[Spooks] UVB-76 Buzzer experiencing outage due to maintenance or replacement

[Ryan Kirby]

Listened between 0300 and 0800 eastern. Receiver Location Leuneberger,
Germany.  All that was observed was signal sweeping. Occasionally a 2
buzz transmitting would be heard (once every 15-30 minutes). Similar
sound to the typical buzzer, but the note was lower than normal.
Spacing was much closer together (much less than a second). As of
right now, nothing can be heard on 4.625mhz. This could be due to
ionic conditions or it is still down.

I am almost certain at this point that this is a scheduled outage for
upgrade or maintenance. Which leads me to believe the previous voice
message was informing whoever is listening to move onto a different
station for information.

This would be typical for military/clandestine ops. You would have a
predetermined B mode of communication. When A is not going to be
available they will tell you to switch to "frequency B" or
communication mode b. Anyone listening in has no idea what that
frequency is or what mode of communication you will be using, so it
doesn't compromise anyone in the field.

We did this with radio comm whenever we felt that comm was
compromised. We would announce a code which meant to switch to
secondary frequency and cease all comm on primary.

I would keep an eye on other Russian numbers stations (including Cuban
and middle eastern) to see if any broadcasts are slightly out of the
norm. This may indicate the buzzer coming back up. And if it does,
then we're on our way to breaking the code xD

Ryan

On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 9:38 AM, Zack Widup <w9sz.zack at gmail.com> wrote:
> Visit http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/spooks to unsubscribe from this list
>
> I listened for it several times last night. All I heard here in Illinois was
> some signal sweeping that frequency range, down to up, a couple times a
> second.
>
> Zack
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 4:43 AM, Tom H <swler007 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Visit http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/spooks to unsubscribe from
>> this list
>>
>> Hi
>>
>> The buzzer tones were about 1KHz off freq. Some reported hearing it being
>> "tuned in" as well. I did manage to record the music and test tones. Give a
>> listen. http://soundcloud.com/user2618956/uvbwmusic
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>>
>> --- On Wed, 9/1/10, Alex Mclean <amclean17 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > From: Alex Mclean <amclean17 at gmail.com>
>> > Subject: [Spooks] UVB-76 Buzzer experiencing outage due to maintenance or
>> replacement
>> > To: spooks at mailman.qth.net
>> > Date: Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 10:49 PM
>> > Visit http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/spooks to
>> > unsubscribe from this list
>> >
>> > This morning UVB-76 The Buzzer went off the air at about
>> > 4:00UTC
>> > Instead is now being broadcast morse code question mark (.
>> > . - - . .)
>> > over and over again, and sporadically the familiar buzzer
>> > re-appears.
>> >
>> > Also strange is that it is also broadcasting a short clip
>> > of Dance of
>> > the Little Swans from Swan Lake intermittently. This is
>> > confirmed to
>> > be broadcast from UVB-76 and is not interference from
>> > another
>> > broadcast.
>> >
>> > Also heard has been activity over the microphone. I have
>> > personally
>> > observed the sound of male voices speaking Russian and it
>> > sounds like
>> > they are moving furniture. Anyone can recognize the sound
>> > of wooden
>> > table legs sliding across a hard floor.
>> > Other general activity has been monitored today.
>> >
>> > It can be speculated that the station is undergoing
>> > maintenance or
>> > replacement of some kind. It is apparent that there has
>> > been changes
>> > made to the broadcast by a real person in the control room
>> > indicative
>> > of testing and maintenance.
>> > Why they're playing a clip from Swan Lake is anybody's
>> > guess, but it's
>> > certainly a quaint style that is all but absent from
>> > numbers stations
>> > today.
>> > Honestly I think the last eccentrically styled numbers
>> > station was The
>> > Swedish Rhapsody, which also became more bland in its later
>> > years of
>> > usage.
>> >
>> >
>> > You know I'm not sure if UVB-76 really qualifies as a
>> > numbers station
>> > but it's certainly an abnormal station. Do inform me if
>> > discussion of
>> > it doesn't really belong here.
>> >
>> > Anyway that's the news. After a 28 year broadcast with no
>> > known
>> > interruptions, The Buzzer is off the air and it cannot be
>> > certain
>> > whether or not it will return.
>> >
>> > Here is a link to a blog I have been reading about the
>> > subject, it's
>> > very active right now:
>> > http://uvb-76.blogspot.com/
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>>
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