Hello friends
The slow browsing problem that I was lamenting last week has been resolved. I went into the Firefox settings and made various adjustments, applying the science (art?) of trial-and-error, and finally, something worked. And so we move on to a new problem: My favorite email application no longer works with my email provider on one of my accounts. I can access emails but through the provider's clunky email client. So more trial and error in the next few days.
And in other technical news, my Sangean ATS-808 radio finally quit. Sangean gave it to me about 30 years ago in exchange for writing a guide to shortwave listening that was shipped with their radios. The ATS-808 had good sensitivity on shortwave and other bands, but it had no SSB capability. In recent years, it has been my kitchen radio (every kitchen should have a radio), used mainly to listen to our all-news station, WTOP, 103.5 MHz FM, in the mornings while making coffee and feeding the cat, and later in the day, while washing dishes and feeding the cat.
For a replacement radio, I bought a Sangean HDR-14 (labeled SG-108 on my unit). I wanted to tune in to whatever HD (digital) sub-channels are available in the Washington DC area. Analog radio in the Washington area is not very good, at least not to my ears. The few exceptions include our public radio stations, as well as C-SPAN radio on 90.1 MHz, the all-news WTOP and Bloomberg Radio on 99.1 MHz. Tuning around on the HDR-14, I find that the HD stations are not much better. Many times the HD subchannel is used to relay a co-owned station that is available on another (analog) frequency. Among the bright spots on FM HD are Bluegrass Country, 88.5 HD2, and The Gamut, an eclectic oldies station on 103.5 HD3.
There seem to be no local stations using AM HD. An interesting nearby station is WWFD in Frederick, Maryland, which is The Gamut full-bandwidth HD on 820 kHz -- no co-channel analog. I can't hear it from our house, but I do hear it driving around the suburbs. At night, the only AM HD signal so far detected is WPHT, 1210 kHz in Philadelphia, but the signal is not strong enough to establish actual HD reception.
And now, finally, to the subject at hand: A video of last weekend's Shortwave Radiogram (program 312) is provided by Scott in Ontario (Friday 1300 UTC). The audio archive is maintained by Mark in the UK. The analysis is provided by Roger in Germany.
Here is the lineup for Shortwave Radiogram, program 313, 13-18 July 2023, in MFSK modes as noted:
1:44 MFSK32: Program preview
2:52 MFSK32: Rare snowfall in Johannesburg, South Africa*
7:27 MFSK64: One of Venezuela's oldest radio stations silenced*
13:24 MFSK64: This week's images*
28:37 MFSK32: Closing announcements
Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net
And visit http://swradiogram.net
