Mark Hirst in the UK produced this five-minute YouTube that does a good job explaining what VOA Radiogram does. It’s from 11 August 2013, 1930-2000 UTC, on 15670 kHz. (My voice sounds strange because Mark’s receiver is in USB mode):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmNhK325x78

Matt in Quebec provides this YouTube video of reception via a remote receiver in Nova Scotia, 11 August 2013, 0230-0300 UTC, 5745 kHz:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf_Bjx4hOjQ

In this weekend’s VOA Radiogram, one VOA News item will be in the MFSK22 mode (80 words per minute), a mode we have generally not used for complete VOA News stories.

Another “feature” in this weekend’s program will be five seconds of silence whenever modes are changed. This might improve the performance of the RSID.

The Flmsg-formatted VOA News story in this weekend’s program is 9 minutes, 6 seconds long. That might seem unusually long, but it includes 4 minutes, 20 seconds for a VOA logo in SVG format as part of the html. This was created for us by Mark Hirst in the UK.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, 10-11 August 2013:

2:30  MFSK16: Program preview

3:26  MFSK22: VOA News re import of Apple products

3:12  MFSK32: Greetings to l'Associazione Italiana Radioascolto

2:10  MFSK32 image: AIR logo

9:06  MFSK32/Flmsg*: VOA News re one year of Curiosity on Mars

2:26  MFSK32 image: Curiosity tire tracks

1:10  MFSK16: Closing announcements

2:20  Surprise image, text, image of the week

*To make Flmsg work with Fldigi (both can be downloaded from w1hkj.com), in Flmsg: Configure > Misc > NBEMS – Under Reception of flmsg files, check both boxes, and under that indicate where your Flmsg.exe file is located.

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.

Please send your reception reports, audio samples, screenshots, comments, ideas, suggestions to radiogram@voanews.com .

Lorenzo near Rome produced this YouTube video of his reception and decoding of VOA Radiogram on 4 August 2013, 1930-2000 UTC, 15670 kHz:

http://youtu.be/E7Yqo_GYLQU

Tim, KØRUS, just south of Denver, provided this YouTube video of his reception, same time, same frequency.  It’s a good example of decoding under marginal conditions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aATF4FBgPYU

This video from Omar Alfredo Ortiz Robayo in Bogota, Colombia, was for reception on 4 August 2013, 0230-0300 UTC, 5745 kHz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XZrv-Mk84A

If you are an EasyPal fan, EasyPal returns this weekend with a striking image of the Las Vegas skyline. Don’t be too disappointed if you cannot decode the EasyPal image. A certain signal threshold is required, and the failure rate is rather high.

In recording the program for this weekend, I applied audio compression to my voice introduction and to the music at the end of the show – but not to the digital tones. Perhaps you will notice the difference. 

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram for the weekend of 3 and 4 August 2013:

2:30  MFSK16: Program preview
  :45  MFSK32: VOA logo image
5:22  MFSK32: VOA News re 3D printed heart
1:00  MFSK32: Heart image    
4:15  MFSK64 in Flmsg* format: VOA News re oxygen in Mars’s past
1:15  MFSK32: Mars image
7:05  EasyPal image** (4-QAM)
1:08  MFSK16: closing announcements
1:17  MFSK32: VOA Radiogram logo image
 :55  Surprise mode of the week

*To make Flmsg work with Fldigi (both can be downloaded from w1hkj.com), in Flmsg: Configure > Misc > NBEMS – Under Reception of flmsg files, check both boxes, and under that indicate where your Flmsg.exe file is located.

**Download EasyPal software from vk4aes.com.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com

These would be especially helpful:

1) Audio samples of poor reception which nevertheless results in a successful decoding of the text modes.

2) Reception of the digital modes on less expensive portable radios, and any advice you have on how to feed audio from those radios to your PC and the decoding software.

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

Thanks for listening and decoding.

From Lorenzo, near Rome, this YouTube video of his reception and decoding of VOA Radiogram on 27 July 2013, 1600-1630 UTC, 17860 kHz:

http://youtu.be/97LoK1yyq5U

From Mark in the UK, this production from 28 July 2013, 1930-2000 UTC, on 15670 kHz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF2dPhrXsiQ

Here is the lineup of modes for VOA Radiogram, 27-28 July 2013:

2:22  MFSK16: Program  preview
5:01  MFSK16: VOA News re photo of Earth from Cassini spacecraft
  :35  MFSK32: Image of Earth and moon from Cassini
3:03  MFSK32: VOA News re dolphins whistling “names”
2:00  MFSK32: Image of dolphins
1:07  MFSK32: Email address and image of logo
6:32  MFSK32/Flmsg*: VOA News re solar storm
2:22  MFSK32: Image of coronal mass ejection
1:10  MFSK16: Closing announcements
1:55  MFSK32: Surprise image 

*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. If all goes well, when all the text is received, the VOA News story should pop up as a new window of your browser. If you see an ignore checksum error notice, click yes.

As usual, 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.

T.W. in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, provided this YouTube video of his reception and decoding of VOA Radiogram on 20 July 2013, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17860 kHz.  North Carolina to Japan is 11,000 km, unless reception was via the long path, in which case it was a much longer distance.  His decoding of the text modes appears to be 100%, and the images are fairly good. It probably helps that he is using a Beverage antenna directed to north east (for North,South America), 90m in length: 

http://youtu.be/Blvdd39prtk

Lorenzo, near Rome, same date, time, frequency:

http://youtu.be/yLqE2jqTgX8

Hugh Stegman in California compared MT63-2000L with MFSK64 under noisy conditions, 21 July 2013, 1930-2000 UTC, on 15670 kHz:

http://youtu.be/AxB-C32G9GU