LSB French in 6 MHz

M0TAZ

Has anyone lese noticed the collection of French station using LSB around 6.6 MHz. I have logged the following freq, 

6640

6653

6660

6665

LSB seems strange, I dont speak French but it sounds a little like they are just chatting CB style.

Any suggestions?

Dave

M0TAZ

G8JNJ

Hi Dave,

They are French pseudo CB'ers /  'Freebanders' / Echo Charlie operators.

There are unlicensed operators from loads of different countries using that segment of the spectrum. 6660.00KHz LSB is typically used as a calling channel.

Other frequency segments also get used by 'Pirate operators' they very often stick to fairly narrow frequency limits which may partially be because they use simple resonant antennas and don't want to have to use a tuner. Some of these 'Pirate' bands have been running for many years.

Some examples include:-

'Zender' stations using AM and broadcasting traditional music from 1600KHz to 1800KHz.

Russian CB'ers using ex military equipment mainly between 2900KHz to 3200KHz AM /USB / LSB and calling on 2920.00KHz

Filipino fishermen speaking in Tagalog 16540/16545/16550KHz USB

Could be Indonesian village radio 10940KHz +/- 100KHz USB

Quite a lot of these are tagged on my WEB SDR 

http://southwest.ddns.net:8073/

Regards,

Martin - G8JNJ

 

sv1btl

These are frequencies that unlicensed operators use for their local contacts, using conventional tranceivers. You will find them on:

- 6630 to 6725 LSB

- 3435 to 3485 LSB

- 1610 to 1750 AM. This is a band that many greek radio-operators use to test their AM (MW) equipments, using sometimes several KW for transmission and during the night hours their transmissions are heard from many europian countries. You will also find operators from other countries (FYROM, Russia etc).

M0TAZ

Thanks, that's very interesting. I did guess that was the case, from the style of operating.

Ta Dave
M0TAZ

M0TAZ

Interesting they decided to use LSB, as that's bit the norm and if anything makes them more obvious!

I would have thought USB would have been easier, especially if it's ex military equipment.

Very interesting, would have never known without the kiwi and the community here, many thanks.


Ta Dave
M0TAZ

sv1btl

They don't use military equipment, but conventional radio-amateur tranceivers, not "locked" for transmit to (only) ham bands.

Many operators in upper MW band (1620-1750) use home-made transmitters, although the majority use professional exciters and linears. But the most impressive is their antenna system - rather sort verticals, but with a high efficiency and excellent ground system.....

G8JNJ

Hi Dave,

I think the 6MHz Pirates tend to use LSB so that the legitimate commercial / military stations (who often only have USB) can't easily tell what they are saying.

Russian CB'ers a mainly using AM from very old / surplus ex military equipment, but some use modified amateur transceivers or home built kit.

The other common group of Pirates are the hundreds of fishing boats. These pop up on odd frequencies from 2MHz  to 20MHz (and beyond) and typically consist of very long transmissions with engine noise in the background and lots of swearing (the Scottish and Irish boats in particular). They will very often chat to other boats from the same area day in and day out, sitting on the same frequency and having the same conversation day after day, after day, after day, ZZZZzzzzzzzz.....

It must be very boring being on a fishing boat :-(

Whilst we are on the subject - can anyone tell me how the 1600-4000KHz marine band is organised - especially for simplex ship to ship communications. The other HF SSB Marine bands are channelised by the ITU, but the old 2MHz 'Trawler Band' (which is still very much in use in and around UK coastal waters) doesn't seem to have any formal plan, or at least one that I can find on-line.

Regards,

Martin - G8JNJ

M0TAZ

Hi, Martin, I have looked at this before and found some info on the net. Like most things, it could be old or out of date, but worth a look.

http://info.yachtcom.co.uk/HF-frequencies/

and some more

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtHighFrequency

Regards

Dave

M0TAZ

G8JNJ

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the links - unfortunately I had seen those pages previously.

The answer is hidden somewhere among all the ITU RR documents.

Try searching for 

"1606.5 kHz (1605 kHz Region 2) and 4000 kHz"

"GE85-MM-R1" 

" RR Appendix 17 and Appendix 25"

As far as I can tell apart from a few channels allocated for " DIGITAL SELECTIVE CALLING SYSTEM" the rest seems to be fairly arbitrary.

If anyone does know please speak up :-)

Regards,

Martin - G8JNJ

Peter

Martin, ref yours of 21 Sept.
You are very right. It can be very boring standing watch on the nav bridge of a fishing vessel, having say set the nets or lines and then lying/bouncing around to guard them for the requisite 12-24-36 hrs before calling out the crew to bring the the lines/nets in again. I found this almost as boring as sitting in a traffic jam on the M1 or M25, and the traffic jams have up to now only lasted 3-4hrs at the most. Make sure you have one full, and one empty, water bottle with you.

KQ6XA

"Filipino fishermen speaking in Tagalog 16540/16545/16550KHz USB

Could be Indonesian village radio 10940KHz +/- 100KHz USB"

The 16540 kHz USB channels are normal Marine SSB channels. 

Indonesia has a widely utilized 10 MHz SSB service, similar to a CB band, primarily utilized for inter-island communications.

G8JNJ

Hi Bonnie,

Yes they are among the 16MHz Ship to Shore marine channels, but I'm not sure if they are meant to be used for ship to ship. There are only 7 simplex channels in that block. I'm not a sailor so I don't know if this is permitted ?

Do you have any more information on the 10MHz CB allocation such as channel no / frequencies. I'm familiar with the use of VHF for Indonesian Village radio but couldn't find anything relating to HF.

Regards,

Martin - G8JNJ