Summer VOA Radiogram for June 21-22

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

Hello friends,

VOA Radiogram this weekend will be different in that I recorded it at a sample rate of 8000 Hz rather than the usual 48000 Hz. This is because I have not yet configured the new installation of Fldigi in my new PC.

Despite the 8000 Hz sample rate, I was able to decode the MFSK32 and surprise modes from the recording with no difficulty.  And it probably should make no difference in your decoding. But, if it does, please let me know. (The audio file I uploaded to North Carolina is only 27 MB, compared to the usual 160+ MB for the shows recorded at the usual 48000 Hz sample rate.)

VOA Radiogram for the weekend of 21-22 June 2014 (program 64) will be in the usual MFSK32 mode, except for two surprise modes at the end of the show...

  1:36  Program preview
 2:41  Subsurface ocean on Pluto's moon, with image
 9:57  Indonesian smartphone use surges, with image
15:54  Designing buildings to withstand disasters, with image
21:22  Al Jazeera reporter released from Egyptian prison, with image
26:32  Closing announcements


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 17860 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 Saturday at about 1130 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday at about 0130 UTC (9:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz. Both frequencies via Germany. Reports to themightykbc@gmail.org .

I hope to respond to all your emails from program 63 before the last broadcast of program 64 this weekend. Then, I'll work backwards, responding to your very helpful reports sent during my May travels.    

Please tune in and write in this weekend.


Kim


Kim Andrew Elliott
Producer and Presenter
VOA Radiogram
voaradiogram.net

VOA Radiogram for 14-15 June 2014

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

    Hello friends,

    I apologize for the delay in responding to your emails from the past few weeks. After returning from travels in May, my audience research duties have greatly expanded (in quantity, not in importance). Furthermore, at home, I have installed a new PC running Windows 7, and applications crash nearly every time I open them. (Fldigi is an interesting exception: it's usually stable.) This PC problem and finding a solution are cutting into my productivity.

[This hasn't been an issue on any of several machines I converted to W7. Are your apps in the latest versions that are compatible with the way Windows does security since Vista?  (Fldigi is.) If not, are they running in directories outside Program Files or Program Files (x86)?  A lot of these apps shaped up for me when I created a directory outside this hierarchy under C: called Radio and installed to there instead.]

    I will resume sending emails as soon as I get home this afternoon, probably starting with program 62 and working my way back in time.

    VOA Radiogram for 14-15 June 2014 (program 63) is MFSK32, with a couple of surprises at the end...

    1:35  Program preview
    2:37  Mapping the salmon genome, with image
    8:10  Internet traffic may triple by 2018, with chart
    15:31  Pao-pan.net evades Chinese censorship, with image
    21:49  World Cup Fever at VOA, with image

    26:50  Closing announcements

    Please send your reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com

    VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
    (all days and times UTC):

    Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz
    Sat 1600-1630 17860 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 Saturday at about 1130 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday at about 0130 UTC (9:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz. These frequencies are via Germany. Reports to themightykbc@gmail.com.

    I hope you can tune in and write in this weekend.

    Kim

    Kim Andrew Elliott
    Producer and Presenter
    VOA Radiogram

    voaradiogram.net

Now We Know What HAARP is For

Statements made by people in the know about the purpose of the HAARP project in Alaska became much more candid, and probably much more accurate, as the threatened early June date of closure and dismantling came and went.

No, it's not to cause earthquakes or control the weather.  It's just to help figure out the best way to put the U.S. military in control of our planet's ionosphere.  That's all.  Just a little thing.

And a very scary one.

Alaska Dispatch:

In May, University of Alaska President Pat Gamble wrote that the university could take ownership of the facility directly or through a lease, or it could work with others in the research community to develop options for covering operational costs.

He said that the main purpose of HAARP is to study techniques through which the U.S. could use “high power radio transmissions to manipulate Earth’s ionosphere for its strategic advantage.”

“The ionosphere is an integral part of the modern battlefield -- it affects GPS navigation, satellite communication, missile tracking radars, orbital surveillance and submarine communication, to name just a few applications,” he said.

Solar Activity is Picking Up

From SolarHam:

Region 2087 produced an impulsive X1.0 solar flare Wednesday morning at 09:06 UTC. This is now the 3rd such X-Class event within the past 24 hours. A relatively faint coronal mass ejection (CME) is seen in the latest LASCO C2 coronagraph imagery. The plasma cloud appears to be blended in with an earlier CME following an M3.0 flare around the same region an hour earlier. The active region will continue to be a threat for major solar flares as it continues to rotate into a more geoeffective position.

Updated 06/10/2014 @ 18:40 UTC

Two X-Flares

Solar activity is now at high levels thanks to new sunspot 2087, now rotating into view off the southeast limb. A strong, but impulsive solar flare measuring X2.2 was first detected Tuesday morning 11:42 UTC. Just over an hour later, this was followed up by a longer duration X1.5 event around the same active region. The second event (X1.5) is responsible for a bright coronal mass ejection now visible in the latest STEREO Ahead COR2 imagery. More details regarding a possible glancing blow once additional imagery becomes available. The active region will turn into a more direct Earth facing position as the week progresses. Event logs are listed below.

CME Update: As per the latest CME prediction model, the expansive plasma cloud will likely pass to the east of our planet and have little to no impact on our geomagnetic field. A glancing blow at best will be possible by June 13th.