On VOA Radiogram during the past weekend, we had very good success with the decoding of the Chinese text, in both the MFSK32 and 64. Chinese text as an MFSK64 image was less successful, and it took longer to transmit. MFSK images are nice, but it is MFSK text that gets through in difficult reception conditions.

This weekend, our non-Latin alphabet will be Russian. In Fldigi: Configure > Colors & Fonts > use the pull-down menu, perhaps now set to ASCII, to select the UTF-8 character set.

There will also be several images and another comparison of the MFSK128 and MFSK128L (long interleave) modes.

Here is the lineup for the VOA Radiogram, number 34, 23-24 November 2013 (the left column shows the amount of time into the show, while the duration of each item is in parentheses):

  1:39  MFSK16: Program preview (now) (3:07)
  4:50  MFSK32: Milky Way evolution, with image (4:52)
  9:41  MFSK32: Russian text sample (2:11)
11:54  MFSK64: Russian text sample and image (1:49)
13:39  MFSK64/Flmsg*: Aquaponics, with image (5:17)
19:11  MFSK32: Email address (:43)
19:55  MFSK128: High school cubesat (1:18)
21:14  MFSK128L: High school cubesat (1:39)
22:55  MFSK32: Image of satellite (2:04)
24:58  MFSK32: Closing announcements (:34)
25:30  MFSK32: Some extras…

*Use Flmsg with Fldigi, both available from w1hkj.com

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com

Screenshots are audio samples are also appreciated. Audio of VOA Radiogram received during challenging shortwave conditions is especially helpful. Audio in mp3 format is OK.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC)
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1300-1330 6095 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

The VOA Radiogram test of Chinese text in the MFSK32 and MFSK64 modes during the weekend of 16-17 November 2013 was mostly successful.

Merkouris in Greece decoded the Chinese characters as follows, from the transmission 16 November at 1600-1630 UTC on 17860 kHz:

For comparison, an MFSK64 image of the same VOA Chinese text was also transmitted, but received by Merkouris with much fuzzier results:

This shows that MFSK images are nice, but it’s actual text that gets through in typical shortwave conditions.

Marco, near Rome, produced this YouTube video of his reception and decoding of VOA Radiogram on 17 November 2013, 1930-2000 UTC, on 15670 kHz. Despite marginal reception of the voice introduction, everything decodes well, except that the Chinese characters did not print out. Apparently, the UTF-8 character set was not selected on Marco’s Fldigi software. Decoding from the audio of this YouTube video, the Chinese characters do print out on instances of Fldigi with UTF-8 set:   

youtu.be/v9k-pRPG0x8
 
Andy, in Virginia, provided this YouTube video of his reception and decoding on 17 November 2013, 0230-0300 UTC, 5745 kHz. This frequency usually puts a good signal into Virginia, although unpredictable fades can occur. Everything decodes well, including the Chinese characters, although the RSID for the MFSK16 program preview did not work:

youtu.be/_hwf9fvFWWI

Ken in Michigan used this 1950s vintage Hammarlund HQ-150 receiver into a more modern notebook PC for successful decoding of  VOA Radiogram, 17 November 2013, 0230-0300 UTC on 5745 kHz:

Marco, near Rome, used this 1980s vintage Sony ICF-2001D into a Dell notebook, with homebrew magnetic loop antenna, 50cm each side, 5-70pF tuning capacitor, 10pF series capacitor, tuned for 17860 kHz:

When we last transmitted Chinese characters on VOA Radiogram, we noted that they printed out more slowly than English letters. This is no doubt due to the greater complexity of the code involved with non-Latin alphabets. This weekend we will transmit Chinese characters in MFSK32, then try to speed it up with MFSk64. Make sure you have Fldigi set to the UTF-8 character set.

We will also continue our experiments with the new long-interleave modes MFSK64L and MFSK128L.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, 16-17 November 2013 (produced using Fldigi 3.21.77 and Flmsg 1.1.33, both available from w1hkj.com):

NEW: Left column shows time into the program. In parentheses is the duration of each item…

 1:38  MFSK16: Program preview (3:06)

 4:45  MFSK32/64: Chinese text sample (2:34)

 7:19  MFSK64 image: Chinese text sample (1:55)

 9:14  MFSK64/64L: Moon craters (5:46)

15:00  MFSK32: E-mail address (:43)

15:43  MFSK128/128L: European GOCE satellite (2:46)

18:29  MFSK32/64: Image of GOCE satellite (3:43)

22:12  MFSK64/Flmsg: Energy from microwaves (2:51)

25:03  MFSK32 image: Metamaterial array (2:01)

27:04  MFSK32: Closing announcements (:33)

There will also be a few “extras” at the end of the show.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule

(all days and times UTC)
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1300-1330 6095 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

So far, there are two YouTube videos of VOA Radiogram for the weekend of 9-10 November 2013.  Both were produced by Tim, K0RUS, in Colorado.

The first is from the broadcast on 9 November at 1600-1630 UTC on 17860 kHz. Reception include some local “hash” interference, thus providing a very good test for the digital text modes…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCe7HvSGVX8

The second is from the broadcast on 10 November (evening of 9 November in the USA) at 0230-0300 UTC on 5745 kHz. This time there was less interference…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2GaTALZfpU