UVB-76 Numbers Station Solved

If you guys haven't heard, the once thought Numbers Station UVB-76 ("The Buzzer" or "Boat Horn"), has been solved.

It's a center for ionosphere research measuring doppler shifts of a continuously transmitted signal.

It's broadcast on 4.625Mhz in the shortwave band. The following link has a Russian science "log" with the carrier frequency being 4.625Mhz for ionosphere research.

elpub.wdcb.ru...

Though it's still weird, I don't know if this is actually solved. There have been VERY recent voices on UVB-76 including one EARLIER tonight, and one on Jan 10th (link below). The guy comes on and only says numbers. I'm not sure what that would have to do with ionosphere research, and is more related to numbers station. It says nothing about it's "partner stations" such as S32 "The Squeaky Wheel".

Audio Clip
www.4shared.com...

Good catch! A very interesting theory, perhaps they're measuring fluctuations in the ionosphere? Maybe the strange solar activity has prompted the increase in voices recently.

Do people seriously just sit around listening to number stations all day? XD

I've never heard of UVB-76 or anything that you're refering to.

Could you post up some info or fill me in as to what it is?

It sounds like something from Lost though, from the way you describe it.

Originally posted by Detailed Perfection
I've never heard of UVB-76 or anything that you're refering to.

Could you post up some info or fill me in as to what it is?

It sounds like something from Lost though, from the way you describe it.

This should explain it well:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Tom_Proctor


That other thread was posted on January 17.
Your thread was posted on February 17.
I look forward to another installment on March 17.

Originally posted by Cabaret Voltaire
reply to post by Tom_Proctor

 

That other thread was posted on January 17.
Your thread was posted on February 17.
I look forward to another installment on March 17.

17 17 17

The first time any sequence or pattern has ever been seen in the seemingly random ramblings that the Stations emit.

Bump and S+F may go partway to explaining things such as Russian Woodpecker Signal to.

However the Spoken Numbers Stations always fascinated me and are not imho doppler signals lol.

Kind Regards,

MischeviousElf

Well, whatever they really are it's probably nothing too suspicious.

It's either countries talking to their spies or, as OP puts it, science related. This is a good catch, and thanks to Tom for beating me to posting the numbers stations thread.

SF

I read that these number stations among other things are diplomatic messages from embassies etc in code that uses the old key book codes.

In my years as an amateur radio operator and shortwave listener i've heard mostly voice stations with the reader having an accent ...like one well known station from cuba.....they are intresting

reply to post by keltic cherokee


I only have heard and read the english language ones,

Have you ever heard ones in other languages to?

The Diplomatic embassy one may have held water in the 60's 70' 80's but not these days, with modern sat and encrypted telephone and computer networks does not make sense, also they would and could have used Compressed short burst transmissions for a long time.

What is the last ones you listened to?

Kind Regards,

Elf

Stations like UVB-76 are simply command and control networks of the Russian forces. Very simple and effective. They maintain their position on the HF band by a distinctive and unique carrier. They only break the carrier when a message is required to be sent. This means that nobody else can transmit on the frequency and also maintains an effective signal for those required to listen to it. They know that once the carrier goes off the air that there is likely to be a codeword transmission.

The recent UVB-76 codeword is the giveaway to its command and control function within the Moscow Defence Region.

The same message format and all the previous ones are repeated by the Russian military Morse Code networks. It provides Russia and previously the Soviet Union with an effective command and control structure. The use of the HF band and Morse means that the communications are still effective in an Electro Magnetic Pulse environment.

These cover the submarine Very Low Frequencies and into the higher HF bands.

www.cvni.net...

www.cvni.net...

Other stations such as the 'Squeaky Wheel' and 'The Pip' provide the similar command and control function for the areas that they are located in Russia.

Other Russian stations such as REA4 also maintains its frequencies with a distinct radio carrier. It only breaks its radio carrier in order to transmit its messages.

Nothing to do with the ionosphere, but a simple and highly efficient command and control structure.

The clue to the function is the maintained frequency of 4625 khz. The buzzer doesn't broadcast higher up the HF frequency band. If it was transmitting on various frequencies then it would be fulfilling a function in relation to that radio propagation. It is specific to the Moscow Oblast region.

You can see from Russian radio scanner forum that some of the Russian conscripts knew of the Buzzer being set up on their radios. The radio receivers were located in military bases in the Moscow Defence Region and fulfilled an emergency communications system.

www.radioscanner.ru...

The UK used a similar system known as HANDEL for its Civil Defence warning system. The only difference was that instead of shortwave the system was relayed over the national phone lines. The problem with the phone line system was that it obvioulsy relied heavily on telegraph poles and lines. The Russians obviously built a more robust system to function post attack.

My theory is that the Russian Buzzer is the Civil Defence network system for the Moscow region. The use of HF radio would mean that it would function during the electro magnetic pulse wave generated in a nuclear strike. This is one of the reasons that the Russians still use Morse Code on their networks and still able to get through in an EMP environment.

www.ringbell.co.uk...

You can see the HANDEL system in operation on the following video. See 05:00 point on video from the 1970s. The UK disbanded the specific nuclear warning Civil Defence network in the early 1990s.

www.youtube.com...

A carrier is maintained on the broadcast (regular ticking) until a command and control message is sent.

www.youtube.com...

During the Soviet era the Civil Defence network was huge and a played a vital part in defence of Russia. It required command and control and so does the modern day equivilant.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by MischeviousElf


Spanish number stations are easy to find with the schedule even figured out for the most part. You can search for a schedule.

There are also German number stations heard infrequently.

Some of you may have seen this already, but I figured I would share it if otherwise:

Inside the Mysterious UVB-76 Station

From the looks of the condition, it looks obvious why it was shut down. They seem to be having some plumbing issues

[edit on 30-8-2010 by onepremise]

Originally posted by onepremise
Some of you may have seen this already, but I figured I would share it if otherwise:

Inside the Mysterious UVB-76 Station

From the looks of the condition, it looks obvious why it was shut down. They seem to be having some plumbing issues

[edit on 30-8-2010 by onepremise]

Those are just images of defunct Soviet facilities. There have been a whole series of images from recent years. UVB-76 is still operational.

TJ

I'll tell you why the "science experiment" thing is most probably a flawed correlation.

First and foremost, the UZB-76* (S28) has changed carrier frequency multiple times throughout its life. During the 90's it was known to transmit on 5310 and 5211kHz for example. Next, it currently transmits from two locations (one approximately south of St. Petersburg, the second one northeast of Pskov) on two different frequencies (4622 and 4625 kHz respectively).

Also, it's hardly a very scientific set up for the broadcast signal being fed from a constantly live microphone placed in front of a speaker (the buzzer unit). It gives you a very dirty signal, quite unlike actual ionospheric experiments that uses very clean signals in order to study their propagation and interactions (excitations and secondary emissions for example) in high detail. Also, the radio in question uses an omnidirectional horizontal dipole (VGDSh: files.radioscanner.ru...). For ionospheric experiments you use a completely different transmitter layout (which is also one of the reasons why all the HAARP conspiracy talk is utterly and inherently flawed its the very core, together with the entire framework of matter/EM interaction mechanisms (which obviously has to account for broadcasting as well, it works both ways) that also completely disqualifies it, but that's a different story).

The messages it occasionally broadcasts follow the same pattern/format as other Russian number stations (for example S30 on 5448 and 3756kHz, S32 on 3828 and 5473kHz, S06 through S21 on between 3181 to 7472kHz, changes all the time). This would suggest that it is following number station practice. If you compare to Western stations, such as the mysterious Yosemite Sam, that would indeed seem to be the case as we are dealing with the very same bands there.

Typically, hanging around that frequency neighborhood can be a benefit with the ionosphere in mind, of course. But now we're talking the same things as radio amateurs has been using to their advantage since time immemorial. As far as that goes the OP has a point (but not the one he/she intended).

*The "UVB" thing is an old Western transcription error that has been perpetuated for some reason. The station was never called UVB (УВБ) but UZB (УЗБ). This can be confirmed on early recordings, though granted the Z sounds very V-like to Western ears (and from a lo-fi radio voice).

Nowadays the callsign is МДЖБ/MDZhB (Mikhail, Dmitri, Zhenya, Boris) though, The callsign suddenly changed in between the message broadcasts of September 5th and 7th, 2010. For unknown reasons (a pretty superfluous statement when we're dealing with this subject...) it momentarily switched back to the UZB-76 callsign on September 10th that year, but that was the last time anybody heard that callsign.

It has also used temporary callsigns such as ЦЛИМ/TsLIM and Ц38М/Ts38M, nobody knows why.
It also occasionally changes buzz length, introduces odd whistly overtones and subtle buzz harmonic changes. Also, fast Morse code can be heard in the "background" sometimes (could be something accidentally picked up/leakage, or it could be an actual reciever within audible range to the aforementioned microphone that is occasionally heard).

Anyway, I hope that clears things up a bit!