Radio Netherlands Worldwide is increasing its broadcasts to Egypt after the authorities shut down internet and mobile services. RNW will increase its Arabic broadcasts using satellites that are not controlled by the Egyptian authorities. RNW journalists are also producing text-television which can be received through satellite.
Satellite details are now as follows:
1900-2300 UTC
- Hotbird 6, 13.0° East
- Footprint: Europe, North Africa and Middle East
- 11.604 GHz/H
- symbol rate: 27.500
- FEC: 5/6
- Channel: RNW4 left
1900-2000 and 2200-2300 UTC
- Hotbird 6, 13.0° East
- Footprint: Europe, North Africa and Middle East
- 12.597 GHz/V
- symbol rate: 27.500
- FEC: 3/4
- Channel: Sawt Al Alam
- Arabsat BADR 4, 26° East
- Footprint: Africa and Middle East
- 11.996 GHz/V
- symbol rate: 27.500
- FEC: 3/4
- Channel: Sawt Al Alam
- NileSat 101, 7° West
- Footprint: Africa and Middle East
- 11.765 GHz/H
- symbol rate: 27.500
- FEC: 3/4
- Channel: Sawt Al Alam
There are also extra shortwave transmissions in Dutch for the estimated 8,000 Dutch citizens in Egypt:
- 0600-0700 UTC on 9830 kHz
- 1600-1700 UTC on 5955 kHz + 9750 kHz
- 1730-1830 UTC on 11615 kHz + 11655 kHz
Related stories:
- Al Jazeera demands Egyptian government stop broadcast interference
- Egypt cuts Internet, satellite TV and mobile phones
on Jan 29th, 2011 at 22:08
It took 13 minutes to wipe out internet access and telephone service to 80 million people in Egypt. There are some on this board that like to “embrace” new technologies that are cheaper and mass produced but ultimately for the reasons we have witnessed, there is still a place for Shortwave broadcasts since it knows no borders and cannot be shut off by a dictator.
on Jan 30th, 2011 at 03:31
No offence RNW, but wouldn’t it be better to have SW transmissions in English or Arabic to Egypt rather than Dutch??
on Jan 30th, 2011 at 10:10
Yep, all dutch people got a satellite dish on the beach. Lot of arabic programs towards Egypt on mediumwave and shortwave too.
on Jan 30th, 2011 at 10:15
>#2 Phil
>on Jan 30th, 2011 at 03:31
>No offence RNW, but wouldn’t it be better to have SW transmissions in >English or Arabic to Egypt rather than Dutch??
Phil, second line down in the above report says:
“RNW will increase its *Arabic* broadcasts using satellites that are not controlled by the Egyptian authorities. ”
Hope this helps.
on Jan 30th, 2011 at 12:47
Phil, we had shortwave transmissions in Arabic for a short time, but listener feedback was negligible. But being part of the WRN Arabic service Sawt Al Alam and using the Radio With Pictures system, we now appear on the EPG along with TV channels, so millions of Egyptian satellite users know we are there. Consequently we have a much bigger reach in Egypt.
As for English, there’s no point as our English radio service only produces features, not news, and we cannot broadcast live news updates. Also there are plenty of other stations in English on shortwave. Dutch people in Egypt need to know the latest advice from the government, details of flights etc.