Have your white laboratory coats ready, because VOA Radiogram will be very experimental this weekend.

Battle of the 55-wpm modes.  VOA Radiogram listener and contributor Mark Hirst in the UK suggests an experiment with the BPSK63F mode. His interest was generated by an article in the August QST magazine about the “flavors of PSK.” It noted that BPSK63F, with its forward error correction,  has a “remarkable ability to be decoded under poor conditions.”

During the early editions of VOA Radiogram, we did transmit BPSK63F a few times. This weekend, we’ll do it again, in comparison with two other modes that also have speeds of about 55 words per minute: MFSK16 and Olivia 8-1000.  The RSID for each mode will be followed by a 15-second tuning signal, in case you must manually change modes. More details below in the lineup.

The return of Flmsg.  This weekend’s program will include on item in Flmsg format. Flmsg is an add-on to Fldigi that allows the transmission and reception of message forms and formatted html documents.

If you don’t already have Fldigi, download it from https://sourceforge.net/projects/fldigi/files/fldigi/ . Download Flmsg   from https://sourceforge.net/projects/fldigi/files/flmsg/ .  (If SourceForge is not working, use http://www.w1hkj.com/files/ )

To make Flmsg work with Fldigi, in Fldigi: Configure > Misc > NBEMS > under Reception of flmsg files, select Open with flmsg and Open in browser, and below that indicate where your Flmsg.exe file is located – probably somewhere in Program Files(x86).

If all goes well, when the digital mode transmission concludes, Flmsg will open a new window of your web browser to display a formatted VOA Radiogram transmission schedule. If your default browser is not open, Flmsg will open it for you. (If you are asked to ignore checksum error, select Yes.)

If it doesn’t work the first time, or you don’t have Flmsg installed, you can try this later from your recording.

In Windows, an easy way to save the received document is to use the Microsoft Snipping Tool .  Please send that image as an attachment to your reception report.

If you are an Android user, TIVAR does not accommodate Flmsg files. But a similar app,AndFlmsg, as its name would indicate, does. Unlike TIVAR, which is receive-only, AndFlmsg encodes as well as decodes and is used by radio amateurs for message traffic. After the Flmsg is received, go to the index screen and press on the name of the file.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 172, 16-17 July 2016. All modes are centered on 1500 Hz.

1:35 MFSK32: Program preview (now)

3:06 MFSK32: Osmosis to generate electricity*

     Battle of the 55 wpm modes …

11:33 BPSK63F: “Snowline” around new star

15:04 MFSK16: Fuel-saving cars may pollute more

18:36 Olivia 8-1000: “Frankenstein” galaxy detected

21:30 MFSK32: Image and intro to Flmsg

23:52 MFSK32: VOA Radiogram schedule in html via Flmsg

27:03 MFSK32: Closing announcements

* with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule

(all days and times UTC):

Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz

Sat 1600-1630 17580 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 also transmit Flmsg. This will be during its broadcasting to North America, Sunday 0000 to 0200 UTC (Saturday 8-10 pm EDT), on 9925 kHz, via Germany. A minute of MFSK32, in Flmsg format, will be at will broadcast at 0131 UTC. Please send reports for this KBC reception to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com .

DigiDX will provide DX and media news in MFSK32 and a mixture of other modes: Sunday 2130-2200 UTC, 15770 kHz, via WRMI Florida

Sunday 2330-2400 UTC, 11580 kHz, via WRMI Florida

Monday 2000-2130 UTC, 6070 kHz, via Channel 292 Germany Daily 1830-1900 and 0530-0600 UTC, 6070 kHz, via Channel 292 Germany Look for any additions or changes to the DigiDX schedule at

http://www.digidx.uk/

or

https://www.facebook.com/digidx/

IBC (Italian Broadcasting Corporation) has a broadcast to Europe on 6070 kHz, Wednesdays, 2000-2200 UTC, with MFSK32 and Olivia 16-500 at 2030-2100 UTC. See http://ibcradio.webs.com/ for the complete schedule and contact information.