Glenn Hauser logs April 26-27, 2012

** AUSTRALIA. Contrary to my assumption in last report, RA has
just made major frequency schedule changes, a month after A-12
began for everyone else, rather than being on `wrong`
frequencies.

13630, April 27 at 0505, RA fair here about PNG, // good 15515,
but missing from 13690 and 15160. Previously, RA English had
been reliable on four frequencies at this hour, 13630, 13690,
15160 and 15240.

15240 is on with Indonesian now, altho language lessons in
English. Learning how to say ``stand still while we search your
suitcase`` at 0519, seems to be called `English for Study in
Australia`, then music. Alternating English and Indonesian
semihours at midday had previously been on 15415.

A very weak signal on 15415 at 0514 seems // the other RA
English, 15515 and 13630, altho this one is toward Asia and
sometimes separate.

At 1254, I find the same situation as yesterday morning, 9590
is gone, 9580 is still on, as is much weaker 9475. 9560 is also
gone. 9890 is not on yet. 6020 is audible but no DRM or AM on
5995. 6140 seems to be on, very weak Singapore relay. Then I
find another new one, 11945, all of these in English.

From *1259, 9890 is now on just in time for news on the hour,
and 11945, 9580 continue. Can`t tell about 9475 with WTWW just
starting on 9479. After 1300, no RA signals audible on 6 MHz
band, nor 7.

1305 program is `Asia Pacific Business`, but it`s only 10
minutes, then at 1315 `RA Album of the Week`, mostly monolog
from some musician, with bits of his music interspersed. It
looks like the program schedule has also changed. From 1330 a
show discussing religion and American politix, i.e. `Religion
and Ethics Report`. These are now displayed correctly at
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/programsch
edule?tz=0&stream=pacific

From 1329, I can hear weak CCI underneath 9890, presumably FEBC
being blown away.

After 1400: 11945, 9890 and 9580 are still on, but no longer
any 7240 which used to start at this hour. Can`t hear any
signals on 6 MHz now 2+ hours after sunrise tho there could be
some. Meanwhile I was also scanning the 13, 15 and 17 MHz
bands, and found no RA, not that I expected to, in their
nightmiddle. At final check 1423, 11945 still on but weakening
// 9890, 9580.

Has RA`s own, never-dated, English frequency schedule been
updated as of 1530 UT April 27?
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/waystolist
en/abc-radio-shortwave-frequency-guide.pdf
Of course not! Still shows the old usage pre-April 26, none of
the new times and frequencies above we have been hearing, and
still nothing from Shepparton registered with HFCC. I suppose
the complete new schedule will emerge eventually when they are
good and ready.

9890 is not yet in Aoki; however EiBi shows this:
9890 1300-1500 AUS Radio Australia DIGITAL E Oc s
So this mess may be caused by trying to get the DRM service
going, delayed since April 1, altho 9890 is sure not in DRM
yet. 11945 was already on the schedules to E Asia, but closing
at 1300.

Maybe all this will be revealed in the WRTH A-12 update,
pending any day now, via http://www.wrth.com/updates_new.asp
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BIAFRA [non]. 11870, April 26 at *1959:25 carrier on, very
poor signal here in noise level, 2000 music; presumably R.
Biafra London, new clandestine as scheduled Thu & Sat 20-21 due
south from Wertachtal, GERMANY. Confirmed as such by several
monitors further east. Sigh, we are just too far west into the
dayside to get decent reception from this Eurafrican evening
signals, plus poor propagation conditions. Checked at 2050,
nothing audible aside Romania English on 11880 (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake April 27, not thoro scans, but only found:
15600, fair at 1414
15555, fair at 1306
15485, poor at 1306 with het on hi side
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. Today`s anomalies from RHC: 6050, April 27 at 0503 is
still in Spanish, not English, while all other Spanish
frequencies have closed, including 5040 and 9810 which
sometimes run over (Vatican Scandinavian clear on 9810). RHC
English only on 6010, 6060, 6125. 6050 programming also
seemingly off-kilter, interrupted for IS and IDs at odd times
0511, 0516, between which at 0512 there was an `Estampas de
Cuba` feature on siete maravillas. 0535 last check, 6050 still
in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, April 26 at 1957, non-Alamo gospel
huxter on R. Africa citing Genesis 37, 36. Earlier check at
1832 found a JBA signal which could have been Philippines
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 15540, April 26 at 1832, very poor signal from R.
Kuwait English; 2001 had improved to poor with rock music, and
17550 Arabic had also come on with roughly equal signal (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO [and non]. 1650 kHz, hot tip from Julián Santiago
Díez de Bonilla, and Héctor García Bojorge in the DF of a
brand-new Mexico City station on the x-band, heard from 0230 UT
April 27, XEAZR, Radio Zer, part of the group of that name, ID
as ``"ZER Radio 16-50, XEAZR, una emisora de Grupo Radiofónico
ZER". But Roberto Gómez citing apparently official info says
the call is XEARZ, and the power is 5 kW day and night. They
were playing instrumental music.

So I start looking for it at 0523 April 27: I am mainly getting
two stations, one with gospel music and one with talk,
presumably US, but at 0526 the gospel music station makes a
Spanish announcement, 0531 with a partial URL including
1650.com. Surely that is KBJD Denver, whose real website is
http://www.1650radioluz.com and the other one most likely KCNZ
in IA. (BTW, don`t forget the listed but rarely reported SS in
El Paso TX on 1650, KSVE [as in ``suave``], 24h romántica in
stereo, per NRC AM Log).

Anyhow, no XE-whatever audible here yet. Not in WRTH 2012, but
Cantú shows this:
``1650 XEARZ (en construcción) México, DF 5,000 ?``[=night
power unknown]
and in the DF list adds this: ``1650 XEARZ En construcción.
5,000 watts. Permisionada (sin fines de lucro) pero parte de
Grupo ZER.``
i.e. its permit is non-profit, so no ads? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 6185, April 27 at 0501 tune-in, open carrier until
0503:45* in large sideband from CRI English 6190 via Sackville.
No doubt XEPPM, at its new 0500*. The question is, whether
there was any modulation to be heard before 0500 (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PHILIPPINES. 11720, April 26 at 1832, no signal from V. of
Philippines, unlike 24 hours earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. 17625, April 27 at 1310, Arabic here is
humbuzzy, while stronger // 17615 is not; usual situation with
BSKSA, both 500 kW Riyadh, 190 degrees on 17615, 100 degrees on
17625 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [non]. 15725, April 26 at 1832, no signal from V. of
South Sudan Revolutionary Radio, exactly one week after the
first and only time it had been reported, nor in the next two
hours. Later several others found it on 15650, as late as 2233,
says Mauno Ritola, Finland, carrier plus USB. He found it back
on 15725 from *0358, and S. Hasegawa, Japan reports 15725 AM at
*0600-0820* April 27 with many English programs unlike 15650
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SWAZILAND. 15360-, April 27 at 1412, S Asian music in TWR
Manzini`s only unAfrican service, Urdu at 1400-1415, definitely
on the lo side. I had not noticed since there is nothing to het
it, but Wolfgang Büschel measured it 346 Hz low, April 19 on
15359.654 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1614 monitoring: confirmed first
audible airing Thursday April 26 at 2100 on VG WTWW 9479. Also
at 0330 UT Friday April 27 on WWRB 5050. Next: UT Saturday
0130v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB/LSB. On WRMI 9955: Sat
0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. On WRN
via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ZANZIBAR. 11735, April 26 at 1832 still trying to get R.
Tanzania Zanzibar: nothing audible; by 1858 there is a JBA
carrier; at 1958 a very poor signal; 2050 JBA carrier (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9540v, April 27 before 1400 notice a 1-kHz het or
tone QRMing RHC, and was just about to measure it when it went
off at 1401*. No het on 9560 today, but would not expect
Ethiopia long-path to be that far off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)