One feature of the MFSK digital text mode is that it can also be used to transmit images. Until recently, only the MFSK16 and MFSK32 modes could have been used to send images that display correctly. 

An “alpha” version of Fldigi, 3.32.76AB, can now transmit and receive images in MFSK64 and MFSK128 without the skew and discoloration previously experienced. These faster modes to not transmit the pictures more quickly, but they do allow greater resolution.

Michel in France decoded this MFSK64 image from VOA Radiogram, 21 Sept ember 2013, 17860 kHz, using Fldigi 3.21.75:

And, from his recording, the same image using 3.21.76AB:

Below, from a receiver in Greece, is the CNBC logo transmitted in MFSK128 and decoded by Fldigi 3.21.76:

And, as decoded in the Netherlands, the same logo decoded by 3.21.76AB

In another type of comparison, Roger in Germany compared the images received via shortwave on VOA Radiogram with those obtained directly from websites.

First, the Duck Commander promo via shortwave, 17860 kHz:

And from Discovery Channel Italia website:

The Golden Record attached to the Voyager spacecraft, transmitted as an MFSK32 image on 17860 kHz:

And from the NASA website:

The shortwave transmitter for all of the above is located in North Carolina.

T.W. in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, received VOA Radiogram, 14 September 2013, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17860 kHz, all the way from the transmitter in North Carolina. And he documents his reception with this YouTuve video:

youtu.be/q-WPB6o1XZ0

Some of the RSIDs were missed, but otherwise his decode was nearly perfect throughout the broadcast, including the MFSK128 segment. The MFSK32 images looked fairly good, too.

Hugh Stegman of the Utility World blog produced this YouTube video of the Persian text sample on VOA Radiogram, 14 September 2013, also during the 1600-1630 UTC broadcast on 17860 kHz.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlpNWs843M4

Davide, IW0HLG, lives in a third-floor apartment in Rome, in a location surrounded by many other buildings. It is an electrically noisy environment. He tuned in VOA Radiogram on 15 September at 1930-2000 UTC on 15670 kHz an inexpensive Degen DE-1103 portable shortwave radio (same as the Kaito KA1103). Despite noise accompanying his reception of VOA Radiogram, he had nearly flawless decodes of the various speeds of MFSK, as demonstrated in this YouTube video:

http://youtu.be/K0F8cEIsPBk 

Jay, VE3SWS, in Ontario, contributed this YouTube video of a 6:21 excerpt of the 1930-2000 broadcast of VOA Radiogram on 15 September, 15670 kHz:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYnaA2rkrVI

And Tim, K0RUS, in Colorado, provided this video of the entire broadcast, 15 September at 0230-0300 UTC on 5745 kHz. It has no audio – which, given the noise made by MFSK, some people might consider a good thing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJF_Tg89_rk

VOA Radiogram for the weekend of 14-15 September 2013 has been produced using Fldigi 3.21.75, so use that version, from w1hkj.com, for best results. Please also install Flmsg 1.1.32, if you do not already have it. We will not use Flamp this weekend.

The non-Latin alphabet of the week is Persian. Because Persian is read right to left, it will be interesting to watch it print out in the receive pane. Use the UTF-8 character set as noted below.

As for the English content, this weekend it will come from my website www.kimandrewelliott.com, which aggregates news about international broadcasting. The website has been inactive for a few months because of the time required to produce VOA Radiogram. However, because of requests that I resume kimandrewelliott.com, I will incorporate news from the website into VOA Radiogram in an attempt to keep both projects going.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, 14-15 September 2013:

2:55  MFSK16: Program preview
1:45  MFSK32: Persian text sample*
4:06  MFSK32: Jamming of Al Jazeera
4:24  MFSK32/Flmsg: New head of France 24**
1:55  MFSK64: BBC in Japan and Daventry sculpture
2:59  MFSK32 image: Rendition of Daventry sculpture
  :42  MFSK128: CNN in former Yugoslavia
  :49  MFSK32: Intro to second MFSK64 transmission
2:25  MFSK64/Flmsg: Psyop in the news**
2:35  MFSK32 image: Gaoxin-7 aircraft
1:15  MFSK16: Closing announcements
  :30  Surprise mode of the week
 
 * Use UTF-8 character set. In Fldigi, this adjustment is made via Configure > Colors & Fonts.
 
** Use Flmsg with Fldigi. To make Flmsg work with Fldigi, in Fldigi: Configure > Misc > NBEMS – Under Reception of flmsg files, check both boxes, and under that indicate where your Flmsg.exe file is located.

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.

IK0DWN in Italy produced this YouTube video of his reception on 7 September 2013 at 1600-1630 UTC on 17860. There is no audio with this video, but the screen capture is very good. Everything was decoded successfully except the MFSK128/Flamp, which may not have been attempted
 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMIB41Cvd-k

Tim, K0RUS, in Colorado recorded his reception of the same transmission, and it does have audio. You can hear, however, that Tim’s reception suffered from deep fades and local noise…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1gBoQv6YuI

This actually was a good test of the ability of the modes to handle interference. Not surprisingly, much of the content failed to decode. What is amazing is what did decode, despite the adverse conditions:

1. Both MFSK16 transmissions were at least 90% – a real testament to the robustness of MFSK16.
2. The Spanish Flmsg item rendered.
3. The MFSK128 Flamp item came through on the first pass. A most unlikely outcome for such a fast mode.
4. The second and third MFSK32 images looked fairly good given the conditions.
5. The second MFSK64 story was at least 75%.

Finally, this YouTube produced by Gilles in Montreal is from reception on 8 September 2013 at 0230-0300 UTC on 5745 kHz:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2npCUouv2rM

VOA Radiogram for the weekend of 7-8 September 2013 will include more experiments with RSIDs, the brief signals that automatically switch your decoding software to the correct mode.

For best results, please install Fldigi 3.21.75 from w1hkj.com. When you have 3.21.75 installed, go to Configure > ID > RsID, and adjust Errors to 0 (zero). This will prevent Fldigi from flipping to another mode while decoding our MFSK transmissions. For more information about this, see www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp-3.21/ConfigID.html

Please also download the latest versions of Flmsg and Flamp (2.1.00) from w1hkj.com.

This weekend’s VOA Radiogram will include another transmission in MFSK128. This will be done mainly to see if the RSID works. However, to improve the chances for a successful decode of the very fast MFSK128, it will be in Flamp format. A paragraph will be divided into seven blocks of 64 characters each. And it will be transmitted three times, with the second and third passes filling in any blocks with incorrect checksums. Make sure Flamp is running before the MFSK128 transmission begins; it does not turn on automatically like Flmsg.

The foreign language for the weekend will be Spanish, with brief VOA news items in both plain text and Flmsg formatted. Please turn off and restart Fldigi before each of this weekend’s VOA Radiogram broadcasts to ensure the accented Spanish letters display correctly. You will need the UTF-8 character set. The adjustment can be found via Configure > Colors & Fonts.

In the Flmsg-formatted Spanish news story, you will see several html codes such as í for the accented characters. They might look like decoding errors, but the story should look OK when the web page renders.

To make Flmsg work with Fldigi, in Fldigi: Configure > Misc > NBEMS – Under Reception of flmsg files, check both boxes, and under that indicate where your Flmsg.exe file is located.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, 7-8 September 2013:

3:55  MFSK16: Program preview

2:09  MFSK32: VOA Spanish news re old iPhones

3:41  MFSK32/Flmsg: VOA Spanish news re new iPhone model

2:29  MFSK64: VOA News re Al Jazeera in Egypt

2:48  MFSK32: YouTube screen capture of Al Jazeera

  :50  MFSK32: Introduction to MFSK128 item

1:30  MFSK128/Flamp: Brief description of VOA

  :45  MFSK32: Introduction to MFSK64

2:55  MFSK64: VOA News re LADEE moon mission

2:56  MFSK32: Artist’s rendition of LADEE spacecraft

1:11  MFSK16: Closing announcements

  :41  MFSK32: VOA Radiogram logo  

  :20  Surprise mode of the week

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.

There will also be a minute of MFSK32 on The Mighty KBC, via Germany, Saturday at approximately 1130 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday at approximately 0130 UTC on 7375 kHz (Saturday evening 9:30 pm EDT).