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Radio hams do battle with 'Russian Woodpecker' (1982)
- UVB-76 11y agoSee also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76
- rdtsc 11y agoNice username ;-) You'd have to change it to MDZhB though? Also here are some recent 2015 transmissions: http://priyom.org/military-stations/russia/the-buzzer/2015 http://priyom.org/military-stations/russia/the-buzzer/2015
- jleader 11y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duga-3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duga-3 appears to be the radar system in question, with a photo of an antenna.
- wgx 11y agoIndeed. Duga-3 (over the horizon) long-range missile defence array was the source of the 'woodpecker' signal.
- fapjacks 11y agoIf this kind of thing interests you, drop by #priyom on Freenode! We've got current schedules of active number stations and loads of info about weird transmissions.
- grendelt 11y agoAlso, check out WebSDR.org to listen to HF receivers around the globe. (My Raspberry Pi-based receiver here in Texas should be back online Sunday night.)
- fapjacks 11y agoYes, indeed! We actually use links to various of these (mostly the receiver located at UTwente in .nl) when a number station schedule activates. Our channel bot spits a link into the channel where you can listen via this very cool in-browser receiver to live number stations as they are transmitted.
- femto 11y agoIn theory, it should have been possible for the Hams to modulate the their transmissions, to write an expletive on the tracking screen of the Russian radar. In practise, it probably would have been too big a challenge with 1980's home based technology, as an HF transmitter that could accurately generate arbitrary waveforms was bleeding edge tech. Nice to dream about though. I used to work in the Jindalee OTHR facility back in the woodpecker days. I've memories of sitting in the control room, and being given a tour of the airwaves by one of the senior techs, who was also a ham. The tour included listening on on the various HF radars that we could find, including the woodpecker, discussing each system as we went. By the nature of the project, a lot of the technical people had an interest in ham radio, so they looked out for the ham bands. The tech who gave me the tour used to occasionally have a bit of fun by plugging his ham rig into the main transmitter (lots of power, with beamforming). The other cool bit of technology was the "frequency management system", which was a mini HF radar, used to map the ionosphere in real time. It was fascinating to watch the dynamics of the various ionospheric layers on the screens.
- late2part 11y agoOfficially, the Soviets don't even admit the signal is theirs. Just like that superbowl ring. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/22429359/patriots-owner-robert-kraft-vladimir-putin-stole-my-super-bowl-ring http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/22429359/patrio...
- 13hours 11y ago"It would be in the interest of US-Soviet relations" - in 2005?!
- sanoli 11y agoWhy not? Better not start some stuff with Russia just because of some ring. I mean, it's Putin, I can see him throwing some childish fit over a ring he wanted to have. It's just too bad for russians. edit: forgot to say it's the first time I heard of the story, and it is pretty 'wtf' to me.
- iak8god 11y agoThe Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991.
- mkesper 11y agoLet's hope those times packed with hostility won't return ever.
- jmnicolas 11y agoThey're already back, don't you read the news ?
- bencollier49 11y agoGP may have been exercising <sarcasm>.
- jmnicolas 11y agoIf that's the case, GP should have used the proper <sarcasm/> tag !
- bmease 11y agoIt really does sound like a woodpecker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOMVdOc9UbE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOMVdOc9UbE
- digi_owl 11y agoThat sounds oddly familiar, but i was just a kid when this thing was decommissioned.
- PaulHoule 11y agoPretty funny, but if you are a ham (i am) you're not supposed to deliberately interfere with other transmissions, period. -- KC2ZZQ