BFBS on HF to Iraq
Towards the end of February 2003, diplomatic efforts were underway to try to avoid a war in Iraq. Meanwhile, everybody knew that British troops were already being deployed to the Gulf in preparation for the invasion.
The British Forces Broadcasting Service obviously needed to reach the soliders on the ground in this situation, but obviously had difficulty getting a feed out there quickly. As a result, for a few hours a day, BFBS was carried on HF radio, unencrypted. There has been much debate as to where these programmes were broadcast from, but I accidentally discovered the programming while I was in Southern France on my Year Abroad, and was initially confused to hear BBC Radio 4's PM programme (as it turned out, relayed via BFBS Radio 2).
Now, five years on, I have decided to release an short edited version of one of my recordings of these very unusual transmissions, as well as the emails that I sent at the time to the Cambridge University Wireless Society mailing list, below.
MP3 Download (2.7MB MP3 3mins duration)
NB: BFBS Radio 1, now renamed simply as BFBS Radio, has been available in the UK via DAB Radio since the start of 2008.
22 February 2003 Hi everybody, As war on Iraq becomes increasingly likely, you might like to listen to Radio Kuwait's News in English, broadcast on 11.990MHz from 1800UTC daily. This broadcast is also heard on FM in Kuwait City and MW thoughout Kuwait and Iraq. As such, it should come as no surprise that it contains a lot of pro-American propaganda. The news at 1830UTC is particularly interesting. Today's broadcast included a documentary about how the 'brave' Kuwaitis put out the oil-field fires, started by the Iraqi 'tyrants' in the last Gulf War, and also a programme, presented by a medical doctor, about protecting your mental health in stressful political situations. He highlighted that wild animals will only attack sheep if they are on their own and so there is strength in numbers; 'It is our duty to unite.. one nation or many nations... the Islamic religion is intended to unite... some people have abused this idea... they say that Christians are wrong and we are right...' You might also like to keep an eye on the Radio Netherland's Media Network Iraq dossier at http://www.medianetwork.nl if you are interested. 73s, Dominic M0BLF --------------------- 27 February 2003 Hi, Once again today I have monitored BBC Radio 4's 'PM' programme being relayed by the British Forces Broadcasting Service Radio 2 on 12.035MHz between 1700-1800 UTC. The broadcast seems to be coming via transmitters in Germany (the Deutsche Welle French service to North Africa immediately preceeds the broadcast) and at 1800 UTC the Voice of America takes over the frequency, possibly broadcasting in Turkish. Interestingly, no identification of the station was given at the start of the broadcast this evening: there was a simple cut at 1658 UTC from a Deutsche Welle presenter saying that the News in French was coming up at 1700 UTC, to the Archer's theme tune and then a trailer for 'Sport on Five' (BBC Radio 5 Live) which was due on BFBS2 at 1930UTC. The only positive identification that it is coming via BFBS is at 1756 UTC, when the weather forecast for British guarrisons in Europe is given. The BFBS website (www.bfbs.com) is not currently advertising this relay but does confirm that BFBS1 is using some short-wave outlets to forces in the Gulf (0500-0800 Kuwaiti time on 13.720MHz and 1800-2100 Kuwaiti time on 5.945MHz), although I couldn't hear the latter broadcast when listening in France. Under normal circumstances, BFBS is highly encrypted via satellite and then broadcast on FM or AM only in and around British guarrisons. There is an FM broadcast in one area of Kuwait and also in Oman on cable, so the short-wave broadcast must be targeted to another area of the Gulf, where it hasn't yet been possible to get an FM transmitter... 73s, Dominic, M0BLF.