Anyone else experiencing reception problems with BBC lately? The reception seems to have gotten worse over the past week and strangely the station disappears completely once I hit the Sheraton roundabout…
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2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
27 replies on “BBC Problems”
Yes, i’ve been facing the same issue. Started around a week ago. Not sure why but I doubt BBC know about it.
I didn’t see any difference; but then again I prefer 96.9 (VOA). Especially on Saturday mornings (Jazz America).
I used to prefer VOA but then around 2 or 3 years back they became a lets learn english together station and it became terrible.
They always teach English (but the programs don’t start till the afternoon until late night) and by then who listens to radio 😛
I tried listening to VoA this past week, only lasted a few minutes, they played MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” and switched it off lol
VOA on Saturday AM is a killer … makes me feel like I should be in a Starbucks sipping on espressos 🙂
Hmm…
I’ve been experiencing weird stuff with my phone though recently.
I’m using Wataniya and every time I leave work around 2pm and drive from the begining of 2nd ring road (at Shuwaikh), whenever I try to make a phone call at that spot my phone call gets connected to another on going call. So instead of me getting a ringing tone I get connected to an ongoing phone call. The other side I’m calling do get their phone rings, and when they pick up they cannot hear my voice. I can continue being intruder to the annonymous phone call until the side i’m calling hangs up. I’ve also noticed that I’m able to hear only one part of the other side… so its not a conversation, just one person speaking…
its really strange and worrying… especially the kind of things i heard by accident make me worry before speaking anything over the phone.
i’m also wondering whether that was an accident due to tech problems with Wataniya or its happening because of somekind of breach to the network undergoing.
Me too experiencing the same issue with FM 100.1. It is like no broadcasting.
Mark, try switching to FM 2 if your system is equipped with it. I did this some time back and all the FM stations were much clearer.
Phew, I thought it was my crappy car radio that was the problem!
100.1 seems to clear up near the City but out in Salmiya, Salwa, Mishref, it’s more noise than signal.
How do you switch to FM2? Is that only on digital systems?
same experience – BBC has completely disappeared inside the house, and car now shows “100.1” instead of “BBC World Service”. Will try the FM2 solution suggested.
I dont know why i sense a hidden agenda to control any FM radio station by the government… why shut down other English stations? why not allow private stations to acquire licenses? why we have to be stuck with Linda on 99.7 RKFM?
I think Kuwait radio needs a MAJOR makeover.
FM2 is the Same as FM1 in the radio its just make room for more pre-set channels on the radio set.
and yes it seems the big brother is doing something 🙂 .
nah i think its the broadcasting equipments here in Kuwait became out of date .
and yes wataniya has a lot of problems many of my friends complain about there weak signal
It has got bad in the Ahmadi and Fahaheel areas, but also gets worse the further south you go.
I sometimes get mixed reception on 100.1 when I am in the Wafra area. Seems to be a Arabic, (maybe Saudi?) radio station interfering at that frequency.
Could a stronger transmission of another station be the cause?
Anyone know of a Saudi station on the same/ very close frequency?
Its weird ! When its humid i can tune into dubai station !!
At least ya’ll get 100.1 on a weak frequency, 100.1 totally got dropped on my default radio stations. 96.9 (VOA) has great tunes early in the morning and Jazz America is sweet too. AND ROLL TIDE ROLL! #14 WAS SWEET!
nope didn’t miss it 😛
Today, I got mixed reception while driving through the 1st ring road and became ok towards dasman palace. The volume was very low though…
yes it is happening lately on BBC English FM and all over Kuwait / the signal just disappears for a few seconds or even a minute then comes back / wierd / must be re-transmission problem
I sent a tweet to them, here is the full conversation:
@bbcworldservice Cant tune into the BBCWS from Kuwait for the past couple of days Lots of static on the signal & no clear audio whats worng?
@me We are aware of issues with our signal in Kuwait and we are looking at possible solutions. Sorry for the inconvenience.
So its not just me with BBC, although today it was fine.
I’m also a big, BIG fan of VOA’s Jazz America.
Well you guys should hear VOA – Border Crossing’s at 6. Thats a cool show; infact the only show i believe worth listening to. As far as BBC is concerned; they apparently lost rights on one of the broadcast towers or something like that (so there are less towers giving the same signal; thats why it is really bad when you go away from the city). I hope it comes back though.
It quity anoying when trying to listen to the news while driving to eork and the reception comes and goes it does get worse at the Shiraton Round about. If anyone can contact them and tell them the situation would be great, i would do it but dont know how to reach them.
BBC service has been horrible for me for awhile now. its good from 7th ring road til about 2nd ring road, then drops off completely.
I emailed the BBC about the poor reception. This was their reply:
“Regarding Kuwait, we are aware of a change of reception quality of our
signal. It appears that the authorities there have changed the
transmitter site resulting in poorer reception for at least some of our
listeners.
We are examining possibilities of rectifying this situation but at
present cannot be sure of what the final outcome will be. ”
Kev.
I’m facing this problem too……going all the way to khafji :P. just turn the frequency to 101.0 or 101.1 FM. I hope that will work…
I too am having reception problems with BBC. Very strong interference near Sheraton and also in Hawally near McDonalds on Khalid bin Walid street. Transmission is generally weak these days and it may be true that they lost rights on some broadcasting towers recently as mentioned in one of the posts earlier. I hope they rectify the problems as most of the time I prefer only BBC while driving.