, russian: МДЖБ, label=none, russian: ЖУОЗ, label=none, russian: АНВФ, label=none , former_frequencies = 4625 kHz , owner =

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

, name = UVB-76 , area =

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

(Former) , frequency = 4625 kHz

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

, language =

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, coordinates = , sister_stations =

The Pip The Pip (a nickname given by radio listeners) is a shortwave radio station that broadcasts on the frequency 5448 kHz by day, and 3756 kHz during the night. It broadcasts short, repeated beeps at a rate of around 50 per minute, for 2 ...

The Squeaky Wheel The Squeaky Wheel (a nickname given by radio listeners) is a utility shortwave radio station that broadcasts a distinctive sound. From around 2000 until 2008 the station's attention tone was a high-pitched two tone signal that vaguely resemble ...

, city = , embedded = UVB-76 (russian: УВБ-76; see other callsigns), also known by the nickname "The Buzzer", is a

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

that broadcasts on the frequency of 4625

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

. It broadcasts a short, monotonous , repeating at a rate of approximately 25 tones per minute, 24 hours per day. Sometimes, the buzzer signal is interrupted and a voice transmission in Russian takes place. The start date of broadcasting is disputed. However, it was allegedly reported to have started broadcasting in the late 1970s, possibly 1976.

Name and callsigns

The station is commonly known as "The Buzzer" in both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

(russian: Жужжалка, link=no). From at least 1997 to 2010, the station identified itself as UZB-76 (russian: УЗБ-76, link=no). The

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

UVB-76 was never used by the station itself, but is rather a mistranscription of UZB-76. However, the station is still often referred to by that name. In the following years of transmission, the main callsign of the station changed regularly. }) , 1997 – 7 September 2010 , - , MDZhB (russian: МДЖБ, label=none) , 7 September 2010 – 28 December 2015 , - , ZhUOZ (russian: ЖУОЗ, label=none) , 28 December 2015 – 1 March 2019 , - , ANVF (russian: АНВФ, label=none) , 1 March 2019 – 30 December 2020 , - , NZhTI (russian: НЖТИ, label=none) , 30 December 2020 – present In addition to these main callsigns, The Buzzer also uses other "side callsigns" which are being used less frequently than the main callsign. Whenever the main callsign changes, all previous side callsigns are also discarded. Instead of being limited to one single callsign, any amount of callsigns can be used in a message.

Format

The station transmits using AM with a suppressed lower

sideband In radio communications, a sideband is a band of frequencies higher than or lower than the carrier frequency, that are the result of the modulation process. The sidebands carry the information transmitted by the radio signal. The sidebands co ...

(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. 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. Since the start of broadcasting, The Buzzer broadcast as a repeating two-second pip, changing to a buzzer in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It briefly changed to a higher tone of longer duration (approximately 20 tones per minute) on 16 January 2003, but has since reverted to the previous tone pattern. These buzzes have gotten longer in duration and deeper in pitch over time, and breakdowns have been more frequent, suggesting the possibility of the buzzes being mechanically generated.

Voice messages

Sometimes the buzzing sound is interrupted and a voice message is broadcast. These messages are always given in Russian by a live voice, and follow three fixed formats:

Monolith

A message in the Monolith format always consists of the following parts: * Callsigns, each of which read out twice in the readout. A callsign always consists of four symbols, each symbol being either a Russian letter or a digit * Five digit ID groups (amount of items usually follows the amount of callsigns) * Message blocks, each consisting of one code word and eight digits Example of a Monolith message sent on The Buzzer with exactly one callsign, one ID group and one message block (most common type): Monolith messages can however contain any amount of items from each part:

Uzor

A message in the Uzor format always consists of the following parts: * Callsigns, each of which read out twice in the readout * Message blocks, each consisting of one code word and four digits Example of such a message: Nowadays, Uzor messages are rarely sent on The Buzzer.

Komanda

Komanda is the most uncommon type of voice message. Since it has not been heard for years, messages of this type are most likely not being sent on The Buzzer anymore. They consist of a callsign (read out twice), russian: ОБЪЯВЛЕНА КОМАНДА, label=none (: OB'YaVLYeNA KOMANDA), and a following number. Example of such a message:

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 A tonewheel or tone wheel is a simple electromechanical apparatus used for generating electric musical notes in electromechanical organ instruments such as the Hammond Organ and in telephony to generate audible signals such as Ringing tone. It ...

as used in a

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

. It is also possible that a microphone may have been turned on accidentally. One such occasion was on 3 November 2001, when a conversation in Russian was heard: (: I am 143. Not receiving the generator scillator.. that stuff comes from hardware room.) In September 2010, several unusual broadcasts were observed; these included portions of the buzzer being replaced with extracts from Tchaikovsky's ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

''. On 11 November 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. 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 The zander (''Sander lucioperca''), sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Percidae, which includes the perches, ruffes and darters. It is found in freshwater and brackish habitats in western Eurasia. It is a popul ...

, and also a town in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

) and ''"Vulkan"'' (volcano). The buzzing tone can also be heard very faintly in the background of these calls, further suggesting the buzzing is generated externally. The female voice says: (: "Officer of the duty station 'Debut', ensign Uspenskaya. Received a test call from Nadezhda... understood.") On 17 July 2015, the station broadcast what appeared to be a

RTTY Radioteletype (RTTY) is a telecommunications system consisting originally of two or more electromechanical teleprinters in different locations connected by radio rather than a wired link. Radioteletype evolved from earlier landline teleprinter o ...

signal in lieu of the buzzer. In January 2022, various signals with

spectrogram A spectrogram is a visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies of a signal as it varies with time. When applied to an audio signal, spectrograms are sometimes called sonographs, voiceprints, or voicegrams. When the data are represen ...

-encoded images, visible through a

spectrum analyzer A spectrum analyzer measures the magnitude of an input signal versus frequency within the full frequency range of the instrument. The primary use is to measure the power of the spectrum of known and unknown signals. The input signal that most co ...

, were broadcast on the same frequency. There have also been reports of various songs airing on the station's frequency, many of which were connected to

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

s such as the 2012

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...

song "

Gangnam Style "Gangnam Style" ( ko, 강남스타일, ) is a K-pop song by South Korean rapper Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term ...

"; a ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

'' article attributed these broadcasts to

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

hijacking and spamming the frequency. The nationality of the pirates has also come into question by ''Vice'' in relation to the

2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis In March and April 2021, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military to begin massing thousands of personnel and equipment near its border with Ukraine and in Crimea, representing the largest mobilization since the annex ...

and 2022–2023 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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 Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, has written that the purpose of the voice messages is to confirm that operators at receiving stations are alert. Other explanations are that the broadcast is constantly being listened to by

military commissariat A military commissariat is an institution that is part of military service or law enforcement mechanisms in some European countries. As part of the British Army in the 19th century, military commissariats were used for organisational, accountin ...

s. There is speculation published in the ''Russian Journal of Earth Sciences'' which describes an observatory measuring changes in the

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an ...

by broadcasting a signal at 4625 kHz, the same as the Buzzer. The most likely purpose is that the voice messages are some sort of Russian/Soviet

military communications Military communications or military signals involve all aspects of communications, or conveyance of information, by armed forces. Military communications span from pre-history to the present. The earliest military communications were delivered b ...

. The station being a

numbers station A numbers station is a shortwave radio station characterized by broadcasts of formatted numbers, which are believed to be addressed to intelligence officers operating in foreign countries. Most identified stations use speech synthesis to vocal ...

for intelligence agencies such as the FSB or the former

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

of the

is extremely unlikely as messages occur at seemingly random, unpredictable times, while numbers stations use a fixed schedule which changes rarely. In addition to that, the non-changing frequency of 4625 kHz and the low transmitter power are unsuitable for reliable communication from Russia to Europe, where spies would be stationed. The buzzing functions as a "channel marker" used to keep the frequency occupied, thereby making it unattractive for other potential users. 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 A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs (tines) formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal (usually steel). It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against ...

. This can be used to activate the

squelch In telecommunications, squelch is a circuit function that acts to suppress the audio (or video) output of a receiver in the absence of a strong input signal. Essentially, squelch is a specialized type of noise gate designed to suppress weak s ...

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 #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

article, states that the tower is connected to the Russian 'Perimeter' missile system, and emits a “

Dead Hand Dead Hand (russian: Система «Периметр», , lit. "Perimeter" System, with the GRAU Index 15E601, Cyrillic: 15Э601), also known as Perimeter, is a Cold War-era automatic nuclear weapons-control system (similar in concept to the A ...

” signal that will trigger a nuclear retaliatory response if the signal is interrupted as a result of a nuclear attack against Russia. This theory is also very unlikely, due to The Buzzer stopping / breaking down regularly, potentially triggering the Dead Hand by mistake. There are two other Russian stations that follow a similar format, nicknamed "

" and "

". Like the Buzzer, these stations transmit a signature sound that is repeated constantly, but is occasionally interrupted to relay coded voice messages. The former transmitter was located near Povarovo,

, at which is about halfway between

Zelenograd Zelenograd ( rus, Зеленогра́д, p=zʲɪlʲɪnɐˈgrat, lit. ''green city'') is a city and administrative okrug of Moscow, Russia. The city of Zelenograd and the territory under its jurisdiction form the Zelenogradsky Administrative O ...

and

Solnechnogorsk Solnechnogorsk (russian: Солнечного́рск, lit. ''sunny mountain town'') is a town and the administrative center of Solnechnogorsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Moscow–St. Petersburg Highway and the Moscow ...

and

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, near the village of Lozhki. The location and callsign were unknown until the first known voice broadcast of 1997. In September 2010, the station's transmitter was moved to the nearby city of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, near the village of Kerro Massiv. This may have been due to a reorganization of the Russian military. Prior to 9 August 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. In 2011, a group of

urban explorers Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof and tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment. Photography and historical inter ...

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 4625 kHz.

Other callsigns

Besides the main callsign, there have been transmissions containing different callsigns such as: * LNR4 (russian: ЛНР4, link=no) * 87OI (russian: 87ОИ, link=no) * VM62 (russian: ВМ62, link=no) * A1JZh (russian: А1ЙЖ, link=no) * MSZh7 (russian: МСЖ7, link=no) * OMP4 (russian: ОМП4, link=no) * 7U8T (russian: 7У8Т, link=no) * VLHN (russian: ВЛХН, link=no) * 217O (russian: 217О, link=no) * ANVF (russian: АНВФ, link=no) * VZhCH (russian: ВЖЦХ, link=no) * LNRCh (russian: ЛНРЧ, link=no) * VShchCH (russian: ВЩЦХ, link=no) * 34ShchK (russian: 34ЩК, link=no) * YeDGShch (russian: ЕДГЩ, link=no) * 58Shch1 (russian: 58Щ1, link=no) * 5Ye27 (russian: 5Е27, link=no) * M4Z2 (russian: М7З2, link=no) * 'M4T (russian: ЬМ4Т, link=no) * 5PTsB (russian: 5ПЦБ, link=no) * LNTM (russian: ЛНТМ, link=no) * ZhD9S (russian: ЖД9С, link=no) * 28YA (russian: 28ЫА, link=no) * KhIZhJ (russian: ХИЖЙ, link=no) * 53AJ (russian: 53АЙ, link=no) * AMVS (russian: АМВС, link=no) * V'TD (russian: ВЬТД, link=no) * YeIYJ (russian: ЕИЫЙ, link=no) * ODVR (russian: ОДВР, link=no) * TsZhAP (russian: ЦЖАП, link=no)

References

External links

History and Info on The Buzzer
*

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'
Lost and Found Sound
2000-05-26

UVB76
at th
Global Frequency Database

UVB-76 Temporary Internet Relay
– Live Internet Streaming site, 900 km NW from station.
UVB-76 Activity Updates

Wired.co.uk 2011 article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uvb-76 Numbers stations Radio in the Soviet Union Radio in Russia 1970s establishments in Russia Live stream from WebSD
WebSDR in KO04SD.