UVB-76

UVB-76, also known as "The Buzzer", is a nickname given by listeners to a shortwave radio station that broadcasts on the frequencies 4625 and 4810 kHz.[1][2] It broadcasts a short, monotonous buzz tone , repeating at a rate of approximately 25 tones per minute, 24 hours per day.[1] Sometimes, the buzzer signal is interrupted and a voice transmission in Russian takes place.[3] The first reports of a station on this frequency were made in 1973.

"The Buzzer" redirects here. For other uses, see Buzzer (disambiguation).
UVB-76
Broadcast areaRussia, Soviet Union (Former)
Frequency4625 kHz, 9250 kHz Shortwave
Programming
Language(s)Russian
FormatRepeated buzzing sound
Ownership
OwnerRussian Armed Forces
Sister stationsThe Pip, The Squeaky Wheel
History
First air datec. 1973
Former call signsУВБ-76, МДЖБ, ЖУОЗ, ВЖЦХ, АНВФ
Former frequencies4625 kHz

Name

The station is commonly known as the Buzzer[4] in both English and Russian (Russian: Жужжалка). Until 2010, the station identified itself as UVB-76[5] (Russian: УВБ-76), and it is still often referred by that name. In September 2010, the station moved to another location and adopted the identification MDZhB[6][7] (Russian: МДЖБ). On December 28, 2015, the station began using the callsign ZhUOZ[8][9] (Russian: ЖУОЗ) – pronounced "Zhenya, Ulyana, Olga, Zinaida". Since March 1, 2019, the station appears to have used a number of new callsigns, the most recurring of which is ANVF[10](Russian: АНВФ).

Format
External video
UVB-76 in 1976 on YouTube
UVB-76 in 1982 on YouTube
UVB-76 in 1989 on YouTube
A spectrum for UVB-76 showing the suppressed lower sideband.

The station transmits using AM with a suppressed lower sideband (USB modulation), but it has also used full double-sideband AM (A3E). The signal consists of a buzzing sound that lasts 1.2 seconds, pausing for 1–1.3 seconds, and repeating 21–34 times per minute. Until November 2010, the buzz tones lasted approximately 0.8 seconds each.[1][11] One minute before the hour, the repeating tone was previously replaced by a continuous, uninterrupted alternating tone, which continued for one minute until the short repeating buzz resumed, although this stopped occurring in June 2010.[12]

The Buzzer has apparently been broadcasting since at least 1973[13] as a repeating two-second pip, changing to a buzzer in early 1990.[13][14] It briefly changed to a higher tone of longer duration (approximately 20 tones per minute) on January 16, 2003, but has since reverted to the previous tone pattern.

Voice messages

Sometimes the buzzing sound is interrupted and a voice message is broadcast. These messages are usually given in Russian by a live voice, and follow a fixed format.[1][15][16] An example of such a message:

At 21:00 UTC on December 24, 1997:

Ya UVB-76, Ya UVB-76. 180 08 BROMAL 74 27 99 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7 4 2 7 9 9 1 4

Voice messages were thought to be very rare, until 2010 when listeners reported increased activity of the station, spurring on further monitoring and allowing listeners to "catch" more of the messages which would have otherwise gone unnoticed.[17] On June 5, 2010, UVB-76 went silent for approximately 24 hours, resuming the normal buzzing pattern on the morning of June 6. At 13:35 UTC on August 23, 2010, a voice message was broadcast:

UVB-76, UVB-76. 93 882 NAIMINA 74 14 35 74. 9 3 8 8 2 Nikolai, Anna, Ivan, Mikhail, Ivan, Nikolai, Anna. 7 4 1 4 3 5 7 4

On October 17, 2016, The Buzzer broadcast at least 18 different messages in less than 24 hours.[18]

Four additional voice broadcasts could be heard between January 13 and January 27, 2020.[19]

On May 11, 2020, two messages were heard, one at 13:11 UTC and a second one at 15:22 UTC.[20][21]

On May 14, 2020, another two messages were broadcast, one at 8:00 UTC and another one at around 10:00 UTC.[22]

On June 17, 2020, two messages were heard, one at 11:39 UTC and a second one at 11:47 UTC:[23][24]

VZhTsKh VZhTsKh 10 269 KYeDROKYeKS 99 57 53 14.
VZhTsKh VZhTsKh 74 701 KON'YuNKTURA 57 55 86 97 VDYeLYVAN'Ye 06 71 29 59.

On June 18, 2020, one message was heard at 10:12 UTC:[25]

ANVF ANVF 17 042 DAMPOLYaD 75 79 69 56; 
ANVF ANVF 17 042 DAMPOLYaD 75 79 69 56.

On July 1, 2020, one message was heard at 12:31 UTC:[26]

VZhTsKh VZhTsKh 217O 217O 88 498 79 789 KAINOGON 52 47 37 68;
VZhTsKh VZhTsKh 217O 217O 88 498 79 789 KAINOGON 52 47 37 68.

On July 8, 2020, from 07:40z to 14:40z, the buzzer broadcast 13 different messages.[27]

On July 30, 2020, three messages were heard, one at 11:20 UTC, a second one at 12:16 UTC and the third message at 13:14 UTC:[28][29][30]

ANVF ANVF 18 844 BRYZGALKA 94 96 27 09 ATOLLOVYJ 60 76 53 11;
ANVF ANVF 18 844 BRYZGALKA 94 96 27 09 ATOLLOVYJ 60 76 53 11.
ANVF ANVF 54 400 BAULOBYK 53 57 71 19;
ANVF ANVF 54 400 BAULOBYK 53 57 71 19.
ANVF ANVF 77 253 BUKVOYeD 40 68 55 47;
ANVF ANVF 77 253 BUKVOYeD 40 68 55 47.

On August 3, 2020, one message was heard at 12:45 UTC:[31]

ANVF ANVF 61 691 KOLOMER 92 80 07 74;
ANVF ANVF 61 691 KOLOMER 92 80 07 74.

On August 6, 2020, one message was heard at 11:43 UTC:[32]

VZhTsKh VZhTsKh 217O 217O 34 050 41 065 KARTING 82 17 24 19;
VZhTsKh VZhTsKh 217O 217O 34 050 41 065 KARTING 82 17 24 19.

On August 9, 2020, one message was heard at 10:45 UTC:[33]

VZhTsKh VZhTsKh 217O 217O 58 930 78 148 ZABORChIK 84 48 55 97;
VZhTsKh VZhTsKh 217O 217O 58 930 78 148 ZABORChIK 84 48 55 97.

On August 11, 2020, two messages were heard at 03:22 UTC:[34]

ANVF ANVF 11 234 LAGOKYuRI 69 69 10 18;
ANVF ANVF 11 234 LAGOKYuRI 69 69 10 18.
ANVF ANVF 52 135 KORZhOBAYaN 54 05 29 46;
ANVF ANVF 52 135 KORZhOBAYaN 54 05 29 46.

On August 12, 2020, one message was heard at 02:17 UTC:[35]

87O1 87O1 217O 217O 19 611 61 649 BOYeKOKLYeJ 83 62 80 06;
87O1 87O1 217O 217O 19 611 61 649 BOYeKOKLYeJ 83 62 80 06.

On August 14, 2020, from 02:11z to 08:12z, the buzzer broadcast 13 different messages.[36]

Unusual transmissions

Distant conversations and other background noises have frequently been heard behind the buzzer, suggesting that the buzzing tones are not generated internally, but are transmitted from a device placed behind a live and constantly open microphone. Because of the occasional fluctuating pitch of the buzzing tones, it is supposed that the tones are generated by a tonewheel as used in a Hammond organ. It is also possible that a microphone may have been turned on accidentally.[37] One such occasion was on November 3, 2001, when a conversation in Russian was heard:[11]

Я – 143. Не получаю генератор... ...идёт такая работа от аппаратной.
(English: "I am 143. Not receiving the generator (oscillator)... ...that stuff comes from hardware room.")[38]

In September 2010, several unusual broadcasts were observed; these included portions of the buzzer being replaced with extracts from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and in one instance, a sound that resembled that of a woman screaming.[39][40]

On November 11, 2010, intermittent phone conversations were transmitted and were recorded by a listener (at 14:00 UTC) for a period of approximately 30 minutes. These conversations are available online, and seem to be in Russian.[41][42] The phone calls mentioned the "brigade operative officer on duty", the communication codes "Debut", "Nadezhda" (Russian for "hope", both a noun and a female name), "Sudak" (an alternate name for the Zander, and also a town in Crimea) and "Vulkan" (volcano). The female voice says:

Офицер дежурного узла связи "Дебют", прапорщик Успенская. Получила контрольный звонок от Надежды... ...поняла.[43]
(English: "Officer of the duty station "Debut", ensign Uspenskaya. Received a test call from Nadezhda ... ... understood.")

On July 17, 2015, the station broadcast what appeared to be a RTTY signal in lieu of the buzzer.[44][45][46]

On February 7, 2019, several transmissions that were likely sent by a third party were broadcast. [47] One of them goes:

Ya - Pogrom, Ya - Pogrom. Vozduh. 49 832 VOLKOSTYK 12 38 86 52

On May 15, 2020, The Buzzer was interrupted by a third-party transmission, likely sent by French fishermen. [48][49]

On the same day, about four hours later, The Buzzer began playing Russian music.[50]

On May 17, 2020, UVB-76 was interrupted again by a short third-party transmission. It is suspected to have been sent by the same French people as on May 15, 2020,[51]

On May 30, 2020, at about 20:00 UTC, music was heard on The Buzzer´s frequency.[52]

On June 9, two events could be witnessed. At 20:03 UTC, the buzzing generator of UVB-76 broke down; the buzzing continued only a few seconds later.[53] Another anomaly happened at around 21:00 UTC, multiple transmission of morse code (of unknown origin) were heard.[54]

On June 16, 2020, the buzzer stopped at 20:40 UTC for unknown reasons. It returned about one hour later at 21:40 UTC.[55]

On July 15, 2020 a Voice message of unknown origin was heard on 4624.2 kHz, just below the Buzzers frequency. The message didn‘t come from UVB-76 itself because the buzzing didn´t stop. The message was in English and contained only numbers, no letters. The only word that appeared in this message was ,,Attention“. [56]

On August 16, 2020, from 17:26 UTC to all night long, on the buzzer frequency, with occasional moments of silence, were played some music and some carrier tones. A strange fact occurred from 20:29 UTC to 21:33 UTC on the same day, slightly above the end of buzzer frequency, have been received some spectogram imagery of animals and Pokemon and Spongebob characters. Were received also some latin/cyrillic characters/phrases on the radio’s waterfall. Other spectogram imagery were broadcasted during the night also on the same buzzer's frequency. On all this time frame, the buzzer’s marker never stopped.

Location and function

The purpose of the station has not been confirmed by government or broadcast officials. However, Rimantas Pleikys, a former Minister of Communications and Informatics of the Republic of Lithuania, has written that the purpose of the voice messages is to confirm that operators at receiving stations are alert.[12][57][58] Other explanations are that the broadcast is constantly being listened to by military commissariats.[59]

There is speculation published in the Russian Journal of Earth Sciences which describes an observatory measuring changes in the ionosphere by broadcasting a signal at 4625 kHz, the same as the Buzzer.[60]

It is also speculated that the voice messages are some sort of Russian military communications, and that the buzzing sound is merely a "channel marker" used to keep the frequency occupied, thereby making it unattractive for other potential users.[1] The signature sound could be used for tuning to the signal on an old analogue receiver. The modulation is suitable to be detected by an electromechanical frequency detector, similar to a tuning fork. This can be used to activate the squelch on a receiver. Due to the varying emission properties on shortwave bands, using a level-based squelch is unreliable. This also allows a signal loss to be detected, causing an alarm to sound on the receiver.

Another theory, described in a BBC article, states that the tower is connected to the Russian 'Perimeter' missile system, and emits a “Dead Hand” signal that will trigger a nuclear retaliatory response if the signal is interrupted as a result of a nuclear attack against Russia.[4]

There are two other Russian stations that follow a similar format, nicknamed "The Pip" and "The Squeaky Wheel". Like the Buzzer, these stations transmit a signature sound that is repeated constantly, but is occasionally interrupted to relay coded voice messages.[1]

The former transmitter was located near Povarovo, Russia,[1][61] at 56°5′0″N 37°6′37″E which is about halfway between Zelenograd and Solnechnogorsk and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northwest of Moscow, near the village of Lozhki. The location and callsign were unknown until the first known voice broadcast of 1997.[62] In September 2010, the station's transmitter was moved to the nearby city of Saint Petersburg, near the village of Kerro Massiv. This may have been due to a reorganization of the Russian military. Prior to August 9, 2015, the station is not transmitted from the Kerro Massiv transmitter site ("Irtysh") anymore, possibly due to a reorganization of the Russian military for the particular area which may cause the frequency to be used only in the Moscow Military District. At present, The Buzzer appears to be broadcast only from the 69th Communication Hub in Naro Fominsk, Moscow.[3] In 2011, a group of urban explorers claimed to have explored the buildings at Povarovo to find an abandoned military base and, in it, a radio log record confirming the operation of a transmitter at 4625kHz.[63][64]

Other callsigns

Besides the main callsign, there have been transmissions containing different callsigns such as: LNR4 (Russian: ЛНР4), 87OI (Russian: 87ОИ), VM62 (Russian: ВМ62), A1JZh (Russian: А1ЙЖ), MSZh7 (Russian: МСЖ7), OMP4 (Russian: ОМП4), 7U8T (Russian: 7У8Т), VLHN (Russian: ВЛХН), 217O (Russian: 217О) and ANVF (Russian: АНВФ), VZhCH (Russian: ВЖЦХ), LNRCh (Russian: ЛНРЧ), 217O VShchCH (Russian: 217О ВЩЦХ), VZhCH 217O (Russian: ВЖЦХ 217О), 34ShchK (Russian: 34ЩК), YeDGShch 58Shch1 (Russian: ЕДГЩ 58Щ1), LNR4 5Ye27 M4Z2 (Russian: ЛНР4 5Е27 М7З2),

See also

References
  1. "The Buzzer". October 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  2. "Numbers Station Research". The NSRIC. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  3. Peter Savodnik (September 27, 2011). "Inside the Russian Short Wave Radio Enigma". Wired. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
  4. Gorvett, Zaria. "The ghostly radio station that no one claims to run". Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  5. "Recording of the buzzer using its original callsign UVB-76". 6 July 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  6. "Log of the Buzzer using the new callsign "MDZhB". September 7, 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  7. "YouTube video of the buzzer using the new callsign MDZhB". December 27, 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  8. "Voice transmission using callsign ZhUOZ". Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  9. "Logged change of callsign on website PRIYOM". PRIYOM. 28 December 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  10. "First audio recording of the buzzer using the new callsign ANVF". 28 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  11. Boender, Ary (January 2002). "Oddities". ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter – Issue 8. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  12. "Russian HF Beacons". Thirty-second edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter. 2000-12-24. Archived from the original on 7 September 2019. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  13. "Morse Stations". Seventy-fifth edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter. 2004-08-02. Archived from the original on 7 September 2019. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  14. Boender, Ary (1995). "Numbers & oddities: Column 1". World Utility News. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020.
  15. "El misterio de las emisiones de radio secretas", ABC, August 26, 2010 (English)
  16. Russia (2009-07-21). ""The Buzzer" (UVB-76) – Google Sightseeing". Googlesightseeing.com. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  17. Newitz, Annalee, "They're broadcasting those Russian numbers again", ion9, August 27, 2010
  18. Priyom.org [@priyom_org] (17 October 2016). "Today's extraordinary Russian military channel marker message stats: - Buzzer: 18 - Pip: 20 - Wheel: 21 - 5292: 0" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  19. Русские Устные Сообщения (Radio broadcast). 2020-01-13. Event occurs at 22:24 UTC – via Soundcloud.
    Русские Устные Сообщения 2 (Radio broadcast). 2020-01-15. Event occurs at 20:26 UTC – via Soundcloud.
    Русские Устные Сообщения 3 (Radio broadcast). 2020-01-16. Event occurs at 09:43 UTC – via Soundcloud.
    Русские Устные Сообщения 4 (Radio broadcast). 2020-01-27. Event occurs at 11:31 UTC – via Soundcloud.
  20. "UVB-76 Voice message 11 May 2020". 11 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  21. "UVB-76 Second voice message on 11 May 2020". 11 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  22. "UVB-76 Voice message on 14 May 2020". 15 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  23. "June 17th 2020 11:39 UTC Voice message". June 17th 2020 11:39 UTC Voice message.
  24. "June 17th 2020 11:47 UTC Voice message". June 17th 2020 11:47 UTC Voice message.
  25. "June 18th 2020 10:12 UTC Voice message". June 18th 2020 10:12 UTC Voice message.
  26. "July 1st 2020 12:31 UTC Voice message". July 1st 2020 12:31 UTC Voice message.
  27. "July 8th, 2020, 13 different voice message". July 8th, 2020, 13 different voice message.
  28. "July 30th 2020 11:20UTC Voice message". July 30th 2020 11:20UTC Voice message.
  29. "July 30th 2020 12:16UTC Voice message". July 30th 2020 12:16UTC Voice message.
  30. "July 30th 2020 13:14UTC Voice message". July 30th 2020 13:14UTC Voice message.
  31. "August 3th 2020 12:45UTC Voice message". August 3th 2020 12:45UTC Voice message.
  32. "August 6th 2020 11:43UTC Voice message". August 6th 2020 11:43UTC Voice message.
  33. "August 9th 2020 10:45UTC Voice message". August 9th 2020 10:45UTC Voice message.
  34. "August 11th 2020 03:22UTC Voice message". August 11th 2020 03:22UTC Voice message.
  35. "August 12th 2020 02:17UTC Voice message". August 12th 2020 02:17UTC Voice message.
  36. "August 14th 2020 Voice messages". August 14th 2020 Voice messages.
  37. "Mysteriózní rádio už 30 let vysílá záhadný signál a teď i tajnou šifru", Technet.cz, August 27, 2010 (English)
  38. "The Unexplained Signals Of Russian Station UVB-76". Gizmodo Australia. 2016-07-18. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  39. "UVB-76". Evan's Media. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  40. "UVB-76 MDZhB [02.09.2010] Swan Lake". YouTube. UVB-76 Activity Channel.
  41. "UVB-76 2010-11-11 14.00 UTC". Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  42. "Translation by a Reddit user". Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  43. "Recording of the phone calls on UVB76". Soundcloud. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  44. "The Buzzer has changed sound?". reddit.
  45. "UVB-76 (The Buzzer) appears to be sending out a RTTY-like signal right now. Anyone care to decode it?". reddit.
  46. "UVB76 with RTTY". Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  47. "Recording of Pirates Broadcasting on UVB76 on 7th February 2019". PRIYOM. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  48. "UVB76 (The Buzzer) - Strange Unknown Voice 5/15/20". Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  49. "Strange Voices on 4625 kHz (The Buzzer, UVB76) on 15 May 2020". YouTube. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  50. "The Buzzer/UVB-76(4625Khz) May 16th 2020 23:39UCT Music in The Buzzer". Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  51. "Unknown Transmission on UVB 17 May 2020". 18 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  52. "Music playing on UVB-76, 30 May 2020". YouTube. 30 May 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  53. "UVB-76 buzzer breaks down on June 9, 2020 at 20:03 UTC". YouTube. June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  54. "Morse Code of unknown origin was heard on UVB-76 on June 9, 2020 at 21:00 UTC". YouTube. June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  55. "Picture shows that the buzzer of UVB-76 had stopped". Imgur. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  56. "Voice Message of unknown origin was heard on UVB76s frequency". YouTube. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  57. "Single letter markers – posts from the SPOOKS and WUN listservers". 2000. Archived from the original on 2007-11-25. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
  58. Pleikys, Rimantas (1998). Jamming. Vilnius, Lithuania: Rimantas Pleikys.
  59. "Военная "Жужжалка" на частоте 4625 кГц. "Buzzer" UVB-76. – Страница 4". Radioscanner.ru. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  60. "Information-measuring complex and database of mid-latitude Borok Geophysical Observatory". 2008. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  61. Geere, Duncan (August 2010). "Mysterious Russian 'Buzzer' radio broadcast changes". WIRED.CO.UK. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  62. "El misterioso zumbido de la estación de radio UVB-76" [The mysterious buzz of the UVB-76 radio station]. El Reservado (in Spanish). January 24, 2011. Archived from the original on January 27, 2011. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
  63. wasd. "kwasd's blog " Небольшой фотоотчет с УВБ-76 ("The Buzzer", "Жужжалка")". Blog.kwasd.ru. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  64. "Sample Buzzer Logbook" (PDF). 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2016-07-03.

Further reading
  • Handler, Stephen (December 2013). "Is Russia's Buzzer a Doorbell to Doomsday?". Popular Communications. 32 (4): 31–33. ISSN 0733-3315.
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