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:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2125--Feb. 5, 1991 ::
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Shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2125
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Welcome to another edition of Weekday from Stockholm. With the outbreak of
war in the Gulf, there's lots of media news, both satellites and shortwave.
We'll also be telling you about Radio Sweden's new service in Lithuanian, and
Swedish Radio's new domestic broadcasts in Arabic.
Coming up later, publications news, including the new edition of the World
Radio TV Handbook, the World Satellite Annual, and lots more.
Remember, all times are UTC.
SWEDEN--The Swedish government has allocated around 58,000 dollars to Radio
Sweden for a six month test of broadcasts in Lithuanian. The service began on
January 28th, with a five minute news bulletin at 19:25 hours, at the end of
the regular Russian broadcast, on 1179 and 6065 kHz.
The new broadcast in Lithuanian is followed at 19:30 hrs by our broadcasts in
Estonian and Latvian. We added a new transmission in those languages starting
Monday the 4th. The new transmission is on 1179 kHz only, with Estonian at
21:30 hrs and Latvian at 21:45 hrs. It replaces programs in Spanish and
French on that frequency.
Meanwhile, opposition politicians have called for a permanent increase in
Radio Sweden's budget to provide for programming in all three Baltic
languages. The Conservatives have introduced a motion into parliament to add
half a million dollars to Radio Sweden's budget for this purpose. The Center
Party has called for the building of a new medium wave transmitter using one
of Sweden's unused channel allocations, to be used for broadcasts to the
Baltic republics.
On January 24th, the immigrant language department of Swedish Radio aired its
first broadcast in Arabic, a five minute news bulletin with the latest on the
Gulf War. This is intended as a daily service to Arabic-speaking groups in
Sweden.
The possible introduction of commercial radio and television continues to be
a hot topic here in Sweden. Last week local cable TV channels around the
country carried illegal commercial advertising as a protest. Commercials are
permitted on satellite channels carried over cable networks here, but
commercials are not allowed on locally originated channels.
And although Radio Nova, located in a small community 50 kilometers southwest
of Stockholm, has had its community radio licence withdrawn because it's
carried commercials, it is continuing to broadcast.
A joint motion to the Swedish parliament from three leading members of the
opposition Conservative, Liberal, and Center Parties has called for the
introduction of independent radio stations, financed by commercials.
COVERING THE GULF WAR--Vietnam was called the first television war, with the
pictures of violence and horrir on American TV screens night after night
contributing to the feelings that fed growing peace movement. The conflict in
the Gulf is the first live TV war, broadcast around the world by satellite,
and underlining the arrival of the first global TV broadcaster, the Cable
News Network, or CNN.
CNN has brought us live coverage of Scud missile attacks on Israel and Saudi
Arabia, as well as press briefings from the war zone and the Pentagon. Peter
Arnett's reports from Baghdad have illustrated the arrival of portable
satellite telephone equipment.
But broadcasts from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Israel have all been censored,
raising more questions.
Arthur C. Clarke, the English visionary who first proposed communications
satellites in 1945, has been watching what he calls "the first's first
satellite war" from his home in Sri Lanka.
You may recall we interviewed Clarke a few years ago, and we can confirm he
has quite a satellite-TV reception system.
In an interview with Reuters, Clarke said communications is power, and the
forces unleased by satellites in the Gulf War have the potential for making
the world a safer place. The further development of a satellite
communications network with the wider availability of telephone, fax, and
television, Clarke says, will make us one global family, whether we like it
or not.
One reflection of the power of satellite-television: 18 babies born in a
remote district of Borneo over the part two weeks have been named Saddam
Hussein, after the Iraqi president. Indonesian state television doesn't reach
the area, but local people have been following the Gulf war on satellite
television.
SATELLITE NEWSFEEDS--All the newsfeeds from the Gulf War have been filling
the satellites, especially those over the Atlantic. Intelsat 5-F7 has been
moved to 57 degrees West longitude, to relay news reports from the Middle
East. John Covert says 11.494 GHz carries British pool material in PAL from
Riyadh. 11.601 has ABC newsfeeds from Amman in NTSC, while 10.977 carries CNN
feeds in NTSC from Riyadh.
Eutelsat 1-F5 at 10 degrees East is also carrying feeds from Amman and
Jerusalem.
Intelsat 6-F4 at 27.5 degrees West has also been used for NTSC feeds from the
United States, presumeably programs for American soldiers in the Gulf, on
11.056 and 11.090 GHz.
This satellite also transmits in the C-band, around 4 GHz, for NTSC
transmissions to North America from Europe. The transponders there have been
filled with war coverage. Transponder 11 is the NBC Atlantic link,
transponder 14 is the ABC Atlantic link, which carries sound from London's
Capital Radio when not being used for feeds. Transponder 15 is the U.S.
Information Service, which usually airs C-SPAN I, broadcasts from the
American Congress, while Transponder 16 is the CBS Atlantic link, with BBC
World Service sound when not being used for feeds.
Transponder 10 is BrightStar Communications, which carries the BBC Six
O'Clock news at 18:00 hrs. Mondays through Thursdays, the Six O'Clock News is
also carried on Westar 4 Transponder 12. (I used to watch that when I was in
California last year, although for some reason the picture constantly rolled
vertically. (DX Editor))
This, and many other British newscasts are also carried in PAL on Intelsat
5A-F13, at 53 degrees West, on transponder 14. (Stuart Kingsley, USA via
Kauto Huopio, Finland)
News feeds from Saudi Arabia have been found on the usually dormant Westar 3
at 91 degrees West. CNN is apparently on transponder 20, with pool reports on
transponders 2 and 3. (Bill Jones via Internet)
Another interesting source for North Americans is the Scola Satellite
Network, which rebroadcasts newscasts from around the world. Scola has moved
from transponder 16 to transponder 15 on the Spacenet 2 satellite, which is
at 69 degrees West. Scola may be moving to another satellite in order to
reach Hawaii and Alaska. (Anthony Pavrick)
When I was monitoring in California, Spacenet 2 was the satellite farthest to
the east that came in, and the signals were noticably worse than on other
satellites. (DX Editor)
SHORTWAVE AND THE GULF--Iraqi radio and television seems to have suffered
from the American bombing. BBC Monitoring last reports Radio Baghdad on the
air on January 19th. Rainer Henrich tells us that the Arabic broadcast on
Baghdad's usual frequency of 13660 kHz is in fact the BBC.
Richard Langley, Rainer Henrich, and BBC Monitoring report that Iraq has
replaced its regular domestic shortwave service and the Voice of the Masses
service with what is called Mother of Battles Radio. This has been heard
almost around the clock, at 02:30 to midnight 15 hours, on 6055, 11900,
15600, 17840, and 17940 kHz. These transmissions may be using transmitters in
Kuwait.
The Voice of Free Iraq, a clandestine station, possibly broadcasting from
Saudi Arabia or Syria. It's current schedule, according to BBC Monitoring, is
13:00-01:00 hrs on 9570, 9995, 15600, and 17960 kHz. Note that 15600 kHz is
used by both Mother of Battles and Voice of Free Iraq.
The Voice of Israel Network B and the military's IDF Radio linked into a
single network when the war started on January 17th. A special channel has
also been set up solely to relay warnings of incoming missiles, since not
everyone can hear the sirens. The frequency is to be silent except when an
incoming missile is detected. And the all-clear will also be carried, of
course.
Kol Israel is now broadcasting in English at 05:00, 07:00, 11:00, 13:45,
18:00, 20:00, 22:30, midnight, 01:00, and 02:00 hrs.
CNN audio has occasionally been heard on 7355 kHz. (Ken Wyatt via Internet)
Brent Jones has passed along the following frequencies for monitoring Gulf
military traffic:
Warplanes enroute--9027, 11243, 13241, and 17975 kHz.
The US Air Force Base in Riyadh can be heard on 9883 and 13244 kHz, along
with 11176, a frequency which is also used by a base on Ascension Island. The
Air Force base in Dahrahan uses 9130 and 11100 kHz. Note that these
transmissions are in signal side band.
The February issue of 73 magazine gives some Desert Storm frequencies,
such as 4419, 6218, 6519, 8291, and 22105 kHz for the US Navy.
PUBLICATIONS--The 1991 World Radio TV Handbook is out, and as usual, it's an
excellent effort. The WRTH has been called the DXers Telephone Directory,
listing every shortwave station in the world, and the most important long,
medium, FM, and TV stations.
The "Listen to the World" section contains some very interesting articles.
One sums up many of the major changes in world broadcasting during 1990.
There are some interesting receiver reviews, including a thumbs down on
ICOM's R-1 pocket shortwave receiver and UHF scanner. There's even a short
section looking at car radios with shortwave reception, and an update on
active antennas.
The WRTH Industry Awards go to the Philips DC-777 as the best portable
receiver of the year, and to the ANARC computer bulletin board as the most
innovative software.
Once again there is a section on World Satellite Broadcasts, underlining that
satellites play an important role in international broadcasting. This section
is very useful, although we did note the tentative schedule for the Astra 1B
satellite, due to be launched next month, is very speculative, and seems to
have some errors.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan radio monitor Victor Goonetilleke has written an
interesting article to remind readers that shortwave has not been replaced by
satellites in the Third World, and asking receiver manufacturers for a
reliable and inexpensive model that fits Third World requirements.
The WRTH is essential for active radio monitors. There's a similar
publication called "Passport to World Band Radio" that is a poorer copy, and
which has gone out of date. Note that the WRTH itself will be somewhat out of
date within a few months, which is why the handbook offers a newsletter to
update itself.
We'd also like to note that DXers in the Third World often have trouble
affording the WRTH. We'd like to suggest again that people buying the new
book donate their old copy to a Third World DX club. There's a list of clubs
beginning on page 46 of the new book.
Turning now to some more books of interest to radio monitors:
Satellite DXers will be interested in the 1991 World Satellite Annual,
compiled by Mark Long. It has just about everything you could possibly want
to know about communications satellites. It lists all the current and many
planned satellites in geosynchronous orbit, with footprint maps and channel
tables. There are chapters on satellite launch vehicles for the 1990s, the
status of DBS in America, updates on Intelsat and Eutelsat, European
Scrambling Systems, and the Satellite News Gathering Revolution.
The book is expensive, at 50 American dollars plus postage. But for the
serious satellite DXer, it's well worth it. For more information contact MLE
Inc., Box 159, Winter Beach, Florida, 32971, USA. Telephone +1-407-277-6919.
Finally, for people who like to monitor non-broadcast radio, there is a new
edition of the "Guide to Utility Stations". This includes the new channelling
plans for the Maritime Mobile Service, as well as covering the effects of the
Gulf crisis and the recent changes in Eastern Europe. The book includes ARQ
and FEC teleprinter systems as well as FAX, and the Guide to Radioteletype
Stations, with 69 RTTY press services listed both chronilogically and
alphabetically by country. The frequency list covers more than 18,000
channels between 3 and 30 MHz.
The Guide to Utility Stations costs 60 Deutsche Marks, from Klingenfuss
Publications, Hagenloher Str. 14, D-7400 Tuebingen, Germany. Telephone +49-
7071-62830.
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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.
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Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!
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