2003 war with Iraq

Mar 20 22:52 UTC 2003

Monitoring The Iraq War

As the world waits and watches Iraq, if you've got a shortwave receiver with

sideband mode (USB and LSB) you can hear certain military communications 
related to the conflict including many long-distance GHFS (Global HF System)

stations including Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) and Skyking messages 
which are high-priority messages for air and ground stations.

Frequencies to monitor (in the USB mode) include:
4709, 4724, 6712, 6739, 8992, 11175, 11271, 15038 (11175 is a very
active frequency most of the time)

Shortwave broadcasts from the Middle East that you can hear with a
reasonable antenna include the following. Note that UTC (Universal
Time) is 5 hours ahead of EST. Note that because the changing situation
in the area these times and frequencies are subject to change; of
course checking the frequencies from time to time is your best bet of
hearing a broadcast.

Egypt, Radio Cairo on 9900 at 2315 UTC

Iran, Voice of the Islamic Republic, Tehran on 9022 at 1030 UTC (also
on 9835 and 11970) Iran also on 13730 and 13745 at 1330 UTC.

Iraq, Radio Baghdad on 11787 (varies slightly to 11785) at 2000 UTC.
Also check 15265, 15375, 15385, 21470 at 1100 UTC.

Israel, Kol Israel on 6280, 7475, 9435 at 0500 (also on 11605). Israel
also on 15640, 17535 and 6220 at 2000 UTC. Also check 1700 UTC on 17545.
At 1900 UTC on 11605, 15615 and 17545.

Kuwait (Radio Kuwait) on 11990 kHz at 1800 UTC. Also check 15110 kHz.

Syria, Radio Damascus on 12085 (and 13610 frequently) at 0500 and
2000 UTC

Turkey, Voice of Turkey, Ankara on 11960 and 12000 at 2100 UTC; on 6020
at 0400 and 2300 UTC

United Arab Emirates Radio, Dubai on 13675, 15395 at 0020, 1330 UTC;
15395 at 0030; 0200 on 15395 and 15370;

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Strong signal from Jordan, Amman in ENGLISH. Time 1605 UTC (11 a.m.
Eastern) with anti-American news/commentary, followed by music.
Frequency: 11690 kHz.

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At this moment (1115 UTC) Radio Kuwait in Arabic on 11990 kHz very
clear in North America. The station will move into English at 1800 UTC
(1 p.m. Eastern Time).

-------------------------------

Kol Israel reporting at this moment attacks on Iraq and specifically
likely Baghdad. Time 1808 UTC on 11605 kHz. Language is Hebrew with a
reporter in English in background at studio.

response 2 of 4:

Mar 21 15:55 UTC 2003

Re #1: Also consider that in many cases, it's legal to listen, but not
legal to pass the information on.

response 4 of 4:

Apr 24 15:39 UTC 2003

SSB is still used for long-haul, quite frequently.  We have ways of
encoding/encrypting things that we don't want others to know, but you
might be surprised at the amount of stuff you can hear.

There are certain freqs that are used as a base, then things might get
moved to another freq, but there are only so many that can be used.
(There is a lot of coordination, to help prevent interference to ourselves
and our allies.)