Toomas Karmo: Methods for Accessing Content of BBC-or-Similar from within Russia

Quality assessment: 

On the 5-point scale current in Estonia, and surely in nearby nations, and familiar to observers of the academic arrangements of the late, unlamented, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (applying the easy and lax standards Kmo deploys in his grubby imaginary "Aleksandr Stepanovitsh Popovi nimeline sangarliku raadio instituut" (the "Alexandr Stepanovitch Popov Institute of Heroic Radio") and his grubby imaginary "Nikolai Ivanovitsh Lobatshevski nimeline sotsalitsliku matemaatika instituut" (the "Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky Institute of Socialist Mathematics") - where, on the lax and easy grading philosophy of the twin Institutes, 1/5 is "epic fail", 2/5 is "failure not so disastrous as to be epic", 3/5 is "mediocre pass", 4/5 is "good", and 5/5 is "excellent"): 2/5. Justification: I worked in a public emergency on a task of limited scope, from a position of limited knowledge.  

Revision history:

UTC=20220308T065415Z/version 3.0.0Ö Kmo added information on a BBC TikTok presence and on BBC re-broadcasting through participants in the European Broadcasting Union. He raised his quality assessment for this blog posting from 1 to 2. 

UTC=20220305T153340Z/version 2.0.0: Kmo added information on BBC shortwave radio English-language broadcasts. 

UTC=20220305T085830/version 1.0.0: Kmo uploaded base version, regarding BBC Web content, as simply a bare-bones advisory. 

0. Background

Much Western news content is now banned in Russia. The BBC now offers advice, however, on the accessing of its content from within Russia. 

1. Accessing BBC content in a Web browser

On 2022-03-04, the BBC press office gave advice on using a Web browser. 

Here is their 2022-03-04 advice in English: 

Here is their 2022-03-04 advice in Russian: 

Here is their 2022-03-04 advice in Ukrainian: 

The live-stream written-word reporting at the BBC tries to cover developments in such terse terms that readers do not suffer information overload. In the same Web-page display as it uses for its live stream, the BBC provides point-form summaries for readers who have time only to absorb the essentials. In addition to live-stream reporting, the BBC has longer articles, on Web pages separate from the live feed. 

On 2022-03-07, the BBC live Web news feed stated that it would now "be increasing access to its reporting by launching TikTok accounts dedicated to videos of the war in Ukraine in both English and Russian."

2. Listening to BBC on Traditional (Non-Internet) Radio

On 2022-03-05, the BBC live Web news feed indicated that shortwave broadcasting, in English, is now available for 4 hours each day, in transmissions which can be received in Ukraine and in parts of Russia. 

Arrangements are as follows:

• 14:00 UTC to 16:00 UTC: 15.735 MHz (in the 19-metre shortwave broadcast band)
• 20:00 UTC to 22:00 UTC:  5.875 MHz (in the 49-metre shortwave broadcast band) 

On 2022-03-07, the BBC live Web news feed stated that the BBC would now "be making a daily half-hour news bulletin available free-of-charge to other broadcasters who are members of the European Broadcasting Union."

I supplement the BBC information with a couple of my own remarks. 

UTC, or "Universal Coordinated Time!", lags EET, or Eastern European Standard Time, by 2 hours. UTC lags MST, or Moscow Standard Time, by 3 hours. EET is as at 2022-03-05 the normal civil time of Kyiv. MST is as at 2022-03-05 the de facto normal civil time of Donbas. 

The performance of a cheap shortwave receiver can be improved by attaching a long wire (the longer the better) to its telescoping antenna rod, and if possible leading at least a part of this wire outdoors. As a protection against both lightning and certain types of electronic warfare (the "electromagnetic pulse bomb", or EMP), the wire should be disconnected from the antenna rod when not in use. Additionally, a receiver can be protected against EMP by being enclosed in a metal box or wire-mesh cage when not in use. 

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