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  • The Russian Woodpecker returns?

    From C Mercadal@21:1/5 to All on Thu Mar 3 16:35:09 2022
    Hi folks,

    Yesterday, 2 March 2022, around 22:30 GMT, I was listening to some
    chatter on 5640 kHz USB, by way of the WebSDR server at the University
    of Twente.

    The conversation there was, mostly, in Russian, which I don't
    understand, but I could understand the international language of
    trolls coming on the frequency and heckling those who were already
    occupying it.

    But then, the strangest thing happened: The frequency was peppered
    with clicking noises. Though I wasn't old enough when I took up
    shortwave listening to have ever heard it myself directly, I had
    definitely heard of the Russian Woodpecker.

    Has anyone else run across this? I wish I had been recording it
    to share the audio. The waterfall showed a pretty wide spread
    pattern of what looked like very shallow stairsteps patterns of
    transmission across it, and (audibly) it sounded like recordings I
    looked up later of the Woodpecker.

    I would have just put it down to trolls laying over audio of something
    like the Russian Woodpecker, but it definitely didn't look like
    typical voice transmission behavior on the waterfall.

    Is it even feasible that it could be the same Russian Woodpecker
    of yore? From what I've read, the Russian Woodpecker was decommissioned
    in the late-1980s, and was thought to have originated near Chernobyl
    in the Ukraine. What are the odds that a 30 year old system could
    just be powered back up and operational, or that they would even do
    so?

    If the Lincolnshire Poacher comes back next, I think my jaw will drop.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Brian Gregory@21:1/5 to C Mercadal on Thu Mar 3 17:39:02 2022
    On 03/03/2022 16:35, C Mercadal wrote:
    Is it even feasible that it could be the same Russian Woodpecker
    of yore?

    How wide was it on the waterfall?

    --
    Brian Gregory (in England).

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Marco Moock@21:1/5 to All on Thu Mar 3 20:43:07 2022
    Am Donnerstag, 03. März 2022, um 16:35:09 Uhr schrieb C Mercadal:

    Is it even feasible that it could be the same Russian Woodpecker
    of yore? From what I've read, the Russian Woodpecker was
    decommissioned in the late-1980s, and was thought to have originated
    near Chernobyl in the Ukraine. What are the odds that a 30 year old
    system could just be powered back up and operational, or that they
    would even do so?

    I don't think that they made that facility usable.
    I saw some pictures of the antenna where some parts of the cage antenna
    were on the ground. I also don't know what happened to the transmitter
    itself, but I think in 35 years in the nature it must be damaged.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From C Mercadal@21:1/5 to Brian Gregory on Thu Mar 3 19:45:56 2022
    On 2022-03-03, Brian Gregory <void-invalid-dead-dontuse@email.invalid> wrote:
    On 03/03/2022 16:35, C Mercadal wrote:
    Is it even feasible that it could be the same Russian Woodpecker
    of yore?

    How wide was it on the waterfall?

    I was zoomed in pretty close so I'm not sure this is terribly
    helpful.

    Looking at the scale again today, I think I could see from about
    5610-5670 kHz.

    The interference was laid across it from about 5650, just above the
    frequency I was listening to, down to the bottom of the waterfall.
    So I'm not 100% sure of the bottom boundary.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Guglielmo Marconi@21:1/5 to C Mercadal on Thu Mar 3 21:36:02 2022
    C Mercadal <mercadal@diablonet.net> wrote in news:svqqnt$9tv$1@dont-email.me:

    Hi folks,

    Yesterday, 2 March 2022, around 22:30 GMT, I was listening to some
    chatter on 5640 kHz USB, by way of the WebSDR server at the University
    of Twente.

    The conversation there was, mostly, in Russian, which I don't
    understand, but I could understand the international language of
    trolls coming on the frequency and heckling those who were already
    occupying it.

    But then, the strangest thing happened: The frequency was peppered
    with clicking noises. Though I wasn't old enough when I took up
    shortwave listening to have ever heard it myself directly, I had
    definitely heard of the Russian Woodpecker.

    Has anyone else run across this?


    No, never.

    Could you still hear it after you pulled your head out of your ass?

    G. Marconi

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)