{"id":11431,"date":"2014-11-19T10:04:11","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T14:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=11431"},"modified":"2014-11-19T10:20:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T14:20:51","slug":"echo-charlie-ec-pirate-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/echo-charlie-ec-pirate-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Echo Charlie (EC) Pirate Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SX-99-Dial\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> reader, “The Captain,” who recently sent a message regarding “EC Pirates”–an aspect of the pirate radio\/free-bander scene I’ve never covered here on the Post<\/em>. I asked him to explain a bit more about EC Pirates:<\/p>\n

“Echo Charlie [Pirates] are a bit like amateur radio operators in that they don’t play music, they talk all around the world mostly around the 45 metre band using the calling frequency 6,670 kHz,\u00a0but they do have other band plans too, usually just under the amateur radio band plans. They are pirates as they are not licensed for those bands: freebanders if you like.<\/p>\n

Here is the band plan they follow:<\/p>\n

86\/85m 3430-3500 kHz
\ncalling 3470 LSB<\/p>\n

45m 6530-6700\u00a0kHz
\ncalling 6670 LSB<\/p>\n

29m 10400 kHz\u00a0USB<\/p>\n

21m 13900-14000\u00a0kHz
\ncalling 13970 USB<\/p>\n

21m South America
\nCalling 13555 kHz\u00a0USB<\/p>\n

16m 18010-18050 kHz
\ncalling 18030 USB<\/p>\n

14m 20900-20980\u00a0kHz
\ncalling 20930 USB<\/p>\n

EC started many years ago after World War II [when surplus] military equipment was up for sale. Guys bought the units up and used them on AM mode but slowly switched over to\u00a0SSB over time. No one is really sure why its called Echo Charlie but they think its because this old equipment had EC on the casing or something like that. I’m still reading up on the history of it all.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“The Captain” has also created an online forum for EC Pirates and various radio topics. It requires (free) registration to post and read:\u00a0http:\/\/ecpradioforum.forumotion.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, “The Captain,” who recently sent a message regarding “EC Pirates”–an aspect of the pirate radio\/free-bander scene I’ve never covered here on the Post. I asked him to explain a bit more about EC Pirates: “Echo Charlie [Pirates] are a bit like amateur radio operators in that they don’t play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,297],"tags":[3411,3412,3414,3415,4092,3413],"class_list":["post-11431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-pirate-radio","tag-ec-pirates","tag-echo-charlie-pirates","tag-free-banders","tag-freebanders","tag-pirate-radio","tag-the-captain"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2Yn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31031,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/guest-post-listening-to-pirate-radio-stations-from-south-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":11431,"position":0},"title":"Guest Post: Listening To Pirate Radio Stations from South America","author":"Thomas","date":"March 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Smolinski, who shares the following guest post. Note that this post has also been published on Chris' excellent blog, Radiohobbyist.org: \u00a0 Listening To Pirate Radio Stations from South America by Chris Smolinski Looking for a new DX challenge? In addition to shortwave pirate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Guest Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Guest Posts","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/guest-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DhcQKXh-e1520339222291.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7376,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/pirate-radio-recordings-radio-borderhunter\/","url_meta":{"origin":11431,"position":1},"title":"Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Borderhunter","author":"Thomas","date":"September 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"You'll typically find North American radio pirates here on the SWLing Post, but on occasion, I do manage to pull in a station or two from Europe. \u00a0Last night was one of those rare occasions, and I have Ragnar at Pirates Week to thank for the tip. I tuned in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"Woah! Timmy, is that Europe calling???\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/1-RadioListening-300x193.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8851,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/how-to-tune-in-pirate-radio-broadcasts-on-shortwave\/","url_meta":{"origin":11431,"position":2},"title":"How To Tune In Pirate Radio Broadcasts on Shortwave","author":"Thomas","date":"March 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This article originally appeared in the February 2014 issue of The Spectrum Monitor Magazine. Even as many legacy international broadcasters are abandoning the shortwave bands, shortwave remains active and vibrant in another quadrant: namely, on shortwave pirate radio. Over the past few years, I\u2019ve found that one of my favorite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"QSL from Radio Gallifrey Intergalactic","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/twGallifrey-QSL-300x182.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2171,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/chase-some-pirates-this-weekend\/","url_meta":{"origin":11431,"position":3},"title":"Chase some pirates this weekend!","author":"Thomas","date":"November 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As I sit here in front of my radios this Friday evening, I notice the news on National Geographic that we have one of the largest sun spots to face us since 2005. This sunspot is the size of Jupiter! It's all a little too coincidental on 11-11-11. It can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/PalstarInUSB.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":64316,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/bobs-radio-corner-shortwave-multiplex\/","url_meta":{"origin":11431,"position":4},"title":"Bob’s Radio Corner: Shortwave Multiplex?","author":"Thomas","date":"October 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Reported by Bob Colegrove Incurable DXers are always looking for new challenges.\u00a0 So it was, I recently did some scanning between 42 and 45 meters (~6600 to 7000 kHz).\u00a0 Trenton Military on 6754 kHz and the MARS net on 6913 kHz are regulars here, as are a selection of pirates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7142,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/a-great-weekend-to-catch-some-pirate-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":11431,"position":5},"title":"A great weekend to catch some pirate radio action","author":"Thomas","date":"August 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday, September 2nd, is Labor Day throughout most of North America; shortwave pirates love to operate on long holiday weekends (though you can hear them most any weekend for that matter). So, if you've never heard a live pirate station on shortwave radio, this is a great opportunity to catch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Most pirate radio stations will send you an electronic or paper QSL. This is one I received from All Along The Watchtower Radio. (Click to enlarge)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/AATW-QSL32-300x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}