IK1RKU in northern Italy provided this excellent YouTube video of the entire VOA Radiogram transmission on 20 April 2013, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17860 kHz:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnw4yu4SGbo

And another YouTube recording of an entire VOA Radiogram by Andy, N9VT, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This is from 21 April 2013, 0230-0300  UTC, on 5745 kHz. Reception quality was obviously not a problem:

http://youtu.be/iPMZfPjl16Y

For Hugh Stegman, of Monitoring Times Utility World, reception on 5745 kHz was not as good, but he still had fairly good copy of the very fast MFSK128 mode, as seen in his YouTube video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hYYo7yT_gc

Apologies for not updating this website since the April 20/21 VOA Radiogram. I have been diverted by deadlines connected to my other full-time job, audience research analyst for the International Broadcasting Bureau.

Thanks to all who sent reception reports, screenshots, audio samples, and other materials from the past weekend’s program. MFSK held off a challenge from the Thor modes and remains the most successful of the modes we have tested.

However, because your producer omitted the Thor 50x2 mode – a mode that might prove to be robust – from that program, VOA Radiogram on April 27/28 will include a “make good” transmission of Thor 50x2. And a transmission of Thor 50x1 for comparison.

There will also be a transmission of the PSK63F mode. This rather slow mode performed well during VOA Radiogram 1, but we only gave it a minute. There will be a longer transmission of PSK63F this weekend to allow a better evaluation.

The last text transmission this weekend will be in the Flamp format. If you don’t already have it, please download Flamp from www.w1hkj.com. Flamp divides a text file into several blocks, each with a specific number of characters. If any block is received without the correct number of characters, that block is rejected. The missing block can be picked up during the repeat transmission. Flamp might be useful for those text transmissions that are received at about 90% copy, when occasional deep fades prevent 100% copy.

These notes about Flamp:

• In Flamp, under Configure, check both of the Auto sync boxes.
• Flamp should be running when the news item in Flamp format is transmitted. It does not turn on automatically when a Flamp transmission occurs.
• At the end of the first or second transmission, you will see the VOA news story as a html file. Save that file and open it in your browser. It will not pop up automatically like Flmsg. 

Here is the lineup for the April 27/28 VOA Radiogram:

MFSK16 (58 wpm) program preview
PSK63F (55 wpm), 2:50
MFSK32 text (120 wpm) and image, 4:28
Thor50x1 (180wpm), 1:48
Thor50x2 (180wpm), 1:46
MFSK64 (240 wpm), 2:16
MFSK128* in Flamp X2 format, 3:46
MFSK32 image

*Probably a good idea to set the MFSK128 mode manually rather than depend on the RSID

All modes will be centered on 1500 Hz.

Each mode will be introduced by a brief MFSK16 transmission, same as last weekend.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com

Twitter: @VOARadiogram

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.

Kim

The Mighty KBC, based in the Netherlands and transmitting via Germany, will include digital text modes in its North America broadcast, Sunday 28 April at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday evening 8-10 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz.

At about 0133 UTC, the Thor 50x2 mode will be centered on 1500 Hz. At just before 0200 UTC, MFSK32 text will be centered on 1000 Hz, and an MFSK32 image on 2000 Hz.

On 5 May, The Mighty KBC will change to 9925 kHz for its North America broadcast.

Thanks to everyone who has sent reception reports, audio samples, screenshots, and other interesting materials. After the program on the weekend of April 13-14, featuring the Olivia modes, we heard from listeners in Austria, Belgium, Canada (BC and Ontario), Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK, and Ukraine, as well as from the US states of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
 
The results, after five weekends of VOA Radiogram, indicate that, for use in analog amplitude modulated shortwave broadcasting, the PSK modes are good, the MT63 and Olivia modes very good, and the MFSK modes are excellent. MFSK has so far outperformed the other families of modes.


QSL cards

The process of producing and printing the QSL cars is moving along slowly. If you requested a QSL card, it will be sent eventually. Thanks for your patience.


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.

Below is a screenshot of Olivia 32-2000 made last weekend by Omar Alfredo Ortiz in Colombia:

Omar Alfredo Ortiz in Bogotá, Colombia offers this recording of VOA Radiogram, 14 April 2013, 0230-0300 UTC, on 5745 kHz. You can do your decoding from Omar’s audio.

We also like Omar’s keywords:

Hugh Stegman, editor of the Utility World column for Monitoring Times magazine, produced this YouTube video of his reception of the final ten minutes of the 1600 UTC broadcast of VOA Radiogram on 13 April 2013, 17860 kHz. Hugh is in California.

And from ik1rku in Italy, this YouTube video of Olivia 16-1000 versus Nelson Riddle on 17860 kHz

Tomak in Krakow, Poland, does not have his digital decoding software working yet, but he did kindly send an mp3 audio file of his reception on 6 April 2013 at 1600 UTC on 17860 kHz. 

We decoded the digital text from his audio file. Kim’s voice is barely intelligible, but the MT63-500 was decoded 100%, and the MFSK16 preceding it nearly so, despite deep fades on both text transmissions.

In response to questions about the transmission of VOA Radiogram from the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station in North Carolina, here are some details.

What  kind of transmitter is used?

We are using GE 4BT250A1 250-kW transmitters for the VOA Radiogram programs. It is one of the original transmitters installed at the station in 1962.

What is the actual transmitted power?

The transmitter output power is 80 kW.

What type of antennas are used?

The 5745 kHz and 6095 kHz programs are using a simple dipole with a bearing of 10 and 190 deg:

The 17860 kHz and 15670 kHz programs are using a curtain antenna with a bearing of 45 degrees, This antenna has a forward gain of about 17 dB:

Any other interesting details?

There is no audio processing used in the audio chain between the program source and the transmitter for the Radiogram program.

There is less than 1 dB of loss between the transmitter and the antenna.

See also BBG press release, 2 May 2012, with a link to a video about the transmitting station.

Dezider Monoš, OM5NA, in the Slovak Republic has again produced YouTube videos of his VOA Radiogram decodes. These are from 7 April 2013, 1930 UTC, on 15670 kHz.

MFSK16:

youtu.be/FzjEotUuvX4

MT63-1000 (long):

youtu.be/FzjEotUuvX4?t=8m50s

MFSK64:

youtu.be/FzjEotUuvX4?t=11m40s

MT63-2000 (long):

youtu.be/FzjEotUuvX4?t=14m

MFSK32 image:

youtu.be/FzjEotUuvX4?t=22m20s

This audio sent by John in Depok, Indonesia, provided a perfect decode of MFSK16 and nearly perfect decode of MFSK32. (Note that the voice portion of the broadcast was mostly unintelligible.) MT63-500 did not decode at all. Depok is 16700 km from the IBB shortwave transmitting station in North Carolina. Given the time and frequency, however, John’s reception was probably via the long path: 23300 km. At this distance, the RSIDs don’t work, so set mode and audio frequency manually.