VOA Radiogram for 17-18 December 2016

Apologies for not including Kim's images. You can see them on the VOA Radiogram web site.  They were the result of last week's "interesting" propagation, including grey line paths and general solstice weirdness.

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

Hello friends,

Near-winter-solstice propagation has made reception of VOA Radiogram more problematic, especially in the higher frequencies (15670 and 17580), while opening up opportunities for reception south of the Equator.

In  recent weeks, the Saturday 0930 UTC on 5865 kHz show has delivered a signal to Europe via the gray line, though usually not good enough for successful decoding. If you are in Europe, keep trying this transmission, at least into February. 

For European listeners, this time of year the best opportunity for reception might, ironically, be the Sunday 0230 UTC broadcast on 5745 kHz. It's nominally beamed to the Caribbean, and in the middle of the night in Europe. Audacity's timer record feature can be helpful here. Just leave your radio on all night -- and sleep well!

This weekend's VOA Radiogram has some interesting items, including a story about the future of US international broadcasting, including VOA. If reception is difficult -- a likely scenario -- one item is in Olivia 64-2000. It might decode successfully even if you can barely hear the signal through your speaker or see it on the waterfall.

For best Olivia 64-2000 performance, turn Fldigi's squelch (SQL) off. And to keep the center audio frequency from wandering, Configure > IDs > RsID > turn off Searches passband. Set your audio frequency to 1500 Hz, and it will wander no more than +/- 200 Hz.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 194, 17-18 December 2016, all in MFSK32 except
where noted:

  1:36  Program preview
 2:42  Reorganization of US international broadcasting*
11:53  Off-grid solar power in Africa*
18:00  Olivia 64-2000: Shortwave greetings for sailors
25:30  MFSK32: Closing announcements*

* with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5865 kHz         (To the Americas, try also in Asia-Pacific and Europe)
Sat 1600-1630 17580 kHz       (To Europe, try also in the Americas and Asia-Pacific) 
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz        (To the Americas, try also in Europe)
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz      (To Europe, try also in the Americas and Asia-Pacific)
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

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 has a new transmission schedule, both via WRMI Florida:
Sunday 2030-2100 UTC on  11580Khz (Targeted at Europe)
Sunday 2330-2400 UTC on 11580kHz (For North and South America)
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/

Thanks for your reception reports -- and reports of attempted reception -- from last weekend.

The past few weeks I've been especially busy with my pesky audience research job at VOA. But, now, with some holiday time off, I hope to answer many of your recent emails.

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

Kim

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