Koppa or Qoppa (uppercase/lowercase ) was a letter of the Greek alphabet that was used in some Greek cities before the alphabet got its classic standard form. It is no longer used in normal writing today. It was pronounced as "k", just like Kappa (Κ). In the 5th century BC, people stopped using it and it fell out of use. Kappa then replaced it. In the order of the letters in the alphabet, it came between Pi and Rho, just like in the Latin alphabet the letter Q comes between P and R. However, they kept Koppa as a sign for the number "90" in the system of Greek numerals, but in a third numerical form. People still sometimes use it in this way, even though they do not use it as a letter to write words.

The letter Koppa at first looked like a circle with a small bar under it. Later it was written more like a pointed S.

The letter Q in the Latin alphabet and the letter Ҁ in the Cyrillic alphabet come from Koppa.

Other websites

Koppa (alphabetic use)
Koppa (numeric use)

Greek alphabet

Koppa (Greek letter)


In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points antipodal () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Earth's center. Antipodal points are as far away from each other as possible. The North and South Poles are antipodes of each other.

In the Northern Hemisphere, "the Antipodes" may refer to Australia and New Zealand, and Antipodeans to their inhabitants. Geographically, the antipodes of the British Isles are in the Pacific Ocean, south of New Zealand. This gave rise to the name of the Antipodes Islands of New Zealand, which are close to the antipode of London. With the exception of a part of the Perth metropolitan area near Baldivis and Rockingham that is antipodal to Bermuda, the antipodes of Australia are in the North Atlantic Ocean, while parts of Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco are antipodal to New Zealand.

Approximately 15% of land territory is antipodal to other land, representing approximately 4.4% of Earth's surface. Another source estimates that about 3% of Earth's surface is antipodal land. The largest antipodal land masses are the Malay Archipelago, antipodal to the Amazon basin and adjoining Andean ranges; east China and Mongolia, and small sections of southeast Russia, antipodal to Argentina and Chile; and Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, antipodal to East Antarctica. There is a general paucity of antipodal land because the Southern Hemisphere has comparatively less land than the Northern Hemisphere and, of that, the antipodes of Australia are in the North Atlantic Ocean, while the antipodes of southern Africa are in the Pacific Ocean.

Geography
Since the antipode of any place on the Earth is the place that is diametrically opposite of it, a line drawn from one to the other will pass through the centre of Earth and form a true diameter. For example, the antipodes of New Zealand's lower North Island lie in Spain. Most of the Earth's land surfaces have ocean at their antipodes; this is a natural consequence of most of the Earth's surface being covered in water.

The antipode of any place on Earth is distant from it by 180° of longitude and as many degrees to the north of the Equator as the original is to the south (or vice versa); in other words, the latitudes are numerically equal, but one is north and the other south. The maps shown here are based on this relationship; they show a Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection of the Earth, in yellow, overlaid on which is another map, in blue, shifted horizontally by 180° of longitude and inverted about the Equator with respect to latitude.

Noon at one place is midnight at the other (ignoring daylight saving time and irregularly shaped time zones) and, with the exception of the tropics, the longest day at one point corresponds to the shortest day at the other, and midwinter at one point coincides with midsummer at the other. Sunrise and sunset do not quite oppose each other at antipodes due to refraction of sunlight.

Mathematical description

If the geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) of a point on the Earth's surface are (φ, θ), then the coordinates of the antipodal point are (−φ, θ ± 180°). This relation holds true whether the Earth is approximated as a perfect sphere or as a reference ellipsoid.

In terms of the usual way these geographic coordinates are given, this transformation can be expressed symbolically as

x° N/S y° E/W  ↦  x° S/N (180 − y)° W/E,

that is, for the latitude (the north–south coordinate) the magnitude of the angle remains the same but N is changed to S and vice versa, and for the longitude (the East/West coordinate) the angle is replaced by its supplementary angle while E is exchanged for W. For example, the antipode of the point in China at  (a few hundred kilometres from Beijing) is the point in Argentina at  (a few hundred kilometres from Buenos Aires).

Etymology
The word antipodes comes from the Greek: ἀντίποδες (antípodes), plural of ἀντίπους (antipous), "with feet opposite (ours)", from ἀντί (antí, "opposite") + πούς (poús, "foot"). The Greek word is attested in Plato's dialogue Timaeus, already referring to a spherical Earth, explaining the relativity of the terms "above" and "below":

The term is taken up by Aristotle (De caelo 308a.20), Strabo (Geographica 1.1.13), Plutarch (On the Malice of Herodotus 37) and Diogenes Laërtius (Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers book 3), and was adopted into Latin as antipodes. The Latin word changed its sense from the original "under the feet, opposite side" to "those with the feet opposite", i.e. a bahuvrihi referring to hypothetical people living on the opposite side of the Earth. Medieval illustrations imagine them in some way "inverted", with their feet growing out of their heads, pointing upward.

In this sense, Antipodes first entered English in 1398 in a translation of the 13th century De Proprietatibus Rerum by Bartholomeus Anglicus, translated by John of Trevisa:
(In Modern English: Yonder in Ethiopia are the Antipodes, men that have their feet against our feet.)

The modern English singular antipode arose in the 16th or 17th century as a back-formation from antipodes; antipous or the Latinate antipus would have been closer to the original singular. Most dictionaries suggest a pronunciation of  for this form.

Historical significance
Pomponius Mela, the first Roman geographer, asserted that the earth had two habitable zones, a North and South one, but that it would be impossible to get into contact with each other because of the unbearable heat at the Equator (De orbis situ 1.4).

From the time of Augustine of Hippo, the Christian church was skeptical of the notion. Augustine asserted that "it is too absurd to say that some men might have set sail from this side and, traversing the immense expanse of ocean, have propagated there a race of human beings descended from that one first man."

In the Early Middle Ages, Isidore of Seville's widely read encyclopedia presented the term "antipodes" or, as he said "antipodas" as referring to antichthones (people who lived on the opposite side of the Earth), as well as to a geographical place:

In using the form antipodas rather than the more usual Latin antipodes Isidore simply transcribed the original Greek αντίποδας, the singular case of the name: the plural case is αντίποδες (antipodes), used in converting the name into Latin. These people came to play a role in medieval discussions about the shape of the Earth.

In 748, in reply to a letter from Boniface, Pope Zachary declared the belief "that beneath the earth there was another world and other men, another sun and moon" to be heretical. In his letter, Boniface had apparently maintained that Vergilius of Salzburg held such a belief.

The antipodes being an attribute of a spherical Earth, some ancient authors used their perceived absurdity as an argument for a flat Earth. However, knowledge of the spherical Earth was widespread during the Middle Ages, only occasionally disputed—the medieval dispute surrounding the antipodes mainly concerned the question whether people could live on the opposite side of the earth: since the torrid clime was considered impassable, it would have been impossible to evangelize them. This posed the problem that Christ told the apostles to evangelize all mankind; with regard to the unreachable antipodes, this would have been impossible. Christ would either have appeared a second time, in the antipodes, or left the damned irredeemable. Such an argument was forwarded by the Spanish theologian Alonso Tostado as late as the 15th century and "St. Augustine doubts" was a response to Columbus's proposal to sail westwards to the Indies.

The author of the Norwegian book Konungs Skuggsjá, from around 1250, discusses the existence of antipodes. He notes that (if they exist) they will see the sun in the north in the middle of the day and that they will have seasons opposite those of the Northern Hemisphere.

Herodotus recorded that Pharaoh Necho II of the 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC) commissioned an expedition of Phoenicians which in three years sailed from the Red Sea around Africa back to the mouth of the Nile, and that "as they sailed on a westerly course round the southern end of Libya (Africa), they had the sun on their right"— to northward of them, proving that they had been in the Southern Hemisphere. The earliest surviving account by a European who had visited the Southern Hemisphere is that of Marco Polo (who, on his way home in 1292, sailed south of the Malay Peninsula). He noted that it was impossible to see the star Polaris from there.

The idea of dry land in the southern climes, the Terra Australis, was introduced by Ptolemy and appears on European maps as an imaginary continent from the 15th century.  Antipodes was what Giovanni Contarini, on his world map of 1506 called the land later named America by Martin Waldseemüller. When the land discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral in April 1500, Brazil, was formally named Santa Cruz by the assembled Portuguese court on 20 May 1503, it was also referred to in the  official record of the proceedings as the "Land of the Antipodes": terra Antipodum.

The land reached by Columbus in 1492 was identified as that of the Antipodes by the diplomatist Peter Martyr who, in a letter he wrote from Barcelona dated 14 May 1493, said: "A few days since, a certain Christopher Columbus, a Ligurian, returned from the Western Antipodes".  Perhaps influenced by this, Fernão Vaz Dourado in his Atlas of 1571 inscribed over the map of Mexico and adjacent parts of America, Tera Antipodum regis Castelle inventa a Xforo Columbo Januensi (Land of the Antipodes, discovered for the King of Castile by Christopher Columbus of Genoa).

In spite of having been discovered relatively late by European explorers, Australia was inhabited very early in human history; the ancestors of the Indigenous Australians reached it at least 50,000 years ago.

True trip "around the world"
To make the longest distance trip around the planet, a traveler would have to pass through a set of antipodal points. All meridians can be crossed in one hemisphere—indeed, this is possible by walking in a several-foot-wide circle around one of the poles—but such trips are shorter than a maximum circumnavigation. On the other hand, the greatest straight line distance that could in theory be covered is a trip exactly on the Equator, a distance of . The Earth's equatorial bulge makes this slightly longer than a north–south trip around the world along a set of meridian lines, which is a distance of . Any other closed great circle route starting on the equator and traveling at an angle between 0° (an equatorial route) and 90° (a polar route) would be between . In all of these cases, after half of the world has been traversed, every subsequent point will be antipodal to one already visited.

Air travel between antipodes

Non-stop antipodal flights by commercial aircraft (scheduled)
There are currently no commercial aircraft capable of traveling non-stop between antipodes with a standard full commercial passenger load.

The current world record-holder Airbus A350-900ULR is capable of flying , or roughly 90% of an average antipodal distance. Singapore Airlines currently holds the world record for the longest scheduled passenger flight, and utilizes this model in their non-stop Singapore to New York-JFK route SQ23/24.

In 2019, Qantas completed separate non-stop flights taking 19–20 hours to encompass the 16,013 km (9950 miles) from New York and 17,016 km (10,573 miles) from London, both to Sydney, Australia with a limit of 49 passengers on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and who underwent medical tests on the flight. The London-Sydney direct routes are said to be the world's most profitable ultra-long haul flights annually.  Their plans for the same pair of experiments were quickly put on hold due to global travel restrictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Non-stop antipodal flights by commercial aircraft (chartered)
In March 2021, a Comlux 787-8, registered P4-787, flew a non-scheduled (chartered), non-stop flight from Seoul Incheon to Buenos Aires, which are nearly antipodal points. This set a new record for the longest commercial non-stop flight with paying passengers, covering  in 20 hours 19 minutes.

The business jet variant of the Airbus A350, the ACJ350, which entered into service in 2020, has a range of 20,550 km (12,770 miles), enabling it to operate between any two available antipodes.  there are three ACJ350s now in service globally. The owner of the first ACJ350, the German Government, has already taken it on a close to antipodal flight with a flight from Cologne, Germany to Canberra, Australia in November 2020.  The upcoming Boeing business jet variant, the BBJ 777-8, will also have an antipodal reach with its published range of 21,570 km (13,403 miles). Both aforementioned variants from Airbus and Boeing are the first aircraft designed to handle flights exceeding the Earth's average antipodal distance of 20,000 km (12,420 miles).

Direct flights
Among flights with fuel stop and crew-change stop but still same flight number, Air New Zealand previously had the world's longest active plane route—the Auckland–Los Angeles–London marathon, at  over Los Angeles (directly )—until the airline cancelled this route late in 2019.  The current record holder for such a flight is co-owned by Qantas and British Airways in their operating of the Kangaroo Route's Sydney—Singapore—London flights covering a great circle distance of .

Future theoretical antipodal routes
A hypothetically almost perfect antipodal flight would be Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport, Morocco (IATA: TNG), to Whangarei Aerodrome, New Zealand (IATA: WRE), whose designated locators are  apart, almost the maximum possible distance. However, with only a length of , Whangarei's runway is too short to accommodate any current () commercial jet airliner, especially one with the required range. Traveling between them would currently need at least two plane changes.

Other near-antipodal major city pairs include:
 Hamilton, Bermuda and Perth:  apart
 Taipei and Asuncion:  apart
 Santiago and Xi'an:  apart
 Madrid and Wellington:  apart
 Tangier and Auckland:  apart
 Jakarta and Bogota:  apart
 Quito and Kuala Lumpur:  apart
 Buenos Aires and Shanghai:  apart
 Hanoi and La Paz:  apart
 Johannesburg and Honolulu:  apart

List of antipodes

Earth

Around 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans, and seven-eighths of the Earth's land (when excluding Antarctica) is confined to the land hemisphere, so the majority of locations on land do not have land-based antipodes. About 15% of the earth's land has an antipode on land. Rough calculation shows that, of the 29% of the earth that is covered by land, if 15% of that has antipodes on land, then about 4% (0.15 × 29% = 4.35%) of the earth's surface has antipodes that are both land surfaces. Spilhaus estimates this at about 3%.

The two largest human-inhabited antipodal areas are located in East Asia (mainly eastern China) and South America (mainly Argentina and Chile). The two largest monolithic antipodal land areas are most of Chile and Argentina along with eastern and central China and Mongolia, and most of Greenland along with a part of Antarctica. The Australian mainland is the largest landmass with its antipodes entirely in ocean, although some locations of mainland Australia and Tasmania are close to being antipodes of islands (Bermuda, Azores, Puerto Rico) in the North Atlantic Ocean. The largest landmass with antipodes entirely on land is the island of Borneo, whose antipodes are in the Amazon rainforest.

Cities
Exact or almost exact antipodes:
 Christchurch (New Zealand) – A Coruña (Spain)
 Levin (New Zealand) – Ávila (Spain)
 Hamilton (New Zealand) – Córdoba (Spain)
 Santa Vitória do Palmar (Brazil) – Jeju (South Korea)
 Torres (Brazil) – Toshima, Kagoshima (Japan)
 Barra do Quaraí (Brazil) – Zhoushan (China)
 Hong Kong – La Quiaca (Argentina)
 Lianyungang (China) – Junín (Argentina)
 Madrid (Spain) – Weber (New Zealand)
 Mangawhai (New Zealand) – Rock of Gibraltar (British overseas territory)
 Masterton (New Zealand) – Segovia (Spain)
 Nelson (New Zealand) – Mogadouro (Portugal)
 Padang (Indonesia) – Esmeraldas (Ecuador)
 Palembang (Indonesia) – Neiva (Colombia)
 Pekanbaru (Indonesia) – Machachi (Ecuador)
 Tauranga (New Zealand) – Jaén (Spain)
 Ulan Ude (Russia) – Puerto Natales (Chile)
 Wellington (capital of New Zealand) – Alaejos (Valladolid, Spain)
 Whangarei (New Zealand) – Tangier (Morocco)
 Wuhai (China) – Valdivia (Chile)
 Wuhu (China) – Rafaela (Argentina)

To within , with at least one major city (population of at least 1 million):
 Auckland (New Zealand) – Seville and Málaga (Andalusia, Spain)
 Beijing (China) – Bahía Blanca (Argentina)
 Nanjing (China) – Rosario (Argentina)
 Shanghai (China) – Salto (Uruguay)
 Taipei (Taiwan) – Asunción (Paraguay)
 Tianjin (China) – Bahía Blanca (Argentina)
 Xi'an (China) – Santiago, or more precisely Rancagua or San Bernardo (Chile)
Taiwan (formerly called Formosa) is partly antipodal to the province of Formosa in Argentina.

Capital cities within  of each other's antipodes:
 Taipei (Taiwan) – Asunción (Paraguay), ~
 Madrid (Spain) – Wellington (New Zealand), ~
 Bogotá (Colombia) – Jakarta (Indonesia), ~

Other major cities or capitals close to being antipodes:
 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) – Tokyo (Japan); the host cities of successive Summer Olympic Games (2016 and 2020), ~
 Beijing (China) – Buenos Aires (Argentina); both cities have populations in the millions, and have been twinned since 1983, ~
 Shanghai (China) – Buenos Aires (Argentina); Buenos Aires is actually closer (~) to the antipode of Shanghai (Salto, Uruguay) than to the antipode of Beijing (Bahía Blanca)
 Tongchuan (China) – Licantén (Chile)
 Guayaquil (Ecuador) – Medan (Indonesia), ~
 Phnom Penh (Cambodia) – Lima (Peru), ~
 Dili (Timor-Leste) – Paramaribo (Suriname), ~
 Irkutsk (Russia) – Punta Arenas (Chile)
 Suva (Fiji) – Timbuktu (Mali)
 Melbourne and Canberra (Australia) – Azores, Atlantic Ocean (Portugal)
 Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (France) – Antipodes Islands (New Zealand)
 Pago Pago (American Samoa) – Zinder (Niger)
 Barranquilla (Colombia) – Christmas Island (Australia)
 Doha (Qatar) – Pitcairn Island (British overseas territory)
 Hué and Da Nang (Vietnam) – Arequipa (Peru)
 Manila (Philippines) – Cuiabá (Brazil)
 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) – Cuenca (Ecuador)
 San Juan (Puerto Rico) – Karratha (Australia)
 Limerick (Ireland) – Campbell Islands (New Zealand)
 Arrecife, Lanzarote (Canary Islands) – Norfolk Island
 Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) – Rapa Iti (French Polynesia)
 Bangkok (Thailand) – Lima (Peru)
 Quito (Ecuador) – Singapore
 Perth (Australia) – Hamilton (Bermuda)
 Montevideo (Uruguay) – Gwangju (South Korea)

Cities and geographic features

Gibraltar is approximately antipodal to Te Arai Beach about  north of Auckland, New Zealand. This illustrates the old yet correct saying that the sun never sets on the British Empire; the sun still does not set on the Commonwealth of Nations.

The northern part of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France, is antipodal to some thinly populated desert in Mauritania, a part of the former French West Africa. Portions of Suriname, a former Dutch colony, are antipodal to Sulawesi, an Indonesian island spelled Celebes when it was part of the Netherlands East Indies. Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines, is antipodal to eastern Bolivia. As with the British Empire, the sun set neither on the French Empire, the Dutch Empire, nor the Spanish Empire at their peaks.

Santa Vitória do Palmar, the most southerly town of more than 10,000 people in Brazil, is antipodal to Jeju Island, the southernmost territory of South Korea.

Hawaii is antipodal to parts of Botswana. The Big Island of Hawaii is antipodal to the Okavango Delta in Botswana, with the island's largest city, Hilo, antipodal to Nxai Pan National Park.

Desolate Kerguelen Island is antipodal to an area of thinly inhabited plains on the border between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and the US state of Montana. The only permanent settlement on Kerguelen Island, the research station Port-aux-Français, is antipodal to fields  northeast of Senate, Saskatchewan. Other Canadian towns with antipodes on Kerguelen Island include: Consul, Nashlyn and Govenlock in the vicinity of Senate, and in Alberta Eagle Butte, Elkwater and Manyberries as well as the Red Coat Trail between Orion, Alberta and Etzikom. The northern part of Liberty County, Montana, especially the communities Goldstone, Fox Crossing and Sage Creek Colony, also have antipodes on Kerguelen Island.

St. Paul Island and Amsterdam Island are antipodal to thinly populated parts of the eastern part of the US state of Colorado. They are situated ca.  south-south-east of Firstview and  south-south-west of Granada, Colorado, respectively. Together with the northern part of Liberty County, Montana, they are the only three areas of the Contiguous United States with antipodes on land.

The north-eastern coast of Alaska from Utqiaġvik (former Barrow) over Prudhoe Bay to the Canadian border, and the coasts of the Canadian territories of Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, are antipodal to Antarctica.

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands, an uninhabited Australian territory, is antipodal to an area in central Saskatchewan, including the towns of Leask and Shellbrook.

Tigres Island, the largest uninhabited island of Angola, is approximately antipodal to Johnston atoll, which is the third largest uninhabited island of the United States.

Easter Island is antipodal to an area close to Desert National Park,  from Jaisalmer, India. The only town on Easter Island, Hanga Roa, is antipodal to the village of Serawa  northeast of Jaisalmer. Serawa is the only village in India to be antipodal to a human settlement. Its neighbouring villages Mokla and the northern part of Bhadasar also have antipodes on Easter Island. The small, rocky, uninhabited island of Sala y Gómez,  east-northeast of Easter Island, is antipodal to an area in the city of Ajmer, India, just east of Ana Sagar Lake. All the rest of India has its antipodes in the sea.

Kiritimati, the largest island of Kiribati and the largest coral atoll in the world, is antipodal to Salonga National Park, which is the largest national park of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the largest tropical rainforest reserve in Africa.

Serra da Estrela Natural Park, the largest natural park of Portugal, is antipodal to Kahurangi National Park, the second largest national park of New Zealand.

South Georgia Island is antipodal to the northernmost part of Sakhalin Island.

Lake Baikal is partially antipodal to the Straits of Magellan.

The Russian Antarctic research base Bellingshausen Station is antipodal to a land location in Russian Siberia.

Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia, is approximately antipodal to Bermuda.

Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, is almost antipodal to Nicaragua's Corn Islands.

Flores Island, the westernmost island of the Azores, is nearly antipodal to Flinders Island between Tasmania and the Australian mainland.

Point Nemo, the point in the South Pacific Ocean most distant from any other land, is precisely opposite a desolate piece of desert in western Kazakhstan.

By definition, the North Pole and the South Pole are antipodes.

Null Island, , at the intersection of the prime meridian and the equator, has its antipodes at , at the intersection of the antimeridian and the equator. This point lies northeast of Nikunau in the Gilbert Islands and southwest of Baker Island, a United States territory.

As can be seen on the purple/blue map, the Pacific Ocean is so large that it stretches halfway around the world; parts of the Pacific off the coast of Peru are antipodal to parts of the same ocean off the coast of Southeast Asia. For example, the island of Ko Chang—which is the second or third largest island in Thailand—is nearly antipodal to San Lorenzo Island, which is the largest island of Peru.

The antipodes of the Antipodes Islands, considered by early European explorers to be antipodal to the United Kingdom, are the town of Barfleur on France's Cotentin Peninsula.

The remote Pacific atoll of Tematagi is antipodal to the Islamic holy city of Mecca, meaning the direction of Muslim prayer would vary widely from that of surrounding islands.

Angkor Wat is roughly antipodal to Machu Picchu.

Countries
The following countries are opposite more than one other country. (Antarctica is considered separately from any territorial claims.)

Countries matching up with just one other country are Morocco, Spain, Chad, Libya, Cameroon (with the Cook Islands of New Zealand); Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia (with French Polynesia); Senegal (Vanuatu); the UAE (Pitcairn); Ghana, Ivory Coast (Tuvalu); Burkina Faso (Rotuma in Fiji); Guinea (Solomon Islands); India (Easter Island); Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand (all with Peru); Singapore (Ecuador); Brunei, Palau, Micronesia (all with Brazil); Venezuela and Suriname (Indonesia).

Of these, the larger countries which are entirely antipodal to land are the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Fiji, Vanuatu, Brunei, and Samoa. Chile was as well prior to its expansion into the Atacama with the War of the Pacific.

Geological features antipodal to impact basins
In a number of cases on extraterrestrial bodies in the Solar System, unusual geologic features (e.g., jumbled terrain or unique volcanic constructs) are located antipodal to major impact basins. It has been hypothesized that this results from focusing of some of the seismic waves (p-waves and surface waves) produced by an impact at its antipode.
 Caloris Basin – "Weird Terrain" (Mercury)
 Mare Orientale – Mare Marginis (The Moon)
 Mare Imbrium – Mare Ingenii (The Moon)
 Hellas Planitia – Alba Mons (Mars)
 Isidis Planitia – Noctis Labyrinthus (Mars)
 Kerwan – Ahuna Mons (Ceres)

In popular culture
 In the Shakespeare comedy Much Ado About Nothing Benedick offers to travel from Messina to the Antipodes in an apparent attempt to avoid the company of Beatrice.
 On the TV show Angel, the Deeper Well is a hole that goes through the world, with its entrance in the Cotswolds in England and its antipode in New Zealand.
 At the closing ceremonies of the Rio 2016 Olympics, antipodes were used as a tool to invite viewers to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, including an image of the video game character Mario using his pipes to travel between Tokyo and Rio, arriving at the closing ceremonies.
 In the 2012 film Total Recall, a gravity train called "The Fall" goes through the center of the Earth to allow people to commute between Western Europe and Australia.
 In 2006, Ze Frank challenged viewers of his daily webcast the show with zefrank'' to create an "Earth sandwich" by simultaneously placing two pieces of bread at antipodal points on the Earth's surface. The challenge was successfully completed by viewers in Spain and New Zealand.

See also
 Antichthones
 Antipodal hotspot
 Antipodal point
 Antipodes Islands
 Clime
 Pole of inaccessibility
 Spherical Earth

Notes

References

External links

 Antipodes Map Interactive map which draws an imaginary tunnel to the other side of the Earth.
 findLatitudeAndLongitude, interactive tool to show antipodes
 3D dual globe schematic 3D representation of the earth and the anti-earth on the same place.
 Map Tunneling Tool Tunnel to the Other Side of the Earth
 Calculate the other side of the world
 Antipodes  An online and photographic project which pairs webcam images from places on opposite sides of the globe.
 Map Tunneller Find out what part of the earth is directly below you using the interactive maps
 Antipodal hotspots and bipolar catastrophes: Were oceanic large-body impacts the cause?
 Antipode Finder Tool to find the opposite side of the world by city or country.

Physical geography

Antipodes


Benjamin Alexandro "Ben" Agosto (born January 15, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American ice dancer. His skating partner is Tanith Belbin.

Agosto originally skated with Katy Hill in the Chicago area. In 1998, he moved to Michigan and he teamed up with Belbin. They are coached by Igor Shpilband. Shpilband is the one who paired them together.

Belbin & Agosto had success immediately on the Junior level. They won a medal of every color at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships between 2000 and 2002. They qualified to skate for the United States at the 2002 Winter Olympics. However, in order to do this, both partners would need to be citizens of the United States and Belbin had not yet gotten American citizenship.

In 2004, Belbin and Agosto won their first national title.

In 2005, Belbin and Agosto won their first World medal. This was the first World medal for the United States in ice dancing in 20 years. Their silver medal at this competition, along with how well the other American team did, earned the United States three spots on the Olympic team. However, this would not have done them any good because Belbin was still not an American citizen. If she had applied for citizenship, she would have gotten her citizenship in time for the 2006 Olympics. Because of rules changes after she had applied, she could not go back and take advantage of other rules, so she and Agosto thought they would have to miss the 2006 Olympics. But a special law was passed allowing her to take advantage of the sped-up process. Belbin was sworn in as an American citizen on December 31, 2005.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Belbin and Agosto won the first ice dancing medal (a silver) for the United States since 1976.

Belbin and Agosto are known for their connection, lifts, and skating skills. They have very good footwork.

Other websites

Official web site

Care to Ice Dance? - Belbin & Agosto

American figure skaters
Sportspeople from Chicago
1982 births
Living people

Benjamin Agosto


Providence may mean:

Entertainment
 Providence (1977 movie), a French/Swiss film
 Providence (1991 movie), an American/Canadian film starring Keanu Reeves
 Providence (band), 1970s-era American band
 Providence (TV series), an 1999–2002 NBC television series starring Melina Kanakaredes
 Providence (Wildstorm) is a fictional comic book character, part of the Wildstorm comic company
 Providence (comics) is a fictional island, part of the Marvel Comics company
 Outside Providence, a 1988 book and 1999 film by Peter Farrelly
 "Providence", a Sonic Youth song that appears on their 1988 album Daydream Nation
 Providence, a novel by Geoffrey Wolff

Organizations
 Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island, United States
 Providence College and Theological Seminary, Otterburne, Manitoba, Canada
 Providence Health & Services, an American health care system which runs hospitals in Oregon, Washington, Montana, California, and Alaska
 Providence Health Care, operator of health care facilities in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
 Providence Health Care Centre, a Toronto, Ontario, Canada health care facility, specializing in rehabilitation

Places

In the United States
 Providence, Alabama
 Providence, Kentucky
 Providence, New York
 Providence (Caswell County), North Carolina
 Providence (Granville County), North Carolina
 Providence (McDowell County), North Carolina
 Providence (Mecklenburg County), North Carolina
 Providence, Rhode Island, the largest and best-known city with this name
 Providence, Utah
 Providence County, Rhode Island
 Providence, Ohio

Other places
 Providence Atoll in the Republic of Seychelles
 Providence Island of the Republic of Colombia

Religion
 Divine Providence, by the influence of God
 Providence Ministries, a Progressive Southern Gospel group based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, United States
 Providence Ministries, a Dalton Georgia Christian outreach program.
 Providence (religion) the name of Jung Myung Seok's new religious movement.
 The Sisters of Providence are an international order of Roman Catholic sisters headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and founded in 1843 by Mother Emilie Gamelin.

Other
 USS Providence

Providence


The Anglican Church of Canada is the member church of the Anglican Communion in Canada. In 2007, it had over 545,000 members in 1,676 parishes. It is the third largest church in Canada, after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada.

English settlers brought the Church of England with them when they settled Canada in the 1500s. Until the 1830s, the Canadian church was completely under the control of the Church of England: the Church of England appointed all Canadian bishops and all funding for the Canadian church came from the British parliament.

Anglicanism
1500s establishments in North America

Religious organizations based in Canada

Anglican Church of Canada


The Mexican–American War took place between 1846 and 1848 between  United States  and Mexico.

Causes

When Mexico got independence from Spain in 1821, Texas was part of Mexico. Americans and other settlers came into Texas when Mexico allowed non-Spanish settlers to settle there.

After many settlers came to Texas, disputes led to the Texas Revolution in 1836, when Texas became independent. Mexico refused to recognize the Republic of Texas as an independent country. Eventually, Texas asked to join the United States.

The United States moved quickly to annex Texas after the 1844 election of President James K. Polk. In his campaign, Polk had called for the "re-annexation" of Texas and the "re-occupation" of the Oregon Territory. Polk also wanted California and the rest of what is now the Southwestern United States.

In 1845, the United States annexed Texas. However, Mexico still did not recognize its independence or recognize the annexation. The US offered to buy from Mexico the land extending from Texas to the Pacific Ocean, but Mexico wanted to keep the vast area.

In 1846, a dispute over the border between Texas and Mexico resulted in armed conflict, and the Mexican–American War began. After offering to buy the territory, Polk moved US troops into a place that Mexico said was not in Texas but in the Mexican state of Coahuila.  The Mexican army attacked them.

The main cause of the war was the westward expansion of the United States. In the 19th century, Americans believed it was their right to expand westward. They believed they could take over the people already living on the land and have it for the United States. Also, Southerners wanted to have more slave states.

Antonio López de Santa Anna became Mexican president again. Many Mexicans hated him and did not want to follow him into war. Many Americans, including the young Abraham Lincoln, also disliked the war since they thought that it was to expand slavery.

War
In addition to small units sent to California and New Mexico, the US sent two major armies into Mexico under the commands of General Winfield Scott and future US President General Zachary Taylor.

After the US had entered Mexico, Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna took command of the Mexican soldiers in early 1847.  The US forces fought Santa Anna near Monterrey and Buena Vista. After Buena Vista, the Mexican army had many problems, including starvation, disease, and desertion. The Mexican government was unstable.

In March 1847, Scott landed at Veracruz. His force included future Civil War Generals Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson and George G. Meade as well as Commodore Perry. Scott took Puebla in May and took Mexico City in September after the Battle of Chapultepec.

When American soldiers came to California, the Bear Flag Revolt was happening. Some Californians were trying to leave Mexico and to form their own country, as had happened in Texas. In July and August 1846, American soldiers captured Monterey, Yerba Buena, and Los Angeles.  After a counterattack by the Californios, the Americans had taken much of California by 1847. The Mexican governor of California, Pio Pico, left the state.

Aftermath

The US won the war, and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which gave the US the area that would become the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, southwestern Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming. Mexico received 15 million US dollars and gave up its claims to Texas.

The slavery debate in the United States became more intense with the addition of the new territory and the question of whether slavery would be legal in the new territories. Also, many of the officers who would lead troops in the American Civil War fought in the Mexican-American War would use their experiences.

Nevada and California became part of the US with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Before then, Nevada was part of Alta California, which is now California, Baja California, Utah, about a quarter of Colorado, parts of Arizona, Wyoming and New Mexico.

The Act of Congress establishing California as the 31st state was part of the Compromise of 1850.

References

Other websites
Library of Congress Guide to the Mexican War
The Handbook of Texas Online: Mexican War
Manifest Destiny and the U.S.-Mexican War: Then and Now
The Mexican War
 Mexican-American War Citizendium

1840s in the United States
1840s in Mexico
Wars involving the United States
19th-century conflicts

Mexican–American War


Jungle Fever is a 1991 American romance-drama movie set in New York City. This movie is about interracial romance and drug addiction. Wesley Snipes plays Flipper, a married African American architect who has an affair with Italian American Angie, played by Annabella Sciorra. Ruby Dee plays Flipper's mother Mrs Purify. Ossie Davis plays Flipper's father The Good Reverend Doctor. Samuel L. Jackson plays crack cocaine addict Gator. Halle Berry plays Gator's girlfriend Vivian.

This movie got mostly positive reviews from critics.

1991 romantic drama movies
Adultery in movies
American romantic drama movies
1990s English-language movies
Movies about drugs
Movies about dysfunctional families
Movies about interracial romance
Movies about prostitution
Movies directed by Spike Lee
Movies set in Brooklyn
Movies set in Manhattan
Screenplays by Spike Lee
Universal Pictures movies

Jungle Fever


The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which include global radio and television satellite feeds, emanate from the AFN Broadcast Center/Defense Media Center in Riverside, California. AFN was founded on 26 May 1942, in London, as the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS).

History
The American Forces Network can trace its origins to 26 May 1942, when the War Department established the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS). A television service was first introduced in 1954 with a pilot station at Limestone Air Force Base, Maine. In 1954, the television mission of AFRS was officially recognized and AFRS (Armed Forces Radio Service) became AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service).

All the Armed Forces broadcasting affiliates worldwide merged under the AFN banner on 1 January 1998. On 21 November 2000, the American Forces Information Service directed a change of the AFRTS organizational title from Armed Forces Radio and Television Service back to American Forces Radio and Television Service. A timeline of the history of AFN is available online.

Origins
KODK began broadcasting from the U.S. Army base Greeley at Kodiak, Alaska, before the inception of the AFRS,. Fort Greeley being first in Kodiak (Fort Abercrombie today)

Fort Greeley, Delta Junction was built to defend and was an integral part of the Kodiak Naval Air Station, sometimes called Naval Operating Base. Construction of both was under way in 1940. The naval station and AFRS radio remained in operation, but Fort Greely closed at the end of World War II. Years later, the name Fort Greely was resurrected for the Big Delta (near Delta Junction) Army base. The small town of Kodiak, located six miles away, had no radio station, while Anchorage and Fairbanks, where Army and Army Air Force bases soon would be established, had civilian radio stations. Thus, KODK had a primary role to bring radio to the armed forces and civilians in the Kodiak area. The sign-off at KODK was the memorable "Goodnight, Sweetheart" set to a stirring melody from Liszt's Les Preludes. The station lived on to bring the first television to Kodiak.

The first radio station began in Delta Junction, Alaska, on what was then known as Fort Greely. It was called KODK and was operated by on base personnel. In the years just before World War II, there were several radio stations based in American military bases, but none were officially recognized until 1942. The success of these individual radio stations helped pave the way for the AFN. As such, there was no single station that could be called the "first" to sign on as an AFN station. About two months before the formal establishment of AFN, however, a station called "PCAN" began regular broadcast information service in the Panama Canal Zone, primarily for troops on jungle bivouac. The station, located at Fort Clayton, was later to become part of AFRS, first simply as "Armed Forces Network" located at Albrook Field.

World War II

The U.S. Army began broadcasting from London during World War II, using equipment and studio facilities borrowed from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The first transmission to U.S. troops began at 5:45 p.m. 4 July 1943, and included less than five hours of recorded shows, a BBC News and sports broadcast. That day, Corporal Syl Binkin became the first U.S. military broadcaster heard over the air. The signal was sent from London via telephone lines to five regional transmitters to reach U.S. troops in the United Kingdom as they made preparations for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.

Fearing competition for civilian audiences, the BBC initially tried to impose restrictions on AFN broadcasts within Britain (transmissions were allowed only from American bases outside London and were limited to 50 watts of transmission power) and a minimum quota of British produced programming had to be carried. Nevertheless, AFN programs were widely enjoyed by the British civilian listeners who could receive them, and once AFN operations transferred to continental Europe (shortly after D-Day) AFN was able to broadcast with little restriction with programs available to civilian audiences across most of Europe, (including Britain), after dark.

As D-Day approached, the network joined with the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to develop programs especially for the Allied Expeditionary Forces. Mobile stations, complete with personnel, broadcasting equipment and a record library, were deployed to broadcast music and news to troops in the field. The mobile stations reported on front-line activities and fed the news reports back to studio locations in London.

Although the network's administrative headquarters remained in London, its operational headquarters soon moved to AFN Paris.

As Allied forces continued to push German troops back into their homeland, AFN moved east as well. The liberation of most of Western Europe saw AFN stations serving the forces liberating Biarritz, Cannes, Le Havre, Marseille, Nice, Paris and Reims.

During the period between 1943 and 1949 the AFN also broadcast programs developed through a collaboration of the Department of State's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs and the CBS network while supporting America's cultural diplomacy initiatives. Included among the programs was Viva America which showcased leading musical talents from both North and South America and was transmitted for the benefit of armed forces throughout Europe and to South America over CBS's short wave network "La Cadena de Las Americas".

Post-war contraction and expansion

On 10 July 1945, the first AFN station in occupied Germany started broadcasting, the AFN Munich. Its first broadcast was however incorrect as it began with the sentence "Good morning! This is AFN Munich, the voice of the 7th Army!". General George S. Patton, commander of the 3rd Army, was furious with the opening as his army had taken control over Munich the previous night, and demanded that the responsible person be court-martialed.

Soon after AFN Munich signed on the air in the southern part of occupied Germany, in northern Germany, AFN Bremen begin broadcasting a few weeks later with its first radio broadcast occurring on Saturday, 28 July 1945. (In 1949, the station moved from the city of Bremen north to the port city of Bremerhaven and became AFN Bremerhaven.)

On 31 December 1945, AFN London signed off the air, and in 1948 AFN closed all its stations in France. This started the cycle of AFN stations where they would be built up during wartime, then torn down or moved after the war was over. Of the 300 stations in operation worldwide in 1945, only 60 remained in 1949.

Post-War Europe
A large number of AFN stations continued broadcasting from American bases in Europe (particularly Germany) after World War II. (Eight remain on the air today. See article on German Wikipedia.)

During the Berlin Blockade of 1948–1949, planes headed for Tempelhof in West Berlin tuned their radios to AFN-Berlin because the station's transmission tower was in the glide path to the airfield and was not jammed by the Soviets.

During the 1950s and 1960s, AFN had large civilian audiences in Europe, as European radio stations rarely played American music. In Communist countries, all radio stations were state-operated, and never played American music. Despite the language barrier, the people in those countries saw AFN as an alternative connection to the West. Also, unlike stations such as Radio Free Europe, which broadcast in Eastern European languages, AFN was not jammed by the Soviets.

Especially popular was Music in the Air, which aired on the full European network at 19:00 CET. The host was AFN Frankfurt (civilian) manager John Vrotsos, who had an especially warm baritone voice. He began each program by saying (after an introductory piano phrase from the program's theme music) "Listen ... [pause for more piano] ... there's music in the air". The theme was "Music Everywhere" in an arrangement by Victor Young. Later in the 1950s, Leroy Anderson's Belle of the ball was used. The program was popular throughout Northern Europe, especially in the liberated countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, France (the northern part), Luxembourg and, to a lesser extent, Denmark. Many Dutch households switched to the program, also because of their positive experiences with the American liberators.
Also featured were live performances of classical music and jazz by Samuel Hans Adler's Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra in support of America's cultural diplomacy initiatives in the post war period.

In France, about a dozen AFN stations operated, with AFN Orléans as the studio control station. The network broadcast music, shows, and news relayed from AFN Frankfurt, locally produced shows, and other features aimed at the American soldiers and their families stationed in France. In particular, a whole team of reporters and technicians was sent to cover the 24-hour auto race at Le Mans, at a time when Ford was doing its best to beat the Ferraris, and finally succeeded. AFN France broadcast with 50 watt FM transmitters made by French manufacturer TRT, type OZ 305. The network employed a technical director, a program director, several military American broadcast professionals, and some French studio operators, record librarians, secretaries and maintenance technicians. The Frankfurt network programming was received, then re-fed from AFN Orléans studios to another studio-equipped affiliate, AFN Poitiers and its repeater transmitters via modulation lines rented from the French postal service. AFN Poitiers, based at Aboville Caserne, Poitiers, France, home of an Army logistical command and a major Communication Zone Signal Corps agency, served Army depots and installations in Southwestern France with locally originated programs and network feeds from AFN Orléans via Frankfurt, Germany. It was the only other studio station affiliate of AFN Orléans because of the large American military presence and its resident Department of Defense dorm school for children of American military and civilian families assigned to Poitiers, and the American installations located throughout Southwestern France. Children living in outlying American military installations and communities commuted to Poitiers once a week for daily classes and departed for home by bus and train. AFN France was dismantled in 1967, when U.S. forces left France due to the French government's decision of President (General) Charles de Gaulle to withdraw its forces from NATO's military command. The French employees were dismissed but were granted a severance pay (in French francs and taxable) of one month per year of service, paid by the U.S. Army to the French government, in dollars (all the French employees were managed by a specially created service: le Bureau d'Aide aux Armées Alliées or AAA).

Korean War
When war broke out in Korea, Army broadcasters set up in Seoul in the Banto Hotel (the old American Embassy Hotel). When the Chinese entered Seoul in December 1950, the crew moved to a mobile unit that was just completed and retreated to Daegu. Due to the large number of American troops in Korea, a number of stations were started. Mobile units followed combat units to provide news and entertainment on the radio. By the time the 1953 armistice was signed, these mobile units became buildings with transmitters, and a network, American Forces Korea Network, was born.

Canadian and American television personality Jim Perry began his broadcasting career fresh out of high school with the Armed Forces Korea Network, under his birthname of Jim Dooley, spending one year in Korea before attending the University of Pennsylvania to further his education.

Pahlavi Iran
An AFRTS radio station became operational in Tehran, Iran in 1959. This was followed by a television station in 1960, known as AFTV. It broadcast a radio service on 1555 kHz and a television service on Channel 7 in Tehran and the surrounding area from its studios in the city.

Its listeners (and viewers) were American military personnel stationed in Iran as part of ARMISH (the US Army mission) and Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) programs. AFTV was also popular with Iranian viewers, particularly children.

As the TV service only had a power of 1000 watts, it was only on air for a few hours each day, whereas the radio service operated for around 18 hours a day. In deference to Iranian sensitivities, AFRTS avoided carrying programming that might be construed as offensive on political or religious grounds, instead carrying cowboy or detective movies.

Following the nationalization of the privately owned Television Iran network in 1969, AFTV was the only television service not in the Iranian government's hands. However, in 1976, it was decided by the Iranian government that AFRTS should close down its radio and TV services, which it did on 25 October of that year, the day before the Shah's 57th birthday.

Radio 1555 closed with presenter Air Force Staff Sergeant Barry Cantor playing Roger Whittaker's "Durham Town (The Leavin')". This was followed by a closing announcement by Chief Master Sergeant and Station Manager Bob Woodruff, ending with the U.S. national anthem:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm Chief Master Sergeant Bob Woodruff Station Manager of the American Forces Radio and Television Service in Tehran. After 22 years of radio broadcasting and 17 years of telecasting in Tehran, AFRTS Radio 1555 and TV Channel 7 cease all operations in this country at this time. I bid you all goodbye and thank you for letting us serve you. And now the national anthem of the United States of America."

The following day, AFRTS radio and television services in Iran were replaced by those operated by the state broadcaster National Iranian Radio and Television (NIRT), which were similar in content, appealing to the 60 000 U.S. Army and civilian personnel then stationed in Iran, as well as the wider population of foreign nationals resident in the country.

South Vietnam
As the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam increased, AFRTS opened radio and later television stations there.

AFRTS stations in Vietnam were initially known by the name "AFRS" (Armed Forces Radio Saigon), but as the number of stations quickly expanded throughout South Vietnam became known as "AFVN" (American Forces Vietnam Network) and had several stations, including Qui Nhơn, Nha Trang, Pleiku, Da Nang and Huế, the latter being overrun by the People's Army of Vietnam during the Battle of Hue in January/February 1968 and replaced by a station in Quảng Trị. AFVN's headquarters station was located in Saigon.

In Vietnam, AFVN had a number of war-related casualties. After a fierce fire fight that killed two soldiers and a civilian contractor, the remaining AFVN station staff at Huế was captured and spent five years as prisoners of war. At the height of American involvement in the war, Armed Forces Vietnam Network served more than 500,000 fighting men and women at one time. AFVN developed a program along the lines of "GI Jive" from World War II. A number of local disc jockeys helped make hourlong music programs for broadcast. Perhaps the best-known program became the morning "Dawn Buster" program, (the brainchild of Chief Petty Officer Bryant Arbuckle in 1962) thanks to the popularity of the sign-on slogan "Gooooood Morning, Vietnam" (which was initiated by Adrian Cronauer and later became the basis for the film Good Morning, Vietnam starring Robin Williams). Among the notable people who were AFVN disc jockeys were Don L. "Scotty" Brink, Lee Hansen, Les Coleman and Pat Sajak, Chris Noel and Denny Woytek. Harry Simons hosted the GO Show at both AFVN Saigon and Danang in 1968 and 1969. Simons along with broadcaster Mike Bates created and produced a 10-hour radio documentary (AFVN: The GI's Companion) as a tribute to AFVN and to honor all Vietnam Veterans. It aired and streamed on Veterans Day 2015 on WEBY Radio in Pensacola, Florida. The documentary is archived at Rock Radio Scrapbook: AFVN: The GI's Companion.

Beginning in 1971, AFVN began to close some stations in Vietnam. The last station to close was the key station in Saigon in 1973. Broadcasting continued under civilian leadership on FM only and using the name American Radio Service (ARS). The civilian engineers were provided by Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE). ARS stayed on the air until the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. It was to play Bing Crosby's version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" as a signal for Americans that the final evacuation of Saigon had begun. The Crosby version of the record could not be found so Tennessee Ernie Ford's record from 1968 was played.

Thailand
In Thailand, the Department of Defense began the planning for the Armed Forces Thailand Network in 1964 with Project Lamplighter and Project Limelight. By late 1966, implementation of the network began by the U.S. Air Force with stations on the air at Korat, U-Tapao, Ubon, Udorn, Takhli and Nahkon Phanom. In addition, there were more than 20 satellite stations that rebroadcast one or more of the primary stations, and that included one or more clandestine locations in Laos.

In April 1970, a battle-damaged RF-4C Phantom II #65-0863 returning to Udorn from a reconnaissance mission in northwest Laos, crashed into the AFTN station, killing 9 Air Force broadcasters. Pilot Leaphart and Navigator Bernholz ejected from their battle damaged plane when it went out of control on final approach. Both crewmen were injured but survived. The incident was the single worst catastrophe in the history of military broadcasting killing: TSGT Jack A Hawley, Wakeman, OH; SSGT James A. Howard, Denver, CO; A1C Andrew C. McCartney, Lakewood, OH; SSGT Alfred N. Potter, Forest Grove, OR; SGT John Charles Rose, Bloomfield, NJ; TSGT Frank D. Ryan Jr., Mercer Island, WA; SSGT Edward W. Strain, Myrtle Beach, SC; TSGT Roy Walker, Albuquerque, NM and A1C Thomas L. Waterman, Roanoke, VA.

AFTN became the American Forces Thailand Network in the summer of 1969, and continued operations until the spring of 1976 when the remaining U.S. troops in Thailand were withdrawn at the request of the Thai government. More than 600 broadcasters from the Air Force, Navy and Army had served during the ten years that AFTN operated.

Taiwan

Before the United States and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations in 1979, the AFN branch in Taiwan was Armed Forces Network Taiwan (AFNT), which had a main station in Yangmingshan American Military Housing, Taipei. After the U.S. armed forces withdrew all its troops stationed in Taiwan (including the United States Taiwan Defense Command) as Washington, D.C., recognizes Beijing and broke ties with Taipei, the station was reorganized under the name of International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT) by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei and the ROC government. Today, ICRT is the only English-language radio service in Taiwan.

Caribbean
Then still known as the American Forces (or Armed Forces) Radio and Television Service, military bases and facilities throughout Puerto Rico received original radio programming from Army studios at Ft. Brooke in San Juan, Air Force studios at Ramey Air Force Base, and radio and television originating from Navy studios at Roosevelt Roads, in addition to local playback of stateside entertainment radio and television shows.  This broadcast service was known as AFCN, the American Forces Caribbean Network in the 1970s (later as the Armed Forces Caribbean Network) served military bases and facilities throughout Puerto Rico from transmitters in San Juan (Fort Brooke, Fort Buchanan), Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, and Ramey Air Force Base.  Each of these bases also had their own television transmitters or cable systems that played back stateside TV programming delivered to each location in weekly "packages" of 16mm film, kinescope recordings, video tape, and satellite news programming feeds.  AFCN Roosevelt Roads also produced live radio programming featuring Navy Journalist/Broadcaster disc jockeys in a Top 40 hits format, combined with programming from AFRTS Hollywood-sourced stateside shows such as American Top 40. Programming broadcast over AFCN broadcast radio and television transmitter antennas also reached some local civilian markets across Puerto Rico, such as San Juan.

Central America
Radio, and later television, to U.S. troops stationed in the Panama Canal Zone was provided initially by Armed Forces Radio (AFN) at Albrook Field and later as the Caribbean Forces Network at Fort Clayton with translators on the Atlantic side of the Canal Zone. In the early 1960s with reorganization of the command located in the Canal Zone, CFN became the Southern Command Network (SCN). SCN also broadcast to U.S. troops stationed in Honduras starting in 1987. SCN discontinued broadcasting on 1 July 1999 just before the 31 December turnover of the Canal Zone to the Republic of Panama when U.S. troops were removed from that country under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.

AFN Honduras, which began in 1987 as SCN Honduras, now broadcasts from Soto Cano Air Base on 106.3 FM, and serves more than 600 American service members stationed at the installation, as well as numerous civilian employees and contractors. The station's primary mission is radio, originating programming including two daily live shows following the "Eagle" format. Personnel also occasionally produce video news packages. As of 15 January 2013, AFN Honduras is one of 18 stations under the operational control of AFN Europe.

Shortwave radio
With the advent of satellite broadcasting, AFRTS has shifted its emphasis away from shortwave.  Currently, the U.S. Navy provides the only shortwave single sideband shortwave AFN radio broadcasts via relay sites around the world to provide service to ships, including Diego Garcia, Guam, Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and others.

Organization
The American Forces Network (AFN) is the operational arm of the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS), an office of the Defense Media Activity (DMA). AFN falls under the operational control of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OASD-PA). Editorial control is by the Department of Defense, whereas the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), for example, is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the British armed forces.

AFN employs military broadcasters as well as Defense Department civilians and contractors. Service personnel hold broadcasting occupational specialties for their military branch.

Since 1997, all of AFN's military personnel receive primary training at the Defense Information School (DINFOS) at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland. Before 1997, DINFOS was located at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1997, Fort Benjamin Harrison was largely closed as a function of the 1991 Base Closure and Realignment Commission. Additional/Advanced training is also available at Fort George G. Meade.

In the 1960s, DINFOS was located at Fort Slocum, NY on a small island just off the harbor at New Rochelle. At its peak in 1965, the Army Chaplain school was also located there. In 1963 the campus operated in a "university" setting with a relaxed military environment. The Army ran the Information School although training was offered to members of all military branches. Radio types took a rather severe audition written by CBS for their network announcers. Those who survived the audition became "Broadcast Specialists" with a 703 MOS and went on to an AFRTS assignment.

Some of AFN's broadcasters have previous commercial broadcasting experience before enlisting in the military, but it is not a prerequisite for enlistment in the military as a broadcaster. During their training, the broadcasters are taught to use state-of-the-art audio and visual editing equipment similar to their civilian counterparts.

AFN management is located at DMA headquarters at Fort Meade. Day-to-day AFN broadcast operations are conducted at the AFN Broadcast Center/Defense Media Center in Riverside, California, from where all global radio and television satellite feeds emanate.

Television services

European operations
Until the early 1970s, U.S. military television service was provided in Central Europe by Air Force Television at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. In the early 1970s, AFN assumed this responsibility for the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS).

AFN Bremerhaven was the first AFN television station in Europe to broadcast its programming in color. The U.S. European Edition of Stars and Stripes (S&S) reported in its Thursday, 21 August 1975, edition that the AFN-Europe Commander, Lt. Col. Floyd A. McBride, announced that AFN's first color TV broadcast would begin in Bremerhaven on Monday 25 August 1975.  As S&S reported, because Bremerhaven's TV operation was so small, only a "Class C" operation, and, at the time, served only one area with TV programming, it was easy to establish the color TV broadcast operation without extensive expense or expansion.

That next year, S&S reported in its Wednesday, 23 June 1976, edition, that "the long-awaited switch to color by AFN-TV could come by the end of the year for viewers in most of West Germany. The only viewers enjoying color right now are those watching the pilot color TV station in Bremerhaven, which went on the air in…1975".

Finally, on 28 October 1976, AFN television moved from AFTV's old black-and-white studios at Ramstein to the network's new color television studios in Frankfurt. In the 1980s the network added affiliates with studio capabilities in Würzburg, Germany, and Soesterberg, the Netherlands, expanding the network to 12 affiliate stations serving American military, DOD-employed civilians and their families estimated to be well-above 350,000 stationed in West Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.  This was accomplished by a system of 112 microwave transmitters operated and maintained by the Army's 5th Signal Command.  Embassies and other entities of the American government without access to AFN TV signals received a 30-plus hour package mailed weekly of AFN and U.S. programming. In April, 1984 AFN began broadcasting live news, information and entertainment programming received through an 11-meter satellite dish downlink at AFN network headquarters, in addition to primetime pre-recorded shows and movies received from the Armed Forces Radio-Television Service broadcast center in Hollywood. For outlying areas, broadcast feeds of live American sports events were frequently provided by European contractors.

AFN TV was available in West Berlin until 1994. However, it was only available in the American Sector.

In 2004, AFN Europe headquarters relocated to Coleman Barracks in Mannheim, Germany.

In 2014, AFN Europe headquarters relocated to Sembach Kaserne in Sembach, Germany.

Pacific operations
Over-the-air TV for U.S. Forces in the Pacific is currently provided by AFN-Korea, AFN-Japan and AFN-Kwajalein. All local operations merged under the AFN banner effective 1 January 1998.

South Korea
AFN-Korea, formerly American Forces Korea Network (AFKN), was the largest of AFN's Pacific TV operations, although there are also AM and FM operations from military bases around Korea. AFKN began TV operations on 15 September 1957, and consisted of an originating studio at Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, and six relay transmitters throughout the peninsula. AFKN's first live television newscast aired on 4 January 1959. Until December 2007, the channel was widely available to non-military audiences on cable television, but following complaints from U.S. companies trying to sell programs in South Korea, USFK requested that the Korean Broadcasting Commission direct the removal of Pacific Prime from the Korean cable lineups. American Forces Network-Korea discontinued analog over-the-air TV broadcast 1 May 2012, due to request from the South Korean government because many local residents could receive current over-the-air U.S. network programming, resulting in decreased sales of U.S. programs to South Korean stations.

Japan
AFN-Japan, formerly the Far East Network (FEN), had one full-power VHF terrestrial TV outlet – located on Okinawa atop the Rycom Plaza Housing area in the central part of the island, AFN-Okinawa's (U.S. channel 8) TV signal served Marines, Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, and their families stationed on-island. TV viewers on military bases in the Tokyo and Kanto Plain area of Japan can view AFN via contractor-operated base cable TV services, or through AFN Direct-To-Home (DTH) dish services if they reside off-base.

AFN-Japan's radio services consist of AM and FM stereo operations at Yokota Air Base (810 AM & cable FM), MCAS Iwakuni (1575 AM), FLTACTS Sasebo (1575 AM), Okinawa (648 AM & 89.1 FM) and Misawa Air Base (1575 AM).

AFN-Okinawa ceased over-the-air analog TV operations along with all other Japanese TV stations on July 24, 2011.

Latin America
There used to be a television service in Panama (SCN) from 1956 to 1999. Broadcast on channel 8 in the Pacific zone and channel 10 in the Atlantic zone. In 1999, from the termination of local production (June 30) to the shutdown of the station and return of the control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian state (December 31), the channel was relaying the main AFN service. After its closure, the Panamanian regulatory body aimed at bidding channel 8 and its relay station to local companies, but the bid was frozen in March 2000.

In 2001, following failed attempts at creating a regional educational station, the Panamanian government started setting a date for the fate of the former SCN frequencies, July 10. Since no company successfully bid for those licenses, channels 7 and 9 in the capital zone were given for a bid, Tele 7 (now Oye) and TVMax, both starting in 2005.

Kwajalein Atoll
AFN-Kwajalein at the Reagan Missile Test Range on Kwajalein Atoll is the only civilian-run affiliate in AFN, broadcasting on U.S. channel 13 for military personnel and civilian contractor employees and their families. AFN-Kwajalein's signal is beamed by microwave to the nearby island of Roi-Namur and rebroadcast on channel 8.

With the availability of AFN's DTH service, terrestrial over-the-air TV broadcasts at all AFN outlets are slated for deactivation in the near future.

Gulf War
In January 1991, the network dispatched news teams and technicians to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. These broadcasters reported to families of soldiers deployed from Europe and staffed a number of U.S. radio stations making up the Armed Forces Desert Network. The first song on the air after the start of the ground offensive was "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash.

The network first signed on under the name "Desert Shield Network" in Al Jubayl on September 12, 1990, but operated 24-hours of programming since January 2, 1991. As of January 1991, the Desert Shield Network is staffed by more than 50 military broadcasters operating out of four vans in the cities of Riyadh, Dhahran, Al Jubayl, and King Khalid Military City, and reaches nearly 90% of the U.S. military personnel featuring a 50/50 mix of news and contemporary music with jingles produced by JAM Creative Productions during each break of song or news breaks. At the time, the network began producing three minutes of local news per day which later expanded in its lineup. The vans are mobile studios containing 21 relay transmitters carrying radio signals to troops on various FM frequencies depending on location. Right after the operation became known as "Desert Storm", it retained its "Desert Shield Network" name due to the staff expecting to continue operations for an unspecified period of time until the end.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

AFN-Iraq began broadcasting in December 2003 on the FM band shortly after the fall of Saddam. The first song on the air was "Freedom" by Paul McCartney. Within a short time, Freedom Radio was broadcasting on multiple FM channels from as far south as Basra to as far north as Mosul.

AFN-Iraq, Freedom Radio began as a joint effort between the Air Force, the Marines and the Army. The first unit to operate the station was the 222nd Broadcast Operations Detachment, an Army Reserve unit based in southern California. "Always There and on the Air" was the phrase that started it all, even though there were only eight hours of live radio to kick things off.

After an introduction from Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of Coalition Ground Forces in Iraq, Air Force Master Sergeant Erik Brazones was the first DJ on the air. When the 222nd BOD took the reins of the radio operations, the first two regular radio shows were Niki Cage in the Morning and Abbey in the Afternoon.  AFN-Iraq signed off in 2011.

Operation Enduring Freedom
AFN Afghanistan operated out of a building on Bagram Air Base. Its radio frequency throughout Afghanistan was 94.1 and 97.1 in Manas and produced live local shows. Its first radio transmission was at 06 o'clock 30 min on Friday, 21 July 2006. Beyond radio, AFN Afghanistan also had television news. It produced a daily five-minute newscast called Freedom Watch Afghanistan, which also aired on the Pentagon Channel.

The station was typically staffed with Air Force broadcasters but also slots Army, Navy and Marine broadcasters as well. For support there were usually four-man teams of engineers to handle all transmission, decoder and satellite issues.

Operations in Western Europe
AFN in Germany and SEB (Southern European Broadcasting) in Italy provided broadcasting to U.S. troops in Western Europe throughout the Cold War. The U.S. defense drawdown began in earnest after the Gulf War, and affected AFN stations across Europe, as many stations were consolidated or deactivated with the closing of bases. In Europe, AFN is still on the air from Tuzla, Bosnia, and Taszár, Hungary, to inform and entertain U.S. forces.

AFN went on the air 29 May  with service at the Tirana airport in Albania with satellite decoders and large-screen televisions placed in high traffic areas. At the same time, the AFN also advanced into the Yugoslav province of Kosovo along with NATO.

AFN viewers abroad witnessed live television coverage of the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001.

During military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq AFN provided non-stop coverage of the campaigns. AFN broadcast personnel from Europe deployed with the troops to cover events. Today AFN has a staffed affiliate in Iraq, AFN-Baghdad (launched in 2003).

Wherever large numbers of U.S. troops are deployed, the AFN sets up operation, providing news and entertainment from home. Today AFN has several satellites and uses advanced digital compression technology to broadcast TV and radio to 177 countries and territories, as well as on board U.S. Navy vessels.

Media services
There have been ongoing plans for transitioning AFN TV to HDTV with an estimated completion timeframe between 2015 and 2017. So far, AFN has added one HD channel, with more being planned. However, the conversion to HD is an expensive project, so timelines and actual transition of channels is highly dependent on availability of funds. With the additional Department of Defense budget cuts looming, this project could easily be required to slip. However, AFN is continuing to research more efficient delivery methods in hopes of continuing along the planned path.

AFN's television service is broadcast in standard North American NTSC format of 525 lines. All programming delivered by satellite is PowerVu encrypted DVB. While programming is provided to AFN by major American TV networks and program syndicators at little to no cost, for copyright and licensing reasons it is intended solely for U.S. forces personnel, authorized Department of Defense civilian employees, State Department diplomatic personnel and their families overseas.

AFN-TV is available to authorized viewers by "Direct-To-Home" (DTH) service with set-top decoders purchased or leased through military exchanges (similar to a membership store), licensed/contracted commercial cable operators, purchased used from other military members (the cheapest option) or terrestrial signal. The advent of DTH service coincides with the phasing-out of AFN terrestrial TV broadcasts due to reclamation of frequencies by host nations.

AFN is considered a non-essential service, and programming ceases during government shutdowns. Sports programming to which the AFN has already purchased rights continues to be carried, as the skeleton crew operating AFN for essential programming does not save any money by blacking out the programs.

AFN programming
While the audience tunes into AFN to watch their favorite shows or listen to the latest stateside hits, entertainment is the "candy coating" used to attract the military viewer/listener. AFN's primary mission is to provide access for worldwide, regional and local command information (CI) spots, which air during commercial breaks in programming instead of commercial advertisements. These CI spots run the gamut from reminding service members to register to vote, promoting local command-sponsored recreation events and off-duty educational programs, providing health and wellness tips, and listing what's playing at local base movie theaters.

AFN also inserts public service announcements from the Ad Council. Some of the 35 overseas AFN affiliates have the capability to cover the "worldwide" CI spots placed by the AFN Broadcast Center in California with regional or locally produced CI spots (such as localized messages from senior leadership).

Many service members welcome this approach, while others find it troublesome, especially during the airing of the Super Bowl.

The network is allowed to broadcast commercial movie promotion trailers provided by the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) and the Navy Motion Picture Service (NMPS) to promote the latest film releases in base theaters worldwide. Previously these were the only true "commercials" authorized for broadcast.

AFN Radio and TV schedules are available on the organization's website.

Radio
AFN also offers a variety of radio programming over its various frequencies throughout the world. There is both local programming (with military disc jockeys) and satellite programming. Music programming spans classic rock, rhythm and blues, Jack FM and country music. Ryan Seacrest's American Top 40 (AFN The Blend), WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour (AFN Country), Casey Kasem's American Top 40 (AFN's Joe Radio) and the American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks (AFN Country) are broadcast weekly over AFN Radio. In addition to music, AFN broadcasts syndicated talk radio programs such as Car Talk (NPR AFN), John Tesh (Hot AC), The Bob and Sheri Show (AFN Joe Radio), Le Show (NPR AFN), Tech Nation (AFN The Voice), Kidd Kraddick in the Morning (AFN the Blend), Kim Komando (AFN The Voice), The Rush Limbaugh Show (AFN Power Talk), Delilah (AFN The Blend), The Motley Fool Radio Show (AFN The Voice), A Prairie Home Companion (NPR AFN), Doug Stephan (AFN The Voice),Titillating Sports with Rick Tittle, Sports Overnight America (AFN FANS), Mr Dad: Positive Parenting (AFN The Voice), and other programs from a variety of sources. Weekly religious programming is offered to AFN stations via closed-circuit.

On 5 December 2005, liberal/progressive Ed Schultz and conservative talk show host Sean Hannity were added to the radio programs provided by the AFN Broadcast Center to its affiliate stations. Liberal Alan Colmes rounds out the political talk lineup on The Voice channel.

On 24 April 2006, AFN Europe launched AFN The Eagle, a virtually 24-hour-a-day radio service format initially modeled after "Jack FM" but most recently a "Hot AC" format. This replaced ZFM, which had more of a contemporary hit radio flavor. When the Eagle was launched, AFN Europe took control of what local DJs could play.

Altogether, AFN produces ten general-use streams for AFN stations to use. Of these, six are music-based, two are sports-based and three general news/talk channels, including The Voice, which features live play-by-play of American sports (it's also the one heard on shortwave, if the shortwave radio has Single sideband installed). How these stations use these formats is up to them. These formats are:
 AFN The Blend (mainstream hits and yesterday's favorites, programming from Westwood One and Premiere Networks. Formerly known as "AFN Hot AC")
 AFN Country (country/western)
 AFN Gravity (urban rhythmic)
 AFN Legacy – Deep Classic Rock Gems
 AFN's Joe Radio ('80s, '90s)
 AFN Freedom Rock (Rock music)
 AFN The Voice (News, talk and information)
 AFN Clutch (sports programming from ESPN and Yahoo! Sports Radio)
 AFN Fans (sports programming from FOX Sports Radio and Sports Byline USA)
 AFN PowerTalk (liberal and conservative talk programming)
 NPR AFN (public radio programs from NPR and others)

Television
Like its radio counterpart, AFN TV tries to air programming from a variety of sources to replicate programming on a typical U.S. TV channel; sourcing from U.S. commercial networks (including PBS), and program syndicators at little to no cost since AFN does not air commercials and in that regard cannot profit from airing shows like stations in the United States can. In their place, AFN inserts public service announcements on various subjects; these can be civilian "agency spots" created by The Ad Council, nationally recognized religious and public health charities, AFN's own "command information" spots produced by the AFRTS Radio-Television Production Office (RTPO) or announcements by a regional/local AFN affiliate. The most common PSAs shown deal with sexual harassment, public health and safety, force protection/anti-terrorism, pride in service and messages to the troops.

Some people have found the AFN TV commercials to be repetitive, annoying, and condescending.

AFN produces and broadcasts eight core satellite television channels in NTSC color. They are accessible to both military and foreign service personnel abroad. All eight feeds are accessible in core areas, including but not limited to European, Korean and Japanese posts. Much of the rest of the world is limited to a smaller but more widespread naval broadcast.

Channels
Unless specified, the first telecast of each channel targets the Japan/Korea region, then replayed several hours later for the Central European time zone.
 AFN Prime. Formerly AFN Atlantic and AFN Pacific. The standard AFN feed airs current sitcoms, dramas, syndicated court shows, talk shows, game shows and reality shows popular in the United States, with a time delay from 24 hours to six months or more behind the United States airdates. In addition, popular U.S. soap operas such as General Hospital are aired by AFN on a one-week tape delay. This stream is divided into three feeds (AFN Prime Atlantic, AFN Prime Freedom (Middle East) and AFN Prime Pacific); the difference between the three is that they are time-shifted so that programs air at the same local time in each of the major regions served: Japan/Korea, Central Europe and Iraq. Many regional feeds (such as AFN-Europe and AFN-Korea) are based on AFN Prime and add local programming to it; thus, in a way, AFN Prime mimics the regular network TV concept. AFN Prime Freedom shuttered services in 2013 after the drawdown of troops from the Middle East
 AFN Spectrum. AFN Spectrum started as more of a conservative culture-oriented channel with programming from cable networks and classic TV series. In a way, it mimicked the "superstation" concept from cablecasters TBS and WGN America. However, the Spectrum lineup currently contains more conventional programming, like American Idol and Ugly Betty, as some of the public television and classic fare that made up Spectrum is being reduced but remain the primary constant on the channel.
 AFN News. AFN News is a rolling-news channel providing news from all major news outlets.  Newscasts, such as the NBC Nightly News, Fox News, ABC World News Tonight and CBS Evening News, were all scheduled to air in the mornings so viewers could watch the headlines live, but now they air on a tape delay in the regular early evening slot, back to back.
 AFN Family/AFN Pulse. AFN Family is a general entertainment channel providing programming for children ages 2 to 17. Although the name of the channel suggests programming appropriate for all family members at any time, the channel more closely resembles Freeform or Nickelodeon, with programming targeted at specific age groups during the course of the day. Programming during after school from 3 p.m. local time to 1 a.m. local time targets pre-schoolers but "ages" as older children become available to watch in the late morning and day. By 1 a.m. local time, programming is targeted at older teens. In September 2013, AFN launched a split in Family, which was branded AFN Pulse. About half of the day's programming remains aimed at the 2-to-13 age group. During primetime hours, the channel becomes AFN Pulse, and showcases programming primarily aimed at the older teen demographic, though it remains suitable for family viewing.
 AFN Movie. AFN Movie is a channel showcasing movies as well as film-oriented programming.
 AFN Sports. AFN Sports is a rolling-sports channel, providing sports news and events, including ESPN's SportsCenter and live and delayed broadcasts of the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, MLB, NHL, NCAA college football, men and women's NCAA college basketball, FIFA soccer and PGA Tour, as well as other highly rated team competitions.
 AFN Sports 2. Launched in February 2006, as AFN Xtra. It is AFN's exclusive home for UFC and WWE programming, including all pay-per-view events, as well as motor sports, including NASCAR, NHRA, Motocross and other auto and motorcycle racing series.
 AFN Sports HD. AFN Sports is also now available in digital high definition using the new Cisco D9865 receiver/decoder.

Internet radio
In November 2013, the American Forces Network launched Internet radio streams expanding the reach of the military network's radio programming overseas.

Regional stations

AFN Europe
The internet radio stations in Europe are as follows:

AFN Pacific
The internet radio stations in the Asia-Pacific region are as follows:
 Japan

 South Korea

 Diego Garcia

AFN Go programs
AFN Go, formerly AFN 360, provides the following nine music and spoken word stations.

AFN Go's Internet streams are only made available in countries where AFN has terrestrial stations (i.e., where the U.S. armed forces have established bases) and are not available in North America. AFN Go uses IP address geolocation to determine whether a listener can access the streams. AFN stations can be accessed where it is not available through proxy servers.

As of late 2022, AFN launched a new video streaming service named AFN|Now with mobile applications for Android (operating system), iPhone, Roku, & Amazon FireTV

AFN frequencies and transmitters by country (alphabetical)

Bahrain
Radio: AFN Bahrain
 106.3 FM: serves NSA Bahrain and Manama

Belgium

Television:

Historical data only – AFN Prime Atlantic/AFN Benelux (NTSC)
 33H: Everberg, (Kortenberg) oriented towards Evere (2 kW)
 34V: SHAPE, Casteau (4.5 kW)
 34V: Florennes (10 W)

Terrestrial transmission of the AFN TV service in Belgium ended in 2010.

Radio:
AFN Benelux – The Eagle
 101.7 FM: Everberg, Kortenberg (900 W) serving NATO HQ and much of northern Brussels Capital Region
 106.2 FM: Kleine Brogel, Peer (200 W)
 106.5 FM: SHAPE, Casteau (200 W)
 107.9 FM: Chièvres (100 W)

Cuba
Radio GTMO transmits locally for Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

 1340 AM: News and talk radio rebroadcasts
 102.1 FM: Top 40, urban, dance, rock music
 103.1 FM: Country music

Germany

Mediumwave AM

FM

The AFN transmitters in Germany are operated by different authorities but most are operated directly by the U.S. military. Some are the property of Deutsche Telekom, while others are controlled by German public broadcasting corporations.

Greece
 106.3 MHz FM
 Souda Bay Air Base

Honduras
 106.3 MHz FM
 Soto Cano Air Base. 20 W

Iraq Freedom Radio
[All Freedom Radio–Iraq stations went off the air on 30 September 2011, as a result of the continuing draw-down of U.S. Military personnel. Listing remains to document the coverage of Iraq.]
 93.3 MHz FM
 Baghdad (FOB Union III)  –  Transmitter Never Completed
 Fallujah (Camp Baharia)
 Al Taqaddum Airbase (TQ)
 101.1 MHz FM
 Tikrit (COB Speicher)
 104.5 MHz FM
 Baquba (FOB Warhorse)  –  Transmitter Never Completed
 105.1 MHz FM
 Mosul (Camp Diamondback/FOB Marez)  –  1 kW
 107.3 MHz FM
 Al Asad Airbase
 Balad (LSA Anaconda)  –  250 W
 Nasiriyah (Tallil Air Base)  –  200 W
 Qayyarah Airfield West (Q-WEST)  –  250 W
 Ramadi (FOB Blue Diamond)
 Samarra (FOB Brassfield-Mora)
 Camp Taji
 Tall Afar (FOB Sykes)
 Umm Qasr (Camp Bucca)
 107.7 MHz FM
 Baghdad (Camp Slayer)  –  1 kW

Italy
In Italy there are 4 radio stations that serve 5 bases and more than 14 cities:
 AFN The Eagle – 106.0 FM
 Monte Serra – AFN Livorno (After the closing of AFN Livorno it will be transmitted AFN Vicenza) in Pisa (Camp Darby), Livorno, Viareggio and the surrounding area.
 Monte Venda – AFN Vicenza in Vicenza (Caserma Ederle and Del Din), Verona, Venezia, Padova, Sud Treviso and the surrounding area.
 Aviano – AFN Aviano in Pordenone (Aviano Air Base), Udine and the surrounding area.
 AFN Naples – 107.9 FM Collina dei Camaldoli Naples (Naval Base), Caserta, South Avellino and the highest zones (there are interferences)
 AFN Sigonella – 105.9 FM in Catania (Naval and Air Base), North Siracusa and the surrounding area.

 AFN Power Network
 Monte Serra – AFN Livorno Power (After the closing of AFN Livorno it will be transmitted AFN Vicenza) in Pisa (Camp Darby), Livorno, Viareggio and the surrounding area.
 Monte Venda – AFN Vicenza Power in Vicenza (Caserma Ederle and Del Din), Verona, Venezia, Padova, Sud Treviso and the surrounding area.
 Collina dei Camaldoli – AFN Naples Power in Naples (Naval Base), Caserta, South Avellino and the highest zones (there are interferences).
 Sigonella – AFN Sigonella Power in Catania (Naval and Air Base), North Siracusa and the surrounding area.
 Aviano – AFN Aviano Power in Pordenone (Aviano Air Base), Udine and the surrounding area.

AFN Italy, has been serving Americans that live on American Bases in Pisa, Vicenza, Aviano, Napoli and Sigonella, since 1983.

Japan
 648 kHz AM
 Camp Kinser: Urasoe, Okinawa. 10 kilowatts (kW).
 810 kHz AM
 Yokota Air Base: Western Tokyo. 50 kW transmitted from Wakō, Saitama. Serves the Greater Tokyo Area. Station uses the on-air ID "Eagle 810".
 1575 kHz AM
 Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni: Iwakuni, Yamaguchi. 1 kW. Station uses the on-air ID "Power 1575".
 Misawa Air Base: Misawa, Aomori. 600 W.
 United States Fleet Activities Sasebo: Sasebo, Nagasaki. 250 W.
 89.1 MHz FM
 Kadena Air Base: Kadena, Okinawa. 20 kW. Station uses the on-air ID "Wave 89".
 US Television channel 11
 Camp Foster: Okinawa.

Netherlands
Radio: AFN Soesterberg 1964–1993 (former location at grid 52°7'25"N 5°15'13"E) Transmissions ceased at the dissolution of USAF 32nd TFS
 AM – AFRS Soesterberg (1140 kHz syndicated 1964–1972 from AFN Bremerhaven) 5 kW
 FM – AFN Eagle Radio (93.1 MHz live & syndicated 1973–1994 from Camp New Amsterdam/Soesterberg airbase) 0.015 kW
The morning "Touch and Go" show from 5–9 am and the afternoon "Afterburner" show from 3–6 pm were live. The rest of the hours was syndicated from AFN Frankfurt.

Television: AFN Benelux syndicated (early 1980s only UHF channel 80 NTSC)

Currently active radio & TV:

 107.9 MHz FM
 Volkel Air Base (AFN Benelux)

Saudi Arabia
Table of AFN-transmitters in Saudi Arabia. Table may be incorrect and incomplete. Please correct and expand if necessary.

FM

The AFN FM Transmitters in Saudi Arabia are managed by the U.S. military.

Spain

Radio:
AFN Rota Radio – The Eagle
 102.5 FM: Naval Station Rota (5.0 kW)
 92.1 FM: Morón Air Base in Morón de la Frontera, Seville. (0.015 kW)

South Korea

Television

NOTE:  All over-the-air television broadcasts in South Korea ended in May 2012.  The following are previous stations.
 Channel 2 (VHF)
 Chuncheon, Gangwon (100 W)
 Jinhae, South Gyeongsang (100 W)
 Channel 12 (VHF)
 Daegu, North Gyeongsang (Camp Walker, Camp Henry, Camp Carroll) (1 kW)
 Channel 19 (UHF)
 Paju-ri, Gyeonggi
 Channel 34 (UHF) (former Channel 2 VHF)
 Yongsan-gu, Seoul (USAG Yongsan, Camp Market, K-16 Airbase) (30 kW)
 Channel 49 (UHF)
 Dongducheon, Gyeonggi (Camp Red Cloud, Camp Casey, Camp Stanley) (1 kW)
 Munsan, Gyeonggi (5 kW)
 Songtan, Gyeonggi (Osan Air Base, USAG Humphreys) (1005 W)
 Gunsan, North Jeolla (Kunsan Air Base...) and Gwangju (2.5 kW)
 Waegwan, North Gyeongsang (Camp Carroll, South Korea) (100 W)
 Channel 58 (UHF)
 Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi (Camp Red Cloud, Camp Sears, Camp Stanley) (100 W)
 Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi (USAG Humphreys) (100 W)
 Wonju, Gangwon (100 W)

AM Radio (Thunder AM)
 1440 kHz
 Daegu, North Gyeongsang (Camp Walker, Camp Henry, Camp Carroll) (5 kW)
 Waegwan, North Gyeongsang (Camp Carroll, South Korea) (250 W)
 1161 kHz
 Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi (Camp Red Cloud, Camp Stanley, Camp Jackson) (250 W)
 1197 kHz
 Dongducheon, Gyeonggi (Camp Red Cloud, Camp Casey, Camp Stanley, Camp Jackson) (1 kW)
 1260 kHz
 Busan, South Gyeongsang (5 kW)
 1359 kHz
 Songtan, Gyeonggi (Osan Air Base, USAG Humphreys) (1 kW)
 1440 kHz
 Munsan, Gyeonggi and Paju-ri, Gyeonggi (5 kW)
 Chuncheon, Gangwon (250 W)
 Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi (USAG Humphreys) (1 kW)
 Wonju, Gangwon (250 W)
 Gunsan, North Jeolla (Kunsan Air Base) (1 kW)
 1512 kHz
 Jinhae, South Gyeongsang (250 W)
 Pohang, North Gyeongsang (250 W)
 Jeju (50 W)
 1530 kHz
 Yongsan-gu, Seoul (USAG Yongsan, Camp Market, K-16 Airbase) (5 kW)

FM Radio (AFN Eagle)
 88.1 MHz
 Busan, South Gyeongsang (250 W)
 88.3 MHz
 Dongducheon, Gyeonggi (Camp Red Cloud, Camp Casey, Camp Stanley) (250 W)
 Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi (USAG Humphreys) (50 W)
 Wonju, Gangwon (50 W)
 88.5 MHz
 Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi (Camp Red Cloud, Camp Stanley, Camp Jackson) (100 W)
 Munsan, Gyeonggi and Paju-ri, Gyeonggi (50 W)
 Chuncheon, Gangwon (50 W)
 Songtan, Gyeonggi (Osan Air Base, USAG Humphreys) (30 W)
 Gunsan, North Jeolla (Kunsan Air Base) (50 W)
 Gwangju, South Jeolla (505 W)
 Daegu, North Gyeongsang and Waegwan, North Gyeongsang (Camp Walker, Camp Henry, Camp Carroll)(1 kW)
 Jinhae, South Gyeongsang (50 W)
 102.7 MHz
 Yongsan-gu, Seoul (USAG Yongsan, Camp Market, K-16 Airbase...) (5 kW)

resource:

Turkey
Radio:
AFN Incirlik – The Eagle
 1590 AM: Incirlik Air Base, 5 W
 107.1 FM: Incirlik Air Base

Shortwave (USB)
The last known confirmation of AFN using its shortwave frequencies was in the mid-2010s. Current (2022) bandscans show no signal on any of AFN's frequencies.

 Diego Garcia:
 12.579 MHz daytime
  4.319 MHz nighttime
 Guam:
 13.362 MHz daytime
  5.765 MHz nighttime
 Key West, Florida:
 12.1335 MHz day & night
  7.811 MHz day & night
  5.4465 MHz day & night
 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
 10.32 MHz daytime
  6.35 MHz nighttime

See: AFN Shortwave Frequencies

See also

 Chris Noel
 AFN Berlin
 British Forces Broadcasting Service
 Canadian Forces Radio and Television
 CCTV-7
 Channel 5 (Thailand)
 DoD News Channel
 Far East Network
 Inter-Services Public Relations
 Israel Army Radio
 Radio Forces Françaises de Berlin
 Radio Wolga
 VoyenTV
 Zvezda (TV channel)

References

Further reading

 History of AFRTS: The first 50 years. U.S. Government Printing Office (1993).
 Patrick Morley: 'This Is the American Forces Network': The Anglo-American Battle of the Air Waves in World War II. Praeger Publishing (2001).
 Trent Christman: Brass Button Broadcasters: A Lighthearted Look at Fifty Years of Military Broadcasting. Turner Publishing (1992).

External links

 Armed Forces Network, Europe at usarmygermany.com
 Armed Forces Network, Europe
 AFN Go, AFN Europe
 Armed Forces Network, Pacific
 AFN Go, AFN Pacific
 AFN Bavaria livestream

1942 establishments in England
Direct broadcast satellite services
English-language radio stations
English-language television stations in the United States
International broadcasters
Mass media of the military of the United States
Organizations established in 1942
Military units and formations in Maryland
Peabody Award winners
Radio during World War II
Radio in Asia
Radio in Europe
Television in Asia
Television in Europe
Television networks in the United States
United States Department of Defense agencies
Event management companies

American Forces Network