Buzzer "UVB-76" Up Again on 4625

Good/readable signal, with heavy fading, into the web repeater's receiver somewhere in Europe at 16/1858 UTC.  Band conditions seem to have deteriorated somewhat.

The buzz is same as always, except for a slow warble at maybe twice per second.

4625 kHz Buzzer Up Today

On the Internet reflector right now (2118 UTC) with QRM from an off-frequency broadcast.

Military Net on 4625 kHz "Buzzer" Frequency

The Buzzer is still gone again, but there is still Russian Military activity on the frequency.

Here is some kind of daily CW net that has a roll call at 1900 UTC, as copied over the Internet UVB-76 blog's stream on September 13. These are tactical callsigns, which change periodically.

Previous operators have sounded pretty good, but this one got flustered, big time.

Here we go:

V
VVVVVV
VVVV V V (error dits)
VSJX DE FIN Q K
R K
KMMN DE F INQ K
R K
8OB5 DE FINQ K
V JIP DE FINQ ---- (possible Cyrillic character, four dahs) (error dits)
VJIP DE FINQ K
R K
E4LU DE FINN (error dits)
E4LEU DE FINQ K
R K
W4YM DE FINQ K
R K
U AR (error dits)
4G9G DE FINQ K
4G9G DE FINQ K
4G9G DE FINQ R K
VDZO DE FINQ R K
L6MM DE (error dits)
L6MM DE FIQ (error dits)
L6MM DE FINO AR (error dits)
L6MM DE FINQ K
O42M DE FINQ K
H (error dits)
L6MHM DE FINQ K (error dits)
L6MM DE FINQ K
O42N DE FINQ K
L6MM DE FINQ K
2X2M DE FINQ K
L6MM L6MM DE FINQ FIN (error dits)
L6MM L6MM L6MM E DE FINQ FINQ K
O42M O42M O42M L (error dits)
O42M O42M O42M DE FINQ J (error dits)
O42M O42M O42M DE FIINNN (error dits)
O42M O42M O42M DE FINQ K (error dits)
O42 (error dits)
O42M O42M O42M DE FINQ FINQ K
R K
[About an 8 minute pause, perhaps to regroup]
[missed-fading]
FINQ R K
[-end of work-]

More Voice Messages on UVB-76?

That's what they're saying on the blog. To hear the alleged 4625 kHz Russian communications, go to:

http://uvb-76.blogspot.com/.

Is UVB76 Gone Again?

All channels on the Internet repeater have only static for 4625 kHz. The PVO air defense transmissions at 3 kHz are still there, though much weaker. The Internet link works, though at greatly reduced volume. The Buzzer is simply not there.

???????

Yesterday was quite an interesting day. It is apparent that The Buzzer was using two different transmitters, and maybe two different call signs. It's hard to know for sure. UVB76 is at least a standard international call from Russia's alphabetical block. The other one heard yesterday, MDZhB, is Cyrillic. Cyrillic has appeared in Russian station IDs before, but as tactical calls. So the possibilities are:

Two transmitters, using different call signs.
Two transmitters, one sending a message using a tactical ID.
Two transmitters, both using message-specific tactical IDs.

One interesting possibility is that the second transmitter, which has truly world-spanning capability, was activated specifically for the three messages sent over it, then shut down again. All of this indicates a high degree of human intervention in what was assumed to be an automated transmission, which in turn would indicate that it's more than just an old Cold War system no one ever turned off.

This would tend to support the commonly offered theory that UVB76 is a military alerting station for some kind of command control comms. This would resemble a far less active version of the USA's Emergency Action Message (EAM) broadcasts, which are coded military orders with priority traffic status.

?????????????????

UVB76 Leaves Air, Human Species Survives

There's been a lot of Internet buzz surrounding UVB76, the supposed call sign of a mysterious, Russian station whose marker is The Buzzer (formerly XB, now S38). It's usually on 4625 kHz. Conspiracy sites have gone crazy since it broadcast a voice message on August 25, and then left the air shortly before 0000 UTC on September 1.

Right now, the only verifiable fact is that the station is still off-air, except maybe for a weak carrier. There have been a lot of pirate transmissions, some of which indicated a familiarity with the "numbers" hobby. A couple of these even addressed two well known Internet mailing list members, by name.

Mary Villano in L.A. reports that even "Adult Swim," a Cartoon Channel program block after the kiddies are in bed, did a bumper with a scope screen type of graphic and words about how UVB76 was off-air and we should all be afraid. This is fun stuff.

Also interesting is the very dark cloud shadow on Google Earth over what is purported to be the UVB76 transmitter building. It's almost as if the site was deliberately redacted. If the surrounding area wasn't more dank than a gloomy Russian novel, and if the images weren't from 2009 and earlier, even I might think someone said something. But I don't. It's just more strangeness from a seemingly endless source of same.

We'll try to sort all this out in the November column. I don't usually advertise, but you'll want to read THIS one.