BBC World Service on 1413 kHz: English from the A'Seela relay in Oman

What you hear

In its listed hours 1413 kHz from Oman carries the BBC World Service in English: the news bulletins, Newsday and Newshour, the business and sports programmes and the documentaries, with the World Service identification at the top of each hour. The catalogue gives three English blocks: 01:00 to 05:00 UTC, 13:00 to 18:00 UTC and 19:00 to 21:00 UTC. What the transmitter does in between is not recorded in the data; it may carry other BBC languages or be off, and the gaps between blocks are the moments to listen for a change. The sound is medium-wave AM from a very large transmitter, clean and steady over the Gulf, slowly fading further away.

Who transmits and why

The relay is at A'Seela, on the Arabian Sea coast of Oman south-east of Muscat, and the catalogue lists 800 kW, which makes it one of the most powerful medium-wave transmitters in the BBC's network and in the region. It was built to put the World Service over the Gulf, Iran, Pakistan and the Arabian peninsula at night with one signal, and it still does that: from A'Seela a night sky wave reaches from Karachi to Cairo. The English blocks are timed for mornings and evenings in the Gulf and South Asia, which is why they look odd on a European clock.

The BBC has closed many of its short-wave and medium-wave relays, and the hours on this one have been reduced over the years; the timetable above is the catalogue's current information.

When and where to listen

By day the ground wave of 800 kW covers Oman and the United Arab Emirates; receivers in the Gulf hear it in every English block. Medium wave carries far only after dark, and from sunset over Arabia the signal goes a very long way: the 01:00 to 05:00 UTC block is in full darkness over the whole path to Europe and is the one to try from a distance, when receivers in Greece, Italy, the Balkans and sometimes central Europe hear English from Oman. The 19:00 to 21:00 UTC block is dark over Arabia and, in winter, over Europe too; the afternoon block is in daylight at the transmitter and is a regional one.

The channel has a problem in Europe. 1413 kHz is also used by Vesti FM from Grigoriopol in Transnistria at 500 kW, which has its own entry, on the air from 18:00 to 05:00 UTC. The catalogue notes that in Ukraine the Russian station is the one that wins; from the Balkans and Italy the two may be heard together at night, English and Russian mixed, and from western Europe Grigoriopol usually dominates. A receiver in the Gulf, in Turkey or in the eastern Mediterranean gets the BBC alone. The program tunes AM; when both stations are audible, a single sideband with a narrow filter and a careful choice of side can separate them a little.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Medium and long wave → BBC World Service 1413 kHz (Oman). ShackDeck picks a public receiver that hears 1413 kHz, tunes it and sets AM. No receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed; for this station choose a receiver in the Gulf, Turkey or Greece, and from Europe try the 01:00 to 05:00 UTC block in winter.