Friday, February 17, 2017

VOA Radiogram for 18-19 February

At the top of his post, Kim noted the irony of the North Carolina transmitter turning off in the middle of an image showing Radio Australia turning off the transmitter for the last time.  Right after the finger on the button was copied all over the planet, the VOA signal went away. The difference, of course, is that the VOA came back. Those of us who have known and loved R. Australia since we were kids with $40 radios are most unhappy that it didn't.  -Hugh

From Kim Andrew Elliott:


Hello friends,

Last weekend, we marked World Radio Day with a malfunction of the radio transmitter on 17580 kHz, during the time that the World Radio Day logo should have been broadcast.  Other than that, we had a good weekend of reception and decoding!

For a good example of Olivia 64-2000 performing well despite poor reception, try decoding from this audio that I recorded from an SDR in Australia: http://voaradiogram.net/post/157100458412/voa-radiogram-olivia-64-2000-received-in-nsw

This weekend, we will again transmit an excerpt of text in a non-Latin Alphabet. This time it will be Ukrainian. Use the UTF-8 character set, which, in Fldigi, you can adjust (if necessary) via Configure > Colors & Fonts.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 203, 18-19 February 2017, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

 1:50  Program preview
 3:17  Trump Administration sued over bumble bee protection*
 9:18  India rocket launches 104 satellites*
16:09  Olivia 64-2000: First white dwarf pulsar discovered
20:44  MFSK32: World Radio Day items from RFE/RL*
23:27  Ukrainian text**
25:59  Closing announcements*

* with image

** use UTF-8 character set

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule (temporarily expanded):

UTC Day
UTC Time
kHz
Transmitter
Target
Also try in …
Saturday
0930-1000
5865
North Carolina
Americas
Asia-Pacific, Europe
Saturday
1600-1630
17580
North Carolina
Europe
Americas, Asia-Pacific
Sunday
0230-0300
5745
North Carolina
Americas
Europe
Sunday
1930-2000
15670
North Carolina
Europe
Americas, Asia-Pacific
Sunday
2030-2100
11580
WRMI Florida
Europe
Americas
Sunday
2330-2400
11580
WRMI Florida
Americas

Monday
2000-2030
3975
IBC Italy
Europe

Wednesday
2100-2130
3975
IBC Italy
Europe


The Mighty KBC broadcast to North America will be Sunday at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday 7-9 pm EST) on 6145 kHz, via Germany. A minute of MFSK32 will be transmitted at about 0130 UTC. Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com . See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/

DigiDX is taking a few weeks off, hence the VOA Radiogram transmissions via WRMI and IBC.  See http://www.digidx.uk/ and https://www.facebook.com/digidx/

Italian Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) has digital modes as follows:
EVERY WEDNESDAY ON 3975 KHZ 20.30-21.00 UTC in MFSK32 and OLIVIA 16-500
EVERY FRIDAY ON 9955 KHZ 02.25-02.30 UTC in MFSK32
EVERY SATURDAY ON 1584 KHZ 21.25-21.30 UTC in MFSK32
EVERY SUNDAY ON 7730 KHZ 00.55-01.00 UTC in MFSK32
EVERY SUNDAY ON 6070 KHZ 11.30-12.00 UTC  in MFSK32 and OLIVIA 16-500 (VIA RADIO BCLNEWS)
For the complete IBC transmission schedule, including voice broadcasts, visit  http://ibcradio.webs.com/

Winter SWL Fest.  I am planning to attend the Winter SWL Fest, March 2-4, 2017, at Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. Hope to see you there. Information at  http://www.swlfest.com .  (Single-day walk-ins are welcome.)

Thanks for your reports from last weekend.  I am now sending out confirmations from program 201, with hopes to send out confirmations from program 202 during this weekend.

I hope you can tune in and write in.

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott, KD9XB
Producer and Presenter
VOA Radiogram
voaradiogram.net
Twitter: @VOARadiogram  (especially active just before, during, and after broadcasts)

PS: A few operating notes:
  • For best Olivia 64-2000 performance, turn Fldigi's squelch (SQL) off.
  • The RSID at 1500 Hz sometimes mixes with the transmitter hum, most noticeable at 360 Hz, to move your receive audio frequency down to 1140 Hz, resulting in no decode. To prevent this, in Fldigi: Configure > IDs  > RsID > unselect Searches passband.  Your center audio frequency will wander no more than +/- 200 Hz.
  • Fldigi automatically saves your decoded MFSK images as png files in the folder \fldigi.files\images\ (in Windows; folder names might be different with other operating systems). You can attach those png files with your reception report.
  • The VOA Radiogram Twitter account @VOARadiogram is especially active before, during, and after the broadcasts. You don't need a Twitter account: just go to https://twitter.com/voaradiogram and refresh it occasionally.