:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2124--Jan. 15, 1991 ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2124
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's a lot happening on the airwaves right now, but the reasons are pretty
depressing. The United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait is
only hours away. Closer to Sweden, Lithuania Radio has been occupied by
Soviet forces.
We'll be telling you about relays from Lithuania on amateur radio, the
Latvian government's interest in expanded broadcasts from Sweden if Radio
Riga is occupied, and a decision to start broadcasting in Lithuanian on Radio
Sweden.
LITHUANIA--An amateur radio station began relaying news from the Lithuanian
parliament Sunday afternoon. The use of amateur radio followed the seizure of
LIthuania's radio and television facilities early Sunday by Soviet troops.
Two people were killed and at least 20 injured as the soldiers used tanks and
automatic weapons to assault and occupy the building.
The amateur radio transmissions became a main link for news from Lithuania.
We monitored the signals on 14155 kHz at around 11:30 hrs UTC. Later in the
day 7060 and 3614 kHz were used, all in single side band.
Before the occupation, Radio Vilnius had reported on the unlicensed radio
station operated by the Soviet Communist Party in Lithuania, a station
called Soviet Lithuania on 864 kHz.
ESTONIA--We've reported previously on a similar station in Estonia called
Radio Hope, which operates from a Soviet military base on 747 kHz. The Soviet
army claims that station was put on the air on the instructions of the USSR
Council of Ministers, and has been given temporarily to the Estonian Inter-
Movement, the organization supporting the pro-Moscow minority in Estonia.
LATVIA--A similar pro-Moscow station has also started broadcasting from a
military base near Riga, in Latvia, on 918 kHz.
BBC Monitoring recently reported that Radio Riga International has introduced
broadcasts in English, half hour programs on Saturdays at 18:30 and Sundays
at 07:00 hrs on 5935 kHz.
Rainer Henrich has reported on BITNET that Radio Riga has been heard
irregularly in both German and English on 5835 kHz, which seems to be on the
air 24 hours.
Lativan radio amateurs have now begun getting the word out. We monitored a
transmission at 11:30 hrs UTC Tuesday, on 14151 kHz.
SWEDEN--Latvia's Vice President Dainis Ivans is in Stockholm, where he's been
talking to Radio Sweden about broadcasts from here to Latvia should Radio
Riga be occupied by Soviet forces.
Radio Sweden broadcasts in Latvian for 15 minutes at 19:45 hrs on 1179 and
5975 kHz. Estonian is at 19:30 hrs. The Latvian Vice President wants the
Radio Sweden Latvian broadcasts increased to half an hour a day.
On Tuesday, the Swedish Foreign Ministry allocated funds for increased
contact with the Baltic region. That includes money to Radio Sweden to begin
broadcasts in Lithuanian, at least during the current crisis period.
Beginning January 16th (or whenever hostlities may begin), Radio Sweden will
have the following schedule to the Middle East:
05:00-11:00 21660 kHz Swedish Radio P1
11:00-11:30 21660 Swedish
11:30-12:00 21660 Swedish Radio P1
13:00-13:30 21660 Swedish
14:30-15:00 21660 Swedish
15:00-15:30 21660 French/Spanish
15:30-16:00 11880 Swedish
17:00-17:30 11880 Swedish Radio P1
18:00-18:30 15270 English
18:30-19:00 15270 Swedish
21:00-21:30 9655 Swedish Radio P1
01:30-02:00 9765 Swedish
INTERNATIONAL WATERS--Lithuanians may soon be able to receive news from an
offshore station on a ship in the Baltic. According to a group in the
Netherlands, the station could be on the air within two months.
The station would be patterned on Radio Free Europe and broadcast only in
Lithuanian.
THE GULF: The United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait runs
out at 05:00 hrs UTC Wednesday. By this time tomorrow, there may be war.
Meanwhile, the tense preparations continue to be reflected on the radio
bands.
The Voice of Free Iraq appeared on January 1st. The station says it is
broadcasting to Iraq on one medium wave and three shortwave frequencies
contributed by the radio services of Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf
Co-operation Council states. BBC Monitoring says it can be heard at
approximately 03:30-08:05 and 14:30-20:20 hrs on 17940, 15600, and somewhere
between 9560 and 9570 kHz.
Richard Langley in New Brunswick has heard jamming on all three frequencies,
and Radio Baghdad's General Service has been heard on both 17940 and 15600
kHz.
Egypt has made its medium wave transmitter on 1107 kHz available to an exiled
Radio Kuwait, and BBC Monitoring reports this is on the air between 18:00 and
21:00 hrs.
IRAQ--Iraq's Voice of Peace, aimed at the American soldiers in Saudi Arabia,
has been heard on a new frequency of 15505 kHz, actually one of Kuwait's 500
kW transmitters.
ISRAEL--The Voice of Israel and Israel's IDF Radio have prepared for
emergency broadcasts. According to a report from Tel Aviv relayed by BBC
Monitoring, the moment a state of emergency is declared, the two stations
will merge into one network, to be called the National Broadcasting Center.
JORDAN--Richard Langley tells us that Radio Jordan's English language
broadcast on 13655 kHz is supopsed to start at 12:00 hrs, but sometimes the
switchover from the domestic Arabic service is as late as 12:32 hrs. The
frequency changes to 9560 kHz at 14:15 hrs, which takes from 3 to 5 minutes.
English continues until around 17:30 hrs. There are news programs at 12:00
and 17:00 hrs and 3 minute news summaries at 14:00 and 16:00 hrs.
SAUDI ARABIA--On January 9th, the Radio of the Broadcasting Service of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced their Arabic service from Riyad would
remain on the air 24 hours a day, a four hour extention.
NUMBERS STATIONS--Tim Tyler has reported to CompuServe that there has been a
large increase in the so-called numbers broadcasts aimed at spies, especially
in the 7 MHz band. Transmissions Tim says are attributed to Israel's Mossad
intelligence agency have been more active on 9251 kHz.
US MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS--Tim Tyler says the best bet to monitor American
military communications in the Gulf is from the FLEETSATCOM satellite network
between 240 and 270 MHz. Most of the voice traffic is in the 260 MHz range,
and most is coded. But in wartime conditions some uncoded messages may go
through.
The United States launched a new satellite into orbit on January 8th,
designed to improve comunications between NATO's headquarters in Belgium and
NATO countries. According to two analysists, the United States now has at
least five photo reconnaisance satellie of the KH-11 series in operation over
the Gulf. These satellites transmit digital images of reconnaisance targets,
and also provide signals intelligence, that is, they can monitor local radio
commununications.
SATELLITE-TV--The new British Sky Broadcasting, the company formed by the
merger between Sky and BSB, has announced the line-up of 5 channels that will
begin full broadcasting from the Astra satellites in April. They include the
two movie channels, Sky Movies and The Movie Channel, a light entertainment
channel, which will undoubtedly be called Sky One, Sky News, and a sports
channel.
This last outlet is a bit tricky, since BSB's Sports Channel is considered
stronger than EuroSport. But Sky has a contract with the European
Broadcasting Union to produce EuroSport.
For the time being broadcasts continue on the Marco Polo satellite, with Sky
News replacing the former Now Channel, and Sky One replacing Galaxy.
Also, since Sky only has four channels on the first Astra satellite, one of
the channels will have to go on Astra 1B, which is due to be launched in
February.
In other satellite news, the French TV5 is now broadcasting 18 hours a day on
Eutelsat II F1.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sweden Calling DXers is the world's oldest radio program for shortwave
listeners. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features,
and interviews since 1948. The program is now broadcast on the first and
third Tuesday of each month. RS broadcasts to North America:
15:30 hrs on 17875 and 21500 kHz
02:00 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz
03:30 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz
To Latin America:
23:30 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz
To Europe, Africa, and the Middle East:
18:00 hrs on 1179, 6065, 9655, and 15270 kHz
19:30 hrs on 6065 and 7265 kHz
22:00 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz
23:30 hrs on 1179 kHz
01:00 hrs on 1179 kHz
And to Asia and the Pacific:
12:30 hrs on 9765, 17740, and 21570 kHz
14:00 hrs on 9765 and 21610 kHz
01:00 hrs on 9770 kHz
The Radio Sweden schedule to Europe in Swedish, English, German, French, and
Spanish can be found on EuroSport (on cable and on the Astra and Eutelsat I-
F4 satellites) Tele-Text page 496.
Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood to Swedish telex 11738,
CompuServe (via the HamNet Forum or Easyplex 70247,3516), through the FidoNet
system to 2:202/297 or to SM0IIN at the packet radio BBS SM0ETV.
Reports can also be sent to:
Radio Sweden
S-105 10 Stockholm
Sweden
Contributions should be NEWS about electronic media--from shortwave to
satellites--and not loggings of information already available from sources
such as the "World Radio TV Handbook". Clubs and DX publications may reprint
material as long as Sweden Calling DXers and the original contributor are
acknowledged, with the exception of items from BBC Monitoring, which are
copyright.
We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden
Calling DXers, and our programs in general.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!
=============================================================================
Distributed by The Pinelands RBBS * 609-859-1910 * 24/12/3 @ 8N1 * 64 MB
FIDO 1:266/32 * RBBS-Net 8:950/2 * Shortwave Listening * Ham & Packet Radio
Home of PC Software by W2XQ * Receiver Control Programs for JRC & Kenwood
English Language SW Broadcast Schedules (1988 WRTH Industry Award Winner)
SYSOP Tom Sundstrom * W2XQ * MCI Mail 244-6376 * InterNet 2446376@mcimail.com
TRS Consultants * 609-859-2447 * FAX 609-859-3226 * Telex 6552446376MCI UW
=============================================================================
Jason Berri (SPEEDX USSR Editor)
INTERNET: berri@aerospace.aero.org or berri@arecibo.aero.org