I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. Any ideas
what their problem might be?

Thanks,
Bruce Jensen

On Feb 23, 9:50*pm, bpnjensen wrote:
I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. *A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. *The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. *Any ideas
what their problem might be?

Thanks,
Bruce Jensen

This is a problem they had for a long
time. My guess : equalization is way overdone. The low frequencies
are dominant and human speech sounds like rumbling elephants. Some
D.Welle transmissions used a similar technique over the years. May be
V.of Nigeria is doing the same. On the other hand, overmodulation may
cause something very similar,perhaps. It does make extended listening
very
uncomfortable.
Just checked their live audio stream on the website and even that was
not that great. The highs are attenuated significantly above 6KHz or
so,and there is an annoying heterodyne[!] that is an obvious porblem
in the studio equipment.

On Feb 23, 9:12*pm, wrote:
On Feb 23, 9:50*pm, bpnjensen wrote:

I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. *A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. *The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. *Any ideas
what their problem might be?

Thanks,
Bruce Jensen

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *This is a problem they had for a long
time. *My guess : * equalization is way overdone. *The low frequencies
are dominant and human speech sounds like rumbling elephants. Some
D.Welle transmissions used a similar technique over the years. *May be
V.of Nigeria is doing the same. On the other hand, overmodulation may
cause something very similar,perhaps. *It does make extended listening
very
uncomfortable.
Just checked their live audio stream *on the website and even that was
not that great. The highs are attenuated significantly above 6KHz or
so,and there is an annoying heterodyne[!] that is an obvious porblem
in the studio equipment.

Thanks for this...I had not thought of it, maybe because I think this
would seem rather obvious to an engineer, or maybe just because I'm
me ;-). I did not notice the het on the b'cast, but I had on the
autonotch to slice out some interference, so that might have banned
it, too.

My Icom R75 on AM-wide has a 6 KHz filter on it, generally completely
adequate for every other station, especially strong ones; and come
neither love nor money, could I get a decent top end out of the
signal. Not be detuning, not by passband tuning, not on SSB either.
Only on a handful of audio bits - all recorded interviews of people
with high, mousey voices - was there truly intelligible voice. I have
this problem only with one other station in my recollection - Radio
Cairo, and that's not its only problem (RC's audio is so weak it is
almost a whisper).

Anyway, I wrote them a reception report (those program details were
tough!), and in honesty had to explain my perception of this problem.
Whether they choose to QSL or not, if they have received even a single
other complaint of this type, I am not sure how they could ignore it.
I just hope the engineers do not lose their jobs...

Bruce Jensen

On Feb 24, 12:25*am, bpnjensen wrote:
On Feb 23, 9:12*pm, wrote:





On Feb 23, 9:50*pm, bpnjensen wrote:

I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. *A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. *The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. *Any ideas
what their problem might be?

Thanks,
Bruce Jensen

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *This is a problem they had for a long
time. *My guess : * equalization is way overdone. *The low frequencies
are dominant and human speech sounds like rumbling elephants. Some
D.Welle transmissions used a similar technique over the years. *May be
V.of Nigeria is doing the same. On the other hand, overmodulation may
cause something very similar,perhaps. *It does make extended listening
very
uncomfortable.
Just checked their live audio stream *on the website and even that was
not that great. The highs are attenuated significantly above 6KHz or
so,and there is an annoying heterodyne[!] that is an obvious porblem
in the studio equipment.

Thanks for this...I had not thought of it, maybe because I think this
would seem rather obvious to an engineer, or maybe just because I'm
me ;-). *I *did not notice the *het on the b'cast, but I had on the
autonotch to slice out some interference, so that might have banned
it, too.

My Icom R75 on AM-wide has a 6 KHz filter on it, generally completely
adequate for every other station, especially strong ones; and come
neither love nor money, could I get a decent top end out of the
signal. *Not be detuning, not by passband tuning, not on SSB either.
Only on a handful of audio bits - all recorded interviews of people
with high, mousey voices - was there truly intelligible voice. *I have
this problem only with one other station in my recollection - Radio
Cairo, and that's not its only problem (RC's audio is so weak it is
almost a whisper).

Anyway, I wrote them a reception report (those program details were
tough!), and in honesty had to explain my perception of this problem.
Whether they choose to QSL or not, if they have received even a single
other complaint of this type, I am not sure how they could ignore it.
I just hope the engineers do not lose their jobs...

Bruce Jensen- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Now ,here is a station that obviously doesn't care at all as far
as their audio quality goes!!! Not only the audio is nearly not
hearable, but on top of it they had the worst hum (50Hz) . Talk
about power supply signature...

On Feb 24, 12:25 am, bpnjensen wrote:
On Feb 23, 9:12 pm, wrote:





On Feb 23, 9:50 pm, bpnjensen wrote:
I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. Any ideas
what their problem might be?
Thanks,
Bruce Jensen
This is a problem they had for a long
time. My guess : equalization is way overdone. The low frequencies
are dominant and human speech sounds like rumbling elephants. Some
D.Welle transmissions used a similar technique over the years. May be
V.of Nigeria is doing the same. On the other hand, overmodulation may
cause something very similar,perhaps. It does make extended listening
very
uncomfortable.
Just checked their live audio stream on the website and even that was
not that great. The highs are attenuated significantly above 6KHz or
so,and there is an annoying heterodyne[!] that is an obvious porblem
in the studio equipment.
Thanks for this...I had not thought of it, maybe because I think this
would seem rather obvious to an engineer, or maybe just because I'm
me ;-). I did not notice the het on the b'cast, but I had on the
autonotch to slice out some interference, so that might have banned
it, too.

My Icom R75 on AM-wide has a 6 KHz filter on it, generally completely
adequate for every other station, especially strong ones; and come
neither love nor money, could I get a decent top end out of the
signal. Not be detuning, not by passband tuning, not on SSB either.
Only on a handful of audio bits - all recorded interviews of people
with high, mousey voices - was there truly intelligible voice. I have
this problem only with one other station in my recollection - Radio
Cairo, and that's not its only problem (RC's audio is so weak it is
almost a whisper).

Anyway, I wrote them a reception report (those program details were
tough!), and in honesty had to explain my perception of this problem.
Whether they choose to QSL or not, if they have received even a single
other complaint of this type, I am not sure how they could ignore it.
I just hope the engineers do not lose their jobs...

Bruce Jensen- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

wrote:

Now ,here is a station that obviously doesn't care at all as far
as their audio quality goes!!! Not only the audio is nearly not
hearable, but on top of it they had the worst hum (50Hz) . Talk
about power supply signature...

50 Hz if the hum -originates- in the audio chain or 100 Hz if in the
power supply (presuming they are using full-wave rectification, single
phase power supply).

"Joe from Kokomo" wrote in message
...

50 Hz if the hum -originates- in the audio chain or 100 Hz if in the power
supply (presuming they are using full-wave rectification, single phase
power supply).

Most anything over 1KW uses 3 phase power. Full wave rectification of 3
phase 50 Hz power would have hum at a 150 Hz rate, IIRC... but shouldn't
have much of it, since 3 phase power is much easier to filter.

On Feb 24, 7:11*am, Joe from Kokomo wrote:
On Feb 24, 12:25 am, bpnjensen wrote:
On Feb 23, 9:12 pm, wrote:

On Feb 23, 9:50 pm, bpnjensen wrote:
I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. *A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. *The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. *Any ideas
what their problem might be?
Thanks,
Bruce Jensen
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *This is a problem they had for a long
time. *My guess : * equalization is way overdone. *The low frequencies
are dominant and human speech sounds like rumbling elephants. Some
D.Welle transmissions used a similar technique over the years. *May be
V.of Nigeria is doing the same. On the other hand, overmodulation may
cause something very similar,perhaps. *It does make extended listening
very
uncomfortable.
Just checked their live audio stream *on the website and even that was
not that great. The highs are attenuated significantly above 6KHz or
so,and there is an annoying heterodyne[!] that is an obvious porblem
in the studio equipment.
Thanks for this...I had not thought of it, maybe because I think this
would seem rather obvious to an engineer, or maybe just because I'm
me ;-). *I *did not notice the *het on the b'cast, but I had on the
autonotch to slice out some interference, so that might have banned
it, too.

My Icom R75 on AM-wide has a 6 KHz filter on it, generally completely
adequate for every other station, especially strong ones; and come
neither love nor money, could I get a decent top end out of the
signal. *Not be detuning, not by passband tuning, not on SSB either.
Only on a handful of audio bits - all recorded interviews of people
with high, mousey voices - was there truly intelligible voice. *I have
this problem only with one other station in my recollection - Radio
Cairo, and that's not its only problem (RC's audio is so weak it is
almost a whisper).

Anyway, I wrote them a reception report (those program details were
tough!), and in honesty had to explain my perception of this problem.
Whether they choose to QSL or not, if they have received even a single
other complaint of this type, I am not sure how they could ignore it.
I just hope the engineers do not lose their jobs...

Bruce Jensen- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
wrote:
* * Now ,here is a station that obviously doesn't care at all as far
as their audio quality goes!!! *Not only the audio is nearly *not
hearable, but on top of it they had the worst hum (50Hz) . * Talk
about power supply signature...

50 Hz if the hum -originates- in the audio chain or 100 Hz if in the
power supply (presuming they are using full-wave rectification, single
phase power supply).- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I am positive about 50Hz. The hum frequency is slightly
lower than our usual US 60 cycles. They had this problem for ages,at
least since the early 70's! Poor shielding in low-level audio stages
or a possible impedance mismatch . They obviously don't seem to care
about that at all...

On Feb 23, 9:12*pm, wrote:
On Feb 23, 9:50*pm, bpnjensen wrote:

I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. *A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. *The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. *Any ideas
what their problem might be?

Thanks,
Bruce Jensen

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *This is a problem they had for a long
time. *My guess : * equalization is way overdone. *The low frequencies
are dominant and human speech sounds like rumbling elephants. Some
D.Welle transmissions used a similar technique over the years. *May be
V.of Nigeria is doing the same. On the other hand, overmodulation may
cause something very similar,perhaps. *It does make extended listening
very uncomfortable.

!!! Just remembered -

Interesting that you mention DW in the same breath as V. Nigeria -
right after I ended with Nigeria yesterday, I tuned into DW's evening
(UTC) English transmission from Rwanda. Not only was the signal
wonderfully strong, but the audio quality was superb, 180 opposite
Nigeria's mush. It was almost FM-Hi-Fi quality. It was not pure joy,
though - I was rather hoping for a better signal from their Sri Lanka
relay.

I do seem to remember that Radio Berlin Int. used to have somewhat
squashed highs too, but that was a long time ago (1970s and 80s) and I
may not recall correctly.

Bruce

On Feb 24, 3:58*pm, bpnjensen wrote:
On Feb 23, 9:12*pm, wrote:





On Feb 23, 9:50*pm, bpnjensen wrote:

I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. *A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. *The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. *Any ideas
what their problem might be?

Thanks,
Bruce Jensen

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *This is a problem they had for a long
time. *My guess : * equalization is way overdone. *The low frequencies
are dominant and human speech sounds like rumbling elephants. Some
D.Welle transmissions used a similar technique over the years. *May be
V.of Nigeria is doing the same. On the other hand, overmodulation may
cause something very similar,perhaps. *It does make extended listening
very uncomfortable.

!!! Just remembered -

Interesting that you mention DW in the same breath as V. Nigeria -
right after I ended with Nigeria yesterday, I tuned into DW's evening
(UTC) English transmission from Rwanda. *Not only was the signal
wonderfully strong, but the audio quality was superb, 180 opposite
Nigeria's mush. *It was almost FM-Hi-Fi quality. *It was not pure joy,
though - I was rather hoping for a better signal from their Sri Lanka
relay.

I do seem to remember that Radio Berlin Int. used to have somewhat
squashed highs too, but that was a long time ago (1970s and 80s) and I
may not recall correctly.

Bruce- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

DW does not have a good signal lately ( budget cutbacks+poor
propagation), at least over here on the east coast. In better times
they ALWAYS had an exceptionally deep bass and their transmitted
badwith seemed to be somewhat wider than the usual 5KHz,like everybody
else suppose to. Original Grundig receivers (the real Satellits and
older tube stereos, not the current products) certainly emphasized
lows as well and it was their main audio characteristic. RBIntl was
awful in every respect- I really couldn't stand them, audio was never
one of their strong points. Glad they are gone,what a disgrace...

"bpnjensen" wrote in message
...
I was home sick today, so I was listening to V. Nigeria on 15,120 KHz
from about 2000 to 2100z. A potent signal to say the least, would
have been easy armchair copy except for one thing - their audio is
terrible. The sound is either muffled, or overmodulated, or the high
tones are omitted, or something, but the distortion makes an otherwise
great African signal almost unlistenable much of the time. Any ideas
what their problem might be?

Thanks,
Bruce Jensen

They are using the Optimod processor.