CW in VOA Radiogram for 31 Jan and 01 Feb

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

Hello friends,

The most interesting event from last weekend’s program was the inaudibility, in much of North America, of the Sunday 0230-0300 UTC transmission on 5745 kHz. The signal was somewhat better in Europe. I tried several remote receivers and finally found a good signal on a receiver in Venezuela.

The experiment with the thirty-second tuning signal seems to have succeeded, so we will do it again this weekend. After the voice introduction, the MFSK32 RSID will be transmitted once. If Fldigi is not tuned to an audio frequency near 1500 Hz, use the tuning signal to center the tuner to the correct frequency.

The bonus mode of the week will be CW. There is no RSID for CW, so, if you use Fldigi to help “copy” the CW, change the mode manually. It will probably also help to set the CW transmit speed to 15 WPM so that Fldigi receives at or near the 15 WPM used for the bonus CW transmission. …

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 96, 31 January/1 February 2015, all in MFSK32 except for the bonus CW:

 2:11  Program preview (now)

 3:16  Greece reconsiders sale of port to Chinese company*

 7:09  US firms concerned about Chinese cyber regulation*

13:11  Fake products on Chinese online sales sites*

19:15  Freedom in the World 2015 report*

27:04  Closing announcements

28:27  CW: Bonus mode of the week

*with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5910 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 (image of a great looking radio dial in the dark) Saturday at about 1230 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday at about 0130 UTC (Saturday 8:30 pm EST) on 7375 kHz. Both frequencies are via Germany. Send reports to Eric at themightykbc@gmail.com .

Thanks for your reports from last weekend. The MFSK image gallery will include a dearth of pictures from the UTC Sunday 0230 transmission because of the aforementioned poor propagation. Last weekend I had problems opening images attached to everyone’s emails, so I apologize to anyone whose MFSK image decode was left out of the program 94 gallery.

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott

Producer and Presenter

VOA Radiogram

voaradiogram.net 

VOA Radiogram for January 24-25

From Kim Andrew Elliott:

Hello friends,

Many of you have had problems with the Fldigi RxID. It correctly identifies the MFSK32 mode, but sets the audio frequency to somewhere between 1100 and 1200 Hz rather than the actual 1500 Hz center frequency.

I've noticed this phenomenon for over a year, but it might be more prevalent in newer versions of Fldigi.

If you are receiving a strong signal from the North Carolina transmitter, there is often a "halo" above and below the 500-Hz-wide trace of the MFSK32 signal. You can see this in a screenshot sent by Jonathan in Ontario ...

I think the Fldigi RxID latches on to the first thing it encounters that looks like an RSID, which would be the halo to the left (lower in frequency) of the actual MFSK32 signal. That halo is enough to activate the RxID, but not enough to receive actual text.

One solution might be to use an attenuator. Another solution is, in Fldigi: Configure > ID > turn off "Searches passband," then manually set the center frequency to 1500 Hz.

On this weekend's VOA Radiogram, after my voice introduction, I will transmit the MFSK32 RSID. That will be followed by a 30-second tuning signal. If the RxID set Fldigi to the wrong audio frequency, this will give you time to retune to the correct frequency.

After the first MFSK32 RSID, I will transmit no further RSID's until the RSID for the bonus mode of the week: MT63-2000L.  

Olivia 16-2000: Last weekend's Olivia 16-2000 did not perform as well as the slower Olivia 32-2000 of the weekend before. In fact, the Olivia 16-2000 may not have been an improvement over MFSK32. This still needs more analysis: I will look through your text files when I respond to your reception reports.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 95, 24-25 January 2015 -- all in MFSK32 except where noted:

 1:39  Thirty-second tuning signal at 1500 Hz.
 2:07  Program preview
 3:10  Early release of State of the Union text*
 9:29  Russian reaction to State of the Union comments*
18:22  US-Philippine alliance in the South China Sea*
25:38  Closing announcements*
28:16  MT63-2000L: Bonus mode of the week


* with image 

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com


VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5910 kHz         (might no longer be audible in Europe)
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz        (audible in Europe, if you are awake)
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz      (reception should be improving in Europe)
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.


The Mighty KBC will transmit a minute of MFSK64 Saturday at about 1230 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday at about 0130 UTC (Saturday 8:30 pm EST) on 7375 kHz. Both frequencies are via Germany. Reception reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com .


Thank you for your VOA Radiogram reception reports from the weekend of 17-18 January. I will respond to them during the weekend.


Kim


Kim Andrew Elliott
Producer and Presenter
VOA Radiogram
voaradiogram.net

Correction for December Utility Planet

In the December column, in the section concerning the Russian Digital Pseudo-Polytone (DP01), the incorrect frequencies were shown for Eddy Waters' logging.

The correct frequencies are 18265 (0830 UTC), 19117 (0840 UTC),  and 19922 khz (0850 UTC).

We apologize for any confusion this might have caused.

Reset Your Fldigi for VOA Radiogram January 17-18

Hello friends,

Last week’s news item in Olivia 32-2000 provided successful text decodes in some difficult reception conditions. This weekend, we will try a VOA News item in Olivia 16-2000. It’s faster, about 76 wpm, but with only 16 tones, it might not be as robust. The Olivia 16-2000 mode requires a custom setting in Fldigi.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 94, 17-18 January 2015 -- all in MFSK32 except where noted:

 1:42  Program preview

 2:50  WikiHouse simplifies home construction*

 7:22  Taiwan protests new Chinese air routes*

13:53  Facebook app provides Internet to Colombia*

20:18  Olivia 16-2000: Proposed cuts in methane emissions

25:07  Closing announcements*

28:09  Thor16: Bonus mode of the week

*with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5910 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 1230 UTC on 6095 kHz and Sunday at about 0130 UTC (Saturday 8:30 pm EST) on 7375 kHz. Both frequencies are via Germany. Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com .

At voaradiogram.net, check out this very nice homebrew tube (valve) receiver used by Klaus in Germany to receive VOA Radiogram.

Thanks for the reception reports from last weekend, which I will begin answering now.

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott

Producer and Presenter

VOA Radiogram

voaradiogram.net

Slightly Slower VOA Radiogram for 10-11 January 2015

Again this weekend, because of poor mid-winter propagation, one of the VOA News stories will be transmitted in Olivia 32-2000 -- somewhat slow at 50 words per minute. In Fldigi, Olivia 32-2000 requires the custom setting of a 2000 Hz bandwidth and 32 tones. It's a robust mode that takes advantage of the available bandwidth of a shortwave broadcast channel.  

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 93, 10-11 January 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted:

  1:42  Program preview
 3:02  Greetings to Encuentro Diexista in San Cristóbal
 5:11  Balloons with leaflets launched to North Korea*
 9:45  Chinese-led canal project in Nicaragua*
15:33  Russian-language TV program expands to Latvia*
21:06  Olivia 32-2000: Hashtag supports Charlie Hebdo
25:19  Closing announcements*
28:33  MFSK64L: bonus mode of the week


*with image

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5910 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.

Images for the gallery. Fldigi automatically saves MFSK images as .png files in the Windows folder C:\Users\[You]\fldigi.files\images\. The folder names and locations may be different in other operating systems. It is easiest for me to include your images in the weekly gallery of MFSK images if you attach those .png files to your reception report. 

The Mighty KBC will (as far as I know, although I didn't have a chance to confirm) include a minute of MFSK64 Saturday at about 1230 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday at about 0130 UTC (Saturday 8:30 pm EST) on 7375 kHz. Both frequencies are via Germany. Send reports for 6095 and/or 7375 reception to Eric at themightykbc@gmail.com .

Thanks for the many interesting reports for program 92. I hope to answer as many of those as I can before this weekend is over.

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott
Producer and Presenter
VOA Radiogram
voaradiogram.net