Hurricane Reconnaissance Flights for 1-2 October

000
NOUS42 KNHC 301532
REPRPD
WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHTS
CARCAH, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, MIAMI, FL.
1130 AM EDT WED 30 SEPTEMBER 2015
SUBJECT: TROPICAL CYCLONE PLAN OF THE DAY (TCPOD)
         VALID 01/1100Z TO 02/1100Z OCTOBER 2015
         TCPOD NUMBER.....15-127

I.  ATLANTIC REQUIREMENTS
    1. HURRICANE JOAQUIN
       FLIGHT ONE -- TEAL 75           FLIGHT TWO -- NOAA 49
       A. 01/1130Z,1730Z               A. 02/0000Z 
       B. AFXXX 0711A JOAQUIN          B. NOAA9 0811A JOAQUIN
       C. 01/0730Z                     C. 01/1730Z 
       D. 24.1N 73.2W                  D. NA
       E. 01/1100Z TO 01/1700Z         E. NA
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT              F. 41,000 TO 45,000FT

       FLIGHT THREE -- TEAL 72         FLIGHT FOUR -- NOAA 49
       A. 01/2330Z,02/0530Z            A. 02/1200Z
       B. AFXXX 0911A JOAQUIN          B. NOAA9 1011A JOAQUIN
       C. 01/1930Z                     C. 02/0530Z
       D. 24.4N 74.4W                  D. NA
       E. 01/2300Z TO 02/0500Z         E. NA  
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT              F. 41,000 TO 45,000FT

       FLIGHT FIVE -- TEAL 73
       A. 02/1130Z,1730Z
       B. AFXXX 1111A JOAQUIN
       C. 02/0730Z
       D. 25.3N 74.5W
       E. 02/1100Z TO 01/1700Z
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT

    2. OUTLOOK FOR SUCCEEDING DAY: CONTINUE 6-HRLY FIXES. 
       G-IV MISSIONS DEPARTING AT 02/1730Z AND 03/0530Z.
    3. REMARKS: FLIGHT ONE ABOVE WAS PREVIOUSLY LISTED ON TCPOD
       15-126 AS A SINGLE FIX MISSION. A FIX FOR 01/0530Z HAS
       ALSO BEEN ADDED TO THE 30/2330Z MISSION.

II. PACIFIC REQUIREMENTS
    1. NEGATIVE RECONNAISSANCE REQUIREMENTS.
    2. SUCCEEDING DAY OUTLOOK.....NEGATIVE

$$
JWP 

Hurricane Watch Net Activates for Joaquin

The National Hurricane Watch Net has activated for hurricane Joaquin, which poses a major threat to the U.S. East Coast. They are passing the latest advisories and taking weather reports from the Bahamas.  Frequency is 14325 kHz.

Joaquin, unfortunately, is the real thing.  NHC:

1.  Preparations to protect life and property within the warning
areas in the Bahamas should be rushed to completion.

2.  A significant adjustment to the forecast has been made this
afternoon, and this shows an increased threat to the mid-Atlantic
states and the Carolinas.  However, confidence in the details of the
forecast after 72 hours remains low, since we have one normally
excellent model that keeps Joaquin far away from the United States
east coast.   The range of possible outcomes is still large, and
includes the possibility of a major hurricane landfall in the
Carolinas.

3.  Every effort is being made to provide the forecast models with
as much data as possible.  The NOAA G-IV jet has begun a series of
missions in the storm environment, and the National Weather Service
is launching extra balloon soundings.

4.  Because landfall, if it occurs, is still more than three days
away, it is too early to talk about specific wind, rain, or surge
impacts from Joaquin in the United States.   Even if Joaquin stays
well out to sea, strong onshore winds will create minor to moderate
coastal flooding along the coasts of the mid-Atlantic and
northeastern states through the weekend.

5.  A hurricane watch for a portion of the U.S. coast could be
required as early as Thursday evening.

6.  Many areas of the eastern U.S. are currently experiencing heavy
rains and gusty winds associated with a frontal system.  This
inclement weather is expected to continue over the next few days,
which could complicate preparations for Joaquin should it head
toward the coast, and greatly exacerbate the impacts from the
hurricane.  Heavy rains are likely to continue over these areas
even if the center of Joaquin stays out to sea.

Major HF Activity by Russian Military

HF really lit up yesterday on Russian Navy and Air Force frequencies. It's either an exercise, or to support Russia's more aggressive policy in Syria, or both.  Airlift and naval operations are in progress and an intelligence ship is lurking offshore in the Mediterranean.


CW frequencies: 4039 4297 4498.5 4511 4521 4537 4909.5 4973 5171 4524.5 5042.5 5745 5846 8345 8354 12464

USB frequencies: 6685 8847 11354 11360 18030

Expanded VOA Radiogram for September 25-27

That's right, Friday (today) too.  Oops, says Hugh.  We missed the extra broadcast.  It's already past 2230 UTC.  Sorry about that.

From Kim Andrew Elliott:



Hello friends,

VOA Radiogram program 130 will include a special broadcast for this week's European Researchers' Night. This will be Friday, 25 September  2015, at 1830-1900 UTC, on 17880 kHz, from our usual North Carolina transmitting site. The specific target is the Notte europea dei ricercatori in Frascati, Italy, where an amateur radio exhibit organized by Bruno, IZ0DIB, will receive and decode (conditions permitting!) VOA Radiogram. Of course, we also welcome reports from anyone, anywhere else in the world.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 130, 25-27 September 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:
  

 1:32  Program preview
 2:36  Greetings to European Researchers' Night*
13:09  Humans are surrounded by bacteria*
18:32  Olivia 32-2000: USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015*
25:26  MFSK32: Closing announcements*

* with image

The program will include some items in Italian, so you will need the UTF-8 character set (Fldigi: Configure > Colors & Fonts) for the accented letters to display correctly. The RSID should automatically change Fldigi to Olivia 32-2000, but if it does not: Op Mode > Olivia > Custom > set Bandwidth to 2000 and Tones to 32.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Fri  1830-1900 17880 kHz (25 Sept only)
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 MFSK32 Sunday at 0230 UTC
(Saturday 10:30 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz, via Germany. This is part of the
KBC broadcast to North America Sundays at 0000-0300 UTC. On Saturday,
26 September, 2300-2400 UTC, KBC will test a new frequency of  7395
kHz, also via Germany. Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com

Thank for your reports to VOA Radiogram last weekend. I'll be sending out the galleries for program 123 today and tomorrow.

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

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott
Producer and Presenter
VOA Radiogram
voaradiogram.net

Successful VOA Radiogram for September 19-20

The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors thinks enough of VOA Radiogram to solicit quotations for a decoder program aimed at non-technical users.  Trust me, this is big.  It's also a good opportunity for a digital mode programmer to make a little extra money at it.
-------

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

Hello friends,

The Broadcasting Board of Governors has issued a Request for Quotations for the development of software application to simply the process of decoding text and images from radio broadcasts. The deadline is 26 September. Details are here …

http://voaradiogram.net/post/129339122877/bbg-request-for-quotation-to-develop-decoding

This weekend on VOA Radiogram, our non-Latin alphabet of the week will be Persian. Persian is interesting because it is a “right-to-left” language. You will need the UTF-8 character set in Fldigi (Configure > Colors & Fonts). The Persian should also correctly display using the AndFlmsg Android app, version 1.2, available from http://www.w1hkj.com/vk2eta/ .

And if we are fortunate enough to experience poor reception this weekend, there will be about ten minutes of content in Olivia 32-2000.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 129, 19-20 September 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted …  

 1:36  Program preview

 3:06  First manned Orion flight in 2023*

 9:58  Saturn moon covered by water*

14:48  Sample of Persian text**

17:19  Olivia 32-2000: VOA Science World Blog***

27:04  MFSK32: Closing announcements

28:06  MFSK32: Logo image under the music

* with image

** requires UTF-8 character set

*** If RSID does not change mode to Olivia 32-2000, in Fldigi:

Op Mode > Olivia > Custom > set Bandwidth to 2000 and Tones to

32

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 MFSK32 Sunday at 0230 UTC (Saturday 10:30 pm EDT) on 7375 kHz. Yes, the mode is changed from the usual MFSK64 to MFSK32 because of difficult reception in North America in recent weeks. Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com .

Thank you for your reception reports from last weekend. I saw many successful decodes of the Chinese text on both PCs and Android devices. I will compile come screenshots and post them to the website. Today, I will finish answering reports from program 122. The gallery for program 122 compares decoded images in MFSK16, 32, 64, and SSTV Scottie DX.

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

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott

Producer and Presenter

VOA Radiogram

voaradiogram.net

Break out the cheapoid receivers for VOA Radiogram September 12-13

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

 Hello friends,

This weekend's VOA Radiogram will include nearly nine minutes of Olivia 32-2000. The Olivia 32-2000 mode is about 50 words per minute and is useful when reception is difficult. If reception is good this weekend, you can perhaps create difficult reception by using an inexpensive radio.

[If our recurring magnetic storms continue, creating poor reception should not be a problem. -Hugh]

The Fldigi RxID should be on (green) and will probably detect the Olivia 32-2000 mode from the RSID. If it does not: Op Mode > Olivia > Custom > Bandwidth=2000, Tones=32.

The non-Latin alphabet of the week is Chinese. If you use Fldigi, make sure that Configure > Colors & Fonts > Rx/TX Character set is set to UTF-8. The Chinese should also display correctly with the AndFlmsg Android app version 1.2, which now has UTF-8 support.

Any photos of decoding using an inexpensive radio next to an Android phone or tablet (or next to a Windows/iOS laptop) would be helpful.

If it is convenient, I would also appreciate mp3 recordings of the Olivia 32-2000 in difficult reception conditions.

After the closing announcements will be two images, one immediately following the other. Fldigi automatically saves decoded MFSK images as png files in the folder \fldigi.files\images\.  (Other operating systems may have different folder names.) You can attach those png files to your reception report. In Android, the MFSK images are stored in the folder NBEMS.files/NBEMS-Images.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 128, 12-13 September 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

 1:36  Program preview
 2:50  Most distant galaxy seen from earth (orbit)*
 7:41  Boeing opens spaceship plant in Florida*
14:55  Olivia 32-2000: China to far side of moon
18:27  Olivia 32-2000: Chinese text from VOA Chinese
23:41  MFSK32: Closing announcements*
28:21  Olivia 64-2000: Transmission schedule

* 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 7375 kHz, via Germany. This is part of the KBC transmission to North America Sundays at  0000-0300 UTC on 7375 kHz. Reports for this KBC transmission to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com

Thank you for your reception reports and recordings from last weekend's VOA Radiogram. I'm now putting together a gallery of the MFSK 16, 32, 63, and SSTV images from program 122, so I still have some catching up to do.

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

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott
Producer and Presenter
VOA Radiogram
voaradiogram.net

Multilingual VOA Radiogram for September 5-6

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

Hello friends,

An updated version (1.2) of the AndFlmsg Android app is now available at http://www.w1hkj.com/vk2eta/

This new version has support for the UTF-8 character set.  To give the AndFlmsg update a workout, this weekend’s VOA Radiogram will include news items in Russian and Spanish.  The Spanish involves only a few letters with accents. Russian is more complicated, with its Cyrillic alphabet. 

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 127,  5-6 September 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

 1:34  Program preview

 2:44  New Russian Internet data law*

 9:46  Same subject, in Russian*

13:45  Chinese Navy ships in Bering Sea*

21:59  Cuba mobile video, in Spanish*

26:21  Closing announcements*

28:03  Olivia 64-2000: Transmission schedule

* 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 10:32 pm EDT) on its new frequency of 7375 kHz, via Germany. Reports for this KBC reception to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com.

Thanks for your reports from last weekend. I did not see much difference between the images at 1500 and 2000 Hz, but I’m still looking at the sample. I will prepare a gallery comparing all the 1500/2000 Hz images. And I will begin responding to reports from program 121, starting today.

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott

Producer and Presenter

VOA Radiogram

voaradiogram.net