Mysterious Satellite Jam

January 2007

Mysterious source jams satellite communications.

Paris_based satellite company Eutelsat is investigating "unidentified interference"
with its satellite broadcast services that temporarily knocked out several television
and radio stations. The company declined to say whether it thought the interference
was accidental or deliberate. The problem began Tuesday afternoon, January 23,
blocking several European, Middle East and northeast African radio and television
stations, as well as Agence France_Presse's news service. All transferred their satellite
transmissions to another frequency to resume operations. Theresa Hitchens of the
Center for Defense Information think_tank in Washington, DC, says there have
been cases of deliberate satellite jamming in the past, but it is hard to see what motivation there
would be in this instance. "It's really puzzling to me," she said. "If it was accidental, why would
they be so secretive about saying what the source was and if it's deliberate, you've got to
wonder why __ it just seems to me to be an odd target..." she says.
Source: http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11033_mysterious_source_jams_satellite_communications.html