BFBS London: February 16, 1991

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Roberto Ciappi, who shares the following recording and notes:

Notes: BFBS Special daily broadcast to the British troops in the Persian Gulf area, during the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. They were using BBC transmitters in the UK.

Broadcaster: BFBS London

Date of recording: 2/16/1991

Starting time: 0920 UTC

Frequency: 21.59 MHz

Reception location: Northwest Italy

Receiver and antenna: Sony CFD-444S Stereo cassette recorder with telescopic antenna

Radio Jordan: February 13, 1991

Live, off-air, approximately half-hour recording of the shortwave relay of Radio Jordan's domestic English service on 13 February 1991 starting around 21:35 UTC on 9560 kHz. The broadcast originated from a 500 kW transmitter at Al Karanah, about 50 km southeast of Amman, with an antenna beam direction nominally towards Europe and beyond.

The recording begins with a program of light music in progress. At about the 21-minute mark in the recoding, there is a time signal for 12:00 a.m. Jordan local time (22:00 UTC), which is followed by the final news summary of the day. The news summary includes Gulf War news including the lead item on the infamous American bombing of the Amiriyah air raid shelter earlier in the day. After the news summary, there is a sign-off announcement followed by the Jordanian national anthem.

The reception of this broadcast is unusual. Typically, the 9560 kHz frequency carried the Arabic international service in this time slot. In fact, that was what was monitored on the following day (14 February).

Reception of the broadcast was very good. During the national anthem, there were a number of skips in the audio with durations of around 0.1 seconds or less. Their origin is undetermined and may have been in the actual broadcast or a defect in the recording. Two files are supplied: the original recording and one with the gaps removed by processing software.

The broadcast was received in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada, using a Sony ICF-7600D receiver and supplied wire antenna draped around the listening room.

Mother of Battles Radio: January 27, 1991

Live, off-air, approximately one-hour recording of Iraq's Mother of Battles Radio in Arabic on 27 January 1991 beginning at about 13:30 UTC on a shortwave frequency of 17940 kHz. As Iraq's main shortwave broadcasting facility was put out of action early during Operation Desert Storm but while Iraq still occupied Kuwait, the broadcast likely originated from one of the 500 kW transmitters of Radio Kuwait.

Mother of Battles Radio, named after the phrase "Mother of all Battles" used by Saddam Hussein to describe the upcoming war with the United States, replaced the regular domestic shortwave service of the Broadcasting Service of the Republic of Iraq.

The recording consists of music, talk including exhortations against America and Bush, and frequent station identifications, e.g., "Huna idha'atu Umm al-Ma'arik" ("This is Mother of Battles Radio").

Reception of the broadcast was excellent with no interference until about the midpoint of the recording (around 13:59 UTC) when a faint jamming signal can be heard in the background. The recording is briefly interrupted when checking the signal on parallel frequencies (15600 kHz -- weaker; 9570 kHz -- not heard). There is also a brief interruption at about the 29m:25s mark in the recording due to a tape change.

The broadcast was received in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada, using a Sony ICF-7600D receiver and supplied wire antenna draped around the listening room.

Radio Baghdad: January 16, 1991

Live, off-air, approximately twenty-seven-minute recording of Radio Baghdad, the Broadcasting Service of the Iraqi Republic, in English on 16 January 1991 beginning at about 21:35 UTC on a shortwave frequency of 13660 kHz. The recording is a segment of the 21:00 to 23:00 UTC broadcast to Europe. It likely originated from a 500 kW transmitter at Salah el Deen, Iraq.

This broadcast took place just a few hours before the start of the bombing campaign of Operation Desert Storm. The broadcast was not heard the following day. Programming consists of news, commentary including discussion of the "American Monster," the program "Iraq Today," and Iraqi music.

Reception of the broadcast was fairly good although the audio is somewhat "muddy."

The broadcast was received in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada, using a Sony ICF-7600D receiver and supplied wire antenna draped around the listening room.

Voice of Peace from Baghdad: December 29, 1990

Live, off-air, approximately twenty-minute recording of the Voice of Peace from Baghdad on 29 December 1990 beginning at 21:40 UTC on a shortwave frequency of 11860 kHz. This broadcast originated from a transmitter either in Iraq or Kuwait.

Iraq's Voice of Peace was established in August 1990 to beam programs to American servicemen stationed in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait at the beginning of the month. Programming consisted of music, initially easy-listening music but subsequently changing to a "Top 40" mix, news and commentary in a failed effort to try to demoralize the American troops. Beginning in September 1990, the broadcasts used a female announcer dubbed "Baghdad Betty" by the Americans. Reportedly, Baghdad Betty was replaced by a team of announcers sometime in December 1990. The recording is an example of the news and music programming. It is not known if the female announcer is the famous Baghdad Betty or someone else.

Reception of the broadcast was poor to fair with slight interference and fading. At 21:58 UTC, there is interference splash from WYFR starting up on 11855 kHz. The initial frequency recorded may have been 21675 kHz before switching after a minute or so to 11860 kHz as the radio teletype interference abruptly stops at this point. The recording includes frequent station identifications such as "You are tuned to the Voice of Peace from Baghdad."

The broadcast was received in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada, using a Sony ICF-7600D receiver and supplied wire antenna draped around the listening room.

Kol Yisrael - Missile Attack on Israel on Second Night of Operation Desert Storm: 18 January 1991

Two live, off-air, approximately half-hour recordings of the North American Service of Kol Yisrael, the Voice of Israel, on the second night of the combat phase (Operation Desert Storm) of the First Gulf War, 17/18 January 1991.

The first recording is of the 01:00 UTC broadcast on 18 January on 11605 kHz. The second recording is of the 02:00 UTC broadcast on the same day, initially using the frequency of 11605 kHz but changing to the other two frequencies used, 9435 and 7465 kHz at different times during the recording. The signals originated from 300 or 500 kW transmitters at Yavne, Israel.

At the beginning of the 01:00 UTC broadcast, an announcement is made of a missile attack (from Iraq) and Israeli residents are instructed to move to their prepared closed rooms and to don their gas masks. An extended news bulletin follows. The civil defence instruction is repeated several times during the broadcast. The broadcast, from Jerusalem, included live reports from Tel Aviv. Subsequently, residents are told they can remove their gas masks but should stay in their sealed rooms. The 02:00 UTC broadcast continues the special report including live commentary from both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, including the civil defence information telephone numbers around the country. There is a brief gap in the recording at about the 19m:40s mark due to a tape change. The broadcast concludes with a brief piece of music and the concluding announcement and interval signal.

Reception of the broadcasts was quite good. The 11605 kHz signal was strong with slight radio teletype interference. The 9435 and 7465 kHz frequencies also provided good signals although there was slight hum on one of the frequencies.

These broadcasts were received in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada, using a Sony ICF-7600D receiver and supplied wire antenna draped around the listening room.