A Closer Look at Saudi Arabia's Shortwave Broadcasting

The Numbers Don't Add Up – A Look At Saudi Shortwave Broadcasting
by Hans Johnson

Objectives:  I am curious about what Saudi Arabia is broadcasting and from where.   This is an attempt to try and figure that out through monitoring as well as primary and secondary sources. 

What does Saudi Arabia broadcast?   Saudi Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) transmits both a General and Quran program in Arabic for much of the day. The SBC also carries a number of

foreign language services. 

The Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI) broadcasts a program for the Saudi military, Determination Radio (Huna Al-Azm), in Arabic. 

The Yemeni government in exile is on shortwave in Arabic.  It is misnamed Radio Sana'a, a city the government no longer controls.  A press report stated that the programs are produced in Aden.  It added that they are carried on Badr 4 and 11860 kHz.  A look at the list of programmers on Badr 4 shows a listing for SBC with "Yemen Radio" as one of the sub-channels.[i]  The Saudis support the Yemeni government in exile.  There are power shortages in Yemen so broadcasting from there with high power would be difficult.  Whoever is carrying the programs has transmitter capacity and the funds to put it on.  The pattern of frequency management is similar to Determination with a single frequency for the entire schedule.  If the Saudis are willing to carry them on satellite, then why not the shortwave as well.  I believe that these broadcasts are from Saudi Arabia. 

 Where does Saudi Arabia broadcast from?  Saudi Arabia operates two known shortwave broadcast sites.  They are:  Riyadh  Four x 500 kW Ampegon plus HRS 4/4/0.5[ii]  This site is run by the SBC.

Jeddah Four x 250 kW Continental at Al Khumra.[iii]   Curtain antennas.  This site is run by the MOCI.[iv]   So nominally they have eight high-powered transmitters. 

 Doing the Math:  Please note that many of the Saudi HFCC listings are wooden.  Neither Determination nor Yemen are registered.  The WRTH and shortwavesites.com have done a good job of looking at the HFCC schedule and then monitoring to derive an actual schedule.  I then monitored these schedules to verify they were accurate.  I also checked through the HFCC listings to see if there had been any changes.  I then amended the schedule, for instance, 17570 kHz at 1100 UTC is a new, additional channel for the Quran service.

Time	Determination	Yemen	Quran	Quran	Quran	Quran	Gen	Gen	SBC	SBC	SBC	SBC	Total
1100	11745	11860	11935	17570	17615	-	15490	17805	15120	21670			9
1200	11745	11860	15380	17625	17895	-	17705	21505	7240	13775	-	-	9
1300	11745	11860	15380	17615	17625	17895	17705	21505	7240	13775	-	-	10
1400	11745	11860	17615	17895	-	-	17705	21505	7240	9695	13775	17660	10
1500	11745	11860	13710	17615	-	-	15225	15435	7240	9695	17660	-	9
1600	11745	11860	13710	15205	17560	-	15225	15435	7240	9885	-	-	9

There is one transmitter that has a terrible buzz or hum.  I have heard it on either a Quran or a General service frequency.     

Checking Our Work:  The numbers don't add up.  Let's see if I have made a mistake.  We have at least eight transmitters installed, no one is disputing that.  There is no reason to think that any of SBC's.

programs, General, Quran, and foreign languages are coming from anywhere but the known facilities.

Nor is there any need to as they only have eight of these services on at a time. 

            To make my numbers work, the Saudis have to employ the buzzy transmitter, but they have enough emitters.  It is hard to figure out which site is really being used for what service though.  Most of the HFCC listings are for Riyadh, but there are at best only half the transmitters there so it should be about 50-50.   

            What are the possibilities: 

            1- I made an error in monitoring or counting.  It is possible and anyone checking my work will quickly know if that is the case.  It will be embarrassing for me, but it would solve the mystery if they only have eight emitters on the air even counting Determination and Radio Sana'a.

            2- I have made an error in attributing a service to the wrong country or site.  Determination Radio is not registered with the HFCC, but has tweeted that it is via Al-Khumra and Riyadh.  It is a Saudi service and there is no reason to believe it is coming from anywhere but Saudi Arabia.  But perhaps Determination is coming from a military facility even though it is an MOCI station and in spite of the tweet. 

            Radio Sana'a is not registered with the HFCC and no one has admitted that it is via Saudi Arabia.  We have some pretty good circumstantial evidence, but that's it.  If it is not coming from Saudi Arabia and Determination is from a military facility then we have eight broadcasts for eight transmitters. 

            3- There are transmitters and/or facilities we don't know about.  We need two transmitters at an existing facility or a facility with two transmitters that we don't know about.

            Did the Chinese construct a new facility or add to an existing one?  Sino-Sky and BBEF say they constructed a shortwave station in Saudi Arabia that took two years and was completed by 2014.[i]  BBEF did some work at Al-Khumra.  It is unclear if "shortwave station" refers to Al-Khumra or  another site. 

            Ampegon told me that the installation at Riyadh was a replacement with the older transmitters being taken out of service.  Al Khumra is described as an entirely new station at the existing site.

            The Saudis have HFCC registrations for two 50 kW transmitters at Jeddah.  Now this could be a typo for 250 kW, a mistake, or just an old listing that has not been updated.  Harris did put in some 50 kW at Jeddah, but they would be decades old.  But if this was true that would give them six transmitters at Jeddah for a total of ten. 

            Then we have these photos from First Gulf Company, the local partner.  They appear to be both from Al-Khumra[ii]: Notice that the monitor displays six transmitters , TX 1, TX 2, ect. to TX 6.

If you read the labels on the left in the second photo, the left one is TX 6 and antennas go from A1-6 with a dummy load.

I spoke with Continental about this and they say they installed four transmitters, but hoped to get future sales, hence the monitor showing six transmitters. They suggested I ask the Saudis if I thought there were more than four transmitters there.[i]

            Did the Saudis put in some other transmitters at Jeddah after the Continental installation?   Or were they already there and then integrated? If there are six transmitters at Jeddah then every service will fit. 

            I find six transmitters at Al-Khumra in Jeddah to be the likeliest explanation.  I do not think they are 30 year old transmitters put in by Harris, but are of more recent vintage.  I could only speculate as to who made them, who put them in or when, or what their power is. 

---

I have built upon the work of many here.  The WRTH, shortwavesites.com, Ampegon, Continental, Top Shortwave News, and the Shortwave Sites Yahoo Group were all very useful. 

Thanks Bernd Trutenau for his help.  See http://ift.tt/1TMiMatand look at 12182H.  See http://ift.tt/2h3TbzP

Per Ampegon, these transmitters replaced the existing Thomson units.  New antennas were installed using the existing towers.  http://ift.tt/2kEx2Jv   First Gulf is the local company. 

    http://ift.tt/2xxzJ5E   Al-Khumra is a suburb of Jeddah. The transmitters are Continental.  First Gulf is the local company.

 See http://ift.tt/2kDgVvM  See page  for who controls a particular site.  Who runs what site may offer clues as to which site carries which service.  Determination Radio, in my view, is more likely to be from the Al-Khumra MOCI site rather than the SBC Riyadh site.  Government entities do fight over sites, see http://ift.tt/2xvz1Gffor the BBC and UK Ministry of Defence fighting over a site. 

http://ift.tt/2kDgYaW  Neither company responded to queries. 

http://ift.tt/2xxzM1k

Phone conversation with Calvin Carter of Continental, October 6, 2017. 

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