UVB-76 Explained 222
Useful Wheat writes "Recently slashdot covered the reappearance of UVB-76. The function of the mysterious transmitter has been revealed: UVB-76 is used to transfer orders to military personnel, along with the time at which they should be executed. 'Words for the radio messages and code tables are selected mainly from the scientific terms of chemistry (Brohman), Geology (ganomatit), philology (Izafat), geography (Bong), Zoology (kariama), history (Scythian), cooking (drying), sports (krolist) and others, as well as rare Russian words (glashatel).' The page continues to list all 23 transmissions that have been made from the station in the past, showing that UVB-76 may be more active than believed."
Wikipedia is the source? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wikipedia is the source? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually the Wikipedia page clearly cites a geocities page as the "creditable source"... Not sure if that makes it better or worse.
Re:Nothings confirmed... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you read down further in that article there is a section that states "According to an archived Russian webpage (purportedly written by the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces), UVB-76 is used to transfer orders to military personnel, along with the time at which they should be executed." The citation for this, however, is an unavailable Wayback Machine archived page. Maybe it's being Slashdotted now but it's not helping the veracity of these claims. Yeah, this is a crappy submission. All it links is a Wikipedia page and nothing of substance.
The fact that Taco submitted this is a nice reflection of the declining state of Slashdot submissions -- if Taco doesn't give a fuck, then why should anyone else?
Crowdsourced intelligence (Score:5, Insightful)
This particular submission may be crap, but the situation around UVB-76 demonstrates that it is becoming hard to keep any secrets on the shortwave band. There are thousands of listeners at any given time. And what is much more important, they now have the ability to record big chunks of spectrum and analyze it in a way that was only available to government agencies not long ago. $500 receiver (there are even sub-$100 DIY alternatives) and free software is all you need. /.
The next big step is exchange of such information. It may be outright illegal (UK) or borderline legal (US) to tell other what you've heard, but people do this more and more on various forums. Now including
Re:Fuck You Taco (Score:5, Insightful)
Sometimes I think stupid shit is posted just for us to poop on.
Yo mean to say (Score:4, Insightful)
A military broadcast from a military base was for military personnel? I'm shocked I tell you, shocked.
Re:Crowdsourced intelligence (Score:3, Insightful)
Yu don't keep secret on the shortwave band, never had. You use it to broadcast coded messages.
IT's been monitored by Hams forever. My grandfather listen to certain number stations in the 70s.
Re:Nothings confirmed... (Score:4, Insightful)
Just like the teenagers of other planets sometimes sometimes "Buzz" earth. (Ref. Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy)
Military? (Score:4, Insightful)
This seems rather odd, broadcasting military orders in the clear. OK, they are using a code. So we don't know what they are saying. But military units usually have encrypted transceivers. If I were designing a military radio system, I would not include a clear broadcast mode to eliminate the possibility of some critical information going out that could be easily intercepted.
I'm guessing that these broadcasts are targeted at people who can not reasonably be expected to carry secure radio gear with them. Like spys. In some countries, possessing crypto equipment can get you arrested. In many, it will attract undue attention. So they use shortwave. Everyone can get their hands on a shortwave receiver. And there's always the plausible deniability of tuning to BBC when you're not receiving orders.
The continuity of the broadcasts can easily be explained as a method to thwart traffic analysis. Most of the stuff they broadcast is garbage, just to keep the traffic going. If one broadcasts only when orders are to be sent, then the enemy can deduce that something is afoot when traffic picks up. Its possible that UVB-76 may not have issued an order for years, but is being kept alive 'just in case'. If they only powered up the transmitter when they needed it, that would be a dead giveaway that sleeper agents were being activated.
Re:Wait... (Score:1, Insightful)
IT'S PEEEPOOOOLE!
scramble it for f* sake! (Score:3, Insightful)
...don't broadcast it. "Secrets on the shortwave band" just seems like an oxymoron.
Ever heard of something called a cipher? Or stenography? A combination of both?
Re:Credibility? (Score:3, Insightful)
I wasn't sure what a "beacon station" was, so I looked around. I couldn't find the term "beacon station" but did come across "electric beacon" and "radio beacon".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_beacon
So your guess is that the constant buzz is used for navigation? Maybe like a backup for GPS or other ways of navigating?