Amharic text decoded by Juha in Finland, 4 June 2017, 1930-2000 UTC, 15670 kHz.
Shortwave Radiogram will be the name of the show that will replace
VOA Radiogram, starting 24 June. “Shortwave Radiogram” is not as
creative as most of the names suggested by VOA Radiogram listeners.
Thanks for those ideas!
The new website will be http://www.swradiogram.net (maybe active this weekend), the new email radiogram (at) verizon.net , and the new Twitter account @SWRadiogram .
Last weekend’s new transmission
via WRMI Florida, Sunday 0600-0630 on 7730 kHz, was, to my surprise,
audible in Europe, at least via http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901
in the Netherlands. Reception was marginal at my house in Virginia (and
I was only marginally awake at 2:00 am local time). I received a great
signal using an SDR in Hawaii and a good signal via Australia.
This weekend is the penultimate (always wanted to use that word in a
sentence) VOA Radiogram, so please tune in if you can. The entire
program will be in MFSK32. It will include some Arabic text, that prints
from right to left. You will need the UTF-8 character set for the
Arabic text to display correctly. There will also be two images of the
North Carolina transmitting site.
Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 219, 10-11 June 2017, all in MFSK32 centered on 1500 Hz:
The Mighty KBC transmits to Europe Saturdays at 1500-1530 UTC on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria), with the minute of MFSK at about 1530 UTC (if you are outside of Europe, listen via websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
). And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday 8-10 pm
EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 0130
UTC. On 9400 kHz, Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com . See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/.
Italian Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) For the complete IBC transmission schedule visit http://ibcradio.webs.com/ Five minutes of MFSK32 is at the end of the 30-minute English-language “Shortwave Panorama,” per the schedule below:
WEDNESDAY 18.55 UTC 6070 KHZ TO EUROPE
19.55 UTC 1584 KHZ TO EUROPE
THURSDAY 02.55 UTC 1584 KHZ TO EUROPE
FRIDAY 01.25 UTC 9955 KHZ TO CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA
Images received by Tarmo in Estonia, 27 May 2017, 1600-1630 UTC, 17580 kHz.
This weekend, VOA Radiogram will add a new transmission this weekend,
Sunday, 0600-0630 UTC, 7730 kHz via WRMI Florida. See the schedule
below. In that schedule, the three WRMI broadcasts will be the schedule
for the successor to VOA Radiogram starting the weekend of June 24-25.
I have yet to decide on a name for the successor to VOA Radiogram. Your ideas and suggestions are welcome!
See the voaradiogram.net website for this news about Roger in Germany decoding text from the fourth(!) audio harmonic.
This weekend’s VOA Radiogram is, as usual, mostly in MFSK32, with
some MFSK16. There is also some text in Amharic, the main language of
Ethiopia. You will need the UTF-8 character set for the Amharic to
display correctly. In Fldigi, UTF-8 is the default character set, but
you can check to make sure via Configure > Colors & Fonts. In
TIVAR, UTF-8 is the only available character set.
Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 218, 3-4 June 2017, all in MFSK32 except where noted:
1:49 Program preview
3:03 Hypersonic space plane*
7:30 India opens longest bridge in its northeast*
14:37 Ethiopia cuts off internet during exams * **
20:24 MFSK16: WSPR from Canadian C3 voyage
24:40 MFSK32: Image* and closing announcements
* with image
** use UTF-8 character set for Amharic
Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com
The Mighty KBC transmits to Europe Saturdays at 1500-1530 UTC on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria), with the minute of MFSK at about 1530 UTC (if you are outside of Europe, listen via websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
). And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday 8-10 pm
EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 0130
UTC. On 9400 kHz, Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com . See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/.
Russian text received in Ukraine, 21 May 2017, 0230-0300
UTC, 5745 kHz (via dipole directed to the Caribbean)
See the schedule information
below for a special transmission of The Mighty KBC on 28 May. The KBC digital
modes will be a combination of text in MFSK64, 32, and 16.
Only four more editions of
VOA Radiogram remain, with the last show during the weekend of June 17-18. I
retire from VOA on June 23. A radio program similar to VOA Radiogram will begin
June 24 on WRMI. Details will be announced as that date approaches.
The voaradiogram.net website and @VOARadiogram Twitter account will
remain “live” for at least a few months after VOA Radiogram ends, so check
those sources for links to the new website and Twitter account.
VOA Radiogram listeners have
been conducting some interesting experiments. Recent examples are by Merkouris
in Greece, who decoded an MFSK32 image from the second audio harmonic of a VOA
Radiogram broadcast …
The Mighty KBC
digital
modes this weekend will include have no image, but will include text in MFSK64,
MFSK32, and MFSK16. Make sure your RxID is on. KBC transmits to Europe
Saturdays at 1500-1530 UTC on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria), with the minute of MFSK
at about 1530 UTC. And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday 8-10
pm EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 0130 UTC. And
there will be a special transmission on 28 May at 0800-1500 UTC on 6095 kHz
via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 1440 UTC. On 9400 and 6095 kHz, if
you are outside of Europe, listen via websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
Reports to
Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com
. See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/
and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/.
Italian
Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) For the complete IBC transmission schedule visit http://ibcradio.webs.com/
Five minutes of MFSK32 is at the end of the 30-minute English-language
“Shortwave Panorama,” per the schedule below:
WEDNESDAY 18.55 UTC
6070 KHZ TO EUROPE
19.55 UTC 1584 KHZ
TO EUROPE
THURSDAY 02.55 UTC
1584 KHZ TO EUROPE
FRIDAY
01.25 UTC 9955 KHZ TO CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA
Russian text received in Ukraine, 21 May 2017, 0230-0300
UTC, 5745 kHz (via dipole directed to the Caribbean)
See the schedule information
below for a special transmission of The Mighty KBC on 28 May. The KBC digital
modes will be a combination of text in MFSK64, 32, and 16.
Only four more editions of
VOA Radiogram remain, with the last show during the weekend of June 17-18. I
retire from VOA on June 23. A radio program similar to VOA Radiogram will begin
June 24 on WRMI. Details will be announced as that date approaches.
The voaradiogram.net website and @VOARadiogram Twitter account will
remain “live” for at least a few months after VOA Radiogram ends, so check
those sources for links to the new website and Twitter account.
VOA Radiogram listeners have
been conducting some interesting experiments. Recent examples are by Merkouris
in Greece, who decoded an MFSK32 image from the second audio harmonic of a VOA
Radiogram broadcast …
The Mighty KBC
digital
modes this weekend will include have no image, but will include text in MFSK64,
MFSK32, and MFSK16. Make sure your RxID is on. KBC transmits to Europe
Saturdays at 1500-1530 UTC on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria), with the minute of MFSK
at about 1530 UTC. And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday 8-10
pm EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 0130 UTC. And
there will be a special transmission on 28 May at 0800-1500 UTC on 6095 kHz
via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 1440 UTC. On 9400 and 6095 kHz, if
you are outside of Europe, listen via websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
Reports to
Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com
. See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/
and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/.
Italian
Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) For the complete IBC transmission schedule visit http://ibcradio.webs.com/
Five minutes of MFSK32 is at the end of the 30-minute English-language
“Shortwave Panorama,” per the schedule below:
WEDNESDAY 18.55 UTC
6070 KHZ TO EUROPE
19.55 UTC 1584 KHZ
TO EUROPE
THURSDAY 02.55 UTC
1584 KHZ TO EUROPE
FRIDAY
01.25 UTC 9955 KHZ TO CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA
Now Roger in Germany has fooled Mother Nature to an even greater extent by decoding from the third audio harmonic of The Mighty KBC’s signal on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria)…
Zděnek in the Czech Republic received these images
Sunday, May 14, 1930-2000 UTC, 15670 kHz
I will retire from the Voice
of America on June 23, after 32 years as audience research analyst and
broadcaster.
I was hoping to continue to
produce VOA Radiogram as a contractor. I approached various BBG and VOA
offices. They all declined.
And, therefore, the last VOA
Radiogram will be the weekend on June 17-18
Money is not the issue.
I am willing to work cheap. My main interest is to be authorized to
continue the show and maintain a VOA email address, so that I can keep in
contact with the audience.
The irony is that, after
retirement, I will finally have time to answer your emails – but I will no
longer have access to the VOA email system to do that.
But, the show must go
on. In addition to the four weekly transmissions via the BBG North
Carolina transmitting site, VOA Radiogram is also broadcast on WRMI in Florida
twice on Sundays. I can hardly allow those half-hour slots to be filled by
light recorded music. So, beginning the weekend of June 24-25, a program
similar to VOA Radiogram, but with a new name and email address, will be
broadcast by WRMI.
More about the demise of VOA Radiogram, and the
emergence of its replacement, in the weeks to come.
VOA Radiogram this weekend
includes some text in Russian. You will need to use the UTF-8 character set. IF
you use Fldigi, it probably is already set for UTF-8, but you might want to
check under the Colors & Fonts menu. All of the show is in MFSK32 except
for one item in MFSK16, in case reception is challenging.
Here is the lineup for VOA
Radiogram, program 216, May 20-21,
2017, all in MFSK32 except where noted:
1:46 Program
preview
3:00 Distance
supernova can doom earth has doubled*
The Mighty KBC
transmits
to Europe Saturdays at 1500-1530 UTC on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria), with a minute
of MFSK32 at about 1530 UTC. And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200 UTC
(Saturday 8-10 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. A minute of MFSK32 is at about
0130 UTC. Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com . See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/.
Italian
Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) For the complete IBC transmission schedule visit http://ibcradio.webs.com/
Five minutes of MFSK32 is at the end of the 30-minute English-language
“Shortwave Panorama,” per the schedule below:
WEDNESDAY 18.55 UTC
6070 KHZ TO EUROPE
19.55 UTC 1584 KHZ
TO EUROPE
THURSDAY 02.55 UTC
1584 KHZ TO EUROPE
FRIDAY
01.25 UTC 9955 KHZ TO CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA
VOA Radiogram listeners often see something like this on their Fldigi software display ….
The actual MFSK32 audio is the trace above and below 1500 Hz. The trace to the right, which actually extends to 3500 Hz, is the second audio harmonic.
I think these harmonics also exist with voice and music programming, but because the audio is so diffused, they are usually not noticed. With MFSK32 and other digital modes, however, the audio is so precisely defined that the harmonic is more noticeable.
VOA Radiogram listener Merkouris in Greece tried an experiment with the second audio harmonic. He wrote:
Last weekend I tuned
on the VOA radiogram frequency in AM mode, although I usually set my receiver
in SSB mode. As the 2nd harmonic was clearly visible on the fldigi waterfall, I
decided to give it a try to decode it.
Using Audacity, I changed the pitch of the recorded audio to -50%, then I
cropped the audio frequencies below 1200 Hz. The results of the decode were
about 50% copy of the text in MFSK32 and 99% copy of the text in MFSK16.
Regarding the images, only two out of the transmitted five were decoded with
quite interesting outputs.
Here follow the pictures, compared to the images that were decoded from the 1st
harmonic.
The picture is of Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, broadcast on VOA Radiogram the weekend of 13-14 May 2017.
