Worldwide AFRTS schedule

The US Armed Forces Radio & Television Service (AFRTS) is back on shortwave, having discontinued its shortwave transmssion in 1998.
Since then, navy users of the AFRTS services have been using satellites.
However, on July 31, 2000 AFRTS terminated all use of its older satellite services, Andy Sennitt reports on the Radio Netherland's web site.
A new Direct to Sailor (DTS) satellite television and radio service has been started, but some ships are still waiting to have DTS equipment installed, and a few older ships may never have DTS equipment. For that reason, AFRTS is expanding its use of shortwave transmissions to fill the gap.
Negotiations are in progress to make use of navy transmitters in Guam, Diego Garcia, and Iceland. In the meantime, AFRTS has already started using a naval transmitter based at Sigonella, in Sicily.
The scheduled frequencies are 10940.5kHz in the daytime, and 4993kHz at night, using the Upper Side Band (USB) mode.
After years of mostly silence on the high frequencies, the majority of shortwave listeners are glad AFRTS is back.

More on Radio Netherland web site

4319 kHz from Diego Garcia?
Finnish DXer Vesa-Jussi Rinkinen informs that in an email respons, Franklin Adams of NPR Worldwide, who transmits on the AFN radio network, confirms that AFRTS on 4319 kHz is via a transmitter located in Diego Garcia.
"I got my information straight from AFN", writes Franklin Adams. (Vesa-Jussi Rinkinen, hcdx list, August 20, 2000)



QSL from AFRTS
The AFRTS Broadcast Center is located at March Air Reserve Base, California. They ask that shortwave reception reports, and requests for a QSL verification card, be sent to Navy Uplink Reception at
QSL@mediacen.navy.mil.
(Hermod Pedersen, hcdx web editor, August 21, 2000)



QSL from Diego Garcia
To get a QSL directly from Diego Garcia, Andy Sennitt suggest this address:
NCTS Diego Garcia
PSC 466 Box 8
FPO AP 96595-0008
USA

Andy Sennitt also notes that the US Naval Support Facility has a nice Web site at
http://www.dg.navy.mil/
from which you can learn about life on the island, even the opening hours of the canteen. But the 'History' page says not a word about the native islanders who were forcibly repatriated.
"Why am I not surprised?", asks Andy Sennitt. (hcdx list, August 21, 2000)

More on AFRTS Diego Garcia

AFRTS on shortwave