www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/radiogram.htm

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RSID: <<2016-04-18T20:00Z MFSK-32 @ 6070000+1500>>


Hello and welcome to DigiDX 9, a weekly review of the latest shortwave and DX news broadcast in the MFSK32 mode. This broadcast includes shortwave news and reception reports and a review of the new version of the popular Soft66RTL SDR.
Also included after the feature is another attempt to broadcast a MIDI audio file, this time as a .ZIP File in MFS32 mode.
DigiDX weekly schedule:

Sunday 2130 - 15770kHz via WRMI (Okeechobee, FL, USA)
Sunday 2330 - 11580kHz via WRMI (Okeechobee, FL, USA)
Monday 2000 - 6070kHz via Channel 292 (Rohrbach Wall, DE)

Any changes to this schedule or extra broadcasts will be listed on http://www.digidx.uk

If you enjoy DigiDX and find the service useful please consider donating via our Patreon page. Any money donated will go towards paying for airtime

to keep DigiDX on the air to Europe and North America.
Every donation will help no matter how little - https://www.patreon.com/digidx .

Thanks very much to listeners Mike Stapp, Mark Braunstein and Richard Langley for contributing to the Patreon campaign.

 

Latest Shortwave News:

Mighty KBC frequency change / Return to 6095 for Europe
New shortwave broadcast aimed at The Gambia starts
World Amateur Radio Day - April 18
Madagascar World Voice back on air
Iran stops Voice of Justice shortwave broadcast
 

Mighty KBC frequency change / Return to 6095 for Europe

The MightyKBC will change frequency from the 4th May 2016 from 6040kHz to 9925kHz broadcast from the Nauen transmitter in Germany and targeted at North America.
It had been mentioned on The MightyKBC that the 18th April transmission would be the last on shortwave, it hasn’t been confirmed if this is still the case but with the change of frequency it suggests that KBC could remain on the air. The broadcast is on at 0000UTC on Sunday.

Mighty KBC also returns to 6095kHz to Europe this Sunday (17th April) with a special broadcast also using Nauen at 0800 until 1000UTC. This is not a return to the regular weekly Sunday 6095kHz transmissions but indicates that there will still be special Mighty KBC
shows on shortwave for Europe.

New shortwave broadcast aimed at The Gambia starts
 

The Gambia Freedom Project - Radio Free Gambia has listed on its Facebook page that every Friday from 1900-2000 on 15465kHz there will be a broadcast that promises to share“ facts and truth about Gambia over Short Wave Radio”.

DigiDX have reached out to the Facebook page to ask for more details but have yet to receive a reply. The HFCC schedule lists that time and frequency as being on-air in English from Issoudun, France so that could well be the transmitter site used.

For more information see the Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/GBroadcastProject/?fref=ts
 

World Amateur Radio Day - April 18

Every April 18, radio amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on that day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris.______________________________

 

<<2016-04-16T18:40Z MFSK-32 @ 6270000+1500>> [CUSB]

_________________elebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on that day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris.

Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short wave spectrum — far from being a wasteland — could support worldwide propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, Amateur Radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s
history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide.

For information on what is happening on World Amateur Radio day visit http://www.iaru.org/world-amateur-radio-day.html
 

Madagascar World Voice back on air

Last week DigiDX reported that new shortwave station Madagascar World Voice was off the air due to a replacement part needed in their transmitter. However it appears the part has now arrived in Madagascar as the station has again been heard on air on the 15th April.

The station launched on March 27th with the following schedule:

The station broadcasts on the following schedule:

0000-0100 English CAf  9600
0100-0200 English SAs  9665
0200-0300 Spanish Am   6190
0300-0400 Spanish Am   6150
0400-0500 English CAf  9480
1800-1900 Russian Eu   9570
1800-1900 English Af  17640
1900-2000 Arabic  NAf 11945
2000-2100 Arabic  NAf 13710
2100-2200 Chinese EAs 11615
2200-2300 Chinese EAs  9455
2200-2300 Arabic  NAf 11770
2300-2400 Chinese EAs  9535
 

Iran stops Voice of Justice shortwave broadcast

Over the last few episodes of DigiDX we have reported on changes at Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIB). Last week we included an email sent out from IRIB advising that English on shortwave would end.

Although English to Europe is continuing for an hour per day at the moment, it appears that the Voice of Justice service to North America is no longer on the air. Initially reported by monitoring, it has now been confirmed on the schedule on the new ParsToday site.

See http://parstoday.com/en/radio/frequencies for the schedule and the lack of broadcast in English to North America now from Iran.
 

Upcoming relays and special broadcasts:

Radio Northern Ireland will broadcast live on Channel 292 and WRMI every week in April at the following times / frequencies:

Monday    9955kHz : 0130-0200 via WRMI
Saturday 15770kHz : 2100-2130 via WRMI
Monday    6070kHz : 1700-1800 via Channel 292
 

VOA Radiogram will be on air this weekend on the following frequencies, for more information on the modes to be used visit http://voaradiogram.net/

Sat 0930-1000  5745 kHz
Sat 1600-1630 17580 kHz
Sun 0230-0300  5745 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz

Gilles Létourneau who runs the excellent OfficialSWLchannel channel on Youtube has another radio related Hangout this week - To watch the hangouts or any of his videos go to https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialSWLchannel


Soft66RTL3 SDR: A low cost…Good performer direct from Japan
by Mike Ladd ( http://www.mikexeno.com )

Much has changed in the last 8 years in the world of SDR radios. Fast forward to 2016 and just about everyone in the hobby has heard the buzz word “SDR radio”. When SDRs first came out to the market they were all aimed at HF listening and you had two types to pick from.

The first being soundcard based and the second being direct sampling. The price gap between the two were several hundred dollars. The more expensive being direct sampling. As the hobby progressed, so did the technology and the prices started to shift dramatically.

You can now purchase a TV dongle for $10.00 and turn it into a SDR. The Soft66RTL3 is basically a TV dongle but with a lot more features.

The Soft66RTL3 comes from an engineer who is no stranger to the world of SDRS. Kazunori Miura (JA7TDO) has been designing and selling many models of SDRS over the internet and shipping them direct from Japan for about 7 years. The Soft66RTL3 is his latest of model hot off his bench. This SDR is a dual input RTL-SDR with a built in 50 MHz upconverter along with 4 user selectable band pass filters that greatly increase your signal to noise ratio in the HF bands.

The frequency range of the RTL3 is from DC to Daylight (0.4 kHz to 1.7 GHz). Miura also addressed a heat issue with the previous version (RTL2) by adding a thermal pad and heatsink. RTL dongles are notoriously unstable due to overheating. In theory, the thermal pad should add frequency stability and keep drift to a minimal.

The last feature of the RTL3 is the input gain trimmer pot. The trimmer pot is for the HF side of the SDR and is already set before it’s shipped from Japan. If you would like to reduce or increase it the trimmer pot is easily accessible. I would suggest leaving it as is.

The RTL3 terminates two 2 SMA-Male connection, one for HF and one for VHF, Power comes from a single USB Mini-B cable.

The band pass filter selection is a rotary encoder which you can turn to numbered positions for the following band pass filter selection.
#4 enables BPF 0.4 to 1.2MHz
#5 enables BPF 1.2MHz to 5MHz
#6 enables BPF 5MHz to 15MHz
#7 enables BPF 15MHz to 30MHz
#8 or #9 enables the VHF UHF side of the SDR

All other positions will bypass the filtering section on the HF side of the SDR.


Installation
If you already have a RTL-SDR on your system then all you need to do is swap it out with the RTL3 and change the offset of -50,000,000 in HDSDR or SDR# to listen to the HF side of the RTL3–but if this is your first SDR we will need to install 2 items: the front end app and the driver.

I will assume your system is Win-7 or better and we will be using SDR# as our program of choice to drive the RTL3. The RTL3 runs just fine in HDSDR and SDR-Console, but by choosing SDR# it will reduce our setup time considerably.

Plug in the RTL3
Make a folder on your desktop and name it SDR#
Download the latest version SDR# from www.airspy.com and copy the contents of the zip file to your newly created SDR# folder
Inside of your SDR# folder, double click on install-rtlsdr
After the batch completes, double click on the “zadig.exe” inside your SDR# folder
When you run the “zadig.exe” make sure you select “list all devices”.

The next 3 steps are:
Select “Bulk-In Interface” (Interface 0)
Make sure the proper USB device is selected (2838)
Click “install driver”

The RTL3 is now ready to be used and no further setup is required.

For a more detailed installation I would visit RTL-SDR.COM for a complete setup instructions: http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide
I will assume you did not have any issues setting up the ZADIG driver and now move on to using the RTL3 inside of SDR#.

I will show you real world conditions that are not from any scientific standpoint.

Antenna wise, for the HF side I will be using a G5RV mini and for the VHF/UHF side I will be using a Scanntenna ST-2.

You can now launch SDR# and set the source as RTL-SDR(USB), Shift as -50,000,000 and CorrectIQ selected.

Summary

I have been using this SDR for a little over 3 months. Out of all the low cost SDR’S on the market, this one gives you the most bang-for-your-buck and it is a great entry level SDR with some “Pro” features.
 

Pros:
Low Price
HF VHF/UHF in one package
Works with any app that supports the RTL-SDR front end
4 user selectable band pass filters for HF
Highly sensitive user controlled input RF amp
Small & very compact metal case
Dual input SMA jacks
ESD protection diode
 

Cons
Some intermod in the 460-470 MHz range
Inputs are on opposite sides of the SDR body

Thanks again to Mike Ladd for letting DigiDX include his review of the Soft66RTL3, to see the article with images go to http://goo.gl/tK1vuZ. To buy the Soft66RTL3 for US$ 40 including shipping to US/Canada/Australia or $46 for worldwide shipping go to http://zao.jp/radio/order/  Now follows an image of the Soft66RTL3.




Sending Pic:191x144C;
 

Thank you for all the reception reports sent to reports@digidx.uk.Many of you have correctly identified the tune include as a MIDI file as the English folk song The Lincolnshire Poacher which was used by the number station of the same name.

Alessio Proietti in Italy listened to DigiDX for the first time on 15770kHz on Sunday at 2130, he wrote to say “Im very happy to announce my very first reception of DIGI DX REPORT transmission! very good signal here in Rome some qsb but nothing relevant i hope to meet you again on air soon.”. Thanks Alessio.

LA7UM Finn from Norway emailed his reception reports for all three DigiDX transmissions over last weekend. He decoded both MFSK32 streams using FlDigi on the Mac and suggested the method below for opening multiple copies of FlDigi on a Mac:
“I also found another way of running two instances in a MAC from application folder.
Using last version, and the next older version. They work according to version numbers.
If adding my former mentioned trick running it also from the newly opened DMG file, you can add running 3 instances”

He also commented:

I am very happy that the trouble running those digital sessions through Germany by means of plane AM broadcast got solved. Needing NO modification at all on the radio, as a DRM software needs. And fldigi is free and open source.”

Thanks for listening and yes MFSK32 is much more accessible than DRM in my opinion as well!

Wolfgang Oelschlaeger listened on 15770 at 2130 on Sunday from Germany and commented on the two MFSK32 streams - “If I remember from my past profession as diplomatic wireless operator we transmitted also in 2 Channel RTTY (F6).”

Norberto Zanetti was one of several people who pointed out that last weekends 2130 transmission via WRMI was on 15770 and not 15570 as advertised. This was entirely my fault for sending out emails and the over-the-air QSL card with the wrong frequency listed, sorry about that!


Now follows this weeks over-the-air QSL card :


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                                                                    http://voaradiogram.net/

RSID: <<2016-04-16T16:01Z MFSK-32 @ 17580000+1500>>

Welcome to program 159 of VOA Radiogram from the Voice of
America.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Washington.

Here is the lineup for today's program, all in MFSK32 except
where noted:

  1:31 Program preview (now)
  2:39 Octopus makes daring escape*
  7:53 Kerry calls for more connectivity in poor countries*
12:42 Trolleybuses in Moscow to be retired*
16:10 Olivia 64-2000: Tiny spacecraft to explore space
23:21 MFSK32: Closing announcements*

*with image


Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

And visit voaradiogram.net.

Twitter: @VOARadiogram




New Zealand Octopus Makes Daring Escape From Aquarium

VOA News
April 13, 2016

An octopus has made a bold escape from an aquarium in Napier, New
Zealand and is believed to have made it to the Pacific Ocean.

Inky the octopus is thought to have wriggled through a gap in his
tank at the National Aquarium in Napier, making his way to a
15-centimeter-wide pipe that led to the ocean.

Rob Yarrall, who manages the aquarium, said Inky's tank was not
fully closed following maintenance.

"He managed to make his way to one of the drain holes that go
back to the ocean and off he went - didn't even leave us a
message," he told Radio New Zealand.

Even though Inky's body is roughly the size of a basketball,
octopuses are very soft and able to navigate very tight spaces.

"Even quite a large octopus, they can squeeze down to the size of
their mouth which is the only really hard part of their body,"
said Yarrall. "It's a beak, very much like a parrot beak."

Inky's tank mate opted to stay, Yarrall said, adding that staff
will be keeping a close eye on him.

Inky's escape actually happened months ago, but the story is just
now making global news.

According to The New York Times, Inky's escape does not surprise
those familiar with octopuses as they know the creatures for
their "strength, dexterity and intelligence."

Octopuses are "fantastic escape artists," Alix Harvey, an
aquarist at the Marine Biological Association in England, told
the Times.

"They are programmed to hunt prey at night and have a natural
inclination to move around at night," she said.

http://www.voanews.com/content/mht-inky-new-zealand-octopus-makes-escape-from-aquarium/3284167.html

Image: Inky the octopus is seen prior to his escape in this photo
from the National Aquarium of New Zealand ...



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This is VOA Radiogram from the Voice of America.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.


VOA NEWS

Kerry Calls for Push to Boost Connectivity in Poor Countries

Nike Ching
April 14, 2016

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is urging governments and
industries to create enabling environments that spur
connectivity, while promoting a U.S. plan to bring 1.5 billion
people who lack Internet access online by 2020.

"Out of every five people in the world, there remain three
without Internet access in 2016. It is unacceptable," Kerry said
Thursday at a World Bank event.

He said the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation is
providing up to $171 million for a low cost and rapidly scalable
wireless broadband network in India. He added, "We are
announcing more than a billion dollars in U.S. government
financing and loans with our development agency partners."

Last September, during the U.N. General Assembly, the State
Department launched the "Global Connect Initiative," aimed to
bring an additional 1.5 billion people online by 2020.

Kerry said Washington plans to work with international
development banks to help funding infrastructure in poor
countries.

The United States plans to designate "digital economy officers"
to 275 American embassies and diplomatic posts in the globe to
identify and break down barriers to help people become connected,
according to the State Department.

A World Bank report said for every 10 percent increase in
broadband access, a developing country can see up to two percent
rise in GDP.

http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-internet-poor-countries/3285838.html

Image: Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a Global
Connect Initiative event, April 14, 2016, at the World Bank in
Washington ...





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This is VOA Radiogram from the Voice of America.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.


From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

Moscow's 'Trams Without Rails'

Published 12 April 2016

In central Moscow, the humble trolleybus is arriving at the end
of the line. The lumbering electric buses, tethered to overhead
cables, are a cheap and quiet way to get around the Russian
capital. But now, as part of city renovations, Moscow authorities
plan to phase out trolleybuses from many central streets this
year. According to reports, 30 kilometers of trolleybus routes
are due to be dismantled. A dip into the photo archives reveals
the long relationship between Moscow and its "trams without
rails."

Image: A trolleybus pulls up at a bus stop on Moskvoretskaya
Embankment in 1985 ...





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More photos of Moscow trolleybuses::
http://www.rferl.org/media/photogallery/27670769.html




VOA Radiogram now changes to Olivia 64-2000 ...




RSID: <<2016-04-16T16:16Z OL 64-2K @ 17580000+1500>>




This is VOA Radiogram in Olivia 64-2000

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com


Proposed Spacecraft Will Take 20 Years to Reach Alpha Centauri

VOA Science World Blog
Rick Pantaleo
April 13, 2016

Renowned physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking and Russian
internet investor and physicist Yuri Milner recently announced an
ambitious new project they hope will someday send thousands of
tiny spacecraft to the stars to explore space and search for life
in the universe.

Called 'Breakthrough Starshot,' the project plans to send
gram-sized 'nanocraft' into deep space at a velocity of about
one-fifth the speed of light.

The tiny spacecrafts would be driven by a powerful beam of light
generated here on Earth. It would capture images and gather
scientific data of possible planets in Alpha Centauri, the
nearest star system, in just a little over 20 years after being
launched.

Considering that the Alpha Centauri star system is 4.37 light
years away from us, it would take nearly 30,000 years for today's
fastest spacecraft to reach the system.

Full text:

bit.ly/1TUhAm7

See also ...
bit.ly/23CsIHb
bit.ly/1SOobd4

VOA Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...

RSID: <<2016-04-16T16:23Z MFSK-32 @ 17580000+1500>>

 

This is VOA Radiogram in MFSK32

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com


The USA Science and Engineering Expo is this weekend in
Washington. Among the many exhibitors is the ARRL, the US
national association for amateur radio. Information at
http://www.usasciencefestival.org.

Some VOA Radiogram listeners may remember Frans Vossen,
broadcaster at the English section of Belgium's Radio Vlaanderen
Internationaal. Frans died earlier this month at his home in
suburban Brussels. Frans had a friendly, informal radio delivery,
and was one of the finest international broadcasters.

http://swling.com/blog/2016/04/rip-frans-vossen/
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/cultuur%2Ben%2Bmedia/media/1.2623000


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Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

And visit voaradiogram.net.

Twitter: @VOARadiogram

Thanks to colleagues at the Edward R. Murrow shortwave
transmitting station in North Carolina.

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

This is VOA, the Voice of America.



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DRM-images   -   received via EASYPAL/DSSTV on 7058 kHz/LSB    (FRG-100 / Dipol for ~7 MHz)

Here are some pics of  DC6MY  [Bernhard Hitzler, 86695 Nordendorf,  Swabia (Bavaria), Germany]  received in the last days:

https://www.qrz.com/db/DC6MY     http://www.hitzler.net/hamradio/index.htm