few, would come on air. 

In my early days of receiving free radio I was frustrated in my attempts to hear anything away from 48 metres due to the extreme limitations of my listening station. Although I was never ungrateful of what I had or envious of those with sophisticated communications receivers at their disposal, my analogue National Panasonic and Venturer radios were not the best at picking up stations on 7 MHz, to a point where they would struggle to hear anything. It is perhaps something I didn't appreciate at the time but the 'as standard' telescopic antennas which came with the two named receivers could not be expected to be universally effective over the whole spectrum which they were expected to cover. These were antennas that weren't tuned to be fruitful for any particular area of the band but to give a general, if albeit limited overview of the best signals they could realistically be anticipated to pull in. Even when I upgraded to a simple long wire antenna, which didn't exactly stretch the whole length of my back garden, the results were disappointing but being as technically-minded then as I am today, there was no hint of me taking the plunge into antenna tuning unit(ATU) territory.

The 41-metre band was therefore an area of the spectrum where I struggled to hear stations, even ones broadcasting from the UK. It was though used to a greater extent than it is today, whether that be because of atmospheric conditions, a lack of crystals, or that listeners nowadays do not know to tune in to 7 MHz, I couldn't say. There were though many broadcasts from the likes of Radio Confusion, Radio Geronimo, and Terry Phillips' Radio Mi Amigo that passed me by, but a UK-based station from thirty years ago and before, Radio Pamela, can still be found fairly regularly on or around 7605 kHz, although Steve Most's broadcasts often skip out on this frequency to continental Europe, where reception is often better than in the UK.

Regular free radio broadcasts from the UK on shortwave are though dwindling, as are the amount of stations who transmit on 6 MHz or elsewhere. Radio Merlin International continues to be heard on 6305 kHz on an almost daily basis, despite some at times dramatic announcements from operator Paul Watt that the station is shutting down or 'won't be around for a while'. Initially as Radio Galaxy International - not to be confused with the Radio Blackbeard and Station Sierra Sierra collaboration Galaxy International - and for almost the entire period of my on-off relationship with free radio, Paul has used 48 metres on 6240 and latterly 6305 kHz; I am happy to be corrected but I cannot recall either Galaxy or Merlin ever using another area of shortwave.

Radio Nova is a station I have heard several times over the last few years, although I am not aware of it having connections to any stations from the past who shared the same name. Perhaps the operator(s) of today's Nova have previously broadcast on shortwave but that is also something I am not party to. Invariably found on 6940 kHz and specialising in a rich diet of classic rock, the station is often heard with a strong signal in the UK, and can pop up during daylight hours on just about any day of the week.

Firstly in the guise of Radio Mutiny and now the Xenon Transmitting Company(XTC),  Matt Roberts' stations have always been during my love-hate relationship with free radio a regularly irregular part of the 48-metre scene, but continue to broadcast when personal circumstances and radio communications conditions allow. A previous blog dedicated to XTC elaborates on the station's enduring quality amid so much mediocrity, and how it represents a much needed flip-side as a counterpoint to generic, back to back music-type broadcasters both legal or otherwise.

Occupying slightly different programming territory, Radio Parade has over the last few years become one of the most prolific UK-based broadcasters on shortwave. With a music selection that might include Johann Strauss, operatic extracts, and the theme from the former BBC TV sports programme Grandstand, Parade can never be accused of being predictable and slavishly reverting to type. I have mostly heard the station around 6.95 MHz and on the 76-metre band, although it has also been logged adjacent to 5.8 MHz and occasionally on 48 metres.

Radio Pandora is a station I first heard in 1993-94, about the time that operator Steve St. John first took to the airwaves. Known for his on air chuckling and 'hellos' to other operators including XTC's Matt Roberts Steve is one of the friendliest voices to be heard on 48 metres(and on 3 MHz in the past), although sadly these days with far less frequency. I would never class Pandora at any time during the last three decades as a frequently heard station, at least by myself, although I doubtless missed many of the station's transmissions due to the perfect storm of low power and my at-the-time inadequate receivers. It would perhaps be a surprise if I told you just how old Mr. St. John actually is but discretion is the better part of valour, but an evergreen, personable nature only lends greater mystic and respect to this underrated broadcaster.

There are several stations - Little Feat Radio(LFR), Radio Underground, and Focus International - which I believe could still be categorized as active but on which I otherwise have little knowledge. I believe the latter two operators were far more active in the early years of the new millennium but that coincided with a fallow period of your correspondent's interest in free radio. Any information as to this triumvirate's respective statuses would be appreciated.  

As I detail what remains of any semblance of a UK-based scene on shortwave, it has been brought home to me just how depleted in a quantitative sense what can be heard when compared to the early 1990's and even the initial years of the current millenary. If I instead use a qualitative yardstick by which to measure a like for like contrast the results are equally as grim; the reasons I believe to be behind that will be addressed in this blog's concluding post. 

There is though some hope for the future, with several new stations having recently broken ground on 48 metres and 3 MHz. Radio Jennifer seems to have settled on 6400 kHz as its regular frequency, if albeit one it has to 'share' with Radio Pyongyang! I have also heard the station around 3900 kHz, with a strong signal and vastly improved audio. Image Radio is another new kid on the block, a station I think first emerged a few weeks ago as Lockdown Radio during initial tests around 6225 and 6250 kHz - the latter not being the greatest frequency for a low powered hobby pirate that will on occasion have to 'battle it out' with other Korean-based stations. A further broadcast as Image Radio, this time on 6325 kHz, produced an S9 signal at my location, when the band either side of that frequency was mercifully quiet.

It remains to be seen if the various novel coronavirus-related lockdowns in the UK will have produced any other new stations, as radio enthusiasts and society in general continues to grapple with the new normal, and how to while away the hours in our homes. It is though plain to me that as each new generation of free radio stations replaces those who have ceased broadcasting, levels of both quality and quantity are inexorably declining.

NEXT TIME: My conclusions and summing up of the 1990's UK free radio sphere, and whether nostalgia actually is what it used to be.