Get your official Shortwave Radiogram white laboratory coats ready for a busy week of experiments, 9-10 December 2017.

There was no consensus as to whether the MFSK16 or MFSK8 was more successful last weekend.  (You can listen to, and decode, the MFSK8 from 3 December as received – with difficulty – in Tasmania. This was during the 2330-2400 UTC broadcast on 11580 kHz from WRMI Florida.) The IFKP 1.0 did not decode for most listeners (including me), but there were some successes, including the image. This IFKP 1.0 image was decoded by Richard in New Brunswick … 

This weekend, we will keep you busy for one more intensive round of radio experiments, before settling down to some leisurely all-MFSK32 shows during the holiday period.  

Three Olivia modes on the 2330 UTC broadcast. Let’s hope that propagation cooperates by providing poor reception during the Sunday 2330-2400 broadcast on 11580 kHz. During this half hour, we will transmit Olivia 64-2000, Olivia 32-1000, and Olivia 16-500, all centered on 1500 Hz. These are all slow modes, between 20 and 30 wpm, so the entire broadcast will consist of less than one AP news story. Be sure to turn the Fldigi squelch (SQL) off.

UTC

23:30:00  Music/voice introduction

23:31:03  Olivia 64-2000

23:40:22  Olivia 32-1000

23:48:48  Olivia 16-500

Fun with Flamp. Meanwhile, the other three broadcasts this weekend will be in the usual MFSK32. There will, however, be one item in 8PSK-1000F, the very fast mode (3386 wpm) we tried a few weeks ago. This time, the 8PSK-1000F will be used in conjunction with Flamp, one of the Fldigi suite of programs. Please download Flamp from https://sourceforge.net/projects/fldigi/files/flamp/ .

Flamp will divide the news story into ten blocks of 480 bytes each. Then it will transmit the story four times. Any blocks that do not have the correct number of characters, due to fading or interference, can be received during the second, third, or fourth passes. The news story that requires seven minutes to transmit in MFSK32 will be transmitted four times in 8PSK-1000F in about one minute.
Please activate Flamp before the switch to 8PSK-1000F at about 19:30 into the show. Flamp will not turn on automatically (unless you have configured Fldigi’s Autostart). Go to Flamp’s Receive window. Flamp will show you which blocks were received correctly during the first through fourth passes.  

If the file is received 100%, click Save, then go to File > Folders > rx > [date of reception] – then open the file SWRG25_Russia_media.txt.

Here is the lineup for Shortwave Radiogram, program 25, 9-10 December 2017, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

1:34 Program preview

2:56 French engineer creates biodegradable plastic*

10:18  Russia Declares RFE/RL, VOA ‘Foreign Agents’*

19:30  8PSK-1000F with Flamp: same as preceding story **

20:40  MFSK32: Christmas markets in Germany*

26:36  Closing announcements * with image

** Use with Flamp (see above)

Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/567099476753304

The Mighty KBC transmits to Europe Saturdays at 1500-1600 UTC on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria), with the minute of MFSK at about 1530 UTC (if you are outside of Europe, listen via websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ ).  And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday 7-9 pm EST) on 5960 kHz, via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 0130 UTC.  Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com . See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/.  

Italian Broadcasting Corporation (IBC)  For the complete IBC transmission schedule visit  http://ibcradio.webs.com/  Five minutes of MFSK32 is at the end of the 30-minute English-language “Shortwave Panorama,” per the schedule below: