IRAQ TV Mystery

[phil835]

Something has been nagging me for over a week now, and for a change, it isn't my wife!

I was fortunate enough to have my dish trained on 13E and my channel tuned to IRAQ TV on the morning that the war started.

At around 9am (GMT) Iraq Tv was knocked off the air and replaced by a test card, which I witnessed first hand.

Immediately preceeding IRAQ TV's removal from the airways I noticed the BBC world logo superimposed over the Iraq TV logo. It was only there for around 5 seconds or so, but long enough for my wife to notice it as well. Immediatelly following this was the test card which seemed to display a lot of anologue noise (snow).

The transmissions resumed to normal within 2 hours or so, and for almost every time since that IRAQ TV has been off the air, there has just been a blank screen and not a test card.

My question is did anybody else witness what I saw, or was it a receiver malfunction unique to me?

I'm not one to subscribe to every conspiracy theory out there, but can anyone else independantly confirm what I think I saw ????

 

[lee32uk]

I saw the test card and also the blank screen.The Yanks/Brits have been targeting tv transmitters so thats why its been off, and then back on again.They are probably using mobile transmitters at the moment as Iraq satellite tv is back on air.....but for how long is anyones guess


Lee

 

[phil835]

Did anyone see the BBC World Logo appear just before the test card on the first occasion it was blanked out though ?

Also, I am quite intrigued in how the technology of denying satellite broadcasts is working.

First of all we need to distinguish that the Iraqis have terrestrial anologue TV broadcasts, the news often refers to transmitter masts being destroyed and coallition adapted hercules transmitting TV and radio broadcasts in much the the same way as the terrestrial transmitters do. My point being that none of this should effect satellite transmission.

However, IRAQ TV is on hotbird 13E in digital MPEG2 and is multiplexed along with several other state TV broadcasts such as Saudi TV, Kuwait TV etc.

Anyone could stick up a carrier on 13E to Jamm IRAQ TV but it would also have the effect of blocking out other transmissions multiplexed on the same carrier. I doubt that the Saudis and Kuwaitis would be too impressed by this.

So how does it all fit together ? If we know that IRAQ TV is multiplexed with other Arab State TV broadcasts, at what point and where are these separate channels multiplexed, and where is the actual satellite uplink transmitted from ????

Can anyone in the know enlighten me on this.

 

[rolfw]

It'll probably be the case that the uplink signal is transmitted from a network of radio masts by microwave to an uplink site, perhaps in Saudi, so it would be technically possible for the Allied forces to jam the signal by applying an equally strong signal to any one of the repeaters. Perhaps they just relayed the BBC signal because it was strong and available.

 

[phil835]

That would make sense Rolf. So in summary we could assume that somewhere in Baghdad is the IRAQ TV studio. The video signal from the studio is relayed via a microwave Line of sight link. This is not a broadcast, it is a single end to end link for relaying the video signal to wherever the satellite uplink station is. At the uplink station IRAQ TV is then multiplexed with others such as Kuwait TV etc. A single carrier frequency is then beamed up to hotbird on 13E. So to disrupt IRAQ TV without affecting the other channels on the multiplex, you have to jam the signal before the point of it being multiplexed.

If anyone can enlighten me more or correct anything I've got wrong, then please feel free to do so.

 

[SteveShayka]

The US goverment and I also believe the British goverment have a varient of the C-130 Hercules aircraft designated by the USA as a EC-130. This is a aircraft operated by the PSYOP (Psychological Operations) division of the Airforce. This planes exisitance was never fully admitted to until recently. This plane is a flying TV studio, radio station and jammer. It is capable of and has completely jammed all television and radio signals in Iraq and taken over all the frequencies there. It was used just prior to the invasion of Operation Iraq Freedom in which it took over all television and radio signals in Iraq and it simulantiously broadcasted President Bush giving a public address to the US and also Iraq citizens warning them about the invasion and its immenence. This plane operates with the same cloak of secrecy as the SR-71, U-2 and F-117. Its soul pourpose is to hijack and pirate communications. With it being able to refuel in flight it can stay up as long as the crew can. This plane is the reason you saw what you saw. It is commonly refered to as "Commando Solo" , here is a link to it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EC-130_Commando_Solo

Steve