IRAN: U.S. satellite feeds to Iran jammed

MSNBC news ^ | July 9, 2003 | Robert Windrem

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

U.S. satellite feeds to Iran jammed

May be linked to the anniversary of student uprisings

By Robert Windrem
NBC NEWS PRODUCER

NEW YORK, July 9 — U.S. government officials as well as Iranian Americans and communications satellite operators confirm that all U.S.-based satellite broadcasts to Iran are being jammed by an unknown group or individual, possibly Iranian agents operating out of Latin America.

   OVER THE PAST several months, private Iranian-American groups have begun increasing their broadcasts into Iran using Telstar-12, a communications satellite over the eastern Atlantic. All are trying to encourage protests against the regime in Tehran.
       Iranians, using small satellite dishes, have been able to receive the broadcast, whose mix of news, entertainment and exhortations to protest have gained a large audience, particularly in Tehran. Then on Sunday, the Voice of America began its Farsi-language broadcasts.
       Not long afterward, the jamming intensified.
       Over the past few days — as the fourth anniversary of the country’s most widespread protests approached — the broadcasts have been jammed, not in Iran but somewhere in the Americas, according to officials and investigators.
       
 Iranian students cancel protests
       The Farsi language broadcasts by the VOA as well as Los Angeles-based ParsTV and Appadana TV are uplinked in the United States via Telstar-5, which is over the United States. It is then turned around at the Washington International Teleport in Alexandria, Va., and uplinked again to Telstar-12 over the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

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       It is Telstar-12 that is being jammed, say investigators for companies working with the broadcasters, cutting off broadcasts not only in Iran but in Europe and the rest of the Middle East as well. In the past, the Iranian government, using high-power transmitters on towers in cities such as Tehran have been able to jam it locally. The fact that TV viewers elsewhere can’t see it was the first hint that the jamming was happening on this side of the Atlantic.
       Loral, which operates the satellite, declined comment on what it is doing in response.
       “The jamming appears to be linked to the anniversary of the student uprisings,” said one investigator for a company working with the broadcasters who preferred to remain anonymous. “It’s malicious, not a prank. For us, it began yesterday, continues today. Not only are the Iranian signals jammed, but those of other nearby broadcasters are as well. We have a Chinese client who is being jammed.

[jriemer]

There was a lot of talk about the jamming on this thread:

Iranian Alert: Cuba reportedly Jamming US Based Iranian broadcasters Uplink Signal Into Iran 7/8/03

[Constitution Day]

Thanks for the ping!! It's about time.

Gotta go to a meeting now but I will check back soon.

[Zavien Doombringer]

That was my suggestion monday!

[Zavien Doombringer]

Can't argue with that!

I have a Charleville, Corrige' An IX 1777 that produces plenty of smoke and fire :) (See my profile)

[Zavien Doombringer]

Oh sorry, I didn't realize - Welcome to FreeRepublic!

[Gary Boldwater]

With all the sophisticated surviellance satellites you'd think the jamming source could be pinpointed in a few hours.

[Darksheare]

The broadcast has been jammed somewhere on our side of the pond.
Iranian Ayatollah sympathisers in operation. (Read as: Terrorists.)

[Darksheare]

What was his problem?
*chuckle*
Whatever it was, it's taken care of now.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Was analogman a troll? His account has been banned or suspended.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Cuba , a lonely Caribbean Island or South America, all possible locations!

What is International Law regarding disruption of Satellite Communications I wonder?

[Darksheare]

It is largely illegal, but as AlGore opined, there's no controlling legal authority.
(The UN, but it is no controlling legal authority.)

It'd be even more insulting if the jamming was coming from somewhere in the US.
Hope we find it soon.
And level it.

[Bobalu]

It is the uplink frequency that is being jammed
This uplink freq has to be jammed from a geographic
location very near the US... this is because the receiving
dish on the sat is spotted on the center of the US.

Cuba is near enough... but they would still be several DB down and so would need considerable wattage to block a US uplink to the sat... so they must be pouring it on bigtime.

The US knows exactly where the signal is coming from... to within yards!

I'm not sure how much uplink signal the bird can stand and remain stable... but I suggest uplinking the feeds from the US with a 100' dish with very narrow beamwidth and at least 100kw... this will up the ante considerably

of course to disrupt an uplink you only need to corrupt a tiny portion of the signal..so the cubans can pour everything they have into a very narrow bandwidth :-(

[Darksheare]

100kw might fry the bird's electronics package.
But it might work.
The so-called 'burn through' in jamming where the incoming signal overcomes your jamming efforts.
(Not that I know much about this stuff, but it's worth a shot to check into.)

If it's Cuber doin git, we can emp pulse their transmitter.. .and everything else they've got.
But that'll take some explaining.

[Bobalu]

Yup.. 100kw into a 100' dish w/narrow beamwidth would be mighty powerful at only 22,000 miles out...

especially considering that you can uplink a useable video feed to a modern satellite with only a handfull of watts into a tiny dish only a few feet across...

[Darksheare]

But it'd be H#ll to jam.
*Chuckle*