From: xberri@arecibo.aero.org (Jason E. Berri)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: SCDX 2127
Date: 9 Mar 91 17:17:02 GMT
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation
-Message-Text-Follows-
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:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2127--Mar. 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 SCDX2127
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SWEDEN--Next week, March 11-15, Radio Sweden goes to Norway. Every day we'll
have special features, including visits to Lillehammer, home of the 1994
Winter Olympics; the capital, Oslo; and Bergen, home of the composer Edvard
Grieg and now an international center for environmental and marine research.
Radio Sweden's science and ecology magazine "Horizon" is carried on the last
Thursday of each month. This month, on March 28th, we're kicking off a
special four part series on "Sven Hedin: The Last Great Explorer", who
travelled across Central Asia during the early years of this century.
The second, third, and fourth parts will be broadcast on the following three
Thursdays, April 4th, 11th, and 18th.
Coming up on March 31st we're changing some of our Radio Sweden schedule. The
major change to Europe and Africa is that a number of broadcasts are slipping
back an hour earlier UTC, in order to keep the same local time when Europe
goes over the Summer time.
The 18:00 hrs transmission switches to 17:00 hrs, and the frequencies then
will be 9615, 6065, and 1179 kHz.
Instead of the 19:30 hrs broadcast, we'll have programs at 18:30, 19:30, and
20:30 hrs. At 18:30 the frequencies will be 15270 (which is aimed at the
Middle East and East Africa) and 6065 kHz, while at 19:30 they'll be 9655,
6055, and 1179 kHz. At 20:30 we'll be on just 6065 kHz.
The broadcast at 22:00 hrs continues on 6065 and 1179, and the one at 23:30
hrs continues on 1179 kHz. The transmission at 01:00 hrs will be discontinued
to Europe.
There's also a time change on our broadcasts to Asia and the Pacific, which
along with the switch back to standard time in Australia and New Zealand,
means you ought to be receiving us at a much better time. The 12:30 hrs
broadcast changes to 11:30, and 14:00 switches to 13:00, and the frequencies
remain 21570 and 17740 kHz, along with a new channel of 11960.
At 01:00 hrs we're shifting slightly to 9765 kHz.
Our schedule to North and South America will remain the same.
Remember these changes go into effect at midnight UTC on March 31st, 1991.
SATELLITE BROADCASTING:
ASTRA--What may be the biggest broadcast event this year happened Saturday
night the launch of an Ariane rocket from French Guyana at 23:36 hrs UTC,
carrying with it the Astra 1B satellite. So far everything looks good. When
the satellite goes into official operation on April 1st, it will carry 16
television channels, or transponders. Because Astra 1B is being placed in the
same orbital position as the existing 1A satellite, owners of Astra dishes
will be able to watch the new channels with the same equipment.
It's still a bit uncertain who will be using those 16 channels, but now that
the satellite is in orbit, we should hear more. Three German channels - ARD,
Premiere, and Tele 5 - are already booked. BSB's Sports Channel will probably
move to 1B from the Marco Polo DBS satellite.
Astra is based in Luxembourg, and a company there called CLT (Compagnie
Luxembourgoise de Telediffusion) has announced it is starting a new French-
language channel to be carried on Astra 1B.
Otherwise there's just speculation about which channels may be moving to the
new Astra. Among those mentioned are Discovery and Swedish pay-film channel
SF Succe.
BBC TV Europe has told Radio Sweden it will not be switching from Intelsat
VI-F4 to Astra. The Swedish Broadcasting Corporation's Technical Director Ulf
Gartelius has denied reports Swedish Television might be using Astra to relay
one or both of its channels.
MGM-TV--There are new satellite TV channels coming to Europe. The Italian
fianancier who engineered the controversial take over of the MGM film studios
last year is planning to launch a European channel based in Italy to be
called MGM-TV. Programming would be provided by the famous MGM film library.
EURONEWS--The European Broadcasting Union has announced plans to start a news
channel called EuroNews, to challenge Sky News and CNN. The EBU is planning
on transmitting EuroNews in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. It
would begin with nine hours a day of programming in 1992, and expand to 24
hour a day coverage the following year.
Twelve European broadcasters will be involved, but not Britain, Sweden,
Denmark, or Norway. One report says EuroNews will use the Astra 1B satellite.
EUROSPORT--Meanwhile, the existing EBU channel, EuroSport, is having
problems. The European Commission says the contract giving the channel
exclusive rights to many major sports events violates EC rules on free
competition. The complaint came from competitor ScreenSport.
CNN--Things are going well for the Cable News Network. Last year it showed a
profit for the first time since it started in 1985, although the costs for
covering the Gulf War ate into that figure significantly. American satellite
DXer Bob Adams has discovered that CNN International is being carried on the
Galaxy 2 satellite at 74 degrees West, on transponder number 1.
This seems to be the Far Eastern edition, since Hong Kong times are given.
Doug Swallow reports that CNN feeds from the Middle East have been carried on
the Galaxy 6 satellite, on transponder 20.
SATELLITE-RADIO--Robin Clark has written about some new stations he's found
on Astra 1A. Radio Opus is a classical music station on the Teleclub
transponder, using the subcarriers at 7.38 and 7.56 MHz. Power FM can be
found on MTV's transponder, using those same subcarriers. It's continuous pop
and rock music with no breaks.
Robin adds that contrary to its opening jingle, Radio Nova on the Lifestyle
transponder is not scrambled. Robin also reports an unknown station in German
using the 6.5 MHz subcarrier on the RTL Plus transponder.
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THE GULF:
SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE--News is coming out about radio's role behind the scenes
in the Gulf War. Reuters says signal monitors contributed significantly to
the allies intelligence about the Iraqi forces. At one stage, according to a
British officer, signals intelligence staff listening to Iraqi radio
communications needed counselling by psychologists. They were distrssed by
the sound of Iraqis screaming for medical attention.
Radio networks, microwave links, and telephone lines were prime allied
targets, making it impossible for the Iraqis to co-ordinate their forces.
KUWAIT--Reuters also reports that the Kuwaiti resistance used a hidden
satellite telephone system and a fax machine to send military intelligence to
allied commanders in Saudi Arabia.
Kuwaiti exile leaders in London have told the Independent newspaper they
received information from inside Kuwait by way of amateur radio. A
transmitter hidden in Kuwait City was used to communicate with exiles here in
Sweden. They faxed the information on to the Free Kuwait Campaign offices in
London.
This weekend Radio Kuwait resumed operations from its studios and
transmitters within the country. After the Iraqi invasion, the station
broadcast from Saudi Arabia on 666 kHz. The state radio and television
complex has been found to be free of mines or booby traps, and television is
due to begin trial broadcasts in the next few days.
BAHRAIN--Risto Kotalampi in Finland reports that the Voice of America moved a
medium wave transmitter from Belize to Bahrain, where it's been on the air on
1350 kHz with 25 kW. The schedule in English has been 22:00-03:00 hrs.
RED CROSS--Guenther Bardolf in Austria writes that the Red Cross Broadcasting
Service has added extra broadcasts because of the Gulf War. Look for English,
French, German, and Spanish on 7210 kHz between 11:00 and 12:40 hrs on March
10th, repeated between 17:00 and 18:40 hrs the following day.
The next regular broadcasts will be following that schedule on March 31st and
April 1st, and there may be extra programs again on the 14th and 15th of
April.
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OTHER NEWS:
NEW ZEALAND--In our last program we had a report about a BBC World Service
relay heard in New Zealand on medium wave 1233 kHz. The BBC knows nothing
about it. But Simon Hamer relays news from Arthur Cushen's program on Radio
New Zealand that this outlet is located in Wellington.
Peter Andrewitz writes that the English service of Radio New Zealand can be
heard on 15130 kHz between 18:00 and 21:00 hrs.
FRANCE--Radio France International is expanding its shortwave output with new
500 kW transmitters. Three each are being build in Thailand and East Africa,
and 16 new transmitters are replacing 100 kW units in France itself.
JAPAN/SRI LANKA--Another station with a lot of relay transmitters, Radio
Japan, is now using its relay station in Sri Lanka. This is being used to
broadcast to South Asia in English at 01:00 hrs on 11840 kHz and at 14:00 hrs
on 9535 kHz. These same frequencies continue afterwards with programs in
South Asian languages, as well as Arabic to the Middle East.
ICELAND--Dan Ferguson reports on CompuServe hearing the Icelandic National
Broadcasting Service operating apparently 24 hours a day on 6128 and 9268
kHz, in reduced carrier single side band.
CLUB NEWS--We were pleased to receive a press release from the Association of
Pan-Asian Radio Clubs, which held a meeting for 150 participants from
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan in Calcutta on December 27th. At the
meeting Sweden Calling DXers was voted the third best DX program, after Radio
Netherlands "Media Network" and Swiss Radio International's "Swiss Shortwave
Merry-Go-Round".
For more information about the organization, sample copies of the APARC
Newsletter are available for 3 IRCs from Mohammed Halim Sarker, P.O.
Chandanda, DT Gazipur-1702, Bangladesh.
That brings us to the end of another edition of Sweden Calling DXers. We'll
be back with more news from the world of electronic media in two weeks. Until
then, good listening and take care.
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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 1A 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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--
Jason Berri (SPEEDX USSR Editor)
INTERNET: berri@aerospace.aero.org or berri@arecibo.aero.org
[SPEEDX is a SWL club, send email to the above address for more information]