RSID: <<2020-12-11T00:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>

Welcome to program 182 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:40 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:44 New cuts to Radio Canada International*
  9:13 MFSK64: SpaceX dark coating cuts satellite reflectivity
12:22 This week's images*
27:56 MFSK32: Closing announcements

* with image(s)


Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram






From Radio Canada International:

Canada's public broadcaster announces new cuts to Radio Canada
International

Levon Sevunts
December 3, 2020

Officials at CBC/Radio-Canada announced a fresh round of cuts at
Radio Canada International (RCI) on Thursday as part of a "major
transformation" of the beleaguered international service of
Canada's public broadcaster.

A joint statement released by Radio-Canada executive
vice-president Michel Bissonnette and his CBC counterpart,
Barbara Williams, said the goal of the transformation was "to
ensure that the service remains a strong and relevant voice in
the 21st-century media landscape."

"In its strategic plan Your Stories, Taken to Heart, the public
broadcaster committed to 'taking Canada to the world' and
'reflecting contemporary Canada,'" the joint statement said.

"Transforming RCI is a necessary step to allow the service to
effectively fulfil the important role it must play in delivering
on those commitments.

"To that end, RCI will soon be offering more content in more
languages, drawing on the work of CBC/Radio-Canada's respected
news teams to reach new audiences at home and abroad."

Earlier in the morning Radio-Canada executives held a virtual
meeting with RCI employees to inform them of upcoming changes.

In all, the transformation will reduce the number of RCI
employees by more than half, from the current 20 to nine,
including five journalists assigned to translate and adapt CBC
and Radio-Canada articles, three field reporters, and one chief
editor.

As part of the announced transformation, the English and French
language services of RCI will be eliminated and will be replaced
by curated content created by CBC and Radio-Canada respectively.

The remaining Arabic, Chinese and Spanish services will also be
reduced in size.

However, two new language services – Punjabi and Tagalog – will
be added to the editorial offering presented by RCI, officials
said.

RCI content will also get more visibility by being incorporated
into CBCNews.ca and Radio-Canada.ca with its own portal page
featuring all the languages, the statement said.

RCI apps will be folded into the CBC News and Radio-Canada Info
mobile apps, while the service's five existing apps will be
deleted, the statement added.

Under the new plan, RCI's operations will focus on three main
areas: translating and adapting a curated selection of articles
from CBCNews.ca and Radio-Canada.ca sites; producing a new weekly
podcast in each RCI language; and producing reports from the
field in Chinese, Arabic and Punjabi.

"This transformation will help bring RCI's high-quality, relevant
content to more people around the globe and allow them to
discover our country's rich culture and diversity," the statement
said.

The union representing Radio-Canada employees lambasted the move
as a "rampage."

"It feels like Groundhog Day with more cuts to RCI under the
guise of transformation," said Pierre Toussignant, president of
Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada (SCRC).

In 2012, CBC/Radio-Canada slashed RCI's budget by nearly 80 per
cent, forcing it to abandon shortwave radio broadcasting
altogether. The cuts also resulted in significant layoffs and the
closure of RCI's Russian, Ukrainian and Portuguese language
services.

https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2020/12/03/canadas-public-broadcaster-announces-new-cuts-to-radio-canada-international/

Sending Pic:208x86C;

Shortwave Radiogram changes to MFSK64 ...

 

RSID: <<2020-12-11T00:39Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

From New Atlas:

SpaceX dark coating successfully cuts Starlink satellite
reflectivity

Anthony Wood
December 08, 2020

By applying a dark coating to one of its Starlink satellites,
SpaceX has been able to cut its satellite's apparent brightness
in half, according to the results of a new study. The research
suggests that applying the coating to more satellites could help
lessen their impact on delicate telescope observations of the
night sky.

Since May 24, 2019, SpaceX has been launching satellites into
orbit 60 at a time to bolster the ranks of its Starlink
megaconstellation – a fleet of networked sats flying in formation
that, once completed, will be thousands strong, and capable of
providing global communications coverage.

Whilst such a service has the capacity to improve the lives of
untold thousands of people living in the most remote, or
disconnected places on Earth, it also has some substantial
drawbacks.

One of the key issues is that, just after dusk and before the
dawn, satellites reflect a significant amount of light back
towards Earth. This is why we see them twinkling as they pass
overhead on a clear night.

According to a 2020 study, the addition of megaconstellation
swarms could mean that twice as many satellites will become
visible to the naked eye in the coming years. Another undesirable
side effect is that many of these bright artificial objects will
inevitably wander through the gaze of sensitive ground-based
telescopes, compromising the quality of their data.

SpaceX has trialed a number of mitigation strategies to try and
reduce the apparent brightness of its satellites, and so lessen
their negative impact on the astronomy community.

One of the most promising strategies involved launching a
prototype Starlink satellite into space that had been treated
with an anti-reflective coating. The results of a new study,
making use of Japan's Murikabushi Telescope at Ishigakijima
Astronomical Observatory, suggests that the mitigation attempt
has borne fruit.

On April 10th and May 18th, the 105-cm (41-inch) telescope
observed the darkened SpaceX satellite, known as Starlink-1130 or
Darksat, and captured data on its reflectivity in three different
wavelengths of light simultaneously. The telescope also observed
the light signature of a standard Starlink satellite in order to
better understand how the mitigation tactic had reduced its
brightness compared to the rest of the swarm.

After comparing the light signatures of the two probes, it was
discovered that the albedo, or apparent brightness of Darksat,
was roughly half that of the regular Starlink satellite. The
results of the study show that mitigation strategies can have a
significant effect on the disruptive nature of satellite
constellations, however, the dark coat of paint is far from a
panacea.

As it stands, the Starlink constellation is made up of hundreds
of satellites, but upon completion, it will be comprised of a
staggering 42,000 units flying in choreographed unison.
Furthermore, whilst SpaceX currently has the largest
megaconstellation, it is not the only company looking to put a
host of satellites in the night sky. The results of the new
observations are a comforting first step in creating a situation
wherein astronomy and commercial satellites can exist in harmony,
but there is much work left to be done.

Thankfully, other mitigation strategies are also being
considered, including the potential of fitting future satellites
with sun visors designed to block sunlight from striking the
reflective areas of Starlink probes, and altering their
orientation soon after launch to make their solar panels less
visible.

A paper on the study has been published in The Astrophysical
Journal.

Source: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

https://newatlas.com/space/spacex-starlink-satellite-reflectivity-astronomy/



This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net

This week's images ...


Our first image, small and quick, contributed by Roger in
Germany, is designed to detect the presence of multipath
reception ...

Sending Pic:200x20;



 

Interference pattern with an interval of 10 ms

artificial echo signal with 135 ms delay, 7 db below the original level

A life-sized New York City–taxi Christmas ornament on Fifth
Avenue in New York City on December 2, 2020.
https://bit.ly/373kDoH ...

Sending Pic:203x148C;
 

Southwest Captain Ted Orris's final take-off (from ATL) before
retirement, taken by aerial photographer Ryan Patterson.
https://bit.ly/3n8bwsG ...
 

Sending Pic:190x188C;

A car drives between snow covered trees in the Taunus region near
Frankfurt, Germany, December 8, 2020. https://bit.ly/3gBa931
...
 

Sending Pic:175x203C;





A snowplough (plow) clears heavy snow in the Pennines near
Hexham in Northumberland, England. https://bit.ly/3maspBK ...

Sending Pic:204x153C;

The Tunnel of Lights at the Shipwreck Treasure Museum,
Charlestown, England. https://bit.ly/3maspBK ...

Sending Pic:198x138C;
 

The National Christmas Cone next to the White House.
https://wapo.st/3m5LGUy ...

Sending Pic:202x159C;








The Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart, Indiana, illuminated
for the holidays. https://bit.ly/373i5aj ...

Sending Pic:171x205C;





Our painting of the week is a watercolor of holly leaves by Susan
Bronsak. https://bit.ly/3gvdbWH ...

Sending Pic:205x137C;



Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...



 

RSID: <<2020-12-11T00:58Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+2000>>
 

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 (at 2000 Hz) ...


Transmission of Shortwave Radiogram is provided by:

WRMI, Radio Miami International, http://wrmi.net

and

WINB Shortwave, http://winb.com


Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram

I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave
Radiogram.

 

RSID: <<2020-12-09T21:46Z MFSK-64 @ 7780000+1500>>

Daz:
The December RNEI11 shortwave broadcast features an animated vector graphics html playlist, sent using WinDRM.
The small data size allows the most robust QAM4 modulation to be used, and allows the data to be sent in 2 passes for protection against QRM or fades.
Requirements:
Decoder: WinDRM or Easypal (either will work)
Decompressor: 7zip
Browser: Firefox, Edge, or Chrome/Vivaldi (possibly others IF they have GPU acceleration for SVG graphics). Only Firefox is able to display both the animations and emojis correctly.
The playlist will be supplied in three files, to suit various browser speeds:
Main file - All animations
Slower - Sun only, no clouds
Slowest - Animated text and RNEI logo only
Rendering animated SVG graphics requires GPU acceleration to get a decent framerate.
Firefox on Windows 7 or 10, Edge on Windows 10, and Chrome/Vivaldi on Windows 8.1 were the only browsers tested that could display the animated content at a reasonable frame rate (30 FPS or more). Other browsers and operating system combinations tested were just too slow.
Chrome/Vivaldi may need "ignore-gpu-blocklist" to be manually enabled.
Firefox may need WebRender disabled if your hardware or OS can't support it. Direct3D 11 mode works fine.
Firefox v83 has switched to the "WebRender" graphics engine. If WebRender can't run on your system, it causes a slowdown in SVG animation (to perhaps 1 FPS or less). If you have this issue, go into Firefox about:config and set "gfx.webrender.force-disabled" to "true", and restart Firefox.
 

RNEI11 first airs at 1900UTC on Sunday December 6th on 6070kHz from Germany, and 0100UTC Thursday December 10th on 5850kHz WRMI. It is repeated weekly for the rest of the month. Check transmitter timetables for more precise times and dates.
The playlist is sent at the end of the program (about 29 minutes into the 6070kHz ch292 broadcast, and at about 59 minutes into the 5850kHz WRMI broadcast).
WinDRM saves received data files in it's "Pictures" subfolder. Unzip the "RNEI11-Playlist.7z" archive using 7zip, and then open one of the html files in your web browser. If the browser is too slow to display the content, try the slower or slowest file versions.
Look for the hidden greeting message popups!
 

DECODED  via ch292  DRM QAM4:

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/pr8drdi1mcqsmxg/RNEI11-Playlist.7z?dl=1

....
---- RNEI 11's playlist ----
1, Steps - Something in Your Eyes 🇬🇧-🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
This song is the latest from an English 90s pop dance group, still making fun pop music decades after their debut!
2, BRÍET - Nær Þér 🇮🇸
We bring you BRÍET's latest song. It has a similar vibe to GDRN from last week and I love it!
3, Erika Vikman - Syntisten pöytä 🇫🇮
Finland's Erika Vikman, a former Tango Dancer, invites us to the table of sinners this month. With her strong vocals and an amazing ABBA-esque backing track Syntisten pöytä jumped right into the Finnish top 30!
4, Adwaith - Lan Y Môr 🇬🇧-🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Here's a treasure of an entry, Indie Rock band Adwaith's latest song in Welsh!
5, Re:Bond featuring Sanna and Serenad - Aldrig det 🇸🇪
Something I heard on P4 Nästa, I found it quite a nice change after the rock!
6, Anna of the North - Believe 🇳🇴
This song is probably my favourite of the show. Anna of the North (Last played in the very first RNEI show!) has covered Cher's Believe with such a wonderful, chill and haunting vibe. I find it chillingly beautiful!
---- Danish Dance Music Mix ----
7, Kasper Nyemann - Du' Min (Le Boeuf Remix) 🇩🇰
A catchy dance song sung in Danish with a nice happy vibe.
8, LittGloss - I See Right Through To You (Sunrise Edit) 🇩🇰
LittGloss gives us a slowed down dance banger with strong vocals.
9, Tvilling - Dum Dum Dum 🇩🇰
Tvilling brings us back up in tempo with a solid drop in their song Dum Dum Dum.
10, Boye & Sigvardt, Hazel - Confessions 🇩🇰
Hazel teases the listener about what she's been up to in Boye & Sigvardt's well produced song Confessions.

Our email is qsl@rnei.org.

Thank you for decoding,
Til vi møtes igjen,
Ha det!
....

https://www.bclnews.it/2020/11/18/texas-radio-shortwave-announces-its-christmasmusic-program-schedule/

https://www.facebook.com/texasradiosw/photos/a.101641871314124/214211853390458/

CORRECTION: December 26 transmission on WRMI is on 5800 kHz, NOT 9395 kHz.
Cap'n Ric apologizes for the confusion.

TEXAS RADIO SHORTWAVE ANNOUNCES ITS CHRISTMASMUSIC PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Texas Radio Shortwave, an American free radio station, today announces the schedule for its Christmas music programs via three international shortwave stations.
Texas Radio Shortwave will reprise its Christmas 2019 program on December 19 and 20:
December 19 – Via Channel 292 (Rohrbach, Germany): 0900 UTC on 6070 kHz and 1800 UTC on 3955 kHz
December 20 – Via WRMI (Okeechobee, Florida USA): 0300 UTC on 5800 kHz (December 19 in NAm

On Christmas Eve and Day, the Texas Radio Shortwave program will feature music by Texas artists on the following schedule:
December 25 – Via WBCQ (Monticello, Maine USA: 0400 UTC on 7490 kHz (Christmas Eve in NAm)
December 25 – Via Channel 292 (Rohrbach, Germany): 1900 UTC on 3955 kHz and 6070 kHz
December 26 – Via WRMI (Okeechobee, Florida USA): 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz  5800 kHz (Christmas Day in NAm).
Texas artists will include Beto y Los Fairlanes, Eric Johnson and Van Wilks, and Marcia Ball.

Texas Radio Shortwave will send different limited-edition electronic verifications for the December 19/20 and December 25/26 programs to listeners submitting correct, detailed reception reports for the broadcasts. The email address is texasradiosw@gmail.com.
Reception reports should include times, song titles, the text of announcements, a SINPO/SIO signal rating, information on the listener’s receiver and antenna, and comments on the program content. Listeners should mention if they use a remote software-defined radio (SDR) and the receiver’s location. Audio clips are welcomed.
Texas Radio Shortwave sails in international waters off the South Texas coast. Its programs are regularly broadcast in Europe and North America.
73 and Arrgghh.
Always be yourself. Unless you can be a pirate. Then always be a pirate.
Texas Radio Shortwave
Sailing into your ears from the Lone Star State
https://www.facebook.com/texasradiosw