Olivia 64-2000 segment of VOA Radiogram, 23 January 2016, 1600-1630 UTC, 17580 kHz via North Carolina, as received in the northern Virginia skip zone. Because of apparent multipath propagation, the MFSK32 decoded less than 10%, but the robust Olivia 64-2000 decoded 100%. You can decode it yourself from this audio. A center audio frequency of 1506 Hz seems to work well.
Last weekend’s long transmission of Olivia 64-2000 was very
interesting. It did result in some successful decodes under difficult
conditions. One thing I discovered is that, when receiving and decoding Olivia
64-2000, it is important that the receiver bandwidth be wide enough to
include all of the data, which extends to 2500 Hz above and below the
carrier frequency. Otherwise, you cannot take advantage of all the
redundancy built in to the Olivia 64-2000 mode.
Those of you who can record the audio using an SDR receiver can
experiment with various bandwidths, shape factors, AM versus SSB, etc.
Last weekend’s Olivia 64-2000 was so much fun that we’ll
include one news item in that mode this weekend, in addition to our
usual MFSK32.
Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 147, 23-24 January 2016, all in MFSK32 except where noted:
1:32 Program preview
2:49 Evidence of “Planet Nine.”*
8:15 Plastic in oceans*
12:51 Olivia 64-2000: Papal Fiat to be auctioned
23:02 MFSK32: Image, closing announcements, and snow*
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5865 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 transmit a minute of MFSK32 Sunday at 0220
UTC (Saturday 9:20 pm EST) on 6040 kHz, via Germany. Please send
reports for KBC reception to Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com .
On 16 January 2016, 1600-1630, 17580 kHz, Frank in Germany experienced severe local noise. The MFSK32 text decoded well, better than 90%, but the robust Olivia 64-2000 decoded 100%. You can hear – and decode from – Frank’s recording of his reception …
TW in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, over 11000 km from the North Carolina transmitter site, produced a video of his reception and decoding of VOA Radiogram, 16 January 2016, 0930-1000 UTC, 5865 kHz (nominally directed to the Caribbean) …
Scroll down to the video labeled 5865 kHz VOA Radiogram Program 146.
The audio begins with noise from an over-the-horizon (OTH) radar system. At 1:42 into the video, the OTH radar stops, allowing mostly successful decoding of the Olivia 64-2000, despite the faint signal …
Some MFSK32 text towards the end of the broadcast also decodes, as well as a fuzzy MFSK32 image …
VOA Radiogram listeners who send reception reports receive a gallery of MFSK images (usually MFSK32, as in the example below) decoded by listeners all over the world.
The gallery below is from the 24-25 October 2015, but was just sent out because of a backlog of emails.
Some of the images are fuzzy. This is because listeners are testing the limits of shortwave, tuning in from places too far from, or too close to, the North Carolina transmitter, given the time and frequency. In most cases, even if the image is blurred or distorted, the text is received 100% because of the error correction incorporated into the MFSK32 mode.
A reminder that this weekend’s VOA Radiogram will be mostly Olivia
64-2000. If reception conditions are poor (as they were in Europe on
15670 kHz last weekend), this could be interesting, because the Olivia
64-2000 might be able to overcome the difficult reception. If reception
is good, it could be boring, because Olivia 64-2000 is very slow: about
25 words per minute.
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5865 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 transmit a minute of MFSK32 Sunday at 0220
UTC (Saturday 9:20 pm EST) on 6040 kHz. This is part of the KBC
broadcast to North America at its new time of 0000 to 0300 UTC Sunday,
on the new frequency of 6040 kHz. Reports for KBC reception to Eric:
themightykbc@gmail.com .
A reminder that this weekend’s VOA Radiogram will be mostly Olivia
64-2000. If reception conditions are poor (as they were in Europe on
15670 kHz last weekend), this could be interesting, because the Olivia
64-2000 might be able to overcome the difficult reception. If reception
is good, it could be boring, because Olivia 64-2000 is very slow: about
25 words per minute.
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5865 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 transmit a minute of MFSK32 Sunday at 0220
UTC (Saturday 9:20 pm EST) on 6040 kHz. This is part of the KBC
broadcast to North America at its new time of 0000 to 0300 UTC Sunday,
on the new frequency of 6040 kHz. Reports for KBC reception to Eric:
themightykbc (at) gmail.com .
VOA Radiogram, program 145, 9-10 January 2016, included greetings to the VI Encentro Diexista Colombo-Venezolano (sixth annual meeting of Colombian and Venezuelan shortwave DXers). Williams, one of the organizers of the event, sent these MFSK32 images from the Sunday 0230-0300 UTC program on 5745 kHz …
Rafael in Colombia received this image from the Saturday 0930-1000 UTC show on 5865 kHz …
Francisco in Chile received this from the 0230 UTC broadcast on 5745 kHz …
Rafael in Mexico decoded this image, also 0230 UTC on 5745 kHz …
A good example of the successful decoding of our standard MFSK32 mode is in this video produced by Tim in Colorado. Reception was 27 December 2015, 0230-0300 UTC, 5745 kHz. Despite heavy local noise, the text decodes nearly 100%. (The text begins at 1:43 into the video, after the nearly inaudible music and voice intro.) The images are, not surprisingly given the conditions, fuzzy.
Meanwhile, TW in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, 11000 km from the North Carolina transmitter, had this 100% decode of the VOA Radiogram transmission schedule in the slow but robust Olivia 64-2000 mode. Reception was 17 October 2015, 0930-1000 UTC, 5745 kHz. (VOA Radiogram frequencies have changed since then; see the updated schedule below.)
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule (all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5865 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.
Here are the lineups for VOA Radiogram during the first three weeks of
the new year. (Note that program 146 will be mostly Olivia 64-2000.)
Program 144, 2-3 January 2016 (all in MFSK32)
1:32 Program preview
2:45 Goats eliminate unwanted plants*
9:11 Russian space program faces budget cuts*
16:10 New photo of earth from lunar orbit*
22:54 Sailboat illuminated for the holidays*
26:33 Closing announcements
* with image
Program 145, 9-10 January 2016 (all in MFSK32)
1:33 Program preview
2:50 Greetings to Encuentro Diexista Colombo-Venezolano*
7:47 Abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly*
16:43 Traffic lights around the world*
26:19 Closing announcements*
* with images
Program 146, 16-17 January 2016 (modes as noted)
1:34 MFSK32: Program preview
2:51 Olivia 64-2000: Blog post from Antarctica
23:36 MFSK32: Image from Antarctica
26:32 Closing announcements
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5865 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 change time and frequency on 10 January. A
minute of MFSK32 will be transmitted this Sunday, 10 January, 0158 UTC
(Saturday 8:59 pm EST) on 7395 kHz, via Germany. Effective 10 January,
the KBC schedule for North America changes to Sunday 0000 to 0300 UTC
(Saturday 7-9 pm EST) on 6040
kHz. On 10 and 17 January, a minute of MFSK32 will be transmitted at
the new time of 0220 UTC. (This gives you plenty of time to retune to
5745 kHz for VOA Radiogram at 0230 UTC.) Reports for KBC reception to
Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com .
