Hello friends,
The Mighty KBC's new frequency of 11600 kHz, Saturdays at 1300-1400 UTC from Bulgaria, reached across the Atlantic last weekend. That included the minute of MFSK64 at 1330 UTC (see below). If you are in North America, try it this weekend.
Unfortunately, the Shortwave Radiogram frequency of 9400 kHz at 1400-1430 UTC, also from Bulgaria, was less successful last weekend reaching the United States and Canada. It is, nevertheless, worth a try this weekend.
Videos of last weekend's Shortwave Radiogram (program 73) are provided by Scott in Ontario (Friday 2030-2100 UTC) and by Ralf in Germany (Saturday 1400-1430 UTC). The audio archive is maintained by Mark in the UK. Analysis is prepared by Roger in Germany.
As of this weekend, our broadcast at the inconvenient (at least for North Americans) time of 0800-0830 UTC moves to Sunday, from Monday, and thus might be slightly less inconvenient. North Americans who prefer not to wake up in the middle of the night can use Audacity's timer record feature. Or just leave your radio and Fldigi on all night and look at your results in the morning. Europeans should note that winter gray-line (grey-line) propagation may allow reception of the this Sunday 0800-0830 UTC broadcast. Frequencies are 5850 and 7730 kHz from WRMI Florida.
Winter propagation is allowing reception of Shortwave Radiogram broadcasts in areas where they were not heard during the summer, but the signal might not be sufficient for a good decode of our usual MFSK modes. To improve the chances of a successful decode, we will transmit some of this weekend's content in the robust Olivia 64-2000, 32-2000, and 16-2000 modes.
A few notes about Olivia: 1) For best decode, turn squelch (SQL) off. 2) The RSID should direct Fldigi to the correct Olivia modes, but if manual mode selection is necessary, Olivia 32-2000 and 16-2000 will require using the custom menu under the Olivia op mode. 3) Keep in mind that the text will not begin to print until a few seconds after you hear the tones.
Another interesting feature in this weekend's unusual program is a waterfall graphic created by Merkouris, SV2HWM, in Greece. It's a replica of the message sent to outer space in 1974 by the Arecibo radio telescope. This can be seen in the Fldigi waterfall or on an SDR spectrum display (zoom in). To see as much of it as possible in Fldigi: Configure > UI > Waterfall > FFT Processing > Increase waterfall height > Save, then close and restart Fldigi.
Here is the lineup for Shortwave Radiogram, program 74, 16-18 November 2018, in modes as noted:
1:41 MFSK32: Program preview
3:07 Olivia 64-2000: Earth's dust clouds***
6:11 Olivia 32-2000: Earth's dust clouds***
8:42 Olivia 16-2000: Earth's dust clouds***
11:43 MFSK64: Image from previous story*
14:27 Arecibo radio telescope message to space**
20:31 This week's images
27:41 MFSK32: Closing announcements
* with image(s)
** with waterfall graphic and image
*** for best Olivia decode turn off squelch (SQL)
Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net
And visit http://swradiogram.net
Twitter: @SWRadiogram or https://twitter.com/swradiogram (visit during the weekend to see listeners' results)
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/567099476753304 |
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