blueglow807
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Echo charlie rally
Hello all,
Just discovered this site. I was very active on Echo Charlie in the 1970s, and attended the infamous rally at Drayton Manor Park. I still have much of my equipment, (mainly war surplus and homebrew) and have several tapes showing just how active the band was then. I used AM (from half-watt to 200watts) using various callsigns, and CW using AB-1. I worked with Whisky 4 (Bill from Highworth) on the EC Newsletter. I knew that eccentric Charlie Lima (Frank Sage) - the king of Echo Charlie? I rarely come on the air now, but when I do I nearly always operate CW. I was a licenced amateur but always preferred the atmosphere of EC. By the way, 'Echo Charlie' was one of many two-letter military calling channels, just as 'Delta Oscar' (about 5.3 MHz) was another. That's how it got its name, most of the early operators were ex-forces using 19 sets, 38 sets, 46 sets, etc. Military stations would call the two-letter channel identifier, followed by the words 'Net now'. How times have changed!
I look forward to sharing reminiscences!
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20/Jun/2008, 6:47 am
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topbuzzuk
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Re: Echo charlie rally
hello n welcome, i have been listening on EC but its not that busy anymore. it might be if i can get a antenna sorted 
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26FB118 ~~~ 26PR13
Home:Icom 706MK2G-Heil HMM-IC mic-Inverted V ant(indoor)
Mobile:Ranger VR9000-Astatic Teardrop mic-Zetagi B300P amp-Moonraker SC5000 ant
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21/Jun/2008, 10:15 am
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yamanx1
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Re: Echo charlie rally
Hi and welcome to the site, I/we would be very interested in tapping your knowledge about EC. I am an active user of both 6670 and 3475. We only use LSB as USB is aeronautical frequencies, and you can sometimes here pilots of cargo aircraft particularly from Canada for some reason.
I have not used AM or FM on EC, I'm not sure of the allocation?
A lot of Irish, Dutch, German, French, Italians use EC regularly, not so much from other countries though oddly? There is a very regular EC user from Romania but he can be heard across many different bands.
There are a fair few UK stations as well, they tend to stay quiet unless there is activity, when there is you end up with quite a big network, mostly from London for some strange reason?
I would be interested in hearing about your radio collection, and which bands they work on etc.
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21/Jun/2008, 10:30 am
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blueglow807
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Re: Echo charlie rally
Hi, Jamanx1,
It's good to chat to others about EC, etc. I'll try to answer any questions about early EC any of you would like to fire at me. In the 70's sideband was uncommon on EC - many amateurs still used AM. Nearly everyone on EC used AM using easily built transmitters or war surplus sets. We generally kept between 6.6 and 6.7 (CW end). I remember once using a 5590kHz xtal from a portable location. I didn't realise I was on top of London Air Radio - who broke in and very politely told us we were out of band and to QSY down to 'your usual 6.6Mc/s band'! The flights you hear from Canada - if you refer to Gander Radio, that's the Western Atlantic HF station, as Shanwick is the Eastern end. (Actually, the TX's and Rx's are near Shannon, and control at Prestwick.
In the 80's IB stations, many in Ireland started using converted commercial amateur SSB Tx's. I worked a few of these on sideband myself. I also used DSB, reduced carrier, messed about with RTTY, and even speech inversion.
I can tell you many stories of those times - the GPO's green DF vans and raids, secret monitoring of their VHF network, games with cadets, equipment, the famous musical spy station that joined us every weekend, odd characters, DX, cross-band chats with broadcast pirates (including RNI), rebroadcasts, our local net on 1.7 & 4MHz (based at a school), a 12-year old girl EC op, 88 Set VHF relays, and much more. I still have my log books (yes, I kept logs!). I could write a book.
Anyway, if I carry on like this, I'll end up writing one here! So I'll say 73's for now.
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22/Jun/2008, 7:45 pm
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topbuzzuk
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Re: Echo charlie rally
excellent, i bet its really intresting. i wish i was about when radio was in its early days messing about with antennas and old crystal radios. its all too modern now with mega technology.
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26FB118 ~~~ 26PR13
Home:Icom 706MK2G-Heil HMM-IC mic-Inverted V ant(indoor)
Mobile:Ranger VR9000-Astatic Teardrop mic-Zetagi B300P amp-Moonraker SC5000 ant
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24/Jun/2008, 8:29 am
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blueglow807
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Re: Echo charlie rally
Can't agree more. The pioneering spirit seems to have gone. It's a great shame, but I suppose that's progress. I still mess about with valve equipment - find it more interesting. I've tried various weird modes too, with a couple of others who have the same interest. It's a challenge producing inverted sideband using a phasing exciter and simple direct conversion receiver. It works and it's pretty secure too. BTW I built my first crystal set when I was 9, and progressed to a full-blown 52 set the following Xmas! I became an addict of Cold War spy stations, they weere everywhere then, so was the jamming. The excitement has largely gone now, and the bands seem empty since those days. The Fixed bands were packed with RTTY and morse and more exotic modes, and we used to have a job finding a clear channel. EC was mainly free of legal stations so i suppose we just took over it!
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27/Jun/2008, 10:14 am
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