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AFN ending satellite delivery

Hopefully reliability doesn't suffer. Bandwidth is often at a premium in forward deployed locations. Any internet that streaming happens under will likely be satellite delivered. This is less of an issue at larger bases in Europe that also use AFN services.
 
This is a major change that was expected sooner than later.
AFRTS started on satellite in the late '70s or early '80s, to replace the 'bicycling' of films and programming across the bases. SATNET changed all of that. Using UTC they provided 24 hours (7 days/week) of American programming to bases around the world. Nightline, CNN programs, and even Today...all satellite-fed to Germany, Okinawa, Turkey, and elsewhere.
That film archive is how some lost episodes of Johnny Carson were unearthed.
 
I expect the heavily error-correction-encoded Direct To Sailors (DTS) feeds on C-band will continue., The infrastructure is in place for the vessels maintain their TVRO C-band dishes. DTS is a MUX of just a few TV and radio channels.
 
crainbebo said:
AFRTS started on satellite in the late '70s or early '80s, to replace the 'bicycling' of films and programming across the bases. SATNET changed all of that.
Click to expand...
And the radio output of AFRTS was distributed by shortwave for many years prior to that. Its use of SW was cut back in the 1980s and completely ended in the early 1990s.
 
Used to get AFRTS on 7.811 and 5.446.5 khz (yes, that specific) once in a while when conditions were decent. Usually had news/talk programming from NPR and other sources. They originated from Key West, FL, on low power.
 
crainbebo said:
Used to get AFRTS on 7.811 and 5.446.5 khz (yes, that specific) once in a while when conditions were decent. Usually had news/talk programming from NPR and other sources. They originated from Key West, FL, on low power.
Click to expand...
Got to wonder if that was intended for Cuba as much as anything else. Yes, I know, AFRTS isn't intended for civilian audiences, but given the US policy towards Cuba, being able to get US-based radio into Cuba wouldn't be seen as a bad thing. If you're seeking to get a signal into Guantánamo, you pretty much have to include the rest of Cuba in that. And many Cubans would have at least an elementary knowledge of English.
 
crainbebo said:
Used to get AFRTS on 7.811 and 5.446.5 khz (yes, that specific) once in a while when conditions were decent. Usually had news/talk programming from NPR and other sources. They originated from Key West, FL, on low power.
Click to expand...
Key West was on until 2012. Used to hear it pretty regularly up the east coast.

swling.com

AFN (AFRTS) drops Key West transmitters

Due to budget cuts, the American Forces Network (AFRTS) has decommissioned their Key West, Florida SW frequencies of: 5446, 7811, 12133 kHz Since the Navy provides the shortwave service as a supple…
swling.com
 
IM42A said:
Got to wonder if that was intended for Cuba as much as anything else. Yes, I know, AFRTS isn't intended for civilian audiences, but given the US policy towards Cuba, being able to get US-based radio into Cuba wouldn't be seen as a bad thing. If you're seeking to get a signal into Guantánamo, you pretty much have to include the rest of Cuba in that. And many Cubans would have at least an elementary knowledge of English.
Click to expand...
Many decades ago the now-defunct VOA transmitter facility in Bethany, Ohio was used for beaming AFRTS into the Caribbean. The night frequency was 6030 kHz, which coincidentally has been used in more recent decades for Radio Marti broadcasts from the Greenville site.
 
IM42A said:
Got to wonder if that was intended for Cuba as much as anything else. Yes, I know, AFRTS isn't intended for civilian audiences, but given the US policy towards Cuba, being able to get US-based radio into Cuba wouldn't be seen as a bad thing. If you're seeking to get a signal into Guantánamo, you pretty much have to include the rest of Cuba in that. And many Cubans would have at least an elementary knowledge of English.
Click to expand...
The problem with that idea is that few Cubans actually knew enough English to understand AFRTS broadcasts.

While there were, certainly, many Cubans in the tourist areas who had decent commands of English, once you got outside of that group English was not common. While the major city private schools taught English, most of those graduates were among the earliest refugees from the Castro regime.
 
AFRTS also had transmitters at Diego Garcia in Mauritius and Guam. The Guam transmitters were heard by some SWLs on the west coast in the early mornings. I don't think I ever got the 5765khz USB signal and I tried over and over. Fun to get up at 6:30 PT in those days and have Asian, Australian and RNZI signals every 5khz from 5900 up, sometimes even 2 signals on the same frequency...Firedrake Chinese jammers all over the place, too. Radio Free Asia got jammed daily by Firedrake and 9455khz would be in at S9+40db for hours. The BBC World Service had a 9740khz English signal from Singapore, which was at near-local levels every morning.
 


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