Note changed frequency for VOA Radiogram 5-6 November

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

Last weekend's photo of Alderney, Channel Islands, by VOA Radiogram listener Neil Howard, received and decoded on Alderney by Neil Howard.

Hello friends,

The B16 HF broadcasting season began on 30 October. Many shortwave broadcast frequencies were changed on that date. The only change for VOA Radiogram is the Saturday 0930-1000 UTC broadcast which will be on new 5865 kHz as of Saturday, 5 November. This transmission is usually heard in Australia and New Zealand and sometimes in parts of Asia. And listeners in Europe should be on the lookout for this 5865 kHz as the hours of darkness increase in the northern hemisphere. All other VOA Radiogram frequencies are the same: see the transmission schedule below.

Reception of VOA Radiogram last weekend was affected by the geomagnetic storm that started 27 October. For the Saturday 1600 UTC broadcast on 17580 kHz, there was a definite line in Europe south of which reception was good, and north of which reception was bad-to-nonexistent. There were even marked differences in reception between the south and north of England.

Shortwave propagation should have recovered by this weekend, but just in case, one VOA News story will be in the Olivia 32-2000 mode. The RSID should automatically change your mode, but if not, Olivia 32-2000 requires a custom setting, i.e.: Op Mode > Olivia > Custom > Bandwidth: 2000, Tones: 32. A quick way to do this is to use one the Fldigi macro buttons below the transmit pane, with this code: <MODEM:OLIVIA:2000:32>.  I will provide 15 seconds after the Olivia 32-2000 RSID in case a manual change is required. Also, for successful decode of the Olivia 32-2000, turn the Fldigi squelch (SQL) off.

No one heard the “mystery transmission” last weekend before and after the 1600-1630 broadcast last weekend. You might try again this weekend, even as early at 1540 UTC, before the North Carolina transmitter turns on its carrier on 17580 kHz.   

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 188, 5-6 November 2016, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

 1:48  Program preview

 2:58  Canary Islands may be site of new telescope*

 9:13  Olivia 32-2000: New instrument for Mars**

16:33  Assortment of media news*

27:21  Closing announcements

* with image

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

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5865 kHz  (new frequency)
Sat 1600-1630 17580 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz (with switch to standard time, one hour earlier by local time in most of North America)
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

The Mighty KBC will broadcast to North America Sunday, 6 November, 0000-0100 UTC only (8-9 pm EDT) on 6145 kHz, via Germany. A minute of MFSK32 (repeated from the previous weekend because of the poor propagation) will be at about 0030 UTC. Reception reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com .

DigiDX will transmit MFSK32 and probably other modes:

Saturday 2030-2100, 6070 kHz, via Channel 292 Germany

Sunday 0530-0600, 6070 kHz, via Channel 292 Germany

Sunday 2130-2200 UTC, 15770 kHz, via WRMI Florida

Sunday 2330-2400 UTC, 11580 kHz, via WRMI Florida

For schedule updates, visit DigiDX at http://www.digidx.uk/  or https://www.facebook.com/digidx/

IBC (Italian Broadcasting Corporation) has a broadcast to Europe on 6070 kHz and new 3975 kHz, Wednesdays, at the new time of 1800-2100 UTC.  The MFSK32 and Olivia 16-500 are still at 2030-2100 UTC. IBC has also added a medium wave transmission Saturday 2000-2030 UTC from Radio Studio X, 1584 kHz, in Terni, Italy, with MFSK32 at 2025-2030. IBC also has MFSK32 transmissions via WRMI in Florida: Friday 0125-0200 UTC on 9955 kHz (Thursday 9:25 pm EDT), part of its 0100-0130 broadcast. And Saturday at 0155-0200 UTC (Friday evening 9:55 pm EDT), on 11580 kHz, part of its 0130-0200 broadcast.  See http://ibcradio.webs.com/ for the complete schedule and contact information.

Thanks for your reception reports from last weekend, even if only to let me know that you heard no signal due to the poor propagation. I’m now compiling a gallery of the Alderney images and hope to begin sending them out this weekend.

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

Kim Andrew Elliott

Producer and Presenter

VOA Radiogram

voaradiogram.net

Twitter: @VOARadiogram (especially active during and after broadcasts)

VOA Radiogram logo decoded by Michael in England, last Sunday 1930-2000 UTC, 15670 kHz, showing effects of the difficult propagation: