Georg in Germany decoded VOA Radiogram on 22 March 2015, 1930-2000 UTC, 15670 kHz, using this Muse MH07 hybrid radio, costing about 30 Euros (this model is also known as the Degen DE13) …
George says the radio has good sensitivity, but no fine tuning, making it difficult to tune the correct frequency.
Nevertheless, Georg received and decoded these images using the Muse MH07 …
Here’s an example of an Flmsg form received via the Muse MH07 …
The Saturday 0930-1000 broadcast of VOA Radiogram returns to 5745 kHz as of this weekend (4 April).
Last week’s test of the 8PSK FEC modes was interesting. In general, the 8PSK FEC modes did not perform as well as well as the MFSK modes. However, Richard in New Brunswick and I, using a receiver in Nova Scotia, had 100% copy of all the modes, including 8PSKR250F at 635 wpm! This mode might be useful for high-speed data transmission, including formatted web pages, over distances of 1500 km or less, especially when propagation is stable.
This weekend we will do one more test of 8PSK125F. This will actually be two transmissions, one without the pilot tone, and one with the pilot tone. You do not need to make any adjustments to detect the pilot tone, other than to have the Fldigi RxID on (green). “The RsID signal will both determine the mode and the mode center frequency (to the nearest 2.6 Hz). A finer resolution of the mode center frequency can be made using the optional pilot carrier,” according to the Fldigi Users Manual.
Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 105, 4-5 April 2015, all in MFSK32 except where indicated …
1:27 Program preview 2:46 Russia Denies License to Tatar-Language TV* 8:53 8PSK125F: Tatar-language TV channels off air 10:03 8PSK125F (with pilot tone): Same story 11:08 MFSK32 resumes: Cyberattack targets GitHub* 16:39 Google and Chinese website certificates* 21:18 Cuba will increase Internet access* 27:10 Closing announcements 28:35 Bonus mode: Olivia 16-1000
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule (all days and times UTC): Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz (new frequency) 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 at 9:30 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz (via Germany). This is part of the expanded KBC transmission UTC Sundays at 0000-0300 UTC on 7375 kHz. The Saturday transmission of The Mighty KBC on 6095 kHz is discontinued. Reports to Eric at themightykbc (at) gmail.com .
WRMI, Radio Miami International, 9955 kHz, will transmit IDs in digital modes again this weekend. You might not hear these transmissions, or even see a trace of the digital modes on your waterfall, but you might still successfully decode the text. Reports to Jeff at info (at) wrmi.net .
AndFlmsg (Fldigi for Android). If you have an Android tablet or phone, a new beta release (B0.5.0) of AndFlmsg is now available at http://www.w1hkj.com/vk2eta/ . This new version can decode MFSK images and has other improvements. Please let me know your results. (This tip from the developer: On the modem screen, to copy and paste part of the decoded text, simply stop the modem with the Modem On/Off button, then long-press on the received text to show the select/copy tool. The text can then be pasted into an email app for example.) (AndFlmsg B0.5.0 does not have the 8PSK125F mode.)
We will try two of the new 8PSK modes
with forward error correction (FEC). These are available in 3.22.06.
The FEC built into 8PSK125F and 8PSK250F might help these modes survive
the rigors of shortwave, despite their fast speed.
Fldigi 3.22.06 also restores the ability to display UTF-8 characters,
although this weekend’s program contains no non-Latin characters or
exotic punctuation marks.
This weekend’s program (program 104) will transmit the same 724-word news story about social media in Africa in five different modes,
each increasing in speed, until MFSK32 resumes to close the show …
It is likely that decoding errors will be seen as the modes increase in
speed. Nevertheless, please stay tuned until the closing announcements
and image in MFSK32.
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5910 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.
* This will change to 5745 kHz beginning 4 April 2015.
The Mighty KBC will transmit a minute of MFSK64
Saturday at about 1230 UTC on 6095 kHz and Sunday at about 0130 UTC on
7375 kHz. Both frequencies are via Germany. The last KBC Saturday
broadcast on 6095 kHz will be 28 March. KBC will continue Sundays at
0900-1600 UTC on 6095 kHz.
AndFlmsg. If you have an Android device, please try the free beta Android app AndFlmsg from http://www.w1hkj.com/vk2eta/.
Although AndFlmsg is designed for Flmsg forms, it also decodes plain
text (non-Flmsg) content. Swipe AndFlmsg until you reach the modem
screen, the one with the W.Fall On/Off button bottom right. Acoustic
coupling – radio speaker near the Android device’s built-in mic –
usually works well.
RSIDs: During the weekend of 21-22 March 2015, the RSIDs for MFSK32 and BPSK63 will be followed by five seconds of silence to give you time to change the audio frequency if it is not correct on
your waterfall.
Punctuation marks: Last weekend, some listeners noted
anomalies with the printout of various punctuation marks and accented
letters, including “Mart” instead of the intended “Martí”. This
weekend’s program will begin with some examples of punctuation marks in
both typographic and typewriter forms. The former requires UTF-8, but
the latter does not. There will also be two items in Spanish, a good
test of the display of diacritics, and some Cyrillic characters in the
story about Ekho Moskvy. In Fldigi, select the UTF-8 character set via
Configure > Colors & Fonts. NB: Fldigi 3.22.05 does not display UTF-8 characters, even if it’s set for UTF-8. Use Fldigi 3.22.04.
BPSK63: Yes, we do mode requests on VOA Radiogram.
Oscar in Italy asked for content in BPSK63 (also known as PSK63) so that
he can test his DroidPSK Android app. This app is available from
http://www.wolphi.com/ham-radio-apps/droidpsk/ and costs $5.49. It is
possible that some characters will not decode correctly in BPSK63,
because it does not have the error correction capabilities of MFSK32.
Flmsg: This weekend’s program includes another item in
Flmsg (plaintext form). For Flmsg to work with Fldigi, in Fldigi:
Configure > Misc > NBEMS: Under Reception of flmsg files, check
Open in flmsg. Under that, indicate where your flmsg.exe file is
located. If you also check Open in browser, Flmsg with open your default
web browser and display the message as a web page.
AndFlmsg: If you have an Android device, VOA Radiogram
can be decoded using the beta AndFlmsg app available from
http://www.w1hkj.com/vk2eta/ . While AndFlmsg is designed to be used
with Flmsg forms, it also displays content in plain text, i.e. not in
Flmsg format, on its modem screen (the one with “W.Fall On/Off” bottom
right). Please let me know your results with AndFlmsg.
MT63-500L is the bonus mode of the week. Because of its
latency, you probably will not see the text until after the tone (more
like a “buzz”) has ended.
Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 103, 21-22 March 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:
1:22 Program preview
2:43 A note about punctuation marks
4:13 Greetings to the Antena DX radio program*
6:21 Iron rain once fell on earth*
11:56 BPSK63: Analysis of earth’s ionosphere
13:50 MFSK32 resumes: Young scientists (in Spanish)*
18:07 Change of directors as Ekho Moskvy radio*
21:59 Reuters website inaccessible in China*
25:29 Decode VOA Radiogram on Android device (Flmsg plaintext
form)
27:02 Closing announcements
28:05 MT63-500L: Bonus mode of the week
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5910 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
Saturday at about 1230 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday at about 0130 UTC
(Saturday 9:30 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz. Both frequencies are via Germany. Reports to themightykbc (at) gmail.com.
An image from 15 March 2015, during the 1930 UTC broadcast, 15670 kHz, as decoded by Chris in New Zealand, 14000 km from the transmitter:
Last weekend’s tests with audio levels and the “wandering RSIDs” were not especially conclusive. I will study the reception reports in more detail during the next few days.
The VOA news item in Flmsg generally worked well. Here’s the web page as decoded by Willy in Denmark …
A few listeners, including me, tried the new AndFlmsg Android app to decode VOA Radiogram. This was largely successful. See these examples. If you have an Android device, you can download the beta version of AndFlmsg.
It has been the custom on VOA Radiogram to insert line breaks at 65 characters. This seems to provide the best looking print-out of text on most personal computers. On this weekend’s program, there will be no line breaks on the second news story: It will be pure “wrap.” Let me know how it looks on your display. This will be especially interesting if you are trying the AndFlmsg app on an Android device.
This weekend’s VOA Radiogram will include a brief Flmsg item (using plaintext form), just before the closing announcements and using the plaintext form. It will be interesting to see how this renders on personal computers using Fldigi and on Android devices using AndFlmsg.
Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 102, 14-15 March 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:
1:58 Program preview 3:02 Iran’s “Halal” Internet* 10:37 Islamic state’s Facebook alternative goes offline* 17:12 North Koreans import smartphones to store videos* 24:51 Flmsg about AndFlmsg 25:47 Closing announcements 28:19 Olivia 32-1000: Bonus mode of the week
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule (all days and times UTC): Sat 0930-1000 5910 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 MFSK (an image showing the central railway station in Ede, the Netherlands, home of KBC) on Saturday at 1230 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday at 0130 UTC (Saturday evening 9:30 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz. Both frequencies are via Germany. Reports to Eric at themightykbc (at) gmail.com .
Georg in Germany received VOA Radiogram on 28 February 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17860 kHz. He writes, “I used a small and cheap pocket radio named ZERO SR-605 which was available in Europe a few years ago for about 25 Dollars. It is analogue but has got a frequency counter in order to display the frequency digitally. For reception, I used the built-in telescopic antenna rod.” …
Al in Florida listened to VOA Radiogram, 28 February 2015, 0930-1000 UTC, on 5910 kHz, using NooElec Nano RTL-SDR USB stick with a RANVerter Pi upconverter [shouldn’t that be downconverter?] built from a kit, “all of this housed in a Wallgreens Drug plastic soap travel case!” …
Here is the radio in action, with the SDR interface on the computer display …
A a closeup of the spectrum display and waterfall …
One of the images he decoded with his SDR …
Tarmo in Estonia also used a USB dongle, an RTL-SDR, but instead of using a upconverter, he used modified drivers for the RTL-SDR from github.com/mutability/rtl-sdr/ which allows shortwave reception …
Here’s one of the images Tarmo received 28 February 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, 17860 kHz (over 7000 km from the transmitter) …
Klaus in Germany received VOA Radiogram program 100, 28 Feb 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, 17860 kHz, on this Kosmos AM/FM radio, designed for young electronics experimenters …
It’s an AM/FM radio, so Klaus created a coil to achieve shortwave reception …
Text decode was good, with only a few errors, and the images were not bad …
