The Ghostly Radio Station That No One Claims To Run (bbc.com) 127
Zaria Gorvett, writing for BBC: In the middle of a Russian swampland, not far from the city of St Petersburg, is a rectangular iron gate. Beyond its rusted bars is a collection of radio towers, abandoned buildings and power lines bordered by a dry-stone wall. This sinister location is the focus of a mystery which stretches back to the height of the Cold War. It is thought to be the headquarters of a radio station, "MDZhB", that no-one has ever claimed to run. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for the last three-and-a-half decades, it's been broadcasting a dull, monotonous tone. Every few seconds it's joined by a second sound, like some ghostly ship sounding its foghorn. Then the drone continues. Once or twice a week, a man or woman will read out some words in Russian, such as "dinghy" or "farming specialist". And that's it. Anyone, anywhere in the world can listen in, simply by tuning a radio to the frequency 4625 kHz. It's so enigmatic, it's as if it was designed with conspiracy theorists in mind. Today the station has an online following numbering in the tens of thousands, who know it affectionately as "the Buzzer." It joins two similar mystery stations, "the Pip" and the "Squeaky Wheel." As their fans readily admit themselves, they have absolutely no idea what they are listening to.
The Signal (Score:2)
Careful, you'll end up with robot legs on an alien ship.
Great movie (Score:2)
I really enjoyed that movie. It's amazing given the limited budget.
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"Hey...can you play Stairway.....?"
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Play Stairway to FreeBird!!!!
Re: The Signal (Score:1)
Stairway to Gilligan's Island is better.
Follow the money (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't run for free. It has power lines that someone pays the bills for the power usage. No doubt Russia has an FCC equivalent that all radio broadcasters must be licensed with. If it isn't officially licensed, then the government is allowing it, meaning the government is ultimately running it.
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Surprisingly enough, however, it almost certainly reaches the right conclusion. Look up numbers stations [wikipedia.org]. Probably the thing you are forgetting is that the Soviet military (with a reasonably high proportion of Russian officers) showed very high levels of competence at all sorts of times. Mixed with the kinds of disasters that probably no other military in the world could achieve.
Re:Follow the money (Score:5, Informative)
The most obvious explanation is it is part of a military strategy to facilitate an insurgency should Russia be invaded.
Basilcy the station broadcasts nonsense on regular intervals so that at any time in the future it can be used by remnants of the Russian military to broadcast coded information without giving away the fact that they started communicating. It also broadcasts a solid tone and heartbeat so they can reduce the likelihood of somone else using the channel and so they can tell if the station is destroyed or deactivated without waiting for the next broadcast. It is also possible but IMO less likely that it is in active use for espionage.
It probably isn't a nuclear deadman switch as those would have been shut down as part of post soviet disarmament. It might have been a decoy deadman switch that no one has the guts to turn off because they can't find the documentation saying where the missiles it controls are and are (because they don't exist) but no one is entirely certain the documents weren't just lost.
It also probably isn't just a random troll as it's continued operation implies that someone with some kind of pull set it up not just a random citizen (they had to make arrangements with the power company at the very least, and likely ongoing matinance given it's age)
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The Soviet (and later Russian) nuclear dead-man mechanism is reasonably well know to the public by now (well such things are hard to verify of course). It includes a lot of sensors designed to detect nuclear detonations on Russian ground, specialized hardened communications lines and hardened bunker(s) that is always active. If sensors detect detonations _and_ the normal chain of command can't be reached the personnel at the bunker(s) is given authority to decide if a nuclear attack have occurred and if ret
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Improbable but not impossible: the first lightbulb is still running
Re: Follow the money (Score:2)
Plenty of unlicensed bands especially for worldwide broadcasting. The NSA and every other government agency in the world have number stations going well back to the Second World War. And even I can find abandoned industrial parks and even residential areas where the power is still on, energy companies can't just be bothered to turn off certain things or engineer a way to disconnect an area of the power grid without affecting surrounding areas and dependencies.
No Real Mystery (Score:5, Informative)
As I understand, it's almost certainly used to send coded messages to Russian agents in case of emergency. The Russians are probably broadcasting a constant tone to reserve the frequency, so other people don't start using it. They say as much in the article.
Re:No Real Mystery (Score:5, Interesting)
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That's the most common, most plausible, and also most terrifying theory.
Because if for some reason it stops...
Re:No Real Mystery (Score:5, Funny)
Welcome, to the scary door.
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Oh and watch out for the grue.
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Perhaps the predetermined and very specific code words that are sent periodically? If someone replays the signal then the ruse will be discovered when the wrong code word is not given in the predetermined time period.
How do they know what the predetermined code word would be? Likely sent in a book transferred by secure courier.
What if they kidnap the courier, copy the book, and threaten to kill the man's family if he tells anyone? Because someone tasked with carrying this book likely has no family, and i
Re: No Real Mystery (Score:1)
The man with no ties to the world isn't super objectionable to changing or swapping the book out. What does he care if it goes in a nuclear fire? Dead mans switches aren't worrisome to dead men.
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Follow the youtube link in the BBC article -- it has broken down in the past. Given that we're still here it probably isn't part of Dead Hand.
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If it would have been silent for 26 hours!!!!!
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I'd think that jamming the frequency would be difficult since the transmitters are most likely many kW in power and if it is a component of the Dead Hand then the receiver is in Russia. I would also assume that the frequency is closely monitored and if you try to jam it, you get a visit from the FSB. It is also probably not the only trigger (random faults also happen, you wouldn't want to have nuclear war if the transmitter fails at the wrong time), but part of it.
Re:No Real Mystery (Score:5, Informative)
Well, kW isn't that h ard to generate, since most radio stations are in the MW range or hundreds of kW. Though for shortwave, you don't need more than a few kW to reach around the world.
The thing is, the modulation is probably AM, which means attempts to jam it are easily discovered because AM modulation squeals when there are multiple transmitters on the same frequency and you can never completely jam it - if one is broadcasting a tone and someone else is broadcasting modulated speech, you can make out the speech. This property of AM radio is why aircraft still use AM for communications - it's easy to tell when multiple stations transmit, and it's possible to make out what someone is saying over the squeal.
Re:No Real Mystery (Score:4, Informative)
One of the things that British submarines were supposed to do to know if the country was nuked in a first strike was to listen to the BBC broadcast. If there was no broadcast then they were supposed to assume that the country was nuked and to do a retaliatory strike on pre-programmed targets over the Soviet Union.
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As anyone who's watched Dr. Strangelove knows, the DH only works if the other side knows about it.
So, either the Ruskies have told the Americans (who thus know, and are keeping quiet), or the Ruskies are -- as in the movie -- doing it horribly, horribly wrong.
Re:No Real Mystery (Score:4, Funny)
As anyone who's watched Dr. Strangelove knows, the DH only works if the other side knows about it.
So, either the Ruskies have told the Americans (who thus know, and are keeping quiet), or the Ruskies are -- as in the movie -- doing it horribly, horribly wrong.
(thick fake Rooskie accent) It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday. As you know, Putin loves surprises.
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Rofl!
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I do, because one crazy Third World tin pot won't cause Global Thermonuclear War. He'll "just" (note the important quotes around that word) cause Local Thermonuclear War.
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But transmitter definitely not, because it will be extremely stupid to run such component continuously, it will be destroyed on first strike. And if it activates dead hand on destruction, then some terrorists might destroy it as well, and trigger noke war.
So, most likely - no. One more myth.
Is this it? If so, it is a "dull, monotonous tone" (Score:1)
Is this it?
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=4625 [utwente.nl]
If so, then when the summary describes it as a "dull, monotonous tone", it isn't kidding!
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http://SDR.hu [sdr.hu]
website which hosts links to about 150 (as I write this) individually owned receivers all over the world. Can be better reception from different locations.
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Especially knowing, that in our modern age much more decent methods of communications exist.
So agent have to compromise himself buying receiver capable to tune 4625Khz (thats not easy to find), tune to this frequency and listen each day, raising even more suspicions.
While even at good old times they was reading newspapers or listening to local radio for steganographic-like messages, which looks much more innocent.
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$20 from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/TIVDIO-... [amazon.com]
It's encrypted messages... (Score:5, Insightful)
...when everything else fails.
Hidden in plain sight.
Re:It's encrypted messages... (Score:5, Interesting)
More like the key to a codebook that operatives already have. The blip could mean jump to the next encrypt/decrypt key. The random words could be for an occasional recalibration in case you missed some blips or a one-time pad.
Probably very similar in design and use to number stations.
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As I said above, a $20 clock/radio from Amazon (SW:3.2-21.9MHz) could pick it up. (3.2MHz is, of course 3200KHz -- 4625KHz is easy).
Time for the yearly "number station" post? (Score:5, Funny)
Where does the time go?
Re: Time for the yearly "number station" post? (Score:2)
Maybe the periodic stories, or even the Wikipedia article itself, hides the actual communication. Maybe I'm issuing an instruction right now...
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I know, I know! "Circle-K" means "advance the pad"! Do I win?
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Where does the time go?
Indeed. [2enp.com]
"John has a long Moustache..." (Score:2)
What? You never know what or who may be relying on those occasional contrasting tones and words.
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...a baby's hand holding an apple.
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Well, actually "Les Sanglots longs des violons de l'Automne... blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone".
Followed by:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] ... and through United Nations Radio, Mediterranean.
UVB-76 (Score:5, Informative)
In case you're wondering, this article is about the very famous UVB-76 station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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"And every two to three years its "news" over and over again."
Groundhogs broadcast radio signals?
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Eh, whatever, it was news to me, and interesting. I find that humans are in need of occasional reminders about important things, anyways. Plus there's also the next generation that needs to be introduced to old info.
Could be worse... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Could be worse... (Score:5, Funny)
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Awww give J.B. a break -- Not my taste, but at least he can sing with his own voice.
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God have mercy on your soul.
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Probably a welcome relief from the modern crap country they played the rest of the day?
I had a fondness for 1970's and 1980's country, as the radio for my father's truck only got two stations: country and talk.. Not too thrilled with either country or talk since then.
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Hey Jerry Reed is still very good. Now if you go back to the '60s, it's even better!
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Hey Jerry Reed is still very good.
I'll take the 1970's with Smokey and the Bandit (40th Anniversary Edition) [amzn.to]. My favorite movie with Sally "Gidget" Fields. ;)
No mystery, only one more myth (Score:5, Interesting)
AM receivers for such frequency usually very robust, they are installed in many cities in military enlistment office(voenkomat) and easy to make.
Buzzing and etc is just making sure noone else occupy frequency, sometimes(rarely) it is used for other communications, but nothing extraordinary.
P.S. Old transmitter side abandoned in 2010, there is several new, at least 3.
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Audio online (Score:2, Informative)
If you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCC8Xb7K0c8
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Nyet, tovarishch, you're the only one saying that.
Good morning St. Petersburg! (Score:2)
This is not rock and roll. This is a test! Time to rustproof your tractor and your trusty dinghy!
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This ones for all you rock 'n' rollas... [youtube.com]
BBC bollocks fake news shit shit shit (Score:1)
Zaria Gorvett, writing for BBC:
In the middle of a Russian swampland, not far from the city of St Petersburg, is a rectangular iron gate. Beyond its rusted bars is a collection of radio towers, abandoned buildings and power lines bordered by a dry-stone wall. This sinister location is the focus of a mystery which stretches back to the height of the Cold War. It is thought to be the headquarters of a radio station, "MDZhB", that no-one has ever claimed to run.
>middle of Russian swampland
http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/The_Buzzer_(ZhUOZ_MDZhB_UZB76)
"At least two transmitters exist for MDZhB. One is confirmed to be at 6018’40.1N 3016’40.5E [google.com] where it sends radio relay and phone lines directly from Moscow via St. Petersburg’s command hub on Palace Square.
The other site is claimed to be located at Naro-Fominsk, Moscow district at 5525’35N 3642’33E [google.com] where the 69th communications center is located, which serves as the main staff headquarter
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Ha! Pushed a button, didn't they!
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TL;DR--IN SIX WORDS (Score:3)
In Soviet Russia, radio buzzes you
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+1. Had to be said.
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Be. Sure. To. Drink. Your. Ovaltine.
Jim Creek Naval Radio Sation (Score:2)
I used to live in Arlington, Washington. At times, I could hear Russian language broadcasts bleeding into some cheap audio gear I had. I imagine that they could tune up from their VLF frequencies and pump out quite a bit of power (around a megawatt) to talk to our people stationed overseas. Smart to broadcast in Russian. That way the neighbors don't inadvertently hear our agents in Moscow listening to what in the 1980's would have probably been suspect material in English.
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Well, no, you can't just flip a dial and run a million watts at ten times the frequency. It's a little more complicated than that (I did some design on the antenna tuner for a proposal once). But the Navy has a bunch of other stations with the proper gear to transmit high power at short wave frequencies.
No mystery to it (Score:2)
Well.... (Score:1)
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Russkiy EDM.
Buzzes (Score:1)
A clear tone does not carry much information, but buzzes and squeals have a lot of sideband components and could be carrying a lot of data.
If you have equipment, try manually tuning in a digital signal sometime. It's all buzzes and squeals... ;-)
Not to mention old Faximile, Teletype and other tone-keyed signals. You could tell with an HP packet analyzer, or maybe just a good Trigger-sweep Oscilloscope.
Russian Survivor (Score:1)