04:11-05:21 UTC via ? 10.31.094 s unit reception in south central United States.
Initial reception of this "pirate" shortwave broadcast at 04:11 was very strong with S-4, I-3, O-4 and 5 + s units. A male announcer stated that he was "Dr. Benway" on Undercover Radio. This call repeated giving multiple ID's for Undercover Radio and calls for pirates to slob net. At 04:12 the announcer gave an email address for reception reports and QSL before leaving the air. At 04:19 the broadcaster was back on the air with Undercover Radio ID call and comments including a statement regarding "6925 Ga-Ga". At 04:20 Music and severe fading began, progressing throughout the program. Undercover Radio ID given at 04:24 and the broadcast ran into a narrated story about diving in the South Pacific. The story continued with musings about stings and mention of a "nuclear blast" around 04:30. Monitoring was temporarily d/c'ed due to inaudible quality, excessive fading and static QRM? at 04:35 but resumed shortly thereafter when the "Monster Mash" song was barely audible at 04:39. By this time the audio was at best S-2, I-2, 0-2 although from time to time strange music could be heard. At 04:55 the announcer was heard making statements regarding "Halloween 200(5?)" and at 05:00 wild guitar music was barely audible. At 05:10 the announcer gave and ID and address before beginning to narrate another story which started out with "a while ago I was walking through town...". The announcer spoke of trick or treaters and scaring his neighbor's kids. At 05:21 the operator signed off after giving freewebs.com/undercoverradio as an internet address where the broadcast could be downloaded. The operator continued to slob net for some time with another mysterious shortwave "pirate" radio operator before dead air eventually took over completely.
"Dr. Benway" actually sounds a little like a young Glenn Hauser and, while his true origins and locations are unknown to many, with the ability to project such a strong signal reportedly heard from coast to coast year after year, it really wouldn't be surprising to the author if he was really clean shaven and sitting in a milcom broadcast room somewhere in a Midwest AFB. Nonetheless, whoever or wherever Dr. Benway really is, alleged "pirate radio" shortwave broadcasts such as this one remain interesting anomalies of the airwaves.
As already mentioned in the report, the broadcaster's signal was initially very clear. However, the audio quality decreased markedly after about 04:20 following the announcer's secondary sign on. At times the broadcast became completely inaudible due to fading, static and QRM?
S-2
I-2
O-2
All times are UTC.
Limited audio from the broadcast is available in .wav format here.
Addtional Links:
10.29.09
Halloween tricks and QSL treats (Monitoring Times Blog)
Undercover Radio on Freewebs.com as promoted by "Dr. Benway"
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