March 1995 |
Arutz 2000 started broadcasts as a landbased pirate, but was repeatedly raided by the authorities so the backers raised funds to purchase a former lightship from Britain, to become an offshore base for the station. |
Summer 1995 |
Conversion work took place on the former lightship (LV3) throughout the summer of 1995 in a Portsmouth shipyard, but came to a halt towards the end of the year when resources apparently ran short |
12th January 1996 |
British Department of Trade and Industry officials raided the ship in Portsmouth and confiscated sections of aerial mast which had been stored on the deck awaiting erection. Following the raid, and fearing that the ship herself may soon be impounded, the owners arranged for the King David to be towed from Britain by the tug Tamar,(which they had also purchased). |
Mid January 1996 |
Shortly after the ship was towed out of Portsmouth Arutz 2000 (as a landbased pirate), started making references on- |
27th January 1996 |
The station started making emergency appeals for financial donations to 'rescue and salvage' its ship which had got into difficulties at sea. |
30th January 1996 |
After crossing the Bay of Biscay problems were experienced with the towing cable and both ships had to enter port in Lisbon for repairs. |
early spring 1996 |
Reports indicated that the King David had reached Cyprus. |
3rd May 1996 |
The Arutz 2000 land based transmitter site in south Tel Aviv was raided by Israeli police |
10th May 1996 |
The station announced that they were broadcasting from the King David, although this was not correct. During the day they repeatedly asked for donations to replace equipment that had been confiscated in earlier raids, and were later raided again by Israeli police. |
13th May 1996 |
Arutz 2000 resumed broadcasts from their land based transmitter and were still asking for donations to replace confiscated equipment. They also started announcing that the King David had arrived off the coast of Ashdod. |
20th May 1996 |
Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport was forced to close for a couple of hours due to serious interference from a pirate radio station in the Tel Aviv area and as a result most of the land based stations surrounding Tel Aviv, including Arutz 2000 temporarily closed down. |
end of May 1996 |
It was reported that the King David was now anchored some 15 miles off the coast of Israel. |
28th August 1996 |
Test broadcasts for Arutz 2000 from the King David eventually started. |
29th August 1996 |
The test broadcasts from the King David stopped suddenly. |
20th October 1996 |
Test broadcasts from the King David resumed, but the signal was very weak. |
17th December 1996 |
Regular broadcasts for Arutz 2000 from the King David began, although the signal was still very weak. |
late December 1996 |
Arutz 2000 changed frequency for a few days to 101.8 Mhz . |