Help please: could this clip be from Saudi Radio?

[Nick_G]

Hi all. I'm a new member here, and I have a rather unusual request. I'm a radio enthusiast and I'm hoping someone on these boards may be able to help.

I have a clip online of a possible Saudi Radio station received on FM here in southern England, but as I'm new I am unable to post a link at present. I understand that this is to prevent spammers.

When I'm able to post it I can provide the background information as it's more useful to do this when members can listen to it.

Would it be OK to do this please? It may be that members may recognise the voice of the reciter and know the prayer schedules.

Best regards,
Nick, Whitchurch, Hampshire

['Abd al-Baari]

Welcome to the forums Nick.

Please do post the link as soon as you can. I'm sure the members here will do their best to help you.

[Nick_G]

Hi all. I'm a new member here, and I have a rather unusual request. I'm a radio enthusiast and I'm hoping someone on these boards may be able to help.

I have a clip online of a possible Saudi Radio station received on FM here in southern England, but as I'm new I am unable to post a link at present. I understand that this is to prevent spammers.

When I'm able to post it I can provide the background information as it's more useful to do this when members can listen to it.

Would it be OK to do this please? It was suggested that as members may recognise the voice of the reciter and know the schedules.

Best regards,
Nick, Whitchurch, Hampshire

Welcome to the forums Nick.

Please do post the link as soon as you can. I'm sure the members here will do their best to help you.

Thanks very much for your kind welcome. Do you know how many posts new members have to do before they can post links or attachments?

If I can get a definitive ID on this station and it does turn out to be Saudi Radio then that will be a first, and for radio enthusiasts this is pretty big news

Best regards,
Nick

[aadil77]

You need I think 50 posts to become a full member

but for now just write the link with spaces inbetween

[Nick_G]

You need I think 50 posts to become a full member

but for now just write the link with spaces inbetween

Thanks very much. This is a fairly long post coming up but the background information will hopefully help:

On Thursday 24th June at 1628 UTC (7.28 pm Saudi time) I received a radio station on 88.6 MHz with what is almost certainly a live outside broadcast from the Great Mosque in Mecca. The recording is available here:

www(dot)box(dot)net(forward slash)shared(forward slash)k4lskstb8n

The relevant station is on the first minute or so of the recording. It's been suggested as originating from Saudi Radio but I'd like some opinions on it if possible please. There were VHF amateur radio contacts from southern UK to Cyprus at the time. FMLIST shows a 100 kW transmitter at Qurrayat right by the Jordanian border, but there is no mention of this transmitter on Saudi Radio's website. This is the nearest site I can find, and the distance from here is 3857 km. It seems there is some confusion on sites depending on which list is consulted.

The mode of propagation responsible quite regularly provides reception of stations in North Africa on FM during the summer, and I originally thought that the station was from this part of the world. However, a fellow radio enthusiast suggested that it was very likely from Saudi Radio. He has access to north African and Middle East radio & TV via his satellite system, and two days later, on Saturday 26th June he had a listen to various stations at the time of my reception. He told me that the only stations that had the same sort of broadcasts at that time were Saudi radio & TV, and that it sounded exactly like my clip.

It was suggested that the clip was maghreb prayers from Mecca. Islamic Finder lists the prayer times from Mecca on June 24th as 7.07 pm local time. The latest suggestion however is that these are recitations from the Qu'ran rather the call to prayer. Would these follow the call to prayer?

The Arab station gets replaced by a Hungarian, then 2 more Middle Easterns briefly appear, one playing traditional Arabic orchestral music with a YL vocalist and another playing Arab pop. These stations are probably from Jordan or Syria.

At 1703 UTC I had Israel on 87.6 (IBA 88FM) probably from Jerusalem, distance 3660 km, so there were definitely very unusual conditions at the time. I also recently had confirmation of reception from a radio station in Syria, so Saudi Arabia is possible.

I have sent a letter to the Saudi Ministry of Culture & Information and am hoping to hear back from them, but I thought I'd also post the details on here in case someone knows more. Maybe someone recognises the reciter or

I'd like to get this one verified as it would be be the first time that Saudi Arabia has ever been received in the UK on FM.

Sorry for the long first post but I thought it would be useful to provide as much background information as possible. Thank you very much for reading this, and thanks in advance for any help.


Best regards,
Nick, Whitchurch, Hampshire

[BintAbee]

Welcome Nick, we will try to help you Insha Allah.

You need I think 50 posts to become a full member

but for now just write the link with spaces inbetween

Good idea...

[BintAbee]

Thanks very much. This is a fairly long post coming up but the background information will hopefully help:

On Thursday 24th June at 1628 UTC (7.28 pm Saudi time) I received a radio station on 88.6 MHz with what is almost certainly a live outside broadcast from the Great Mosque in Mecca. The recording is available here:

www(dot)box(dot)net(forward slash)shared(forward slash)k4lskstb8n

The relevant station is on the first minute or so of the recording. It's been suggested as originating from Saudi Radio but I'd like some opinions on it if possible please. There were VHF amateur radio contacts from southern UK to Cyprus at the time. FMLIST shows a 100 kW transmitter at Qurrayat right by the Jordanian border, but there is no mention of this transmitter on Saudi Radio's website. This is the nearest site I can find, and the distance from here is 3857 km. It seems there is some confusion on sites depending on which list is consulted.

The mode of propagation responsible quite regularly provides reception of stations in North Africa on FM during the summer, and I originally thought that the station was from this part of the world. However, a fellow radio enthusiast suggested that it was very likely from Saudi Radio. He has access to north African and Middle East radio & TV via his satellite system, and two days later, on Saturday 26th June he had a listen to various stations at the time of my reception. He told me that the only stations that had the same sort of broadcasts at that time were Saudi radio & TV, and that it sounded exactly like my clip.

It was suggested that the clip was maghreb prayers from Mecca. Islamic Finder lists the prayer times from Mecca on June 24th as 7.07 pm local time. The latest suggestion however is that these are recitations from the Qu'ran rather the call to prayer. Would these follow the call to prayer?

The Arab station gets replaced by a Hungarian, then 2 more Middle Easterns briefly appear, one playing traditional Arabic orchestral music with a YL vocalist and another playing Arab pop. These stations are probably from Jordan or Syria.

At 1703 UTC I had Israel on 87.6 (IBA 88FM) probably from Jerusalem, distance 3660 km, so there were definitely very unusual conditions at the time. I also recently had confirmation of reception from a radio station in Syria, so Saudi Arabia is possible.

I have sent a letter to the Saudi Ministry of Culture & Information and am hoping to hear back from them, but I thought I'd also post the details on here in case someone knows more. Maybe someone recognises the reciter or

I'd like to get this one verified as it would be be the first time that Saudi Arabia has ever been received in the UK on FM.

Sorry for the long first post but I thought it would be useful to provide as much background information as possible. Thank you very much for reading this, and thanks in advance for any help.


Best regards,
Nick, Whitchurch, Hampshire

This MAY be Saudi radio, but it is NOT Saudi Quraan Radio nor is it Riyaadh Radio. It may be Radio Jedda, second channel. The prayer that we can hear is from Madeenah, not Makkah. Having said that, there is no guarantee that this is a Saudi Radio because there are many radio stations throughout the world that broadcast prayers from Makkah or Madeenah. This is the link to Radio Jedda, Channel 2: http://www.saudiradio.net/LinksRedirect.aspx?cid=2. I suggest you check if it's the same content, preferably check it when they are talking rather than during prayer or call to prayer (Athaan) or any recitation of the Quraan. If you can't compare it (because of the language), you can post both recordings here and we'll be more than willing to compare it for you... Hope I've helped. Oh and I don't understand all the technical stuff you mentioned so I'm not commenting on it :X

[Nick_G]

Thanks very much - this is new information. This is what my friend said about what was on Saudi TV/radio on the 26th June:

"I have been watching Saudi TV since 1600 utc - channel 1 at 1610 ish UTC - live maghrib prayers from Mecca - One man leading most of the prayers sometimes being answered by a second. Very much like Nicks recording, complete with background sounds.

This same audio was going out over Saudi Radio 1.

However at 1627 this ended on radio 1 and took up on radio 2 where the first guy has less reverb on his voice and the second none. This sounds exactly like Nicks recording. The Quran channel has had a guy reciting Quran in a studio throughout."

I'll have to check with him whether the Radio 2 he mentions there is Radio Jedda 2nd channel.

Perhaps the transmitter at Qurrayat relays Radio Jedda 2nd channel. This transmitter is located right on the Jordanian border. If not, what other countries or stations would relay live prayers from Madeenah?

I'll have a listen to Radio Jedda 2nd channel and see if I can hear anything like the clip.

Thanks,
Nick

[Jebel-A]

Nick,

I am a member of some radio groups and I have seen your posts before. Must say that I am pleased that you have stopped referring to Qur'anic readings
and Athaan as "Arabic wailing"...not very respectful, is it?

You need to take your blinkers off, you have been told numerous times both in radio groups and in this forum that there is NO reason to think this was
from Saudi.I
have lived and worked in many Islamic countries and know that the Makkah or al-Medinah prayers/readings are rebroadcast in most if not all of those
countries. It could have been from any number of Islamic countries either in North Africa or the Middle East, or worse case scenario one of the French
Islamic stations.

You seem to have worked yourself up (egged on by others equally ill-informed looking at some of the posts I've seen from a quick Google search)
into some sort of
frenzy that this *must* be Saudi Arabia...it probably wasn't, get over it and get a life!

Jebel
Oman

[Nick_G]

Nick,

I am a member of some radio groups and I have seen your posts before. Must say that I am pleased that you have stopped referring to Qur'anic readings
and Athaan as "Arabic wailing"...not very respectful, is it?

You need to take your blinkers off, you have been told numerous times both in radio groups and in this forum that there is NO reason to think this was
from Saudi.I
have lived and worked in many Islamic countries and know that the Makkah or al-Medinah prayers/readings are rebroadcast in most if not all of those
countries. It could have been from any number of Islamic countries either in North Africa or the Middle East, or worse case scenario one of the French
Islamic stations.

You seem to have worked yourself up (egged on by others equally ill-informed looking at some of the posts I've seen from a quick Google search)
into some sort of
frenzy that this *must* be Saudi Arabia...it probably wasn't, get over it and get a life!

Jebel
Oman

To be honest I wasn't paying as much attention when I first switched on the radio and noted the signal on 88.6 and I posted to the radio group in a hurry. I was doing other things like getting dinner ready and if I'd realised how significant this opening was then I'd have definitely been listening properly. It's only when I heard Israel on 87.6 about half an hour later that I realised that I was there was double-hop signals on the band. So I apologise if it came across as disrepectful; it wasn't my intention. I'd like to learn more about the culture and background of Islam as it would help me and I wouldn't co,e across as ignorant . I'm sure it would help with identifying the source of the signals too.

The evidence would suggest that the 88.6 signal was from the Middle East. The propagation mode is called sporadic E, which happens when intensely ionised clouds form in the upper atmosphere, which are capable of reflecting VHF signals. The more intense the ionisation, the higher the frequency that can be reflected. the typical skip distance is roughly between 1500-2500 km. If there are two skips (or hops) then these distances are doubled: 3000-5000km. It's rare to happen at FM frequencies, but it does happen.

The Israeli signal probably originated from Jerusalem, which is 3660km from here, so was double-hop sporadic E. Most of the signals on the band were from the Balkans, central Europe and Italy. There were no signals from North Africa on the band at the time, and the transmitter I have listed on 88.6 in Saudi Arabia is at Qurrayat an Nabk, right by the Jordanian border.

You could be right, it might not be from Saudi Arabia. But the fact that Israel was definitely identified suggests somewhere in that part of the world. Clips for these are below:

www(dot)box(dot)net(forward slash)shared(forward slash)fbc1mc9h41 (IBA 88FM with 'Kol Israel' ID at 1 min 37 sec)

www(dot)box(dot)net(forward slash)shared(forward slash)zj55dy4lik (Al Madina FM with 'Star News' programme)

I also received a Syrian station on 100.5 on the 20th June - Al Madina FM from Al Ladhiqiyah (see clip above). This reception was confirmed by the station themselves after I emailed them with a link to the recording. Conditions on the bands have been exceptionally good this year. In fact a couple of UK DXers received and verified reception of stations in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on FM on May 31st!

Regards,
Nick

[aadil77]

this thread is so sad