Vatican Radio on 9750 kHz at 2300-2345 UTC. [Archive]

vaticanradio

30-03-2006, 11:31

Starting from 26/03/2006 Vatican Radio has added a new broadcast to North America on 9750 kHz at 2300-2345 UTC. This broadcast is scheduled till 28/10/2006 and is carried out from Santa Maria di Galeria, 60 kW, antenna 4/4/.5 beamed at 300°. We would be pleased to receive reports. Thanks.

Alan Johnson

02-04-2006, 23:36

02/04/2006 - SNR 10 to 11 dB- able to receive service message, but no audio, using Winradio G303 and dipole in Reno, Nevada USA

Alan Johnson

AF4MP

02-04-2006, 23:53

Signal about S9 +30dB received on a Kenwood R-1000 with Sat-Schneider mixer.

See attached plot.

-Zyg-

AF4MP

04-04-2006, 00:16

Signal peaked to over S9+40dB on the Kenwood R-1000 S meter.

AF4MP

16-04-2006, 23:58

Signal strength S9 +20dB to +25dB

At 23:41 UTC the transmitter carrier was observed to be off for a short period.

AF4MP

24-04-2006, 02:10

Signal strength this evening peaking over S9 +40dB.

AF4MP

25-04-2006, 23:50

This evening's reception...

AF4MP

29-04-2006, 23:56

This evening's reception...

AF4MP

30-04-2006, 23:57

This evening's report

AF4MP

08-05-2006, 00:06

This evening's report...

Owdjim

27-05-2006, 23:53

Hi All

Faint signs of 9750 for a few minutes here in Wellington today. No chance of any audio though :(

DRT-1 receiver.

Cheers, Chris

AF4MP

20-06-2006, 23:54

This evening's report...

dk8cb

21-06-2006, 00:40

Hi Zyg,

when I look at your reports I always note a strange zigzag feature in the audio frames plot and I can't believe that reception really is like that.

Have you ever received a station that produced a straight line in the audio plot or do they all produce such zigzag-like audio frames plots in the reports? It looks as if something is wrong, either with Vatican Radio's signal itself (which I doubt) or more likely with your receiving setup, probably with the PC.

Roland

AF4MP

21-06-2006, 21:47

when I look at your reports I always note a strange zigzag feature in the audio frames plot and I can't believe that reception really is like that.

Roland,

You are correct: My PC was causing the problem. I say was because today, quite coincidently, I discovered what had been going wrong.

The culprits were an MSN Messenger file "msnmsgs.exe", and Norton AntiVirus. Every two minutes (sometimes every four minutes) the "msnmsgs" would take up 100% CPU for a brief moment, causing the DRM/Dream software to be knocked out for about ten seconds. The Norton AntiVirus would do the same thing every six minutes!

Hopefully from now on my reports will no longer include any computer induced zigzags.

Many thanks, and my apologies,

-Zyg-

AF4MP

21-06-2006, 23:58

This evening's report (with computer decoding problems fixed)!

-Zyg-

AF4MP

26-06-2006, 00:00

This evening's report. There were two transmission breaks at approximately 23:27 and 23:38.

It would be nice to have the last 15 minutes (classical music) in stereo.

-Zyg-

AF4MP

26-06-2006, 23:54

This evening the transmission was totally analog. Really showed why we need DRM.

AF4MP

28-06-2006, 00:19

This evening's (unattended) reception report. There were a couple of brief power outages, within a minute of each other, starting at 23:08.

The UPS kept the computer alive, but the receiver would have indicated two signal dropouts at that time.

AF4MP

28-06-2006, 23:59

This evening's reception report. The transmission started late, analog at first then switched to digital. There were a couple of transmission breaks.

The first two blips on the audio plot (23:15 and 23:21) are my fault.

AF4MP

30-06-2006, 00:03

This evening's reception. Apart from the three signal drops shown in the plot :( it had a very stable SNR.

AF4MP

01-07-2006, 01:02

This evening's reception report. The DRM transmission started late, with an unmodulated anlog signal appearing first, as if the transmitter was being adjusted.

There was also an audio program switch error about 20 minutes into the broadcast.;) The decoded audio quality was excellent.

AF4MP

05-07-2006, 13:11

Yesterday's reception report...

AF4MP

24-07-2006, 00:02

This evening's 9750 kHz reception report.

Perfect.

First time that I have ever received 100% correct decoding! Not bad for a distance of 8064 kM...!

-Zyg-

AF4MP

01-08-2006, 00:06

This evening's 9750 kHz reception report. Excellent.

-Zyg-

AF4MP

07-08-2006, 00:09

This evening's reception report. Excellent again.:D I let the log run before and after the start of the transmission, otherwise it would have shown a 100% correct decode for the scheduled period (23:00 -23:45).

-Zyg-

AF4MP

19-08-2006, 00:06

This evening's 9750 kHz reception report. The first audio frame blip is my fault (I need a dedicated computer for DRM logging purposes;) ).

-Zyg-

Brendan1

24-08-2006, 23:57

I've never tried to log VR before, but decided to give it a go. I noticed that DRMSWR gave better results (higher SNR) than Dream did. This is not normal in my experience, but this is the first time I've tried to decode a Mode C broadcast. Maybe that is the difference?

Brendan1

25-08-2006, 23:53

Nice consistent results, pity not enough audio. Just too far to travel. DRMSWR also beats Dream again for the most part. Must be better code...:D

Brendan1

28-08-2006, 23:55

Consistency is key: still no audio, but at least the signal is there. Oddly, there was a brief interruption at 2347Z, so I turned off the logs; then the signal reappeared and is still going at 2355Z.

Brendan1

29-08-2006, 23:53

Lightning today, but it didn't have any real effect on the SNR. Also in Mode B today, rather than A.

AF4MP

10-09-2006, 00:02

This evening's reception report. Propagation conditions were affecting the signal slightly towards the end. That's because the days are getting shorter.

The Vatican Radio short wave signal is consistantly excellent, and one that I choose when I want to demonstrate DRM radio to others.

The last 15 minutes of classical music are a pleasure to listen to. If only this could be transmitted in DRM parametric stereo...!

-Zyg-

Brendan1

15-09-2006, 00:00

This is my all-time best for Vatican Radio. Conditions were very good for the entire broadcast. Not perfect, but far superior to previous attempts to log it.

The SDC channel was alternating between the following three lines during the last 15 minutes:

"Regular DRM MW broadcasting service for Europe on 1530KHz and 1611KHz.
We are sending a DRM SW transmission test.
Vatican Radio Santa Maria di Galeria-Vatican City."

This is different from the normal SDC script. Also, at 2329Z the big drop shown on the log is when an analog announcement began, ran several times, and then went back to DRM at 2330Z.

A good day all told.

Brendan1

17-09-2006, 00:16

Another great day. CRI on 9745 spoiled it at the end, blocking the signal rather well, and still doing so at 0012Z 17 Sept. CRI is S9+30, must be from a US or other Americas relay.

Brendan1

22-09-2006, 23:50

Only the last 15 minutes were good, very interesting data plot. If this was about one hour later in the day, it would probably be excellent reception here.

AF4MP

24-09-2006, 23:55

This evening's 9750 kHz reception report. Everything was great until the last fifteen minutes. Not only did the propagation kick in, :mad: but it appeared as if the transmitter was momentarily switched to analog.

-Zyg-

Brendan1

27-09-2006, 23:53

Back to the past. Just when I thought VR was getting better because of the seasons' change, today happens. Not very good: enough said.

AF4MP

02-10-2006, 00:02

This evening's 9750 kHz reception report. Not very good. There were several breaks in transmission, and the program ended a few minutes early.

Not sure if it was the conditions, the transmitter, or both?

-Zyg-

Brendan1

04-10-2006, 00:27

Pretty good for my QTH. Not going to complain.

Brendan1

04-10-2006, 23:52

Missed the first few minutes, but otherwise pretty good reception today.

fibber

06-10-2006, 14:04

Not much audio, but shows promise if propagation EVER returns :rolleyes:

Brendan1

06-10-2006, 23:50

Could have been better today. About an hour too early for good propagation to the desert.

Brendan1

08-10-2006, 23:58

Wow! This is a red letter day. Excellent conditions today, excellent sound.

fibber

09-10-2006, 03:27

Check this out! Woohoo! Maybe propagation will continue to improve...

Brendan1

10-10-2006, 23:51

Perfect log - no dropouts heard during the entire broadcast. Not the highest SNR, but I won't complain. Using DRM Logger now, only one dataset as a result.

Brendan1

11-10-2006, 23:52

A number of audible dropouts today, I think propagation is down from yesterday. They were short though, with the one at 2329Z being one of those RV transmitter drops. The SNR is down about 1 dB from yesterday.

Brendan1

12-10-2006, 23:50

Not very good results today. Too many dropouts for pleasant listening.

AF4MP

12-10-2006, 23:54

This evening's 9750 kHz reception report.

Looking at the Impulse Response the multipath increased after the middle of the transmission, and then improved during the end.

-Zyg-

AF4MP

28-10-2006, 00:51

This evening's 9750 kHz reception report.

The audio trace blips were the fault of my computer. :o

-Zyg-

AF4MP

29-10-2006, 01:20

This evening's 9750 kHz reception report.

I noticed that the modulation was 16 QAM and not 64!

The middle blip was my computer :o

-Zyg-