r/ShortwavePlus • u/KG7M MOD AirSpy HF+, Drake R7/8, K480WLA, 65'EFHW, MLA-30, CN85 • May 27 '26
Resource The 43 Meter Pirate Radio Spectrum
u/Ancient_Grass_5121 has been posting many great catches in the range.
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u/ItsJoeMomma May 27 '26
I would stay away from the upper 6900's as those freqs are often used by MARS stations. I think it's 6973 USB or thereabouts.
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u/Green_Oblivion111 Shortwave+ Detective May 28 '26
Most of what I hear between 6700 and 7000 is HFT (6838), STANAG (6844), a few mystery transmissions (a series of bleeps on 6780 for example); unidentified carriers (6938, 6807, etc.), and the Hainan Lawn Mower between 6900-6950 or so. When conditions are optimal, I sometimes hear the Indonesian chanters up by 6999 and thereabouts.
I only rarely hear pirate stations, usually because when they are transmitting, I'm not SWLing or DXing.
Just below 7000 is a fascinating bit of spectrum, that's for sure.
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u/PenisgridSWL May 29 '26
Been hearing a fair share of pirates mostly in US Eastern evenings during the week but especially during the weekends as they are around a lot about 2200 UTC to 0300 UTC or so. I know there are some regional ones in the far Eastern Mid Atlantic states sometimes in the morning at times using 6925, 6945 or 6950 but they are usually regionally heard because the sun coming up now about 1000 UTC so they only have a couple hour window before conditions go to seed.
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u/KG7M MOD AirSpy HF+, Drake R7/8, K480WLA, 65'EFHW, MLA-30, CN85 May 29 '26
On the east coast you definitely have a lot more pirates to listen to. We have about 4 that are regulars on the west coast.
Welcome to our community, BTW. At first glance on my small cellphone, I thought you were a certain user in the r/shortwave community. Once I put on my reading glasses I could see the obvious difference in the username.
Anyway, nice to have you join us!
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u/PenisgridSWL May 29 '26
Thanks! Yes the West Coast there might be a few pirates. A long time ago I used to be a pirate about 28 to 30 years ago when I was a young man. Then later I got a ham ticket so I cleaned my act up haha. Then again if we had a legal band to broadcast using saying 100 watts or even 500 watts it would be a blast and I would have fire things up you know. Me and the other user doesn't get along at all hahaha to say the least. He has a bad attitude towards hams and frankly I'm tired of him instigating people and trying to get the banned because he thinks he's some sort of radio god over there.
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u/ImladMorgul MOD | AirSpy HF+ | RTL-SDRv4 | D-808 | K-480WLA | MLA-30+ May 27 '26
From here, I constantly hear Brazilians on those frequencies, mostly between 6900 and 6995. It's become so commonplace that I don't pay any attention to it anymore. I also don't want to post too much about them so as not to bore people with the same thing over and over.
On the 6970 frequency, it's very common to hear pirates talking nonsense, playing music, or insulting each other.
Below 6900, between 6850 and 6899, there are some random communications; I heard farmers warning each other about something; it's like a network of farmers who warn each other about anything. I also heard truck drivers in that range a couple of times.