OLIVIA – An Excellent Chat Mode for HF

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INTRODUCTION

During road trips, I can still recall from childhood memories, my parents offering me money if I could be quiet for 5 minutes. I cannot, however, remember one instance in which I was actually able to cash in on the deal – I have always been something of a chatterbox. 

Fast forward to 1978 when I got my basic ham license – although I very much enjoyed CW in the beginning, by 1979 I was itching to obtain my advanced ticket so that I could get phone privileges on the HF band.  Happily, I passed both theory and CW exams – driven primarily by a strong desire to get behind the mic!

There has been a sea of change in amateur radio since those days and I was quick to embrace the digital age.  I dabbled for a while with packet (remember the PK232?) both FEC and ARQ and later, after retirement, I enjoyed the delights of FT-8 and, in particular, being able to work the world with low power and a compromise antenna from a downtown condo. 

Regardless, I still missed the ability to ‘chat’ and it wasn’t until the COVID pandemic that I had the opportunity to roll up my sleeves and delve into a variety of relatively new transmission modes that were just beginning to garner interest.  These included BPSK, Contestia, Domino, Thor and Olivia, all of which are chat modes.  BPSK I found to be somewhat dissatisfying since it has minimal error correction compared with the others and after conducting on-air experiments, I concluded that Olivia suited my needs perfectly. 

WHAT IS OLIVIA?

In essence, Olivia is a multiple frequency shift keying (MFSK) protocol developed by Pawel Jalocha primarily for HF transmission since it offers excellent error correction features, making it robust even under challenging propagation conditions. 

Olivia features two layers of error correction, the lower of which is a basic forward error correction (FEC) algorithm common to most MFSK systems.  The higher level is a secondary FEC layer based on Walsh Functions in which orthogonal spreading provides interference rejection and far superior signal recovery.

Although these combined layers sacrifice transmission speed for data accuracy, the overall performance is truly amazing.  Olivia works even when the received signal strength falls 10 – 14dB below the noise floor.  During a few QSOs on Olivia I lost all visible trace of the incoming signal on the waterfall, and neither was I able to hear it above the noise level yet the copy was still 100%!

Olivia comes in a variety of different ‘flavours’ based on the number of ‘tones’ used in the transmission.  The lower the number of tones, the faster the transmission speed and conversely the higher the number of tones, the lower the speed – HOWEVER, more tones equate with improved data accuracy, hence increased ‘robustness’ in poor propagation conditions.  The most common ‘flavours’ (although there are many others) are summarized below where the numbers prior to the forward slash indicate the number of tones and those after the slash denote the bandwidth in Hz.

4/125,  8/250,  16/500,  32/1000, 64,2000

My preferences are 8/250 and 16/500, the latter being the best compromise for overall performance vs. taking up too much valuable bandwidth! 

The following link includes further details in addition to images of the signal characteristics of Olivia on the waterfall.  https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Olivia

WHERE TO FIND OLIVIA

The table below indicates recommended calling frequencies for Olivia operation.  Note however, that other digital modes mentioned in this discussion will frequently be found on or around the same frequencies, so a good eye on the waterfall and a good ear (each mode has its own distinctive sound) will be needed to distinguish between them.

I strongly recommend starting on 14.0715 as that is where most of the activity seems to be centered.  (I have seldom heard digital signals other than FT-8 on 18, 15 or 12m.)

THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAIL

I confess to finding the technical discussions of Olivia, especially the mathematical details of the error correction algorithms mind boggling so haven’t attempted to mention them here. 

For those with sharper minds, the following video offers more detailed discussion and also provides some excellent operating tips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kds4RCQQ8a0

IN SUMMARY

For those who may be looking for a keyboard to keyboard digital ‘chat’ mode, Olivia provides an excellent opportunity.  Running approximately 25 watts into 15m delta loop, I have had several QSOs with Japanese stations and many more with amateur operators in Canada and the U.S.  ‘Regulars’ often appear on 20m and it is always fun to check in with old friends.

Some additional links are provided below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_MFSK

Olivia Digital Mode MFSK

https://www.w1hkj.org/modes/olivia.htm

73 VA7AMV

Rolf Hopkinson

rolf.hopkinson@gmail.com

2026-01-13

World-Wide Award Contest

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I think IHF members would be interested in the World Wide Award contest that is currently running all of January.  HF operators on all modes may have already seen the special event stations with callsigns ending in ‘WWA’, for example CR2WWA in the Azores.  The object of the ‘contest’ is to work these stations; you can work them once a day and in any mode (SSB, CW, FT8, FT4) etc.  The stations are typically super-sized club operations and they’re eager to work anyone that calls. At the end of January you can download your own award certificate.

No blurb is complete without an AI Overview:
The “World Wide Award” (WWA) in amateur radio is like collecting Easter eggs because both involve a treasure hunt for unique finds (radio contacts/locations vs. hidden eggs) across a wide area, driven by excitement, a desire to “collect” (countries/locations), and the thrill of discovery.

The rules are at: https://hamaward.cloud/wwa/rules

Spotting site and scoreboard: https://hamaward.cloud/wwa/award

73

Alan

VE7UBA

The First Radio Transmitter in Victoria

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Another local historic radio pioneer… my wife’s grandfather, John Taylor, installed the first radio transmitter in Victoria on Gonzales Hill in 1907. J. D. Taylor had quite the life working for Marconi, based in England. He travelled across the Atlantic, up and down the Atlantic coast setting up marine radio stations from Newfoundland to Boston. He went to South Africa during the Boer War and then to Mexico and finally to Victoria. All of the Marconi Company records were donated to the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

The July 27, 1907 edition of the Daily Colonist reports: “John D Taylor has a contract for the building of the station on Shotbolt’s hill [Gonzales Hill] in this city.” $2,000 was paid for an acre of land on the Hill. Construction and installation of the station began almost immediately. Main equipment was a Fairbanks-Morse 3 horsepower gasoline engine, driving a 1,000 Watt alternating current generator. The transmitter was the Shoemaker type, with the open core transformer, tubular glass condensers, fixed spark gap with the inductance coil helix. A crystal detector radio receiver rounded out the installation. A 150-foot wooden mast supported the antenna. The single floor building consists of three rooms which hold the equipment and an operations area. Eddie Haugton is station manager. Call sign VSD.”  Two years later the equipment was upgraded to 2 kilowatts, along with the note “It was found having the transmitters and engines in the same building as the operator’s residence just wasn’t to anyone’s benefit.”.

More info and photos of Gonzales station: https://www.roughradio.ca/stations/Victoria.html

In July 1907 the Union Steamship “Camosun” was the first vessel on this coast to be fitted with Marconi wireless equipment in anticipation of the promised coast stations. The Marconi Company had a strict policy of not communicating with another station, either a ship or fixed, unless it too was fitted with their equipment.

JD Taylor left Marconi after WW1 and settled in Victoria. He worked as a radio inspector until he retired about 1945 as Superintendent of Radio in Victoria.