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Topics - flexoman61

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346
Program #10
MFSK32 and Olivia 64-2000
image sent, group QSL card

Hello and welcome to DigiDX 10, a weekly review of the latest shortwave
and DX news broadcast in the MFSK32 mode. This broadcast includes
shortwave news and reception reports and an article on shortwave jamming
from Soviet occupied Latvia.

Also included after the feature is another attempt to broadcast a MIDI
audio file, this time in Olivia 64-2000 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:

Radio Guinea reactivates shortwave transmissions Return of Radio Biafra
All India Radio considers future of shortwave broadcasts Mighty KBC on
6095kHz in May SDR Touch now supports the SDRplay

Radio Guinea reactivates shortwave transmissions

After several years off the air, Radio Guinea from Guinea (Conakry) in
West Africa has reactivated its shortwave broadcasts since the 16th
April.

The broadcast is in French on 9650kHz and is believed to come from the
Sonfonia site located in the capital Conakry. The signal has been
observed in Europe and North America between 2200 and 0800 however over
the last few days before this broadcast it appears to have been off the
air once again.

Return of Radio Biafra

According to the official website of Radio Biafra, the station calling
for an independent Biafra state in Southern Nigeria will return to
shortwave on 11700kHz from the 20th April. The broadcast is scheduled to
be on the air from 1800 to 2100 UTC. It is believed to be relayed from
the Kostinbrod site near Sofia in Bulgaria.

All India Radio considers future of shortwave broadcasts

New Delhi based newspaper The Sunday Guardian have reported that All
India Radio is considering shutting down its shortwave transmitters to
the cost of keeping the AIR on the air over shortwave. Instead there
would be a move to internet only radio broadcasting.

The newspaper reports that 95% of the External Services Division's
budget is spent on the shortwave infrastructure with the remaining 5%
spent on producing the programmes and paying staff wages.

However an AIR source has told the Sunday Guardian : The proposal
suggests the shutting down of short wave and the service being made
web-based and continues But of course there is the argument that
short wave can reach even the remotest corners of the world, which is
not the case with internet signals. The shutting down of short wave,
without a doubt, will affect the propaganda value of India among its
listeners abroad. This is why there are chances that the short wave
service might continue in neighboring countries like China, Nepal,
etc.

AIR broadcasts in 12 Indian languages and also Arabic, Balochi, Burmese,
Chinese, Dari, French, Indonesian, Persian, Pushtu, Russian, Sinhala,
Swahili, Thai, Tibetan and English (General Overseas Service).

Read the full article here - http://goo.gl/x2Mfb2

Mighty KBC on 6095kHz in May

Mighty KBC will have another special broadcast on 6095kHz to Europe on
Sunday 15th of May between 0800-1000UTC. It has not yet been announced
what music programme and DJ will be on air.

SDR Touch now supports the SDRplay

Android SDR app SDR Touch has launched a new beta version which supports
the popular SDR Play SDR. The SDR Play supports between 100kHz to 2Ghz
and therefore combined with SDR Touch will allow shortwave to be
listened to on any Android phone or Tablet with Android 4 or above.

Currently listening to shortwave using SDR Touch is possible using an
RTL-SDR and upconverter and hopefully the support for the SDRPlay will
improve the experience of SW listening using the app. Sign up to beta
test the app here - https://goo.gl/nD6BYL

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 Ltourneau 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

Shortwave radio jamming in Soviet Latvia by LatvianHistory.com Radio is
one of the most effective ways of communication. The information that
travels around the airwaves can reach even the most remote places. In
late 20 century twenties it was discovered that by transmitting in High
Frequency band (1,6 Mhz-30 Mhz) or so-called shortwave the signal can
reach every radio receiver in faraway countries. In so the shortwave
radio became effective way for government propaganda. And regimes that
disliked that their citizens can listen to foreign broadcasts searched
for ways how stop this.

During the first Soviet occupation in 1941, the Soviets started the
registration of the radio owners. They wanted to know how many and what
kind of people could listen to foreign broadcasts, and impose license
fees for radio using and in case of need take them away from the owner.
During the Nazi Germany occupation a list of suppressed radio stations
was made.

In 1945 the Soviet occupation returned. Everywhere in Latvia people
gathered at their radio receivers and waited for the news of coming
American and British liberation, however soon the frequencies of the
foreign stations became filled with load roaring noise. The era of the
Soviet radio jamming had begun.

On 1946 USSR Communications ministry issued an order to register the
radio receiver in whole country. On the streets of the cities and main
squares loudspeakers were placed to transmit the propaganda from radio
stations from Riga and Moscow. It was nearly impossible to purchase the
radio receiver after the war, so the radio transmission points were
placed in the apartments. It had strategic goal because now the
government could inform the people about its decisions and orders.

As the Cold War became more intense the Western countries begun to
transmit broadcasts to Soviet Union in various languages including
Latvian. The main broadcasters were the Voice of America, BBC Word
Service, Deutche Welle and Radio Free Europe. Radio Free Europe was
actually a creation of the US Central Intelligence Agency. CIA secretly
financed the RFE for many years until it was discovered by the leftist
journalists in 1967 and since 1972 the RFE is financed by the US
Congress. USSR also had its own shortwave propaganda station Radio
Moscow. However, in Western countries listening to the Soviet propaganda
was not considered as a serious crime. In Soviet Union listening to
Western stations could cause a real jail sentence.

For instance in 1951 Elfida Jansone was put on LSSR High Court for
listening to the Voice of America. For this crime she was sentenced for
eight years in labor camp. In 1948 the Latvian Communist party Riga city
committee bureau issued a decree For urgent actions for jamming of
the anti-soviet broadcasts. The decree ordered every institution that
had a shortwave transmitter to jam the foreign radio stations. Jamming
was done by Latvian Energy, Sea Fleet and Soviet Army. Army constructed
10 transmitters that jammed the foreign voices 24 hours in day. However,
the power of these transmitters was too weak to completely silence the
foreign broadcasts. Because of this in all three occupied Baltic States
a special jamming stations were built. On May 5 1951 the chairman of the
LSSR Council of Ministers Vilis Lcis wrote a note to Vyacheslav
Molotov that in accordance to USSR Council of Ministers decree on 4
December 1950, a high voltage radio center was to be built in Riga;
however the Ministry of Communications had planned to build it only in
1953. The head of the LSSR asked the Soviet Ministry of Communications
to start building this object already in 1951 and finish it in 1952.
However, the slow Soviet bureaucracy only in 1953 ordered to build
jamming systems in the Baltic States. A jammer was built in Liepaja,
Daugavpils and Riga.

All of these special objects were under control of the Latvia republican
radio center. American made shortwave transmitter SCR-399 that was
delivered by the US in war-time was now used to jam the US broadcasts.
The power of these transmitters was not high  only 400 watts however
it operated in the 1,5- 1,8 Mhz frequency range that used by the most
foreign stations. The object in Liepaja has 12 transmitters and one
Russian Extra type Medium Wave transmitter (Medium Wave is
526-1600 kHz). In the Riga object at the Dome Square basement had 18
SCR-399 transmitters but at other Riga site 15 Soviet KV-5 transmitters
with power of 5 kilowatts were placed. The transmitters were modified
with GMD generator that was the most secret part in the objects. This
device made various tone sound signal that was nicknamed saw by
the listeners. It was impossible to filter this noise because its
frequency was the same as the broadcasting foreign station. It even made
interference in frequencies free from broadcasts. It was a hard time for
people living near the jamming stations because the strong signal made
inference for allowed radio and TV broadcasts. Before the start of every
broadcast one or even two transmitters were allocated to the broadcast
frequency and after the command was given the jammer were turned on.
Sometimes the in the time of broadcast the stations slightly changed the
frequency, leaving the jammer in behind, forcing to retune it. The radio
propagation issues also sometimes did not allow silencing the broadcasts
completely.

The Medium Wave broadcasts were completely jammed by stations from
Lithuania and Estonia. Sometimes the foreign broadcasters appeared at
previously unannounced frequencies and the jammer power was not so high
so the ordinary Soviet citizen could listen to them.

Despite the warnings and repressions, people listened to foreign
broadcasters. Some were tired of the Soviet propaganda, some were just
curious. Some understood that they lived behind the Iron Curtain and had
enough of censorship and lies. The Latvian radio receiver producers VEF
and Radiotehnika were forced to make receivers without the frequency
ranges where the foreign broadcasters appeared. The listeners of these
stations were reported by the work colleges, neighbors even relatives.
While nobody was thrown in the prison since the death of Stalin, being
caught of listening to hateful anti-soviet propaganda could mean
job loss and further sanctions.

Not every foreign broadcaster was considered anti-soviet, as there were
many broadcasters from Soviet-friendly countries. The main condemned
broadcasts came from Western Europe and US.

The Soviet spy agency KGB tracked the radio listening. It had many radio
control points over all country. In 1982 the KGB was even ordered to
track the Ultra High Frequency ranges at 30 km zones around the cities.
The main ones who were tracked in this range were radio amateurs. In
Soviet times every radio amateur was under the KGB watch. The Soviet
Military intelligence service GRU installed a mobile tracking and
surveillance base in Riga that could listen and record the telephone
conversations. After the fall of the Soviet Union the GRU offered to
sell these devices to Latvian government.

The shortwave radio jamming in Soviet Union ended when the new Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev ordered to stop the useless spending of
money. Shortwave radio jamming is still practiced by many countries
like China, North Korea, Iran and Vietnam. As long there will be a need
for political information the shortwave radios and its jammers will not
disappear.

Selected Sources: Upmalis, Ilgonis, Tiglass, riks, Stankvis,
riks. (2011) Latvija padomju militristu var : 1939-1999.Rga:
Latvijas okupcijas izptes biedrba.



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
Yankee Doodle which is used by VOA to start and finish their broadcasts
in English and other languages.

Listening on 6070kHz on Monday at 2000 Michele Costantino in Italy and
Merkouris in Greece heard DigiDX with interference from another station
which I believe to be VOA in French from Pinheira on the island of Sao
Tome. It would be nice to hear in future reception reports if anyone
else from Southern Europe also hears this interference and how this
affects the reception of DigiDX.

Reception on 11580khz at 2330 was heard in Goa, India by Jawahar
Almeida(VU2JAB), he only managed to decode a small section of the
broadcast but mentions that he tunes into VOA Radiogram weekly and it
comes in fairly well on 17580 khz at 1600 Saturdays.

Now DigiDX finishes the e-QSL card in MFSK32 and then changes to Olivia
64-2000 for a MIDI file of another famous shortwave interval signal.
This text is a Base64 encoded MIDI file which can be converted to to MP3
by going to http://midi.digidx.uk (and select the Submit option) or go
to http://www.motobit.com/util/base64-decoder-encoder.asp choosing to
decode the data and export to file, the file can then be renamed a .MID
file opened in Winamp or a similar software.



Sending Pic:532x304;

tntt
Before RSID: <<2016-04-24T21:54Z MFSK-32 @ 100000+1504>>
j#/L#.
.
.
--START--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--END--

Thank you for listening to DigiDX, please send reception reports to reports@digidx.uk. This is DigiDX sign

347
Some interesting music playing. Not moving the S-meter much
but good copy. The preamp on the ICOM brings up the sig nicely.
It's good to see the night time propagation picking up on 19 meters.

0355 Reggae type music playing, one of my favorite BC stations.
They still owe me a QSL card from about a year ago.

348
S9+20

Egyptian news and music.

349
Shortwave Broadcast / 15050 AM All India Radio 1417 UTC 4/24/16
« on: April 24, 2016, 1422 UTC »
Odd freq. for AIR to be, out of BC band. Listed as a DRM broadcast (@ http://www.short-wave.info/index.php) but in AM.
Fair copy, music playing

350
Chinese, Cantonese
Poor copy today, SIO:222

351
Shortwave Broadcast / VOA Radiogram 5745 AM 0230 UTC 4/24/2016
« on: April 24, 2016, 1306 UTC »
MFSK32 with images.
decoded w/FLDIGI



Welcome to program 160 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:
 1:34  Program preview (now)
 2:44  Can AC and DC power integrate?*
12:13  Radio Farda TV signal jammed in Iran*
16:38  New report finds media freedom declined globally*
26:53  Closing announcements*
28:17  Olivia 64-2000: Frequency schedule under music
* with image
Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.
And visit voaradiogram.net.
Twitter: @VOARadiogram   

VOA NEWS

Can AC and DC Power Systems Integrate?
George Putic, KI4FNF
April 19, 2016
PITTSBURGH - More than 100 years after alternating current (AC)
defeated direct current (DC) in the so-called Battle of Currents
and became the standard way electricity was delivered, new
technologies have opened up the possibility and even the
necessity for the two systems to co-exist.

In his Power Systems Lab at the University of Pittsburgh,
professor of electrical and computer engineering Gregory Reed is
exploring the most efficient ways of integrating the two
previously almost incompatible systems.

"For many, many, decades, everything we used was run off of 120
volts AC, 60 hertz,"  Reed pointed out. "Well, today, most of our
end-use devices, our home electronics, our data servers, our
business systems, our lighting systems now with LEDs, so much of
our loads only need low voltage DC. Look at your computer. And so
what do we do? We plug everything into 120 volt AC which is our
legacy system. That has to be converted to low voltage DC for
these devices to operate. So we're going back to DC then, at the
very, very end for end-use devices today and that creates a lot
of inefficiency."

Do We Need Both AC and DC?

Electric energy can run through wires in two ways: in one
direction, sort of like water flowing through a pipe, or in
alternating mode, almost like pushing and pulling back and forth.

The first is called direct current, DC for short, and that is the
sort of energy we get from batteries, with a plus and minus pole.
The second is known as alternating current, or AC, and that is
the type we get from our wall sockets and almost everywhere else.

Both types of current can run electrical motors, power
lightbulbs, heat our houses, and both have advantages and
disadvantages.

In the beginning, the advantages of AC were greater, so electric
power companies opted for the one that made more economical
sense.

"It really was a fierce battle between Thomas Edison, who
advocated his system of DC technology, and Westinghouse and his
partner Nikola Tesla who were advocating AC,"  Reed explained.
"The disadvantage Edison really had with DC back then was he had
no way of controlling the current on the DC cables. As he began
to deliver DC to longer and longer distances, as he got to beyond
a mile (1.6 km) or more, currents got so large that it wasn't
safe. The cables had to become so large that it wasn't
economical. So in his system he needed a power plant about every
mile to feed this DC network."

This problem has now been solved. We can safely control the
currents in DC delivery lines. Suddenly, converting AC to DC for
long distance transportation opened up new possibilities.

Utilizing Both Systems' Advantages

"Beginning in the 1970s, we started to build high voltage DC
transmission systems which provided a much more efficient way
than AC for long distance transmission,"  Reed said, "because we
could use this power electronics conversion to control the DC.
With AC systems, we use what's called three phases, so we use
three cables and large towers to support those cables and all the
forces on them, and that's very costly over the long distance.
With DC systems we only need two of those. We call them poles, so
we only need two cables for DC. So right away we have 33 percent
less infrastructure than we have with AC systems."

Another advantage of a DC power system is that when used as a
connection between two AC systems, it prevents the so-called
cascading blackouts,' when a problem in one AC power line, such
as a lightning strike, triggers a domino effect that spreads
through other AC lines, leaving vast areas without power.

As Reed explains, "With DC systems, we can actually interconnect
pockets of AC networks and create subareas of AC systems through
DC inter-ties where, if we do have these problems within the
network, we can separate them instantly through the DC converters
and really eliminate the possibility of having these cascading
blackouts over large regions in the future."

DC In Our Homes and Cars

So DC is increasingly appealing for transporting energy over long
distances. But what about in our homes, factories and other
businesses? Reed says in the future, they may contain what he
calls DC micro-grids.'

The electricity generated by alternative energy sources, such as
solar panels and fuel cells, is DC. It can be stored in batteries
and safely integrated with 120 volt 60 hertz AC.

"And a part of that battery storage will be in the form of
electric vehicles, and we are seeing a huge potential growth in
the electric vehicle market. So, continue to put all those
batteries in for the network, it's more and more growth of DC
entities all around us, for both loads and end-use, and so that
growth has become very strong as well,"  Reed said.
Full text:
http://www.voanews.com/content/can-ac-and-dc-power-systems-integrate/3292427.html

Image: Screen capture from the video version of this VOA News
report ...

Sending Pic:178x189C;

This is VOA Radiogram from the Voice of America.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

Radio Farda's TV Signal Jammed In Tehran

April 20, 2016

Fans of Breakfast With News, RFE/RL's Persian Language Satellite
TV broadcast, woke up to a scrambled screen April 8. The daily,
one-hour news and analysis show is produced by RFE/RL's Persian
Language Service, Radio Farda, and aired on Voice of America's
satellite channel.

After being alerted by viewers, Radio Farda confirmed the
satellite signal has for the last 12 days been jammed in Tehran
and other large cities in Iran, and only during the normal
broadcast time of Morning With News. The audio of the popular
program is broadcast on AM and short wave radio, and is so far
unblocked.

Even though Facebook is blocked in Iran, Radio Farda's Facebook
page has over 1.5 million fans. Audiences must use proxy servers
to access both Facebook and Radio Farda's website.

Family members of Radio Farda staff have been interrogated,
coerced, and threatened by secret police in more than 20
incidents between 2012-2015. Iran has set up phony websites and
social media profiles to discredit Farda reporting, and has
targeted Farda journalists in over 15 documented cases of on-line
harassment.

http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-jamming/27686740.html

Sending Pic:231x130C;

RFE/RL also faces the possible blocking of its website about
Crimea:

Crackdown On RFE/RL's Crimea Site Sparks International
Condemnation 

April 20, 2016

http://www.rferl.org/content/crimea-crackdown-rfe-rl-condemnation-semena/27686283.html

This is VOA Radiogram from the Voice of America.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

New Report Finds Media Freedom Declined Globally

VOA News
April 20, 2016

There has been a "deep and disturbing decline" in respect for
media freedom at levels both regional and global, the media
rights group Reporters Without Borders said in its annual report.

The 2016 World Press Freedom Index, released by the group
Wednesday, said the world is entering a "new era of propaganda"
and a reluctance to engage in free debate.

The group said many world leaders have developed "paranoia" about
journalists and are cracking down on the media, while privately
owned media outlets are increasingly under pressure from
corporate interests.

"The climate of fear results in a growing aversion to debate and
pluralism,'' said Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of the
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

"All of the indicators show a deterioration. Numerous authorities
are trying to regain control of their countries, fearing overly
open public debate," Deloire said.

He said new technologies allow leaders to appeal directly to the
public, "so there is a greater degree of violence against those
who represent independent information."

"We are entering a new era of propaganda where new technologies
allow the low-cost dissemination of their own communication,
their information, as dictated. On the other side, journalists
are the ones who get in the way,"  Deloire added.

"All of the indicators show a deterioration. Numerous authorities
are trying to regain control of their countries, fearing overly
open public debate," Deloire said.

He said new technologies allow leaders to appeal directly to the
public, "so there is a greater degree of violence against those
who represent independent information."

"We are entering a new era of propaganda where new technologies
allow the low-cost dissemination of their own communication,
their information, as dictated. On the other side, journalists
are the ones who get in the way,"  Deloire added.

Report findings:

 Reporters Without Borders said the situation is particularly
grave in Latin America and cited institutional violence in
Venezuela and Ecuador, organized crime in Honduras, impunity in
Colombia, corruption in Brazil and media concentration in
Argentina.

 Eritrea was ranked the worst worldwide  180th out of 180 -- in
overall media freedom, falling below Syria, China and North
Korea.

 Finland was ranked No. 1 -- for the sixth year in a row --
followed by the Netherlands and Norway.

 The U.S. ranked No. 41 in the report, with the report citing
cybersurveillance as a major problem.

 Individual countries that rose most in the 2016 report include
Tunisia -- to  No. 30 from No. 96  due to a decline in violence
and legal proceedings, and Ukraine  to No. 22 from No. 107 --
because the conflict in the east of the country has abated.

 Individual countries that fell the furthest include Poland, to
No. 47 from No. 29; Tajikistan, to No. 150 from No. 116; Brunei,
to No. 155 from No. 121; and Burundi, to No. 156 from No. 145.

 The report attributed the declines to a rise in the
authoritarian nature of some governments, such as those in
Tajikistan, Egypt and Turkey; security situations that have
become more dangerous, such as in Libya, Yemen and Burundi;
blasphemy laws, such as in Brunei, and tighter government control
of state-owned media, such as Poland.

 By region, Europe still has the freest media, followed by
Africa, the Americas, Asia and Eastern Europe/Central Asia. North
Africa/Middle East is still the region where journalists are most
subjected to constraints of every kind.


Self-censorship

The effect of these obstacles to press freedom is
self-censorship, Reporters Without Borders said.

The group also noted that media freedom is damaged by governments
that are quick to suspend Internet access to their citizens.

The report said every continent has seen a decline in media
freedom over the past three years.

The index measures indicators such as media independence,
self-censorship, the rule of law, transparency and the safety of
journalists in 180 countries.

Information for the study is based on questionnaires in 20
languages filled out by experts around the world as well as on
quantitative data on abuses and acts of violence perpetrated
against reporters.

http://www.voanews.com/content/report-media-freedom-declines-globally/3293474.html

See also:
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/27685420.html
http://www.rfa.org/english/asia-media-04202016170801.html
http://rsf.org/ranking

Image: World Press Freedom Index map, with black denoting "very
serious situation" and red "difficult situation" ...

Sending Pic:287x174C;


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.

Sending Pic:209x19C;

352
North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 7515 AM 1534 UTC 4/12/2016
« on: April 12, 2016, 1609 UTC »
pirate? been listening for 1/2 hour, no ID.
With schedule changes it's difficult to look up
BC stations a lot of the time. Listing for this
in BC stations is EWTN ending at 1300z.

S9 with occasional deep fade

1534 Dancing Queen
1545 Blondie "One way or another"
1549 Blondie "Heart of glass"
1553 unid tune
1559 "Freakout"
1603 "Bad Girl"
1607 "We are family"  Still no ID
1612 "Ring my Bell" playing
1616 Bee Gees? "Dancing"
1620 unid tune "I feel Love"?
1626 "Everybody Dance...."
1709 WWV time pips, a ute
1710 OFF?
1713 "Stairway to Heaven"
1724 "Hotel California" playing

Thanks for the afternoon show.
real world calling, time to go to work >:(

353
Spy Numbers / MO8A Cuban numbers 8096 CW 1430 utc 4/5/2016
« on: April 05, 2016, 1439 UTC »
CW

OFF at 1433z

354
DigiDX will continue to broadcast from WRMI.

Received this email from Kim Elliot of VOA Radiogram:

Hello friends,


New this weekend is the elimination of the digital text modes from shortwave transmitters in Germany.

The German regulator Bundesnetzagentur has ruled that the digital modes are not allowed in the broadcast bands. Because of this, there will be no MFSK32 on The Mighty KBC this weekend, because it uses a transmitter in Nauen, Germany.  And, for the time being, there will be no DigiDX MFSK broadcasts on Channel 292, 6070 kHz, and Radio 700, 3985 kHz.


Listeners in Germany might want to note these arguments for the digital modes on the shortwave broadcast bands: 1) It is broadcasting, not point-to-point communication. 2) It can be received on any shortwave radio, even inexpensive portables with no SSB capability. (Software is required to decode the text and images, but this can be included in future shortwave radios.) 3) DRM is legal on the shortwave broadcast bands, and DRM can transmit text and images.  4) Text and images via analog radio requires less spectrum (bandwidth) than DRM. 5) Text and images via analog radio are a useful new application for underutilized shortwave transmitters and frequencies. 6) Text and images via analog radio extend the range of a shortwave transmitter, resulting in accurate content in conditions where voice transmissions may be unintelligible. 7) Digital modes via shortwave can be a useful alternative when the Internet is not available due to disasters or to net censorship by dictators.

Also from DigiDX on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/digidx/

355
"Wild Horses" Playing

356
From Mexico City, 1kw
SIO:222
Spanish music

357
North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6955 AM 1435 UTC 3/27/2016
« on: March 27, 2016, 1437 UTC »
1435 techno music just above noise floor

358
Shortwave Broadcast / VOA Radiogram 5745 AM 0230 UTC 3/27/16
« on: March 27, 2016, 1103 UTC »
Program #156 with MFSK32 image and screenshot of VOA ID in FLDigi waterfall.





Before RSID: <<2016-03-27T02:31Z MFSK-32 @ 100000+1499>>
Welcome to program 156 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:

 1:34  Program preview (now)
 2:39  Efficient internal combustion engine*
 9:00  Crop wild relatives for food security*
15:05  Rare flower blooms at US Botanic Garden*
19:49  Urban birds are smarter*
24:10  Closing announcements*

* with image


Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.

And visit voaradiogram.net.

Twitter: @VOARadiogram


VOA NEWS

This Internal Combustion Engine is 50% More Efficient

George Putic, KI4FNF
March 22, 2016

Internal combustion engines in cars may be on their way out, but
experts agree it will take a few decades before electric-powered
vehicles become dominant. Meanwhile, the existing gas and diesel
engines can be made more efficient and less polluting. With a $9
million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a U.S.-based
company is using an old technological concept to build a power
train that is 50 percent more fuel-efficient and just as powerful
as conventional engines.

This little engine looks like it has only three pistons, but in
fact, it has six, sharing only three cylinders.

With the help of modern technology California-based Achates Power
has given new life to the concept of the opposed-piston engine,
mostly abandoned after the second World War.

"With the opposed-piston engine, you're able to achieve the
efficiency of a much larger engine in a much smaller package,"
said Fabien Redon of Achates Power.

An opposed-piston engine is a two-stroke engine with separate oil
flow. It has no cylinder heads and no valves, both sources of
considerable loss of heat and power in conventional combustion
engines.

Two pistons move against each other in the cylinder, compressing
a fuel-air mixture, which self-ignites, pushing the pistons
apart, generating power.

Exhaust gases escape through ports in the cylinder walls.

Stripped of many conventional engine parts, the opposed-piston
engine is inexpensive and simple to manufacture.

"We make sure that we do not over scavenge and achieve a very
good combustion efficiency, so that hydro nitro-carbons and the
emissions are reduced to a great extent," said Redon.

Larger opposed-piston engines have long been used for military
and other applications. But developing them for consumer
vehicles was not easy.

"This combustion strategy has some difficulties and weaknesses at
low loads, because it needs a certain level of temperature inside
the combustion chamber to make sure that the gasoline gets
ignited," said Redon.

Achates Power, together with Argonne National Laboratory and
Delphi Automotive, say they are sure they will overcome the
obstacles, and by 2018 will have a 50 percent more efficient
three-liter three-cylinder engine that will be suitable for
passenger cars and trucks.

http://www.voanews.com/content/this-internal-combustion-engine-is-50-percent-more-efficient/3250128.html

Image: Screen capture from the accompanying video ...





Sending Pic:207x215C;




This is VOA Radiogram from the Voice of America.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.


Study: 'Collect Crops' Wild Relatives for Future Food Security'

VOA News
March 21, 2016

Many wild relatives of important food crops, which could be used
to help those crops adapt and thrive in an environment impacted
by climate change, are missing from the world's genebanks.

Researchers with the Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change
project mapped more than 1,000 crop wild relatives (CWR) of rice,
potato, maize, wheat and 77 other important crops, and found
significant gaps in the species that have been collected, and the
geographic regions represented in genebanks.

Plant breeders tap the genetic diversity of CWR to develop crops
that can handle higher temperatures, increased soil salinity and
more severe disease outbreaks. For example, genes from a wild
rice species were used to make domestic rice varieties resistant
to a virus that cost Asian farmers hundreds of millions of
dollars in crop losses in the 1970s. A wild tomato species
provided genes that boosted the global tomato industry by $250
million per year.

Missing from collections are wild relatives of banana, cassava,
sweet potato, pineapple, spinach and more. The research,
published in the journal Nature Plants, shows that more than 70
percent of essential CWR species are in urgent need to collection
and conservation. Some species identified as high priorities are
in war-torn regions, or areas threatened by deforestation.

According to report co-author Colin Khoury, a scientist at the
International Center for Tropical Agriculture, "The world's food
supply is in a precarious position of depending on too few crop
plant species."  The project's findings, he added, give
scientists the first comprehensive global overview of which
plants are missing and where collectors need to search for them.

http://www.voanews.com/content/study-collect-crops-wild-relatives-for-future-food-security/3247621.html

See also: http://www.cropwildrelatives.org/



tR Rot




Image: An example of a crop wild relative is the Prunus
divaricata of Armenia ...



tQ

Sending Pic:214x237C;


This is VOA Radiogram from the Voice of America.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.


Rare Flower Blooms at US Botanic Garden

Julie Taboh
March 22, 2016

Visitors at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington got a rare
treat recently when they learned about the surprise appearance of
a rare bloom.

In the 20 years it's been on display, the Jade Vine, also known
as Emerald Creeper, has only bloomed once before, says Devin
Dotson, the Garden's public affairs and exhibit specialist.

Standing on a high walkway in the hot and humid "Jungle Room" of
the Garden, Dotson pointed out that the flower starts "high up in
the canopy and works its way down."

"Its blooms are going to just grow and grow and grow," he said.
"The vines will go all the way down to the ground, so visitors
even down below  in another few weeks  are going to be able to
see this magnificent color."

The striking blue-green shade of the flower clusters "look almost
fake," Dotson remarked, adding that it's totally natural. "We
don't have to dye it, and we're really excited to share this with
our visitors."

The flower, officially known as Strongylodon Macrobotrys, is
closely related to legumes, such as kidney beans and runner
beans. It's normally found in the tropical forests of the
Philippines, and for a short time only, blooming in all its glory
at the U.S. Botanic Garden.

http://www.voanews.com/content/rare-flower-blooms-us-botanic-garden/3250083.html

See also:
https://www.usbg.gov/

Image:  The Jade Vine flower U.S. Botanic Garden ...


Sending Pic:183x216C;

This is VOA Radiogram from the Voice of America.

Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com.


Urban Birds Smarter Than Rural Counterparts

VOA News
March 22, 2016

Those pigeons you see by the tens in many cities, may be smarter
than their less urban counterparts, according to a new study.

Writing in the journal Behavioral Ecology, researchers from
Canadas McGill University say that may be because theyve had to
adapt to city life by learning to take advantage of new sources
of food and other life-sustaining needs.

For the study, the researchers compared urban and rural
bullfinches in Barbados, looking for "differences in
problem-solving abilities such as opening drawers to access
food," and city birds had a bolder temperament.

"We found that not only were birds from urbanized areas better at
innovative problem-solving tasks than bullfinches from rural
environments, but that, surprisingly, urban birds also had a
better immunity than rural birds," says Jean-Nicolas Audet, a
Ph.D student in the Department of Biology and first author of the
study.

He added that his team expected to see a trade-off, "just because
we assumed that you can't be good at everything. It seems that in
this case, the urban birds have it all."

http://www.voanews.com/content/mht-urban-birds-smarter-than-rural-counterparts/3249159.html
Wt
Image: A bullfinch opening a container ...
R
Sending Pic:283x132C;


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.
8

The magnolia tree provides the earliest blossoms of spring in
Washington DC ...

Sending Pic:218x193C;


Before RSID: <<2016-03-27T02:58Z MFSK-32 @ 100000+1500>>
bT'!l



VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
effective next weekend:

Sat 0930-1000 UTC 5745 kHz (new frequency)
Sat 1600-1630 UTC 17580 kHz
Hz
Sun 1930-2000 UTC 15670 kH

359
Shortwave Broadcast / DigiDx 11580 (via WRMI) 2330 UTC 3/20/16
« on: March 21, 2016, 0048 UTC »
"Hello and welcome to the fifth episode of DigiDX, a review of the latest shortwave and DX news broadcast in the MFSK32 mode. This broadcast includes shortwave news and reception reports and a feature which is a comparison of the HFCC B15 and new A16 season schedules.
Also included after the news is another attempt to broadcast a MIDI audio file, this time in MFSK32 mode."


Full program decode attach w/MFSK32 image, a group QSL card.

Also in the program decode, the encoded zip file can be converted to MP3.

360
S7

2220 ZZ Top "Cheap Sunglasses"
2224 ID AR, CW into The Kinks "Low Budget"
2230 CW, ID AR 6925 usb
2235 Sig faded out at start of song, LSB interference also

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