Mysterious sounds at the station. Mysterious radio signals
Physicists know this for sure, but ordinary people simply don’t think about it, but the earth’s ether is filled with many inexplicable broadcasts. Some come from space, others from a variety of natural sources. And if the origin of some signals is reliably known, there are also those that cause bewilderment among scientists, since it has not yet been possible to trace their source.
1. Twenty Minute Lazy
The transmission of this signal on different frequencies was first reported by ENIGMA (European Number Exchange Association) in 1998. Since then, the signal has frequently changed frequencies. As you might guess, each program is broadcast for exactly 20 minutes. Observers believe it is a forgotten relic of the Cold War.
2. Ping
In November 2016, residents of Canada's Far North began complaining about loud noise coming from deep within the Fury and Hecla Sound. The Canadian military is currently investigating the source of this strange signal.
3. Reverse music station
In fact, this broadcast doesn't actually play the music backwards. These sounds just sound crazy and electronic. The broadcast has two sources: one in the US and the other in Europe. The frequencies are similar to those used by the US Navy, but no one has yet figured out what they are.
4. Hairstyle
This sound was first recorded by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1991. Although its source can be triangulated to approximately 54°S. 140°W, this as-yet unidentified noise can be heard throughout the Pacific Ocean.
5. Crackling
One of the most mysterious signals on this list, little is known about it except that it appears at different frequencies each time. Interestingly, these frequencies are regularly used by the Russian military for data exchange.
6. Buzzer
This low-quality broadcast has been playing since 1982 (it mostly sounds like static noise). The strangest thing is that it has been interrupted three times in the last 35 years. During these breaks, random names are read out in Russian.
7. Bloop
Bloop was a powerful, ultra-low frequency underwater sound discovered by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1997. This is perhaps the most famous of all the underwater shows on this list. The two main theories regarding the source of the sound are either a large sea animal or a breaking ice iceberg scraping along the ocean floor. Its source was triangulated to 50°S. w. 100°w d., i.e., a remote area of the ocean between South America and Antarctica.
8. Seminar
This signal appears rarely and has only been reported a few times. It sounds like a microphone that was forgotten in the workshop. You can hear knocking, footsteps, and distant voices.
9. Echo
Consisting of one beep every four seconds, this elusive transmission could be heard on several frequencies throughout the 1990s. The last recorded transmission was in 1999.
10. Slot machine
A series of sound signals that sound very similar to a slot machine - a similar signal, and a very strong one, could be caught in the Far East. Observers believe its source is likely the Japanese navy.
11. Meow
The endless sound of meowing. This signal was heard 24 hours a day until the early 2000s.
12. Wop Wop
It almost sounds like a machine gun firing in slow motion and can be heard quite clearly in Southern England. Observers believe that the source of the signal is the French station CODAR (COastal raDAR), which measures wave heights.
13. Rumble
Typically, there are widespread reports of a persistent and intrusive low-frequency humming noise that (surprisingly) not all people hear. This occurs in more than one place, the most famous of which is Taos in New Mexico. The cause of the hum is unknown, but many theories have been put forward.
14. Clicker
Transmission on different frequencies, particularly 4515, 4471 and 5001 kHz, was quite common during the 90s. It has become more rare these days, but some people still report its existence.
15. Signal “Wow!”
This signal was received by the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University. It came from an empty part of space near the constellation Sagittarius and lasted 72 seconds. This surprised astronomer Jerry R. Eman so much that he wrote Wow! on the printed page, and the name stuck. This signal is one of the biggest mysteries in astronomy.
Of great interest to everyone interested in unsolved scientific mysteries are and.
Several times in 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded an unusual sound from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. The “roar” grew sharply louder and was noticeable enough for sensors located 5,000 kilometers from the epicenter of the sound to pick it up.
According to one working version, it is quite possible that the sound is made by a living creature or even a large concentration of living creatures - for example, giant squids. Judging by the distance that the sound covered, its source could also be a creature larger than a blue whale. Science does not yet know such an animal.
Taos Rumble
Popular
For many years, residents of the city of Taos in the southwestern United States have been hearing low-frequency noise of unknown origin coming from the desert. Taos noise, also called Taos hum, ranks first in the ranking of the most incredible natural phenomena.
It resembles the movement of some kind of heavy equipment, although there are no railroad tracks or highways near the place where it is heard. Another peculiarity of the hum is that only local residents hear it, but tourists hear it very rarely. Scientists were unable to find the source of the hum. They only suggested that the cause of its occurrence could be power lines passing near the village.
The groan of the Earth
It is also called Sounds of the Apocalypse or Creaking of the Earth (so-so names, right?). This is a sound anomaly that was recorded in different parts of the Earth. “Moan” has been repeatedly recorded on audio media, and many people hear it.
It first appeared in 2011. All sorts of theories have been put forward about it: the most common version sounds vague: “large-scale energy processes.” This may include, for example, powerful solar flares.
Julia
Another sound of aquatic nature. Sounding like a coo or whine, it was recorded on March 1, 1999. Scientists have named it by the gentle name Julia, although it may turn out that the source of this sound is not gentle at all. The cooing was recorded by an autonomous network of hydrophones in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
"Slow Down"
On May 19, 1997, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detected a mysterious sound. It was called “Slowdown” - due to the fact that every seven minutes the frequency of the sound decreases and it becomes drawn-out.
The "slowdown" was recorded by an autonomous underwater acoustic recorder in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Its distribution range is 2 thousand kilometers.
Signal "Wow!"
This sound has become almost history. The sources of the mysterious hum may not only be the depths of the ocean. This was a radio signal detected by Dr. Jerry Eyman on August 15, 1977, while working on the Big Ear Telescope.
Amazed by how closely the characteristics of the received signal matched the expected characteristics of an interstellar signal, Eyman circled the corresponding group of symbols on the printout and signed on the side: “Wow!” This signature gave the signal its name.
In addition to quite prosaic theories, there is also That Same - an alien starship. And although Eyman himself was skeptical, he later revised his views, although he urged “not to draw far-reaching conclusions.” But we know...
The loneliest whale in the world
The source of this sound is well known, and the story of its origin brings tears to my eyes. It is called the 52-Hz whale. This is an unknown species of whale that appears from time to time in different parts of the ocean. It “sings” at a frequency of 52 Hz, a much higher frequency than that of the blue whale (15-20 Hz) or fin whale (20 Hz). That is, his relatives simply... don’t hear him.
The travel routes of a lone whale have no relation to the presence or movements of other whale species along its route. The whale could probably just be deaf.
On January 24, 2013, an army of radio amateurs listening to shortwave broadcasts, burning with excitement and setting the volume to maximum, caught a clear signal in Russian: "Team 135 Announced". “Something is happening!” - the fans decided, because the order was transmitted by the “most mysterious in the world” Russian radio station, known as UVB-76, and this happened for the first time in 40 years!
Buzzing, encryption and “Swan Lake”
Prior to this, the station became famous as a “buzzer” - due to the characteristic sounds heard on its frequency of 4625 kHz since approximately the late 1970s. you can listen to the earliest recording of the buzz, made in 1982.
Judging by what radio amateurs were able to track, the buzzer occasionally (happened once every few years) went off, and a Russian voice read out strange encryption. This one, for example, was broadcast a few hours before Christmas 1997:
“I am UVB-76, I am UVB-76. 180 08 BROMAL 72 27 99 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7 2 2 7 9 9 1 4.”
Interestingly, the mysterious station did not stop working after the collapse of the USSR, but, on the contrary, became more active. Signal catchers noticed that since the 2000s, voice radio messages began to be broadcast on it more and more often. And in 2010, strange transmissions on this frequency were intercepted every month.
Fascinating discussions have unfolded on amateur radio forums, including abroad. On the 4chan website, for example (the same one that in 2014 was at the center of a huge scandal with the leak of “naked” photos of celebrities), the UVB-76 station was discussed in a section dedicated to “paranormal phenomena and unexplained mysteries.”
And how could one not get carried away by the “otherworldly” when a strange station broadcast either excerpts from “Swan Lake” (which evoked the “ghost” of the August 1991 putsch), then a question mark in Morse code, then incomprehensible, as if overheard, snippets of telephone conversations, or a woman’s voice began to count from one to nine.
However, quite soon a completely “earthly” explanation was found for all this: the radio transmitter, apparently, was transported to a new location and the connection was often checked. Since the same time (autumn 2010), the station began using a new call sign: MJB, which gave a new clue to the mystery of UVB-76.
The fact is that this is the call sign of the Western Military District of the Russian Federation. If you remember, this district appeared just in September 2010 as a result of a large-scale military reform (before there was no Western one, but Moscow and Leningrad existed separately).
In the depths of the forests in search of a “bunker”
The fact that the strange radio frequency belonged to the military was also indicated by the previous location of the transmitter, which amateurs calculated by triangulation: a military facility in the forest near the village of Povarovo, Solnechnogorsk district, Moscow region.
Satellite image of the territory of the transmitting radio center. Judging by the scale, its buildings are located 700 and 400 meters from each other.
Two groups of enthusiasts visited there in 2011 and decided to find the “bunker” from where the signals were transmitted. Their photo reports have been preserved on the Internet, however, some links are now unavailable or only open in the Google cache.
Fallen concrete pillars that once carried copper wires.
The facade of the western technical building, from where the signal no longer came because the station had moved. In front of him is a huge round tank of unknown purpose, the bottom of which has become overgrown with trees.
A road leads from the building to a guardhouse with a radio tower and antennas of various sizes.
According to residents of Povarovo, the transmitter was allegedly transported due to very dense fog that covered the village in 2010. The military facility was evacuated within an hour and a half.
Three "mysterious" points
But UVB-76 continues to periodically transmit mysterious signals, and interest in the station does not wane. Therefore, city trackers make new forays in an attempt to establish the current location of the transmitter. But this time the task has become more complicated: now the secret station seems to be “broadcasting” from several points on the map of the Western Military District at once.
Triangulation pointed to 3 possible locations.
First- the village of Kirsino, Leningrad region, inhabited by only 60 people. But this version is the least popular among “buzzer listeners.”
Second- Pskov region, somewhere near the border with Estonia. Possibly at the location of the former communications regiment of the North-Western Border District.
Third- southeast of Kolpino near St. Petersburg. Here, in the village of Krasny Bor (Popovka railway station), a powerful radio center has been operating since 1962. Until 2013, the state-owned Voice of Russia was broadcast through it to foreign countries.
On the satellite map, the “inverted heart” is precisely the shortwave antenna system. In the center is a building with transmitters.
And this is what the chain of antennas and the technical building look like from the air. Impressive, to say the least.
"Dead Man's Switch" and other versions
So, let’s say we’ve decided on the location of the new transmitters. The main “mystery” remains: why and for whom does UVB-76 work?
There are various rumors circulating about this station, as well as about any classified and poorly explained things, including “conspiracy theories.”
The most favorite version of the fans is that this is the so-called "dead man's switch"(literal translation of English dead man's switch). That is, they think that this is some kind of automatic weapons system, which, in the event of a nuclear attack fatal to people, will itself, without human intervention, launch a retaliatory strike.
However, this theory rightfully raises doubts among foreign media: “Russia probably has a similar system, but it’s somehow ridiculous to think that the “buzz” on the air is the voice of a possible nuclear apocalypse.”
There is also a “scientific” version - that the signal is created by the Borok state observatory, which supposedly uses a frequency of 4625 kHz to monitor changes in the planet’s ionosphere. There is a certain English-language document on the Internet with the names of scientists from the observatory, where it is written about this.
But the simplest and most logical explanation is that this is a regular army frequency for transmitting encrypted messages and commands to several military units in the district at once. And the “buzz” is a marker meaning that the frequency is already occupied.
At least, in the article about UVB-76 in the Russian Wikipedia we find the following photo, taken, according to the caption, in one of the military registration and enlistment offices:
And, going back to the beginning: what kind of order "Team 135 Announced" was handed over to the military in January 2013, which so excited listeners of the “most mysterious station”? And this, one must assume, is just one of the training alarm codes - a phenomenon quite familiar to the modern Russian army. So, fortunately, the “apocalypse” is postponed.
The so-called numbered radio stations broadcast on short waves and mostly broadcast hissing, ringing or wheezing sounds, but sometimes they give out something truly mysterious - codes and names read out in a cold announcer's voice. There are many theories about the purpose of numbered radio stations, but the most popular speculations revolve around spy theories. Moreover, in some cases the spy origin of the stations was (or almost was) proven. Afisha Daily has compiled a conspiracy list of the most mysterious, frightening and curious numbered radio stations, and also found several recordings of their broadcasts (think twice before listening).
"Buzzer." Ciphers from the St. Petersburg swamp
The radio station, codenamed UVB-76, transmits mysterious signals that have never been deciphered, and its first one dates back to 1982. Basically, “Buzzer” broadcasts hissing sounds (you can), but sometimes sets of numbers, letters and names appear on the air. At first, radio amateurs thought that this was a repeating recording, but then they noticed that the codes were new every time, and . So, in 1997, “Buzzer” transmitted the following message:
I am UVB-76, I am UVB-76. 180 08 BROMAL 74 27 99 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7 4 2 7 9 9 1 4
Like the BBC, the most popular theory about the origins of UVB-76 is that the Buzzer was created during the Cold War to transmit military intelligence. Short waves allow information to spread throughout the world, so UVB can be used to broadcast secret data. True, encryption expert David Stupples in an interview with the BBC suggested that “Buzzer” is not doing anything like that now, because there is no special signal on the air that precedes the cipher.
Radio amateurs established that in 2010 the signal source moved from the Moscow region to near St. Petersburg. They also compiled all the known buzzer codes, where different terms are mainly used, and also that the mysterious radio station from the St. Petersburg swamp did not react in any way to perestroika, Gorbachev, the end of the Afghan war, the shelling of parliament, the Chechen campaigns, financial crises and other important events in history countries.
Despite the fact that not a single UVB-76 signal has been associated with a single fatal event, radio amateurs continue to patiently record strange broadcasts and try to analyze them. Listen for yourself: for example, here at 1.52 a male voice says: “I allow you to press the “Reset” button.”
"Squeaker." Letters and weather forecast
A lesser-known, but no less mysterious radio station, the main difference of which is that it produces sharper and more unpleasant sounds. Also, for some unknown reason, it broadcasts on two frequencies - day and night. since 1986, and its location is determined in Rostov-on-Don.
The main purpose of the Tweeter is also considered to be the transmission of military data. Radio amateurs know that it beeps approximately 50 times per minute, and voice messages are transmitted most often in two formats. The first is a set of complex phonetically combined letters and the preposition “for”:
For YHYY ZH1B NI9V DMTs3 49FT Ts2ZA LI27 INNTs SHGYP 8TSSHY
The second is numbers interspersed with words that, in general, also have no obvious meaning:
8С1Ш 73373 DRESSING 84 56 22 35
True, sometimes “Squeaker” behaves in a very unusual way - for example, it transmits a weather forecast (you can listen to it) and leaves unencrypted messages - for example, “Squeaker” asks to “limit the use of troops and the massive release of equipment in connection with the beginning of the opening of the Olympic Games.”
Russian Man. Levitan says
The Russian Man shortwave station is interesting because it has a voice very similar to the voice of Yuri Levitan himself, which gives rise to some not only conspiracy theories, but also mystical assumptions.
The station mainly transmits numbers. Perhaps she would have gained fame similar to that of "Buzzer", but the problem is that she has a very complex schedule, and the frequency changes every time depending on the month, week and day. So only the most diligent and dedicated radio amateurs can monitor the broadcasts.
Nowadays people rarely use radios. But just a couple of decades ago, radios of various models were installed in almost every home, some of them were not turned off around the clock. What did you listen to? Mainly music and educational programs. But quite often there were signals on the air that least of all resembled, say, a habanera from the opera Carmen or a lecture about life on Mars. The sources of most of these signals have not yet been determined, and we will talk about them in this article.
ENIGMA 2000
There were so many strange, one might even say, mysterious signals on the air that a special organization was created to study them - the “European Association for Tracking and Collection of Information on Numbered Stations,” or ENIGMA 2000. Numbered stations here mean sources of unknown signals. Since their location cannot be determined, these stations are simply assigned a letter designation according to the broadcast language and a number. The language is indicated by the following letters: E - English, G - German, S - Polish and Russian, V - all other languages, M - Morse code. X is a so-called “noise” station, that is, a station that broadcasts tones of different pitches, or simply sounds.
Everybody dance!
So, let's start with the XM station, or, as it is also informally called, the “backward music station.” Its signals are indeed similar to music started not from the beginning, but from the end, but that is where the similarity ends. What’s interesting: there are two sources of “music”. One is clearly located in Europe, the second is somewhere in the USA. As we understand it, who is broadcasting what is not clear. By the way, the same frequencies on which “music” sounds are used by the US Navy.
Another source of strange signals is coded XF. And it’s called a mixer because it tends to fade out and then intensify again. The signal sounded for 30 years without interruption, but in 2001 it suddenly disappeared and never appeared on the air again. According to some assumptions, its source was located on the territory of the British military base Mildenhall, located, in fact, in the UK. Perhaps this signal was part of the secret communications system of NATO troops during the Cold War.
This “w-w-w” is not without reason...
Our next hero is “Buzzer,” or S28, according to the ENIGMA 2000 code system. “Buzzer” filled a very small part of the airwaves with its unobtrusive buzz from the late 1970s to the early 1980s and was interrupted only three times in recent decades. During breaks, a male voice called different Russian names. It is possible that “Buzzer” is also from the Cold War period, but from the Soviet side.
The “Pishchalka” station under the code S30 is similar to “Zhuzhalka”. As we understand from the name, the signal given by this station is just a beeping sound. But quite often it is interrupted by messages in Russian, which usually contain a long list of numbers and questions: “How can you hear? Welcome." However, no answers regarding “How do you hear?” at the same time no.
Another “Russian trace” on the air was left by a station called “Workshop”, or XW. Over the years, radio amateurs have only picked up a few of its signals. These signals were similar to a microphone left turned on in some workshop - steps, the sound of hammers and conversations in Russian could be heard.
Who said "Meow"?!
“Exact time...” - yes, there is such a signal, or rather, almost like that. According to ENIGMA classification - M21. The messages, which are sent every 50 seconds, typically include 14 digits and time signals corresponding to one of several time zones. Since all the zones that the station voices are located on Russian territory, it is believed that this signal is also sent by a Russian radio station, possibly belonging to air defense systems.
There are also a couple of funny signals, perhaps not even related to the military. This is primarily the "Slot Machine", or XSL, which really does sound like a "one-armed bandit". Most often it was caught in the Far East; there is an assumption that the signal is still military, and its source is the Japanese imperial fleet.
Another signal - a simple, but at the same time round-the-clock meowing that was heard for many years directly on the air - sounded until the beginning of 2000, but then it disappeared somewhere. Perhaps the invisible cat was just tired of meowing.
An even stranger signal is called XWP, or “Wop-Wop,” which is how the British represent the sound of machine gun fire. The signal really looks like a machine gun burst, but as if its sound was slowed down several times. Usually “automatic bursts” are heard by radio amateurs from Southern England, and there is a suspicion that these signals are definitely not military, but just part of the French warnings about the ebb and flow of the tides. But no one has confirmed this yet.
Alien from Ashtar
It’s not just on the radio that miracles happen. Television is also rich in mysterious signals.
For example, on November 26, 1977, British television calmly broadcast the latest (not the most sensational) news. Suddenly the transmission was interrupted by a strange mechanical voice, which in clear English informed the audience that he was an alien named Vrillon from the Ashtar Galactic Command. Who this Vrillon is, and where the notorious Ashtar is located, it was never possible to find out. The voice appeared and disappeared.
In November (again in November!), but already in 1987, and not in the UK, but in the USA, someone interfered with the broadcast of the WGN-TV television channel in Chicago. The unknown person, who, albeit vaguely, was still visible on the screen, used the captions to announce that his name was Max Headroom. Then the credits for several minutes reported some kind of nonsense, while there was no sound. Then the joker (if it was a joker) disappeared. He was never caught.
Interestingly, Max Headroom is a character in a TV movie released in the UK two years before this event. In this TV movie, that was the name of the TV presenter created using computer technology.
Oh! How bad!
In 2007, a scandal overtook Disney TV. On her channel, which, as we understand it, broadcasts exclusively children's programs, some unknown person managed to include an explicit porn film instead of another cartoon. Cable television apologized for a long time, but apologies alone were not enough; they had to pay a large fine. But the TV hooligan was never caught.
But this was no longer a station, but something worse - a powerful low-frequency signal, called “Bulk,” was recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1997. Its source was located in the region of 50 degrees south latitude and 100 degrees east longitude, that is, somewhere between South America and Antarctica. What it could be - an unusually large sea animal, or a powerful iceberg touching the ocean floor - scientists have not yet figured out.
