Mr. TW in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, produced this video of his reception and decoding of VOA Radiogram, 2 May 2015, 0930-1000 UTC, 5745 kHz. This is about 11000 km from the North Carolina transmitting site, where the antenna is a dipole intended for South America reception. The Freedom House world press freedom map is fuzzy but conveys the basic idea. The text of the story, which benefits from the error correction built into the MFSK32 mode, was decoded at least 90%, as you can see in the video …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JIvN9VyNPQ

Here is the image as decoded by me using the audio from TW’s video …

Meanwhile, Tim in Colorado produces a weekly video of reception of VOA Radiogram, the most recent from the broadcast on 2 May 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17870 kHz. Decode was an easy 100% despite the curtain antenna in North Carolina being pointed in the opposite direction, towards Europe.

https://youtu.be/Y1m02J0ft-s

Here is the VOA Radiogram logo at the end of the show as decoded from Tim’s audio …

For text and images of the same broadcast Saturday at 1600-1630, see this web page prepared by Roger in Germany …

http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2015-05-02.htm

This weekend the VOA Radiogram broadcast Saturday at 1600-1630 UTC moves to the new frequency of 17870 kHz. This replaces 17860 kHz, which was suffering interference from Radio Exterior de España on 17855 kHz. For those of you using low cost radios with less selectivity, please let me know in 17870 kHz provides enough separation from 17855 kHz.

VOA Radiogram begins this weekend with a rather lengthy but interesting story about a new report on world press freedom.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 109, 2-3 May 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

  1:32  Program preview
  2:45  Freedom House report on world press freedom*
14:12  BBC adds shortwave transmissions for Nepal
17:09  Mobile phone ownership increases in Africa
21:21  Computer servers heat homes in the Netherlands*
27:12  Closing announcements*
28:39  Thor 16: Bonus mode of the week

* with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz
Sat 1600-1630 17870 kHz (new, replaces 17860 kHz)
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

The Mighty KBC will (I think) transmit a minute of MFSK64 3 May at about 0130 UTC (Saturday 9:30 pm EDT) on new 9925 kHz (via Germany). Reports to Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com .

Mr. DFS in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, prepared YouTube videos of his decoding of VOA Radio on 18 April 2015, 0930-1000 on 5745 kHz, and 1600-1630 UTC on 17860 kHz. He is about 11000 km from the North Carolina transmitter. The decodes were not perfect, but not bad given the distance and conditions. The videos are available via these web pages … http://09326811.at.webry.info/201504/article_14.html

http://09326811.at.webry.info/201504/article_15.html

Tim in Colorado also produced this video of the broadcast on 18 April 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17860 kHz …

https://youtu.be/rR6pM0FiEJc

Excellent video with narrative by Marcus in Australia, 16000 km from the North Carolina shortwave transmitter, describing his decoding of VOA Radiogram last weekend, 18 April 2015, 0930-1000, 5745 kHz …

https://twitter.com/mrmabs/status/590340874250231808

Last weekend’s transmission of Russian text in MFSK64 worked well for most listeners. Using a receiver in Slovakia, I had perfect decodes on 19 April of the 0230 broadcast on 5745 kHz and the 1930 broadcast on 15670 kHz.

This weekend will be straightforward MFSK32 except for the MT63-2000L bonus mode during the closing music.  

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 108, 25-26 April 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

  2:45  Report urges overhaul of US international broadcasting*
  8:46  CPJ names the ten most censored countries*
15:44  Turkmenistan cracks down on satellite dishes*
23:34  Ukrainian channels taken off Crimea cable TV*
26:30  Closing announcements
23:09  MT63-2000L: Bonus mode of the week

* with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

The Mighty KBC will transmit a minute of  MFSK64 Sunday at 0130 UTC (Saturday 9:30 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz, via Germany. Reports to Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com .

WRMI, Radio Miami International, will transmit digital IDs this weekend on its 9955 kHz frequency. I would especially appreciate recordings of the Olivia 32-2000 during poor reception conditions. Reports to Jeff: info (at) wrmi.net …  

AndFlmsg. If you have an Android phone or tablet, please try to decode VOA Radiogram using the beta AndFlmsg app, B0.5.0, which can be downloaded from http://www.w1hkj.com/vk2eta/ . This new version can decode MFSK images as well as text.

VOA Radiogram program 107 during the weekend of 18-19 April 2015 included a VOA Russian news story transmitted in MFSK64, which has a speed of about 70 Cyrillic characters per minute.

Most listeners reported successful decodes of the Russian text. Here are the text and accompanying image, both MFSK64, as decoding by Merkouris in Greece, more than 8000 km from the North Carolina transmitter …

Propagation during last weekend’s broadcast Saturday at 1600-1630 UTC on 17860 kHz was probably the worst in the history of VOA Radiogram. The signal was generally unusable in Europe, and poor in most of North America. However, Loet in Curaçao had very good reception on 17860, and he decoded this image…

I also had excellent reception using a receiver in Nova Scotia.

Let’s hope for better conditions this weekend. The program will include an experiment with Russian text. The Cyrillic characters transmit at much slower speed than Latin characters: about 33 words per minute in MFSK32, and 70 wpm in MFSK64. We will try MFSK64 for the additional speed, but will this faster mode survive trans-Atlantic propagation?

For the correct display of the Russian characters, be sure to select the UTF-8 character set via Fldigi’s Configure > Colors & Fonts  

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 107, 18-19 April 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

  1:23  Program preview
  2:29  India’s net neutrality debate*
  7:76  US Congressional hearing on Russian international media
22:46  MFSK64: VOA Russian story about Yuri Gagarin*
26:53  MFSK32: Closing announcements*

* with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule

(all days and times UTC):

Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz

Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz

Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz

Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz

All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

The Mighty KBC will transmit a minute of  MFSK64 Sunday at 0130 UTC (Saturday 9:30 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz, via Germany. This weekend’s image: Dutch tulips. Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com .

WRMI, Radio Miami International, will transmit digital IDs this weekend, same schedule …

You might be able to decode the text even if you can’t hear the WRMI voice broadcast.  

AndFlmsg. If you have an Android phone or tablet, please try to decode VOA Radiogram using the beta AndFlmsg app, B0.5.0, which can be downloaded from http://www.w1hkj.com/vk2eta/ . This new version can decode MFSK images as well as text. AndFlmsg does not yet have the UTF-8 character set, so the Russian will not display.

One sign of spring is that the VOA Radiogram signal is again heard and decoded in Japan, over 11000 km from the North Carolina transmitter – and maybe much more than 11000 km if via the long path.

TW in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, prepared this video of his reception and decode in 5 Aprikl 2015, 1930-2000 UTC, on 15670 kHz …

https://youtu.be/TM9x0_zMjsM

Tim in Colorado produced this video of his reception and decode, 4 April 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17860 kHz …

https://youtu.be/9no4ZlOFjD4

The 17860 kHz broadcast the next weekend, 11 April, 1600-1630 UTC, suffered from very bad propagation. A few words manage to decode on Tim’s video …

https://youtu.be/vIdDBiT1Tkc

So Tim tried again, 12 April 2015, 0230-0300, on 5745 kHz, with much better results …

https://youtu.be/DSiSPJwKC9s

Thanks to TW and Tim.

Last weekend, 8PSK125F with the pilot tone seemed to provide somewhat better results than without the pilot tone, but the improvement was not dramatic. In any case, MFSK32 remains the mode of choice for trans-Atlantic transmissions.

This weekend, we will revert to an all-MFSK32 show, except for the Olivia 32-1000 bonus mode.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 106, 11-12 April 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

  1:40  Program preview
  2:57  Anti-venom against sub-Saharan snakes*
  8:47  New aluminum-ion battery*
13:58  Chinese TV broadcaster punished for comment*
18:47  Balloons send “The Interview” DVDs into North Korea*
21:56  Islamic State hacks TV5Monde TV*
25:35  Closing announcements*
28:18  Olivia 32-1000: Bonus mode of the week

* with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

The Mighty KBC will transmit a minute of  MFSK64 Sunday at 0130 UTC (Saturday 9:30 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz, via Germany. Reports to Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com .

WRMI, Radio Miami International, will (I think) transmit digital IDs this weekend, same schedule …

You may be able to decode the text even if you can’t hear the WRMI voice broadcast.  Reports to Jeff: info (at) wrmi.net .

AndFlmsg. If you have an Android phone or tablet, please try to decode VOA Radiogram using the beta AndFlmsg app, B0.5.0, which can be downloaded from http://www.w1hkj.com/vk2eta/ . This new version can decode MFSK images as well as text.