AFN On Shortwave

[LibertyNT]

Well this is a first for me,
I have received all the Florida AFN stations on Shortwave
5446.5
7811.0
and 12133.5 all were coming in.

7811 was the strongest, 12133.5 was the weakest.

All received on a Grundig Sattelit 750 with stock antenna in McKinney, TX

 

[crainbebo]

7811 is the most common AFRTS for me here in Bothell. 5446.5 is second, and again, 12.1335 is the worst, very rarely I'll hear it.

-crainbebo

 

[Tincap]

Thanks for the tip! I've been trying to snag these guys for a while. AFN used to have a large presence on SW, before the 'fall of the wall' and proliferation of sat feeds.

Listening now on 5447 (sideband), although it's getting pushed around by RAF VOLMET on 5450. Also picking it up on 7811 and weakly on 12133.

~BG

 

[1st of 5]

I usually pick up AFN almost every night on my ancient DX-398 with 50 foot long wire outdoor antenna in San Antonio, TX, but I never bother to notice the frequency. As a previous poster mentioned, its not what is used to be back before the 'peace dividend'. Now its mostly reruns of satellite syndicated national radio shows with military common sense public service announcements during the commercial breaks. Not really worth listening to unless your several thousand miles away and homesick. But who in the military uses a shortwave radio? I'm sure the navy and army have the latest satellite communications, so they can watch the same TV, OTA or cable, shows and hear the same net streaming hometown radio stations that we do here. The new AFN can't compare to its predecessor AFRTS. why do they even bother, to entertain some third worlders?

 

[jd]

If I understand correctly these stations are a back-up to the satellites or in those cases where satellite isn't available to the listener, for whatever reason. Just curious, what kind of power are they running?

 

[BRNout]

The new AFN can't compare to its predecessor AFRTS. why do they even bother, to entertain some third worlders?

They serve Americans serving in the military overseas and not "third worlders". Also, the AFN feed on shortwave is the same as on satellite and is the same (for the most part) as fed to MW stations that carry their programming in places like Japan (50 kw at 810 kHz) and Germany.

The shortwave service ensures robust coverage pretty much everywhere and it works as I've listened to the signal on 7811 kHz (originating from Key West, FL) in places as far flung as Venezuela, Ecuador, Costa Rica, New Hampshire, the US Midwest, Utah and southern California.

When you're a soldier in some far-flung remote outpost, you probably don't have continuous access to the internet and you're not going to have a satellite transponder in your back pocket. But you sure can get a SW radio at the PX and use it wherever you go! This business of shortwave being a *useless anachronism* fails to consider that not everyone is constantly able to be on-line, nor is the internet robust. Once trouble was really brewing, Egypt (for example) disabled the internet. But you could still get information via shortwave. China censors the internet. Many other countries have an "off" switch. Would you really want to toss ALL of your eggs in that basket? Fortunately, the folks who run AFN seem to know better.

 

[1st of 5]

The people at AFN might know better by keeping shortwave going, but what they air on it isn't worth listening to, compared to the old original AFRTS. I was a soldier, too, a long time ago way before the internet and I used to listen to AFRTS on my SW receiver. But now, it seems that all of those kids now carry some sort of electronic device that they can use to listen or watch or copy or snoop whatever they want whenever they want, whether its classified or not.

 

[carmen]

i suspect these broadcasts will go away in 5 years. just a matter of it aint broke, it proably uses a few hundred watts ,why bother removing it

every time i tune past it is a sportscenter update or something. ESPN mainly.

 

[LibertyNT]

They might not.
Its used for ships that don't have access to the DTS system.

 

[cd637299]

If only they used AM for transmissions again and not SSB. I have a small SW radio with SSB, but "holding it" is no easy trick. I miss 6030/15330.....

cd

 

[Tincap]

Once trouble was really brewing, Egypt (for example) disabled the internet.

In Egypt, you can also pick up a surprising amount of FM and MW from abroad. While based in Ismailia, I was able to pull in a number of stations transmitting from Cyprus (for example...other places too) on a regular basis, including the BBC on MW and BFBS in full blown FM stereo.

Radio in general, still plays a very important role in conveying important info.

~BG

 

[RadioFan2J3]

Also, the AFN feed on shortwave is the same as on satellite and is the same (for the most part) as fed to MW stations that carry their programming in places like Japan (50 kw at 810 kHz) and Germany.

The last time I listened to Eagle 810 Tokyo (November 2007), most of the day programming was from the studio on the west side at Yokota Air Base.

AFRTS operates many FM transmitters at facilities in the Middle East, Iraq and Kuwait, and some of the programming operated on the FMs in Kuwait come out of an AFRTS operation in Baghdad (usually) but from some of the other Europe locations. Nothing appears to be originated in Kuwait at the current time.

The HF feed is only one of several audio channels available on the various satellites in the AFRTS network. The satellite channels are currently on a Scientific Atlanta (now Cisco) PowerVu system and only one of the video channels (The Pentagon Channel) is in the clear.

 

[RadioFan2J3]

If only they used AM for transmissions again and not SSB. I have a small SW radio with SSB, but "holding it" is no easy trick. I miss 6030/15330.....


I suspect the reason they aren't running AM on those Navy transmitters is the transmitters really are SSB/ISB transmitters. I suspect the exciters may be capable of operating with carrier, but since the power amplifier stages are linear, the efficiency isn't that high and the power levels aren't that high, compared to the PEP capabilities of the transmitters.

You've got a bit of a memory if you remember the 6030 and 15330 transmissions. Those were gone sometime in the mid to late 1980s. I see AFRTS was still on a 1985 VOA transmitter schedule, but I don't know exactly when AFRTS was dropped. Looks like 6030 was on Bethany transmitters (BY1, BY3 and BY5) and 15330 was both Bethany and Delano transmitters (BY1, BY3 and DL4).

 

[cd637299]

If only they used AM for transmissions again and not SSB. I have a small SW radio with SSB, but "holding it" is no easy trick. I miss 6030/15330.....


I suspect the reason they aren't running AM on those Navy transmitters is the transmitters really are SSB/ISB transmitters. I suspect the exciters may be capable of operating with carrier, but since the power amplifier stages are linear, the efficiency isn't that high and the power levels aren't that high, compared to the PEP capabilities of the transmitters.

You've got a bit of a memory if you remember the 6030 and 15330 transmissions. Those were gone sometime in the mid to late 1980s. I see AFRTS was still on a 1985 VOA transmitter schedule, but I don't know exactly when AFRTS was dropped. Looks like 6030 was on Bethany transmitters (BY1, BY3 and BY5) and 15330 was both Bethany and Delano transmitters (BY1, BY3 and DL4).

My memory generally stinks, but the trivial stuff I seem to grasp! I believe they shut down in early Oct. 1988. I know that, because I was listening to a big baseball game (Orel Hershiser broke the record for scoreless innings--59 straight, going 10 innings to boot), and AFRTS shut 'em off the next week.

cd

 

[Tincap]

My memory generally stinks, but the trivial stuff I seem to grasp! I believe they shut down in early Oct. 1988. I know that, because I was listening to a big baseball game (Orel Hershiser broke the record for scoreless innings--59 straight, going 10 innings to boot), and AFRTS shut 'em off the next week.

cd

That reminds me of another AFN/baseball related story. While living in the Netherlands, I could pick up the AFN station on FM, from Volkel AB. The Toronto Blue Jays were playing on the west coast (a 9 hour time difference), with the game tied in extra innings. At 6 am the Volkel station automatically kicked into the piped in morning show, so I had to scramble out of bed and tune into the main AFN MW signal on 873, which still carried the game. If my memory serves me correctly, I do believe the Jays won that game, which was very, very common in those days!

~BG

 

[CTListener]

The people at AFN might know better by keeping shortwave going, but what they air on it isn't worth listening to, compared to the old original AFRTS. I was a soldier, too, a long time ago way before the internet and I used to listen to AFRTS on my SW receiver. But now, it seems that all of those kids now carry some sort of electronic device that they can use to listen or watch or copy or snoop whatever they want whenever they want, whether its classified or not.

I was a young SWL during the Vietnam War years and remember the great job AFRTS did back then. Remember "Hometown U.S.A"? It was 20 or 30 minutes of five-minute local newscasts from AM stations all over the country. And you could always count on AFRTS to carry the traditional baseball openers -- the "presidential opener" in Washington and the NL opener in Cincinnati. As you say, though, there's really no need for this sort of programming on shortwave today. The soldiers can listen to most of their local stations on the Internet, same for sports programming.