::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2125--Feb. 5, 1991 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2125 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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