A world of shortwave jamming: China vs BBC, Iran vs Farda, Zimbabwe vs VOA, Vietnam vs RFA, Cuba vs WRMI.

A world of shortwave jamming: China vs BBC, Iran vs Farda, Zimbabwe vs VOA, Vietnam vs RFA, Cuba vs WRMI.

Posted: 09 Mar 2013   Print   Send a link

SoundCloud, 28 Feb 2013, Victoribbmonitor, Victor Goonetilleke, Colombo, Sri Lanka: "Jamming against BBC 17790. The clip starts with an 8 element log periodic beamed from Colombo to Aseela Oman and after 25 seconds the beam starts to move eastward and settles on 20 degrees East of North. BBC from the dominant signal drops to almost inaudible level and the jammer comes on top."

Reporters sans frontières, 28 Feb 2013: "Reporters Without Borders condemns the jamming of the BBC World Service’s English-language shortwave radio broadcasts in China. The BBC issued a statement on February 25th deploring this violation of freedom of information and suggesting that the Chinese government was to blame. 'We support the BBC and we urge it to file a legal complaint against persons unknown,' Reporters Without Borders said. 'We recently brought this kind of legal action before the French public prosecutor’s office in connection with acts of piracy targeting Radio Erena, a Paris-based Eritrean exile radio station that broadcasts by satellite to the Horn of Africa. We are convinced that this kind of legal initiative can help to shed light on the exact circumstances of such acts of piracy, that is to say, the place where the jamming originates and the identity of those responsible. We also urge the British authorities to complain to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is a UN body. If it turns out that the Chinese authorities ordered the jamming, they must be called to account. It is illegal, it violates fundamental freedoms and it is detrimental to all those in China who speak English.'"

Radio Australia, 8 Mar 2013, Joanna McCarthy: "The Association for International Broadcasting says English-language broadcasts from Radio Australia, the BBC World Service and Voice of America are being deliberately jammed by a number of frequencies. The AIB has lodged protests about the jamming with Chinese embassies in Canberra, Washington DC and London." With audio interview. See also AIB, 6 Mar 2013. Also reported by Advanced Television, 6 Mar 2013 and The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Mar 2013, Patrick Brzeski.

SoundCloud, 8 Mar 2013, iw0hk, Andrea Borgnino, Italy: "Sweep jamming on Radio Farda - 15690 khz." SoundCloud, 8 Mar 2013, iw0hk, Andrea Borgnino, Italy: "Jamming on Voice of America for Zimbabwe - 15775 khz."

YouTube, 5 Mar 2013, OfficialSWL Channel, Gilles Letourneau, Montréal PQ: "Vietnam jamming Radio Free Asia broadcast on 15170 khz."

VOA Radiogram, 9 Mar 2013, "WRMI, Radio Miami International 9 March 2013, 22200 UTC, 9955 kHz, versus Cuban jamming." -- Cuba is jamming WRMI in general, because of its occasional anti-Castro programming, and probably not because of The Overcomer program (in English) that was on at the time. Here's how an ID in the the MT63-2000 mode, transmitted at that time, prints out despite jamming:

Broadcast group condemns China over radio jamming

Broadcast group condemns China over radio jamming

Updated 8 March 2013, 12:02 AEST

An international broadcast association has condemned the deliberate jamming of shortwave broadcasts, including those from the ABC's Radio Australia service, into Asia. 

The Association for International Broadcasting says English-language broadcasts from Radio Australia, the BBC World Service and the Voice of America are being jammed.  (Credit: ABC) 

An international broadcast association has condemned the deliberate jamming of shortwave broadcasts, including those from the ABC's Radio Australia service, into Asia.
The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) says English-language broadcasts from Radio Australia, the BBC World Service and the Voice of America are being jammed.
Chief Executive Simon Spanswick has told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia program research has indicated the jamming signals appear to be coming from within China.
"It appears to be quite wide," he said.
"We've been talking to some monitors who keep ears on the shortwave bands around Asia and they say that it's certainly audible well outside China.
"So, one imagines, even with the geographic scale of China itself, that this is right across the region."

Audio: Hear the Interference during a broadcast of the Asia Pacific program (ABC News)

The AIB says broadcasts in Mandarin from broadcasters including the BBC, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have been interfered with for many years.
Mr Spanswick says while the methodology appears to be the same, this is the first time English-language services have been targeted.
"Essentially what you do if you're trying to stop people listening to a program on shortwave is you transmit another audio feed on the same frequency.
"What the Chinese have done for a long time is actually broadcast Chinese folk music...what's happening in this case is that they're transmitting a different sort of noise.
"The aim is to simply make it so uncomfortable to listen to that people switch off and don't bother trying to listen to the program that they wanted to get."
The AIB has lodged protests over the jamming with the Chinese embassies in Washington, London and Canberra.
Mr Spanswick says it's particularly concerning at a time when China is expanding its own international radio and television services.
"They're going global...and nobody is trying to stop them from making available information about what the Chinese Government wants the rest of the world to hear," he said.
"So there's go to be a level playing field...there's a universal right to fair and free information and freedom of speech.
"Jamming is simply so contrary to that sort of notion that it simply can't be allowed to continue."

Iran’s attacks on the BBC

Xindex

Iran’s attacks on the BBC

18 Feb 2013

Staff at the BBC’s Persian Service face satellite jamming, smear campaigns and intimidation, says World Service Director Peter Horrocks

Jamming broadcast signals is a threat to the vital flow of free information. Throughout its history the BBC World Service has countered the efforts of jammers, whether on shortwave or satellites. However, in the last four years there has been a sharp increase in jamming satellite signals around the world with several international broadcasters being targeted.
Intensive interference of our signals started in 2009 at the time of Iran’s presidential election. On Election Day, Iranian authorities started to jam signals of BBC Persian Television, launched only a few months before. Intensive jamming continued in the aftermath of the election during the street protests and violence. For many Iranians, whose access to free media was limited, Persian TV was the main source of news and information.
Since then, the jamming of BBC Persian has continued intermittently. Some incidents have been directly related to specific types of programmes such as audience participation, documentaries or coverage of news events. The latest example of jamming is as recent as 9 February this year when the Iranian government was marking the Islamic Revolution’s anniversary and PTV was taken off-air alongside 13 other broadcasters.
In response, we have increased the number of satellites carrying the channel and technical changes were made to help reduce jamming on the original signal. However, more work needs to be done.
To make any meaningful impact, there is a compelling need for all stakeholders to work closely together in different fields, from technical to regulatory and political, to address the issue of satellite jamming.
That’s why in November 2012 the BBC brought together over 100 delegates from broadcasters, regulators, satellite operators, international organisations and politicians to consider what political and technical steps can be taken to address the growing threat of the blocking of international broadcasts.
This was followed by a very useful event, organised by satellite operator Eutelsat in January 2013, to demonstrate how they geo-locate interference to satellites to provide evidence to the UN recognised agency, International Telecommunication Union. They also unveiled new developments in satellite design which offer more protection on the next generation of satellites. We are pleased to see that our efforts of working closely with the satellite industry have contributed to Eutelsat’s decision to invest in technologies that identify sources of deliberate interference and make jamming more difficult.
We have also been working with other international broadcasters to highlight the impact of jamming on our ability to reach our audiences. We have called on governments and regulatory bodies to put maximum pressure on Iran to stop blocking of international broadcasts. The EU Foreign Affairs Council included jamming of satellite signals in its resolution against human rights violations in Iran in October 2011, and the UN General Assembly took a similar action in December 2011. On 6 February 2013 the United States blacklisted Iran’s state broadcasting authority and a major Iranian electronics producer partly because of their role in jamming international broadcasts to Iran.
It is of utmost importance that the satellite industry takes a united stance on highlighting the issue of jamming. There are still different views on whether publicising incidents of jamming help to find a solution or deteriorates the situation.
Jamming has not been the only tactic used by the Iranian government to restrict free flow of information. BBC Persian staff and their families have been subject to increasing harassment and intimidation by the Iranian authorities over the past few years. Their activities against BBC staff have intensified in recent months. An increasing number of BBC Persian staff family members have been questioned and threatened in an attempt to make our colleagues stop working for the BBC.
Harassment and intimidation of families has been accompanied by a widespread anti-BBC campaign in Iran. Cyber-activists believed to have close links to the Iranian authorities have set up fake Facebook pages and fake blogs attributed to BBC Persian journalists. They are using these fake accounts to discredit the BBC Persian staff by accusing them of sexual promiscuity and spying for MI6. These lies then are reported on a nationwide scale by local media including the state TV.
We remain extremely concerned about these activities. I wrote to the Iranian Head of Judiciary in March 2012 asking him to stop such illegal acts, but there was no reply. We have raised our concerns with the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, Ahmad Shahid, and called on governments to take action to cease such acts.
Peter Horrocks is Director of the BBC World Service