This weekend’s VOA Radiogram will be all-MFSK32 except for the bonus mode. We will try another non-Latin alphabet, this time Korean. You will need the UTF-8 character set. In Fldigi: Configure > Colors & Fonts > Rx/Tx Character set. (NB: If the Korean characters do not display correctly in Fldigi, copy the “boxes” to a word process, and then they should display correctly.)

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 119, 11-12 July 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

  1:31  Program preview
  2:43  Student Dust Counter aboard Pluto probe*
10:03  Tajiks want “bear man” statue*
16:57  VOA launches mobile audio app*
21:34  Excerpt of VOA story in Korean text**
25:32  Closing announcements
28:42  Bonus mode: Olivia 16-500

* with image

** requires UTF-8 character set, Configure > Colors & Fonts >
Rx/Tx Character set: UTF-8

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 17870 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 MFSK64 Sunday at 0230 UTC (Saturday 10:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz via Germany. Reports for KBC to Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com.

This weekend’s program includes two gray-scale/grey-scale (black and white) images, because they take less time to transmit. That allowed me more time for the four text news stories, one of them in the rather slow  Olivia 32-2000 mode.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 118, 4-5 July 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted …

  1:32  Program preview
  2:48  Christchurch NZ rebuilds after earthquake*
10:39  Rosetta spacecraft finds sinkholes on comet**
16:56  One-person flying vehicles**
22:34  Olivia 32-2000: World’s first 3D-printed office building
28:12  MFSK32: Closing announcements
29:08  BPSK63F: Bonus mode of the week.

* with color image

** with gray-scale 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 17870 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 MFSK64 Sunday at 0230 UTC (Saturday 10:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. Reports for KBC reception to Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com.

 I’m almost hoping for poor reception this weekend, because we will transmit another news items in Olivia 32-2000, and this mode can work very well in adverse conditions.

If the RSID does not change your mode to Olivia 32-2000, you can manually make the change in Fldigi:

Op Mode > Olivia > Custom > Bandwidth: 2000, Tones: 32

Or you can make a macro in Flidigi for a quick change to Olivia 32-2000. Insert this under Macro Text: <MODEM:OLIVIA:2000:32>

On the other hand, I’m also hoping for good reception this weekend, because that would bring good conditions for the amateur radio Field Day exercise. The program will include greetings to radio amateurs participating in Field Day.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 117, 27-28 June 2015., all in MFSK32 except where noted:

  1:31  Program preview

  2:38  Triassic Reptile Was ‘Grandfather’ of All Turtles*

  9:06  Explosive Growth May Exhaust Web Space*
18:16  Olivia 32-2000: Consumer rights website blocked In Russia
22:36  Amateur Radio Field Day 2015*
27:13  Closing announcements*
29:08  CW: Bonus mode of the week

* 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 17870 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 its usual minute of MFSK64 Sunday at 0230 UTC (Saturday 10:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. If you decode this, please retune quickly to VOA Radiogram, which also starts at 0230 UTC, on 5745 kHz. Reports for KBC to Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com .

Based on reports, reception was generally good last weekend. That’s somewhat unfortunate, because we included a news item in Olivia 32-2000, a mode that can be successfully decoded even in very bad reception conditions. I tested this twice: First was during the Saturday 1600-1630 UTC broadcast on 17870 kHz. I usually don’t listen to this transmission because, in northern Virginia, I’m in the skip zone. Last weekend, the MFSK32 had many errors, but in Olivia 32-2000, 1111 of the 1115 characters decoded correctly. I had similar results Sunday 0230-0300 UTC on 5745 kHz using a receiver in Slovakia.

This weekend will be another all-MFSK32 show, except for MFSK16 as the bonus mode, first at 16 dB under the closing music, and later at full level.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 116, 20-21 June 2105, all in MFSK32 except where noted:  

  1:32  Program preview
  2:51  Amateur Radio Field Day at former VOA transmitting site*
  9:38  630M medium wave transmissions on Field Day
12:52  Watermills in Pakistan generate electricity*
20:26  Myanmar intensifies media restrictions*
26:42  Closing announcements
27:43  MFSK16: Bonus mode 16 dB under closing music
28:40  MFSK16: At full level

* 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 17870 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 MFSK64 Sunday at 0230 UTC (Saturday 10:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. This is part of the KBC transmission to North America Sunday at 0000-0300 UTC (Saturday 8-11 pm EDT). If you decode this, quickly retune to 5745 kHz for VOA Radiogram. Reports for KBC to Eric: themightykbc (at) gmail.com .

If you listened last weekend Saturday at 1600 UTC on 17870 kHz, some wideband interference was heard about two minutes into the program. It was a nuisance, but also a good test for the MFSK32. More information in this post to the voaradiogram.net website.

Last weekend’s experiment with the PD180 SSTV mode was largely successful. It certainly provided an interesting comparison of image decodes using PD180 SSTV versus MFSK32.

Now that many of you have downloaded and installed SSTV decoding software, we will transmit SSTV again this weekend. This time we will use the Scottie DX mode, which may be the most robust mode for long distance shortwave.

From your reception reports, I was reminded of other SSTV decoding software. In addition to the MMSSTV we suggested last weekend, there is also the very good RXSSTV receive-only program from ON6MU. Some Linux users decoded the SSTV image using Oona Räisänen’s slowrx.  

Last weekend’s other experiment involved Olivia 64-2000 at 16 dB under the closing music. That was so successful that this weekend, we will transmit Olivia 64-2000 again, but this time at 20 dB under the closing music. That will be followed by the “thank you” message, also in Olivia 64-2000, but at full level, and this time with its own RSID.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 114, 6-7 June 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

  1:29  Program preview
  2:47  Heat-resistant Glassware Celebrates 100th Anniversary*
  8:17  Unusual Store Sells Comic Books and Exotic Plants*
16:24  Scottie DX SSTV: Frecce Tricolori
22:15  Same image in MFSK32
27:24  Closing announcements
28:11  Olivia 64-2000 20 dB under closing music  
29:23  Olivia 64-2000 at full level

* 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 17870 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 MFSK64 Sunday at about 0230 UTC (Saturday 10:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz via Germany. Reports for KBC to Eric:  themightykbc (at) gmail.com . Decode the KBC text, then quickly retune to VOA Radiogram on 5745 kHz for the rest of the half hour. 

PD180 SSTV image as decoded by Alan in England during the 1930UTC broadcast on 31 May 2015, 15670 kHz …

At the Radio Nostalgia event in Uedem, Germany, VOA Radiogram listener Dr. Georg Niepel demonstrated the decoding of VOA Radiogram content, using audio from a Graetz Musica 4R 417 radio, built in 1957. The following is from Dr. Niepel’s website, http://www.radio-hobby.de/ …

VoA radiogram can be received with every normal shortwave radio. Instead of an external speaker or a headphone, you just plug in a connector cable in order to bring the audio signal to your computer. By the way, I wanted to know whether it would work well, even if we would use an old-fashioned tube radio.

The Graetz Musica 4R 417, built in 1957, is an AM/FM superhet tube radio using an ECH81 (6 AJ 8) with a triode for the AM oscillator and a heptode for mixing, followed by an EF89 (6 DA 6) for the IF amplifier stage. AM-demodulation and audio-frequency-preamplification is done by an EABC80 (6 AK 8 / 6 T 8), followed by an EL84 (6 BQ 5) as power amplifier.

This means that the circuit is a rather simple superhet without HF preamplification and with a single IF stage only. Nevertheless, due to the use of tubes, the selectivity and the sensitivity are good enough for clear shortwave reception.

During the presentation of old-fashioned radios on the “Radio Nostalgia” event in Uedem, Germany (Saturday 9th of May, 2015), I received and decoded VoA Radiogram “live” using this Graetz radio, connected to a laptop computer. Four meters of indoor wire antenna were spread out, and after admitting twenty minutes of warm-up, tuning was stable on 17870 kHz. At 16:00 UTC when the transmission began, about a dozen pairs of eyes stared onto the laptop screen.

Picture decoded on 9th of may 2015, using the old-fashioned tube radio …

Well, I must confess that some pixels are distorted, but we could demonstrate that VoA Radiogram can be decoded using an old-fashioned “boat anchor”.

Kim: At the Radio Nostalgia event, the text from VOA Radiogram decoded at least 90% correctly. Here’s an example …

I think that the errors would be attributable not to the Graetz radio, but to the “four meters of indoor wire antenna” in what was probably an electrically noisy environment. Also keep in mind it is about 6500 km from the North Carolina transmitter to Uedem. (The GE transmitter was manufactured in the early 1960s, not long after the receiver was built.)

VOA Radiogram listener Klaus in Germany continues his experiments decoding the text modes from low cost receivers.  

During VOA Radiogram program 110, 9 May 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, 17870 kHz, Klaus used a Chinese-made clone of the old Sony SW-12. The clone costs only five Euros. 

Klaus describes the radio as having “a bad plastic case and poor reception on all bands.” He decoded the text “with many errors,” and he was able to decode one picture.

This picture shows the original Sony SW12 and the clone …

Here is the clone receiver attached to an mp3 recorder …

And here is an example of text and image decode using the radio – not bad considering the circumstances …

Mr. TW in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, produced this video of his reception and decoding of VOA Radiogram, 2 May 2015, 0930-1000 UTC, 5745 kHz. This is about 11000 km from the North Carolina transmitting site, where the antenna is a dipole intended for South America reception. The Freedom House world press freedom map is fuzzy but conveys the basic idea. The text of the story, which benefits from the error correction built into the MFSK32 mode, was decoded at least 90%, as you can see in the video …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JIvN9VyNPQ

Here is the image as decoded by me using the audio from TW’s video …

Meanwhile, Tim in Colorado produces a weekly video of reception of VOA Radiogram, the most recent from the broadcast on 2 May 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17870 kHz. Decode was an easy 100% despite the curtain antenna in North Carolina being pointed in the opposite direction, towards Europe.

https://youtu.be/Y1m02J0ft-s

Here is the VOA Radiogram logo at the end of the show as decoded from Tim’s audio …

For text and images of the same broadcast Saturday at 1600-1630, see this web page prepared by Roger in Germany …

http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2015-05-02.htm

Mr. DFS in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, prepared YouTube videos of his decoding of VOA Radio on 18 April 2015, 0930-1000 on 5745 kHz, and 1600-1630 UTC on 17860 kHz. He is about 11000 km from the North Carolina transmitter. The decodes were not perfect, but not bad given the distance and conditions. The videos are available via these web pages … http://09326811.at.webry.info/201504/article_14.html

http://09326811.at.webry.info/201504/article_15.html

Tim in Colorado also produced this video of the broadcast on 18 April 2015, 1600-1630 UTC, on 17860 kHz …

https://youtu.be/rR6pM0FiEJc

Excellent video with narrative by Marcus in Australia, 16000 km from the North Carolina shortwave transmitter, describing his decoding of VOA Radiogram last weekend, 18 April 2015, 0930-1000, 5745 kHz …

https://twitter.com/mrmabs/status/590340874250231808