Shortwave Radiogram, 11-13 January 2019

Por elradioescucha el 11/01/2019 • ( 0 )

Sorry about the late start of the 1400-1430 UTC show last Saturday.
Let’s hope the transmitter in Bulgaria on 9400 kHz gives us the full
half hour this weekend.

New this weekend is transmissions of Shortwave Radiogram from WINB
in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. See the revised schedule below for the times
and frequencies. One of the broadcasts is in DRM (Digital Radio
Mondiale)! Most of us don’t have a DRM-capable receiver. But most of the
KiwiSDR receivers at https://sdr.hu/ can be used for DRM if you select the IQ mode.

You will also need the Dream DRM decoder in combination with the elusive
audio codec that must be placed in the same directory as the Dream
application. I don’t have time before today’s 1500 UTC DRM transmission
show to recall and explain the best places to find the necessary
software. If a Shortwave Radiogram listener can help (for next weekend),
I would be grateful!

When Dream is finally working, under Settings > Sound Card >
Signal Input > Channel: select I/Q Pos Split. For most comfortable
listening, use separate sound cards (device) for input and output.

Then there is the WINB DRM signal. It needs to be strong for DRM
decoding to succeed. I have decoded WINB DRM a few times using receivers
in Europe, North America, and even Hawaii. The signal may drop in and
drop out. The bottom 5 kHz of its bandwidth is for some unspecified
data. The voice part (and Shortwave Radiogram digital modes) will be on
the upper 5 kHz.

As for WINB analog on 9265, I have no idea where that might be audible.
We’ll find out this weekend. Consider it an adventure on shortwave.

NBEMS nets. Most weekends, as KD9XB, I check in to the amateur radio NBEMS nets in New York and Pennsylvania. See the information below.

Chinese text. This weekend’s Radio Free Asia story
about the internet in China will be followed by an excerpt the same RFA
news item in Mandarin. For the characters to display correctly, you
will need the UTF-8 character set. UTF-8 is now the default character
set in Fldigi, and it’s also default in TIVAR. If you need to change the
character set in Fldigi: Configure > UI > Colors & Fonts >
Rx/Tx.

Videos of last weekend’s Shortwave Radiogram (program 81) are provided by Scott in Ontario (Friday 2030-2100 UTC) and Ralf in Germany
(Sunday 2330-2400 UTC), with thanks to Ralf for recording late on
Sunday because of the half-missing show Saturday at 1400 UTC. The audio
archive is maintained by Mark in the UK. Analysis is prepared by Roger in Germany.

Here is the lineup for Shortwave Radiogram, program 82, 11-13 January 2019, in MFSK modes as noted:

1:39 MFSK32: Program preview
3:05 MFSK64: China targets internet users seeking news**
8:33 Astronomy from the far side of the moon*
15:33 This week’s images*
24:06 Tecsun Radios International decoding competition*
27:49 MFSK32: Closing announcements

* with image(s)

** use UTF8 character set for the Chinese characters

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

Slow Scan Radio transmits SSTV images and text modes
Saturdays at 1300-1330 UTC on 6070 kHz and 7440 kHz via Channel 292 in
Germany – according to the latest schedule information I have. The
website is http://www.slowscanradio.com. Reception reports to x@xdv.me. Last weekend Slow Scan Radio transmitted some DRM Easypal images.

The Mighty KBC transmits to Europe Saturdays at
1300-1400 UTC on 11600 kHz from Bulgaria, with the minute of MFSK at
about 1330 UTC (if you are outside of Europe, listen via
websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ ). And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200
UTC (Saturday 7-9 pm EST) on 5960 kHz, via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 0130 UTC. Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com . See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/.

New York and Pennsylvania NBEMS nets. Most weekends, as
KD9XB, I check in to the New York NBEMS (Narrow Band Emergency
Messaging Software) net Saturday at 1300 UTC on 3584 kHz USB, and the
Pennsylvania NBEMS net Sunday at 1300 UTC on 3583 kHz USB. Check-ins are
in Thor 22, and messages are in MFSK32. Messages usually use the Flmsg
add-on to Fldigi. If you are a radio amateur in eastern North America,
feel free to check in. Outside the region, use an SDR in the eastern USA
to tune in and decode. You do not need Flmsg to check in, and most of
the messages can be read without Flmsg. If you can decode the net, send
me an email to radiogram@verizon.net , or tweet to @SWRadiogram , and I
will let them know you are tuned in.