As a younger lad in the '70s and '80s I used to dabble in DXing a bit as I have two shortwave radios but never turned it into a serious hobby. I have to say I didn't even discover your channel till this year but it has been one of the delights of the year for me. This interaction with Johnny Tobacco in this video alone is so wholesome and human and is a real salve to the dehumanizing fakeness of much of today's world. Keep on excelling my dude.
They YT algorithm is working its magic today. It recommended my a documentary from Dutch TV about UK Pirate radio back in the day followed by this video with Lewis talking to a Dutch pirate. The documentary is called "UK Pirate Radio Documentary - Making Waves" on the OttoNL YT channel BTW - seems like something that might interest a few people here :)
There is still music pirates on Shortwave in the Caribbean & in the Pacific. Many still jam the Buzzer on 4625 kHz with music here in North America & some on 6925 kHz from all over. -Cheers!
And thus the 1974 Manchester Barcadi Mysterie was solved. Except for: where are the Bottles and is it still drinkable (i mean it would be iresponsible to risk Fish geting drunk)
Very interesting to hear the Tobacco Pirate station. I am also older at 80, and help my wife too who is 81. I give him congratulations. Is he a German pirate, as I know German well having grown up with it, My Father was from Germany, I was born in London during WWII in 1944, and my Mother was from Switzerland, knowing German and Swiss German too from Zurich. In UK, my Father and Uncle were interned in Canada from 1940-1943, being German aliens, and then came back through the Isle of Man to the UK in 1943, after which my parents were married. My cousin told me, my Uncle needed shock treatment while interned in Canada. So i could read the German you showed on the screen. 😅
very cool . this channel is renewing my intrest into hf radio been away for some time . was nice to hear johnny tobacco again i havent herd in in a long time
this video is actually a really good thing to get younger people interested in shortwave. as it shows, people like johnny tobacco are fairly old. it's people like him who have spent decades acquiring knowledge, teaching and operating in a medium that is slowly and inevitably going to mostly die (say 100 years from now). he and others in this video show that shortwave can still be a pretty cool albeit niche hobby. starting your own pirate radio station with a dipole or something can let you be heard to total strangers hundreds to thousands of kilometres away and connect you with people you'd otherwise never know existed. it's an awesome thing to do, plus shortwave also has a lot of other interesting things. i hope younger people discover how unique a technology and hobby it is and keep it alive
A SW license is good to have should the internet and phone lines go down. There will still be radio waves. I want to sit for my basic so I can at least get my call sign and go from there. On another video, this channel said people got QSL cards from a numbers station! I mostly listen however I am more seriously considering getting my license. It can't hurt. I just don't want my home address published. Is that still a requirement? I need to keep my address private for reasons I don't feel comfortable sharing online.
In the UK, you can request your details are not published. I can't speak for other countries, but it should be possible as most countries have laws around data privacy.
Lewis is and excellent resource for those new to the hobby. ' Arctic Radio ' in the Netherlands does propagation reports on commercial SW and LW stations, I started off in the 70's as a listener (BRS41712) sending QSL reports and received a few cards. The collected more kit as we do. As for MW dyeing, well as we know it but there will be some that won't give in. 73's
@@WOFFY-qc9te There is another "Arctic" station, "Arctic 252" that will begin test transmissions on Longwave in October from Finland. 252KHz is also used by Radio Algeria and of course by RTE from Clarkstown County Meath Ireland until last year. (Formally TEAMtalk 252 and before that the much missed Atlantic 252)
I used to listen to shortwave radio on an old domestic radio receiver when I was a kid. I think it must have been what kindled my interest in Ham Radio which in turn became my profession. The radio had HT off the mains and a 2V (I think) accumulator, for the cathode heaters. A guy who had a radio and TV business used to swap the accumulator every two weeks. This was almost seventy years ago but I think it's time to do more listening as well as transmitting. Thanks Lewis.
Did I hear you right lewis?!? Johnny tobacco is using an open dipole JUST 6ft of the ground! Absolutely amazing. Maybe he's close to the Netherlands coast, where the salt-water of the sea helps improve propagation.
I get a kick out of the fact that he uses "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn as a sign off song. He obviously has good taste. It's a well known song to me as my grandmother used to say that it was one of her dad's favourite songs. He served in the Canadian army and was stationed overseas in England during WWII. Cheers! 🇨🇦👍
@@historicaltrainbusfan1067 sorry I got it mixed up, the Polish song isn't as old. It's a schlager called Dała bym ci dała by Teresa Werner. More recently, if you hear "seven years with the wrong woman", you know it is JT😃
Johnny Tobacco also uses the alias Radio Abu Dabbi too. You should do a video on the Dutch MW pirates that can be found every night after dusk. 1611 to 1700 is the place to tune. Greek and Balkan stations also pop up here when conditions are good.
I can remember seeing ships on the Manchester Ship Canal back in the 70s. Down by where The Lowrie Theatre and shopping centre is now. Plus past where the swing bridge is near Old Trafford football stadium . Maybe Johnny was on one of them.
Very cool to hear these transmissions from people keeping the pirate tradition alive for the love of it. Not just that the comments have been brilliant, adding to the story and translating sections we missed.
😢I envy you having a low noise environment. I have so much electrical garbage and nearby fm and TV to deal with. For me dx is real; I have to drive well out of town to do it.
My dad built a Heathkit SW 717 receiver that I dug out of the attic and used to listen into in the evenings when I was a teenager in the 80s. Although, I had no real idea what I was hearing (mostly non-English stations) I always enjoyed imagining where in the world they might be.
Cool video Lewis. Always good to get a shout out, I used to collect QSL cards from Pirates but some wont send them out. Johnny Tobacco is great, been listening to him for years, love his soothing voice. “We’ll meet again…” 🙂 The 6941 TX test sounds like Steve from Radio Pamela, I could be wrong though. Check between 1610 - 1720 kHz MW this autumn Lewis, loads of Dutch pirates and a few Greek ones if the conditions are good 👍🏼 73 Franco
"Black Gang" refers to the sailors that work the ship's engines down in the engine room. Back in the day they would get covered in oil, grease, coal dust, etc.
I think the black gang jonny tobacco is referring to are the customs rummage squads that search ships for smuggled goods. Hence the bacardi being dumped in the canal
He is saying Logs not Lobs. The fisherman he is referring to is tge north sea fishermen. 6.2 to 6.4 Mhz , where most SW pirates broadcast is still allocated to maritime services, although little used. 6266 is used quite a lot by the trawlermen in SSB. 6215 and 6315 must be avoided as these are still monitored Distress and calling channels!
This video made me feel the warm fuzzies - the same ones which i felt when i had my first successful qso's on 14MHz in the LZ1KDP radio club as a student. This guy is just golden, may he be healthy and happy for many more years to come :)
Back in the mid 80’s, I could pick up Lazer 558 that was supposedly broadcast from a ship on the North Sea. Great music, far better than BBC fair. I was located in Suffolk.
approximate translation of what the Russian pirate says ...a confirmation message on my messenger page.Reads the message "Thanks and greetings from Italy, my address is Roberto... and so on." Then he probably reads his email address (then thanks and asks to write more messages).Then he says " And we continue our program and now the song will sound " then the name of the song
I listened for years in the 1980s to hear a pirate, but with very little luck. Since I retired and started listening again in 2018, I've heard several. Possibly a better antenna and a lot more knowledge of where to listen?
Best way to start is listening around 1620 kHz Mediumwave in Europe. There are dutch pirates almost every day. Actually there is a station on air 20:45 UTC.
Thank so much for the video. I was a very, very dedicated Swl from 1963 to about 1984. my best wishes to all the pirate radio people who go to all the trouble to maintain theirwonderful hobby.
I lived in Runcorn for 5 years back in the late 90's. The ship canal starts around Runcorn, a bit further inland the canal cuts thru the countryside, it's a strange sight to see a ship moving along the ship canal as it just looks like a big massive ship sailing thru a farmers field.
How has he not been taken down by his country's radio commission? Here in the States, if you are transmitting that frequently, the FCC is gonna get ya! And the fines are incredible!
FCC activity varies. There are guys using 1kw on CB frequencies who haven't been bothered. A guy I know used to build transmitters for them. 100w CB is pretty common, the FCC has mostly abandoned enforcement in those frequencies. They did go after another friend's FM pirate station, but all they did was take the transmitter.
@jonc4403 Yes, they gave up on cb many years ago, but still actively enforce most everything else. If you go to the FCC's website, they publish all recent actions, and it usually a lot with BIG fines.
They generally only take action if its considered an economic abuse. Reading the law verry carefully, most frequencies can be used without a licence. It's all about the money
They mostly start to hunt after complaints or when pirats make lots of money due to advertisements and stuff. If you use good equipment and dont cause any interference they might leave you alone due to not enough personel for the job. In the Netherlands, that is.
Aww man, the stories about Johny Tomacco that the old sailors have about him. His name is quite revealing of his... Ahem... Extra curicular... Activities. Man brought alooot of cigarettes into Britain Germany and Netherlands.
5:47 pretty sure he's saying a "black gang" came on board. The term "black gang" is a nautical term that refers to the crew members of a ship who work in the engine room or fire room... And he goes on to mention it was in the engine room... In other words, he was afraid the black gang would find his Bacardi and drink it all... 😂
Yes but in the Netherlands it was also beeing used for the Customs. (Zwarte bende, in Dutch.) Also he said they came on board. If it was the engine crew they probably allready were. So i think it was customs he refered to. But it could be both he was affraid of, lol. I would.
Fascinating. In the current digital era, hearing these old sounding cranky signals has its charm. There are expressive individuals behind the mic. The Russian guy even. I picked a few words, nothing important. He even tried English. How much power does it take to keep broadcasting like this?
That was an interesting video! Very informative. I used to have a pirate radio station back in the early 90s called MAM Fm then changed it to Radio Galaxy on 105.5 fm. Do you remember this or anybody else near the South Manchester area? (Macclesfield) to be more specific.
that is awesome johnny tabaco is still old school out there.. i need to get back into short wave. i have my only radio with lots of electronics in faraday cages. so there it all sits now.
Newb question, but how do you know a pirate radio station? If I'd heard that Scottish one, I'd just have assumed it was a low budget radio station. Is it the frequencies they broadcast on or something?
Anything above 6.2 mhz will be a pirate broadcaster as the 49 meter band ends at 6.2 and becomes a maritime band. 5.8 to 5.9 is also a good place to check.
Arctic Radio (YT) is hoping to get a new Long-wave station up and running in the Netherlands, he reports on various Short-wave Long-wave radio stations around the World and propagation reports, great to hear Johnny Tobacco is still red plating. Nice one Lewis.
@@Mike-H_UK interesting, my reception was spotless apart from occasional static crashes because of thunderstorms.I just uploaded a bit with greetings to HFU guys.
"Das _Finanzamt_ da drüben, das macht mich ganz nervös" - hört sich für mich an wie Hans Albers, but I can't tell the name of the movie - or if it really is Hans Albers. Maybe there are some Hans Albers fans here who can confirm it's from one of his movies - or not.
The guy probably takes a some kind of card with text, and read. "Thank you, and hello.. blablabla (he mumbles as if he was shortening what's worth reading) he mentions a person, probably a musician, and it's like an announcement of a given broadcast or something similar.
Johnny Tobacco sounds like I should be listening to him in the Mojave Wasteland
I love that!
There was never a mannnn, like our Johnnyyyyyy
Great imagery with that comment.
Patrolling the mojave makes you wish for a nuclear physics inspired winter
@@SportyMabamba johnnnyyyyyy tabaaccoooooo!
❤ Johnny Tobacco , broadcaster of the year ..absolute legend.
I have no understanding why this channel came up in my feed when it did, but every vid i watched since then has impressed so i am sure glad it did.
Thanks!
Strange. Me too but I was looking for alien contact encounters 🤔
You can tell Johnny Tobacco values his listeners as family, showing his heartfelt appreciation in his outro.
Most pirates in the Netherlands do. The more commercial ones excluded. But there are not much of those left. Not like in the old days.
'Black Gang' is the Customs ship searching squad, rather than the normal one or two boarding officers.
Before signing off he said: „Das Finanzamt da drüben macht mich ganz nervös…“ meaning „that tax office over there makes me really nervous“ 😂
You beat me to it.
Another great video, thank-you! With the number of radio stations closing down, it's good to have these "independent" stations to listen too.
As a younger lad in the '70s and '80s I used to dabble in DXing a bit as I have two shortwave radios but never turned it into a serious hobby. I have to say I didn't even discover your channel till this year but it has been one of the delights of the year for me. This interaction with Johnny Tobacco in this video alone is so wholesome and human and is a real salve to the dehumanizing fakeness of much of today's world. Keep on excelling my dude.
@@OuterGalaxyLounge I agree mate 👍🍻
They YT algorithm is working its magic today. It recommended my a documentary from Dutch TV about UK Pirate radio back in the day followed by this video with Lewis talking to a Dutch pirate. The documentary is called "UK Pirate Radio Documentary - Making Waves" on the OttoNL YT channel BTW - seems like something that might interest a few people here :)
Thanks for spelling it out. It sucks you cannot link on YT. definitely will check it out
I got a hate speech warning in Arabic.
Noodle writing and squiggles isn't a real language
@@RonBurgandy-o5z buddy your writing in lines, squiggles and dots too lol
@@RonBurgandy-o5z go back to the 1800s
5:48 blackgang is slang for engine crew. A holdover from the days of coal fired ships where the coal would leave them covered in black dust.
I think the "black gang" is customs who come on board to check for import/export of goods/tax etc.
There is still music pirates on Shortwave in the Caribbean & in the Pacific. Many still jam the Buzzer on 4625 kHz with music here in North America & some on 6925 kHz from all over. -Cheers!
So they're SHORTWAVE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN?
People like Johnny Tobacco attracted me to shortwave in the first place. Legend.
And thus the 1974 Manchester Barcadi Mysterie was solved.
Except for: where are the Bottles and is it still drinkable
(i mean it would be iresponsible to risk Fish geting drunk)
At 6:49 Johnny says "The Lampekappie man" . A lampenkap is a hood that goes over a lamp.
The lampshade man?
@@Chic_Ken Yep.
Hoodwink ?
The lamp shade maker?
Made of human skin in ww2 !
Wasn’t the Dutch guy just something else - what a wonderful sign-off
So cool. Respects Johnny Tobacco!
Very interesting to hear the Tobacco
Pirate station. I am also older at 80,
and help my wife too who is 81.
I give him congratulations.
Is he a German pirate, as I know
German well having grown up with
it, My Father was from Germany,
I was born in London during WWII
in 1944, and my Mother was from
Switzerland, knowing German and
Swiss German too from Zurich.
In UK, my Father and Uncle were
interned in Canada from 1940-1943,
being German aliens, and then came
back through the Isle of Man to the
UK in 1943, after which my parents
were married. My cousin told me, my
Uncle needed shock treatment while
interned in Canada. So i could read
the German you showed on the screen.
😅
I think Johnny tobacco is Dutch, but what a brilliant man. Also if I heard right, he is using a dipole at just 6 foot off the ground, amazing!
I heard audio test ?.
@@SamFinch-bn8kr Yes, that simple antenna amazes me.
very cool . this channel is renewing my intrest into hf radio been away for some time . was nice to hear johnny tobacco again i havent herd in in a long time
Excellent! Enjoy
The Tukkers in the East of the Netherlands Twente are also sending again! They deployed really a huge antenna!!
Big smile thank you so so much for sherring. Much love from the Netherlands.
SWR, or Scandinavian Weekend Radio started as pirates but are now official. They operate from Finland. Ever heard them?
this video is actually a really good thing to get younger people interested in shortwave. as it shows, people like johnny tobacco are fairly old. it's people like him who have spent decades acquiring knowledge, teaching and operating in a medium that is slowly and inevitably going to mostly die (say 100 years from now). he and others in this video show that shortwave can still be a pretty cool albeit niche hobby. starting your own pirate radio station with a dipole or something can let you be heard to total strangers hundreds to thousands of kilometres away and connect you with people you'd otherwise never know existed. it's an awesome thing to do, plus shortwave also has a lot of other interesting things. i hope younger people discover how unique a technology and hobby it is and keep it alive
A SW license is good to have should the internet and phone lines go down. There will still be radio waves. I want to sit for my basic so I can at least get my call sign and go from there. On another video, this channel said people got QSL cards from a numbers station! I mostly listen however I am more seriously considering getting my license. It can't hurt. I just don't want my home address published. Is that still a requirement? I need to keep my address private for reasons I don't feel comfortable sharing online.
@@SybilKibble I'm a ham in the US, my license is registered to my post office box, so that's all a public license search will get you.
In the UK, you can request your details are not published. I can't speak for other countries, but it should be possible as most countries have laws around data privacy.
Lewis is and excellent resource for those new to the hobby. ' Arctic Radio ' in the Netherlands does propagation reports on commercial SW and LW stations, I started off in the 70's as a listener (BRS41712) sending QSL reports and received a few cards. The collected more kit as we do. As for MW dyeing, well as we know it but there will be some that won't give in. 73's
@@WOFFY-qc9te There is another "Arctic" station, "Arctic 252" that will begin test transmissions on Longwave in October from Finland. 252KHz is also used by Radio Algeria and of course by RTE from Clarkstown County Meath Ireland until last year. (Formally TEAMtalk 252 and before that the much missed Atlantic 252)
I used to listen to shortwave radio on an old domestic radio receiver when I was a kid. I think it must have been what kindled my interest in Ham Radio which in turn became my profession. The radio had HT off the mains and a 2V (I think) accumulator, for the cathode heaters. A guy who had a radio and TV business used to swap the accumulator every two weeks. This was almost seventy years ago but I think it's time to do more listening as well as transmitting. Thanks Lewis.
Did I hear you right lewis?!? Johnny tobacco is using an open dipole JUST 6ft of the ground! Absolutely amazing. Maybe he's close to the Netherlands coast, where the salt-water of the sea helps improve propagation.
I get a kick out of the fact that he uses "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn as a sign off song. He obviously has good taste.
It's a well known song to me as my grandmother used to say that it was one of her dad's favourite songs. He served in the Canadian army and was stationed overseas in England during WWII.
Cheers! 🇨🇦👍
JT also often includes a Polish song from a similar era which fits nicely with Vera Lynn's one.
@@TheMajkla That's very interesting! Do you know the title of the song?
@@historicaltrainbusfan1067 sorry I got it mixed up, the Polish song isn't as old. It's a schlager called Dała bym ci dała by Teresa Werner. More recently, if you hear "seven years with the wrong woman", you know it is JT😃
That was exciting to watch! Thank you sir!
Johnny Tobacco also uses the alias Radio Abu Dabbi too.
You should do a video on the Dutch MW pirates that can be found every night after dusk. 1611 to 1700 is the place to tune. Greek and Balkan stations also pop up here when conditions are good.
I can remember seeing ships on the Manchester Ship Canal back in the 70s. Down by where The Lowrie Theatre and shopping centre is now. Plus past where the swing bridge is near Old Trafford football stadium . Maybe Johnny was on one of them.
The Russian is saying hello, welcome from Vitaliy and we'll continue with our programme
He said "привет из Италии", not "привет от Виталия".
@@piotr433 Thank you
If I’m not mistaken, I actually had a conversation with that gentleman. He’s quite a nice man.
Very cool to hear these transmissions from people keeping the pirate tradition alive for the love of it. Not just that the comments have been brilliant, adding to the story and translating sections we missed.
07:45 _♫♫ We'll meet again... ♫♫_ Unironically classy!
I don't know when
😢I envy you having a low noise environment. I have so much electrical garbage and nearby fm and TV to deal with. For me dx is real; I have to drive well out of town to do it.
I feel your pain belive me ⚡
You are not The only one, brother
awwwwh Johnny Tobacco is so wholesome :)
My dad built a Heathkit SW 717 receiver that I dug out of the attic and used to listen into in the evenings when I was a teenager in the 80s. Although, I had no real idea what I was hearing (mostly non-English stations) I always enjoyed imagining where in the world they might be.
Cool video Lewis. Always good to get a shout out, I used to collect QSL cards from Pirates but some wont send them out.
Johnny Tobacco is great, been listening to him for years, love his soothing voice. “We’ll meet again…” 🙂
The 6941 TX test sounds like Steve from Radio Pamela, I could be wrong though. Check between 1610 - 1720 kHz MW this autumn Lewis, loads of Dutch pirates and a few Greek ones if the conditions are good 👍🏼
73 Franco
Thanks for the info!
"Black Gang" refers to the sailors that work the ship's engines down in the engine room. Back in the day they would get covered in oil, grease, coal dust, etc.
I think the black gang jonny tobacco is referring to are the customs rummage squads that search ships for smuggled goods. Hence the bacardi being dumped in the canal
Wiederhören - Hear you again! The audio equivelant of Aufwiedersehen - See you again!
Fantastic. You're getting even more famous. The guy doing the test sounded British.
What a nice guy. For some reason he reminds me of Ray from Radio Workshop, with his great stoies.
Yes, listening to pirate radio can be very entertaining.. Halloween is the best night of the year in North America. Thanks for sharing this video.
Shortwave is more relevant than ever in this fibre-optic interweb age! 😮 As proved by this 😊
1:50 He says you can contact him via messenger or email and thanks Roberto from Italy for doing it. He then announces the next songs.
Brilliant video, Lewis! All the best, Rob in Switzerland
1:30 I believe he is saying "...not the fisherman that pulls in his lobs..." as in lobsters
He is saying Logs not Lobs.
The fisherman he is referring to is tge north sea fishermen. 6.2 to 6.4 Mhz , where most SW pirates broadcast is still allocated to maritime services, although little used. 6266 is used quite a lot by the trawlermen in SSB. 6215 and 6315 must be avoided as these are still monitored Distress and calling channels!
@@nigehomer9744 🪵 or 🦞?
Being a radio pirate is technically legal, for a fine lol
Wow that’s just great to hear and thanks for letting us know. Bloody great stuff. Thanks again for all your work you put out for us. Alan 🇬🇧🍻💯👍
Thank You ! I am definitely going to follow up and see if I can hear anything in Florida.
My step father was a pilot on the ship canal at the time. I hope he wasn’t on board when the smuggling went on :)
"Ringway Man from Manchester" welp, time to rename the channel lmao😂😂😂😂
This video made me feel the warm fuzzies - the same ones which i felt when i had my first successful qso's on 14MHz in the LZ1KDP radio club as a student. This guy is just golden, may he be healthy and happy for many more years to come :)
Brilliant - thanks Lewis!
Very interesting. I've got to pull finger and get a dipole up for my sw set here in New Zealand
Damn. Excellent video bro.
The man , the myth, the Legend........Johnny Tobacco!
Back in the mid 80’s, I could pick up Lazer 558 that was supposedly broadcast from a ship on the North Sea. Great music, far better than BBC fair. I was located in Suffolk.
It broadcast from the Panama-registered ship MV Communicator in international waters in the North Sea [Wikipedia]
I used to listen to it
I think it is great that this guy and his transmissions are now archived on TH-cam.
Been for years, there are lots of recordings of JT and other SW pirates on TH-cam.
4:57 The song starting to play is Big city by Dutch singer Tol Hasse.
Thanks!
❤️
Great video, quite a motivation to try and catch these signals from here in France! I really want to hear Johnny Tobacco now 😁
Thanks!
approximate translation of what the Russian pirate says
...a confirmation message on my messenger page.Reads the message "Thanks and greetings from Italy, my address is Roberto... and so on." Then he probably reads his email address (then thanks and asks to write more messages).Then he says " And we continue our program and now the song will sound " then the name of the song
I listened for years in the 1980s to hear a pirate, but with very little luck. Since I retired and started listening again in 2018, I've heard several. Possibly a better antenna and a lot more knowledge of where to listen?
Best way to start is listening around 1620 kHz Mediumwave in Europe. There are dutch pirates almost every day. Actually there is a station on air 20:45 UTC.
@@lkjwertzin western Europe that's Dutch pirates you get. In Eastern it's tons of Greek stations and guys from Serbia.
I really I wish I could hear this Johnny tobacco character here in the west… I bet he’s a good man to have a chat with too
Thank so much for the video. I was a very, very dedicated Swl from 1963 to about 1984. my best wishes to all the pirate radio people who go to all the trouble to maintain theirwonderful hobby.
2:43 "audio test 1, 2, 3". I've heard this before around this area approx 10 years ago.
Yes.
I lived in Runcorn for 5 years back in the late 90's. The ship canal starts around Runcorn, a bit further inland the canal cuts thru the countryside, it's a strange sight to see a ship moving along the ship canal as it just looks like a big massive ship sailing thru a farmers field.
Freedom of speech is the best ❤
How has he not been taken down by his country's radio commission? Here in the States, if you are transmitting that frequently, the FCC is gonna get ya! And the fines are incredible!
FCC activity varies. There are guys using 1kw on CB frequencies who haven't been bothered. A guy I know used to build transmitters for them. 100w CB is pretty common, the FCC has mostly abandoned enforcement in those frequencies.
They did go after another friend's FM pirate station, but all they did was take the transmitter.
@jonc4403 Yes, they gave up on cb many years ago, but still actively enforce most everything else. If you go to the FCC's website, they publish all recent actions, and it usually a lot with BIG fines.
They generally only take action if its considered an economic abuse.
Reading the law verry carefully, most frequencies can be used without a licence. It's all about the money
They mostly start to hunt after complaints or when pirats make lots of money due to advertisements and stuff. If you use good equipment and dont cause any interference they might leave you alone due to not enough personel for the job. In the Netherlands, that is.
Aww man, the stories about Johny Tomacco that the old sailors have about him.
His name is quite revealing of his... Ahem... Extra curicular... Activities.
Man brought alooot of cigarettes into Britain Germany and Netherlands.
Cool video. Very interesting. Thank you.
one day you might hear my flame thrower out there..I need some antenna help tho lol
5:47 pretty sure he's saying a "black gang" came on board.
The term "black gang" is a nautical term that refers to the crew members of a ship who work in the engine room or fire room... And he goes on to mention it was in the engine room...
In other words, he was afraid the black gang would find his Bacardi and drink it all... 😂
Yes but in the Netherlands it was also beeing used for the Customs. (Zwarte bende, in Dutch.) Also he said they came on board. If it was the engine crew they probably allready were. So i think it was customs he refered to. But it could be both he was affraid of, lol. I would.
I hope Johnny Tobacco finds this and reads the comments. :-)
I should have started a station on shortwave not long wave 😆🙈 I doubt you will hear me in the UK.
I will set up something here in the mid Atlantic region of the US to see if I can hear you guys
Maybe a miracle will happen and I'll hear your station if Algeria goes silent 😅
Fascinating. In the current digital era, hearing these old sounding cranky signals has its charm. There are expressive individuals behind the mic. The Russian guy even. I picked a few words, nothing important. He even tried English. How much power does it take to keep broadcasting like this?
Honestly even though it wasn't for me I smiled when Johnny Tobacco gave you a shoutout, just seemed so cool and nice
That was an interesting video! Very informative. I used to have a pirate radio station back in the early 90s called MAM Fm then changed it to Radio Galaxy on 105.5 fm. Do you remember this or anybody else near the South Manchester area? (Macclesfield) to be more specific.
Great entertainment Ringway!
Johnny Tabacco reminds me of the fallout radio guy 😂
Awesome video. What frequency is Johnny Tobacco on? I’d like to see if I can pick him up in New York…
It varies. Usually around 6mhz
3:53 with the music he plays i believe it he’s a good ol boy you can hear it in his voice
Good for you.
that is awesome johnny tabaco is still old school out there.. i need to get back into short wave. i have my only radio with lots of electronics in faraday cages. so there it all sits now.
Newb question, but how do you know a pirate radio station? If I'd heard that Scottish one, I'd just have assumed it was a low budget radio station. Is it the frequencies they broadcast on or something?
Hey Simon, you just get to know as you listen and of course the message boards are good for clues
Anything above 6.2 mhz will be a pirate broadcaster as the 49 meter band ends at 6.2 and becomes a maritime band. 5.8 to 5.9 is also a good place to check.
Brilliant content as ever all ways something interesting and different thank you for keeping my interest in radio going
Arctic Radio (YT) is hoping to get a new Long-wave station up and running in the Netherlands, he reports on various Short-wave Long-wave radio stations around the World and propagation reports, great to hear Johnny Tobacco is still red plating. Nice one Lewis.
Thanks mate!
this is so wholesome!
I'm gonna have to tune into Johnny Tobacco. He sounds like an interesting guy!
Have a look at the HF Underground forum to see who's on air. Anyway, JT always has one of the best signals out there.
@@TheMajkla Yes, I heard him earlier tonight from Northants in the UK. A pretty strong signal.
@@Mike-H_UK nice 👍
I hear him easily in Slovakia too often.
@@TheMajkla I tried listening tonight (17 Aug) and commenting on HFU, but there was terrible interference.
@@Mike-H_UK interesting, my reception was spotless apart from occasional static crashes because of thunderstorms.I just uploaded a bit with greetings to HFU guys.
Just tuned in to Johnny Tobbaco 👍🍻
Radio Free Luxembourg 🇱🇺
Woooooow! I need a movie about Johnny Tobacco.
Nice work Ringway Man! 😅
2:23 Strange Days, The Doors
7:53 "Das (?) da drüben, das macht mich ganz nervös" :D "That (?) over there, that makes me very nervous"
"Das _Finanzamt_ da drüben, das macht mich ganz nervös" - hört sich für mich an wie Hans Albers, but I can't tell the name of the movie - or if it really is Hans Albers. Maybe there are some Hans Albers fans here who can confirm it's from one of his movies - or not.
The guy probably takes a some kind of card with text, and read.
"Thank you, and hello.. blablabla
(he mumbles as if he was shortening what's worth reading)
he mentions a person, probably a musician,
and it's like an announcement of a given broadcast or something similar.
Long live pirating shortwave. I urge everyone to try the 45m band. Calling frequency 6670 lsb.
Wow how cool! QSO card for the win!!!!
I found an online shortwave radio. It’s pretty dang cool. I get on it every once in a blue moon and see what I can pick up from around the world.
Johnny you legend
Johnny tobacco seems like a cool dude 😎
Peskie being short for pescadore, the Spanish word for fisherman. Is this a term spawned, perhaps, from a certain repurposed fishing trawler?
Well, on the HF Underground forum the Peskies category is for fishermens not for music pirates.