Exploring K340A: The SECRET COMPUTER of CHERNOBYL DUGA RADAR | Russian Woodpecker

[@RodCornholio]

Ok, but could it have played Doom?

[@ChernobylFamily]

Of course, it _literally_ could.

[@hafangneige322]

NO, USSR, electronics was so outdated that you needed to have 10 computers like this for Doom

[@RodCornholio]

@@hafangneige322 _Tetris_

[@whitemonkey7932]

IDDQD

[@20kilovolt]

@@whitemonkey7932 IDKFA

[@andytop37]

There is a HUGE amount of work you have done. All that blueprints, floor plans, graphics... I wish you all the best to achieve your goals and museum, you have already collected so many information like nobody has ever done before. Preserving the history (good or bad) is important - thank you!!!

[@ChernobylFamily]

In fact, we needed to shorten the presentation to half otherwise video would be an hour long... many more things we will add to newer episodes.

[@RT-qd8yl]

@@ChernobylFamily You could make it 4 hours long and I'll watch the whole thing 5 times over. 🙂

[@ChernobylFamily]

Many things I will add on Patreon. It is not about money or so, but there will be translations, scans, etc. which greatly will add to this video. Actually, one of our Patrons made his research and found patents which Yuditsky and Akushsky were talking about in their 1982 report!

[@adalishcho]

Save history it is very important)

[@RobSchofield]

That was just astonishing - a 45-bit long word, 1MFlop capable, multi-processor linked system *in the 60s* ??? What an amazing technical achievement. I am also really, really impressed by the technical archaeology carried out to reconstruct the system from the wreckage you show in the footage. The concept of the "Cassettes" as fixed memory modules (ROM) seems to be on par with core memory as a concept. A brilliant piece of detective work, congratulations! 🤓👍

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! This machine is perhaps my 'sacred' thing in Zone's research, we spent there weeks around it. This is the thing: NOT mflops. RCS could not work with float point directly, therefore was a hardware conversion for such operations (notice - there is even a converter status on console). When it came to float points or just division, it was much slower. One of super big advantages of K340A was that given it operated with very small numbers, that A7 rack contained pre-calculated results, so it allowed to implement table ariphmetics which replaced calculations in many cases thus boosting the speed.

[@RobSchofield]

@@ChernobylFamily So, Look Up Tables and shifted, fixed decimal point calculations? That explains the long word length - I'm going to watch this again as I think I missed this. A superb piece of work, nonetheless!

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@RobSchofield seems so. But I'd like to be sure, so am trying to find a public book by Yuditsky and Akushsky from 1967 where they explain their rework of RCS which eventually was put into this machine. Seemingly it was published in a relatively small number of copies bit it might explain a lot.

[@RobSchofield]

@@ChernobylFamily If you do locate a copy, please do a follow up as that would be *really* interesting. I have a feeling I used a numerical method like this at University when I was studying electronics (a LONG time ago).

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@RobSchofield deal!

[@klaas-janrozema5396]

This is such unique content. Well done. It's mind blowing for me as a computer engineer. I was wondering how the Duga computer worked for many, many years. I remember Duga's noises on my father's HF receiver when I was a kid. I hope times will change for you all soon. So you'll be able to create the museum that many would like to visit. It's an unique site with history which is part of the collective memory of every European raised in the 80's. It's well worth preserving what's left.

[@ChernobylFamily]

We'll do our best..! Thank you!

[@roykale9141]

Thank you ​@@ChernobylFamily

[@Bluelagoonstudios]

We, as HAM operators, weren't so happy with the woodpecker, it came so far, that all HAMs in the world were jamming the signal for three straight days. Which took it offline. So they got bombarded with jamming signals from all sides. The biggest event ever in the HAM community back in the day. We got even from the governments a yes, to use more power for this purpose, because they received so many complaints. I used a 9 element log per, at 38m height, with pure 1200w power, you can do the math in ERP radiation. And pushed as much harmonics as we could.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Good job! Love these stories!

[@AustinSteingrube]

Minor thing: “ham” isn’t an acronym and shouldn’t be capitalized ;)

[@ChernobylFamily]

@AustinSteingrube gentlemen, forgive me my low level of education, but can you be so kind to give a bit more details to ensure I properly understand what the hell you all are talking about? Many thanks in advance. Alex from Ukraine, non-native English speaker. Edit: jokes apart, I just have a feeling I probably not completely correctly understand what ham station is.

[@TheErilaz]

​@ChernobylFamily radioamateur station. It's often called "ham" because some morse keys was strapped to the thigh, aka a ham.

[@carpespasm]

@@TheErilaz TIL. I had always assumed it was short for Hobby AMateur radio.

[@mihaivasile9645]

It blows my mind how you guys could decipher the history of this system starting from some empty racks and old destroyed papers. Watching with interest every video you post but this has to be one of the best so far.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! In fact we decyphered even more, but decided to keep the video in some acceptable length limit..)

[@JMiskovsky]

​@@ChernobylFamily domtou study computer science?

[@JMiskovsky]

​@@ChernobylFamilyyou mentioned Czechoslovakua I know some old people who work s on Czechoslovkia machines

[@brunocdt2765]

I've been a French radio Ham since the 80's, I remember the "Woodpecker" that polluted the HF bands , even in the Army, it was a problem for us radio operators because we couldn't intercept anything on certain parts of the HF spectrum! Today "Duga" is out of service and I'm still Ham Radio. There are other OVTH radars like "Kontayner" or "Voronesj" as well as the famous "Gadir" in Iran which works on 28 MHz band. Thanks for this video.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad you liked!

[@jimmymiller77]

Fantastic Video. We have learned more than ever before from you. Thanks a million for all of your hard work. All my Best from the US, Jim

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! More to come, this subject is very big.

[@John-wd5cb]

​@@ChernobylFamilyit's near Saint Petersburg now. Triple the size too.

[@BillAnt]

In Soviet Russia, these were just props. In the other room, babushkas were using Abacus calculators for the real work. hehe jk

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@BillAnt you will laugh, but there was a joke at actual Duga before 1986: "those bridges at the top are for soldiers with binoculars looking for a missile"

[@johnniewelbornjr.8940]

@@ChernobylFamily That is priceless :)))

[@daicekube]

This is so interesting. I hate to say this but to a certain degree, old Soviet tech is (possibly) like alien tech. East and West solved same problems but in different ways. You are doing a fantastic job delving into this old tech. It needs to be preserved and cherished. An maybe, just maybe, might we all learn something.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! We will do our best. Though, if we take U.S., there are also some interesting examples. Take SAGE, for instance.

[@BlackEpyon]

At the end of the day, it's all just chasing ones and zeros around.

[@pianoman4Jesus]

@@BlackEpyon haha! 🤣

[@daicekube]

@@BlackEpyon It is, but still fascinating are the many ways you do it.

[@BlackEpyon]

@@daicekube Yeah, 45-bit words are certainly odd. Normally it would be in powers of two. I wonder how many of those are parity bits though, because those are often odd. Edit: looking at the 'ROM" trays at 13:03, it looks like there might be 3 rows of parity bits, bringing the total to 48. I don't know what the Cyrillic designations for those last three are. Ordinarily you'd have parity for error checking in RAM, not ROM, but maybe they served that function while testing the program? IDK.

[@GrnArrow092]

From what I've been hearing about the Duga radar is that the system broadcasted a strong signal at 10 MW. The signal produced a sharp, tapping sound and that disrupted legitimate radio broadcasts worldwide. This sound became known as the "Russian Woodpecker" by people living outside of the Soviet Union. Personally, I think it sounds like the whirling blades of a helicopter when you hear it from the ground. To combat this radio disruption, some radio receivers had what where called "Woodpecker Blankers" incorporated into their designs to filter out or block the noise generated by Duga's signal.

[@ChernobylFamily]

I am very much interested in those 'blankers'. I heard many times about them, but never saw any concrete details.

[@rafflesmaos]

Very fascinating. As a child my parents evacuated me from Kyiv when Chernobyl happened. I vaguely remember how scared everyone was. Then as I was older, I found out about just how inept the Soviet leadership was at handling that crisis. Then even older, I found out about Duga, and what it was used for. And now I'm learning how Duga was controlled, which is especially neat given my current computing background. The rabbit hole goes deeper and deeper. Thanks for the great video, and stay safe. Slava Ukraini!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! More to come!

[@johnnyzippo7109]

Wow ! Just wow ! The historic works of preservation covering what was one of the most highest levels of secrecy. I must say thank YOU , I have been anticipating for this drop for some time now . Bravo folks , bravo , words cannot describe my feeling right now . Y’all crushed , ya crushed it ! I am truly at a loss for words that appropriately describe my thoughts currently .

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! Well, if we won't be able to preserve the machine, we'll built its miniature copy :)

[@wes11bravo]

This is fascinating. I once worked with a guy at a company building custom crates for bulk oversized freight. Before he came to the US, Sergei worked as a mainframe computer engineer for the Soviet space program. I bet he was very familiar with this equipment.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Space guys had own machines, those (we are sure) did not intersect with this, but these were no less interesting.

[@wes11bravo]

@@ChernobylFamily - Ahh, I see. Very specific uses for each I suppose. Sergei was a nice guy who brought with him from his motherland absolutely no desire to work in his former profession. His dream was to open a neighborhood convenience store, haha!

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@wes11bravo VERY understandable, to be honest.

[@lukas.brinias]

Finally, someone covers this extraordinary computer! I gave up trying to find information on it 2 years ago, but my gut-feeling was spot on: It could deliver high performance (comparable to the IBM 7030), but for a fraction of the cost (2 M$ vs 14 M$). Thank you for providing some data to be more specific.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad I could help!

[@edward9674]

Good luck with the project! History deserves to be remembered and preserved for future generations.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

One doesn't realize how huge the cage antennas on the radar are until you see someone climbing on them. The entire structure is so massive.

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@RobertCraft-re5sf yes.

[@mitch3384]

Shiey climbed to the top of the bigger Duga and lay in one of the white bulb things.. after walking past a bunch on the ground that rusted and fell off. It's part of his Chernobyl stalker trip, possibly the winter version. Absolutely terrifying to watch

[@iainball2023]

I wouldn't normally watch a video primarily about computers, but this was fascinating. Thank you for going to the lengths you did to produce this. It's brilliant. ❤

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! This is the first of a few episodes about Duga. In meantime, check our other documentaries.

[@JBBost]

You're doing really awesome work! This place is important to the entire world: I was born in March of 87 and the people there literally gave their lives to save mine on the other side of the world -- the zone should be protected and preserved at all costs

[@ChernobylFamily]

Antenna now is legally a protected landmark

[@iicaie]

Have never been so excited to watch a documentary about anything

[@ChernobylFamily]

We are really happy you liked!

[@karlpron]

When I see computers like this I am always in awe. Nowadays some programmers have difficulty in grasping pointer to pointer concept, but there were people who not only did much more difficult operations on those computers, but envisioned and designed them.

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@karlpron well said

[@karlpron]

@@ChernobylFamily I would like to try to program machine like this even if in the emulator. Have you ever thought of making one? Maybe some open source project? I feel I'm not the only one who would gladly help. I know documentation is scarce and hard to get.

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@karlpron thank you. We need to think about this, but see, there is very little what is possible to do. There exist some time diagrams of some operations, but that is probably all. Though, if we look from another angle: we have known architecture and specs of components, moduli used and a control panel, purpose of controls of which is mostly decoded. Theoretically, this might be sufficient to make a 'simulator inspired by', but we ourselves will not be able to do it, because after all we are historians, not programmers. What do you think? The question is, what we are going to process? It is so narrow-purpose thing that I personally do not see a practical use of this experiment apart from a moral satisfaction.

[@karlpron]

@@ChernobylFamily You are not an average historian if you can understand and explain main principles of machine like this :). I have never written anything close to an emulator so I will have to learn some before diving into the project. I think you are on to something with 'simulator inspired by' -- I have seen stranger things written and maintained. As for the data to be processed -- it's a hurdle. But I think that emulator would have its own merit in keeping the history alive. Especially after the end of war if you open the Duga museum -- some kind of live exhibition. I will dig into some docs about emulators and then if you'll be willing I will ask you about documentation.

[@a_trauma_llama2991]

Whether the museum is located near Duga or elsewhere, it will be wonderful to see. I'm grateful for your team's hard work and dedication to preserving this piece of history.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you very much

[@АндрійКомар-ю9т]

Доброго вечора, чудове відео!!! Дякуємо вам,з нетерпінням чекатимемо наступних відео👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@ChernobylFamily]

Все буде..)

[@dakaraleksander4335]

Вау, я трохи шокований обємом роботи яку вам довелось виконати, це однозначно заслуговує на повагу!

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@dakaraleksander4335 дякуємо! Ну, це її фрагмент. Буде набагато більше, але пізніше.

[@jankro1]

Tremendous respect for your work!🇫🇮

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@graemedavidson499]

I remember hearing the Woodpecker on shortwave on an old Eddystone valve radio in the early eighties. I recently restored the very same radio after more than 40 years storage - it has outlived the woodpecker :)

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you for sharing!

[@graemedavidson499]

@@ChernobylFamilythank you for your great videos too!

[@moggadah]

It's interesting. The woodpecker was by some thought to be a Soviet attempt at mind control, a psychotronic weapon.

[@Kondekka]

I inherited an eddystone from the 50's and the UVB-76 became my antenna testing station 😅, I got around 6 HF scanners from 50-60-70 up to an modern yaesu HF scanner from my grand dad, but yeah it's handy knowing an station that always broadcasts, I can barely receive it so it's a good one to test and adjust antennas accordingly.

[@robmacl7]

Woah, weird computer architecture, and also mind blowing that it was still in use during the 80's. It seems it was a super specialized signal processor. The manual bit programming in the constant plug boards is also crazy.

[@ChernobylFamily]

It very much reminds me SKALA we talked about last year. Very narrow purpose, very special hardware..

[@t0m5k1]

Fascinating, I find this amazing and hope you one day manage to get the museum up and running. I used to listen to the woodpecker with my brother around his friends house as a very young kid in the 70s. They had all manner of different antenna and loads of different transceivers, filters and amps all in racks, I found it amazing and would sit there for hours twiddling different knobs they told me to. Health issues brought it all to an end but my brother managed to salvage a nice discone antenna and a decent CB radio. Slava Ukraine

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your story!

[@happysprollie]

Fascinating video. But I have a question: was someone responsible for winding up the real-time clock?

[@ChernobylFamily]

Absolutely sure it is the person mentioned at a small orange sign above.

[@Spelter]

This channel is somehow a favorite when I need to bleach my brain from the world events atm. I love how you show us these old relics, how much work you put into restoring all this. One day, I hope I can finally do my visit of Chernobyl and maybe the outskirts somehow, with a guide who knows the landscape, because I can't imagine how it must feel like, standing under these giant antennas, or in Pripyat with time like frozen in 40 years ago.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Just contact us, we can guide you.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

What a fascinating system. It used atmospheric ducting to get radiation to the plasma from a rocket plume. Then that signal had to duct back to the receiving stations. What a control problem. You have to sense the atmospheric conditions to the target, then tune emissions to optimize signal to the target. The processing requirements at the receiver must have been more intense than the computing requirements for the transmitter. Were the receiver stations co located at this site? I imagine they'd be located elsewhere and separated. But regardless I would imagine the station would conduct all kinds of different emissions. Emissions to probe the atmosphere along the path to the target area in order to set emissions to actually scan for rocket plumes, then sense dopler and spectral information from the returns off the rocket plumes over the scan area. Do you plan on eventually going into the theory of detection, signal analysis, software requirements, and data products?

[@ChernobylFamily]

Chernobyl-2, featured in the video is a receiver only. Transmitter was in Chernihyv region at Lubech-1 town. Then, one more pair was at far east of USSR. Sure, we will cover that in the next episode.

[@stevengill1736]

Thank you kindly!

[@ST-cf3ll]

@@ChernobylFamily Грандиозная работа! Близость приемной станции к АЭС объясняется большим потреблением вычистоительной системы? А электро-магнитные помехи от АЭС имели место быть?

[@AjinkyaMahajan]

A Pentium is more powerful than K340A. It is so fascinating, how people use to work with discrete transistors before ICs revolution. Great video !!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Well, I believe it would be more correct to compare not with a pentium, but what was available in 1986. I believe here it is more complex, and very similar to the situation with SKALA of the ChNPP. It is not about computing, but processing of external connections. They could install mainframes based on ICs, after all they did, but still it was not the best solution due to latency. Speaking about transistors, I believe one of the reasons was that discrete transistors are far more stable in high radiation which could appear if what they have been detecting would have reach its destination.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Absolutely fascinating! I hope the war ends soon and work can be restarted. You're taking on an extremely challenging task, proper respect to you - I've considered you an equivalent of CuriousMarc on our side of the Iron Curtain, and it shows. The opportunity to talk with the original engineers and listen to their stories is priceless - go for it while you can, it's a race against the clock now. I'm glad you do it. Nice ferrite core shenanigans, haha!

[@dc9662]

I'm always glad when one creator I enjoy enjoys a channel that I like too. You're both rad af!

[@tpa6120a2dwp]

Thank you for this incredibly well researched and detailed video - I always wondered how they did all the computing necessary to get any useful information out of the received signal. Just finished watching for a second time. This is probably not new for you but just in case: there is a video titled: "Duga - Nadajnik Lubecz-1 (unikatowe nagranie)" on YT that appears to show some sort of ceremony that was held at the transmitter site when it was decommissioned. If the timestamp of the video is correct, it was shot in May 1998. After the official part, some employees are shown at their former places of work: consoles, maintenance shop, laboratory, cafeteria etc. A lot of equipment is shown that looks very similar, especially those grey racks. The transmitter itself is also shown: In the video a corridor can be seen that contains what looks like many more or less standard shortwave transmitters one next to the other. When the guy with the camera climbs the antenna at a later time in the video, some 20 feedlines are visible connecting the array to the transmitter building. That would explain how the beam steering was done and how they achieved the very high pulse power. Maybe you can get some useful information from this.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Yes, I know that one. It gives a lot of hints for certain rooms and devices at its receiver as many things were identical.

[@speaklifegardenhomesteadpe8783]

​@@ChernobylFamily there's also a video from nine years ago from bionard23 of inside. You probably know but thought I would add it here.

[@GenerationAI2024]

Great video. So good to see you do this to resurrect these mainframes. Love your videos, thank you for sharing.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@MarkMcCluney]

What an astonishing amount you have all put into this research. Thanks so much Alex.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you. This... thing is perhaps a personal matter for me. More to come.

[@MrMaxeemum]

Imagine if the whole world worked together back then, I think we would have had flying cars 40 years ago.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Well said.

[@fonesrphunny7242]

As a bicycle driver and aviation enthusiast, I find the thought of flying cars terrifying and no amount of tech can change that.

[@MrMaxeemum]

@@fonesrphunny7242 Maybe Bicycle drivers need to start looking Left, Right, Up and Down from now on.

[@jonmcentire]

People can barely drive as it is, and it's questionable if most should be allowed drive at all. Letting them have access to the z axis would be a disaster.

[@MrMaxeemum]

@@jonmcentire If we had access to the 4th and 5th dimension, there would be enough space for us all.

[@DrakkarCalethiel]

Finally a in depth vid about the stuff behind the DUGA radar!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! The first of a few...)

[@bikeforever2016]

Wow, amazing video and story. Such a shame to loose these machines.

[@OlgaAnikeieva]

Thanks for the quality content!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@AndrewRump]

Wauv. You just dig up so much interesting history from the past and present it in a very funny and interesting way. Thanks

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank youcfor watching!

[@roybm3124]

Impressive radar system, saw it on bionerd channel a couple of years ago. Hope to visit it in thé future. Praying for peace in your country.

[@ChernobylFamily]

We will have a detailed episode about radar and Chernobyl-2 as well!

[@danielmewes]

Amazing! I've always been super curious about how the computing and signal processing behind the Douga radar (and other OTH radars of the time) worked. I was never able to find any details online. Thank you for this documentary!

[@ChernobylFamily]

This is just a part. There were so many systems that it will take a few more videos for sure.

[@John-wd5cb]

Only details are in the CIA official archives page. "Krug probe"

[@ChernobylFamily]

Krug is a very interesting thing, not that easy as it looks...

[@John-wd5cb]

@@ChernobylFamily yes yes.. Very very specialized knowledge. The CAI doesn't like people talking about it..

[@feniksgordonfreeman]

The amount of done work is huge. Thanks a lot for done work

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad you liked!

[@Xsiondu]

Damn! I hope @RingwayManchester gets to see these videos. He has made several videos about the duga/ woodpecker and the affects (effect?) it had on ham radio during the 70s and 80s. Your documentary was amazing.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@mentalizatelo]

Somehow I feel the majestic of the Soviet Era lies in it's ruins, the stories and document still going around of those places and, amazingly, the structures still standing in a testament to engineering. Museums tend to be boring, cold and calculated, ruins speak by themselves a thousand more stories. Just an opinion! Loved your work, Chernobyl Dude, very forensic and objective. DUGA always amazes me.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Empires look attractive until you are locked inside them. Thank you for your kind words, well, it is not only me - a lot of research is done by my wife Michaela, but she does not like to appear in front of camera.:)

[@mentalizatelo]

​@@ChernobylFamily Kudos to her amazing job! I have never been able to find a pragmatic explanation of what DUGA did (or was intended to do) till I saw your video. You guys produce great stuff and I enjoy a lot learning about Soviet era science and production methods. Knowledge is power!, cheers from Argentina!

[@80486DX2]

Computers from Soviet always fascinated me. Thanks for the videos ^^

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad you liked!

[@dmillionaire7]

Comrade, you are not only my friend, but truly a scholar... Danka.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@GoracyKanal]

Elegancki materiał, super wykonana robota

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@Retro365]

Amazingly interesting, one of the best and most interesting videos I’ve seen on KZbin. Thanks for the dedicated work. Good luck with everything.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you very much!

[@juststeve5542]

Fascinating! Дуже дякую!

[@Ayrshore]

As a radio amateur, this antenna array and the others like it are absolutely fascinating.

[@lenkapenka6976]

superb video! 1 MIPS reached mainstream ten years later or so in the VAX 11/780.... but for the 1960's that was amazing!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@elektromaik]

I was there just few months before war. Finally I get more info about DUGA site. Great video. Thank you

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad to help!

[@Tom-ws4cj]

Thanks again for a wonderful episode. Once again another fascinating insight into the history of the exclusion zone. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into it researching these episodes. So sad to see the scrappers have done their damage in scavenging all the valuable parts (27:30 it appears that all the silver edge connectors on the PCB's have been removed/stolen 😞). Perhaps there are enough damaged boards left to reverse engineer at least one example of each type of board ? Are you allowed to collect any of these ? Maybe there are people who subscribe to this channel who may like to help out with this task in some way ?

[@ChernobylFamily]

Yes, all those are damaged. There is no need to reverse engineer them as their purpose and schematics is generally known and they are very very simple devices. No, all what is there must remain there; it can be moved within the location though so this is why the idea was to make everything right at Chernobyl-2.

[@norbertsos4894]

Cool video, it would be interesting if you could do a video maybe including the amplifiers and systems of de rader it self!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Nothing remained from that equipment, but it's empty racks give some hints

[@emilschw8924]

This is so fascinating, to get a peek behind the curtain of the Cold War. Thank you for making this possible.

[@ChernobylFamily]

And more to come. It is a very hige subject.

[@emilschw8924]

@@ChernobylFamily *it is a complex project 👍

[@emilschw8924]

@@ChernobylFamily Looking forward to other content, these really are very fascinating and interesting.

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@emilschw8924 sorry for typos and so, i am in a shaking car and tired as hell :)

[@emilschw8924]

@@ChernobylFamily No problem, do take care and safe travels!

[@jasonspitzer1503]

InCrEdIbLe!! THANK YOU for taking on this project and assembling this superb documentary.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you for watching!

[@rubalskiy]

Great video! Keep the great job!

[@ChernobylFamily]

More to come, much more to come!

[@TheOneAndOnlySatan]

Thanks for uploading this !

[@ChernobylFamily]

We are happy you liked!

[@Gruby7C1h]

Duga is really impressive! I've seen it in 2013 while on a trip to Pripyat and the pictures don't do it justice. The guide didn't even mention we will go there - one of the nicest surprises I ever got :)

[@ChernobylFamily]

I remember well that year. I am almost sure they did not mention it to you because up to the last minute they themselves were not sure they will have an access there. Before 2014-2015, access there was permitted completely sporadically due to entire set of reasons. We've been told only around March 2015 by Zone's authorities - "ok, now Chernobyl-2 can be a standard location for visit".

[@Gruby7C1h]

@@ChernobylFamily Yeah, our guide said that she didn't said that upfront because there was a chance we won't be able to go and then people would be disappointed.

[@iraviya]

Thank you for your contribution to the preservation of history and for bringing it to us.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you for coming! We will continue this work - stay tuned!

[@Marvinzock34]

Its so interisting to see thanks for the video

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! Much more to come!

[@stephaneblondin2224]

Thanks for educating us on the WW history of computers.

[@Vaslovag]

That's computer history at its best, wow! (And the rest of the evening I try to find out more about the RCS.)

[@ChernobylFamily]

There are works of Antonin Swoboda in English as he moved to the U.S. in late 60s., though Yuditsky and Akushsky very much enhanced his inventions. There should be many sources.

[@rdaw33]

I have watched many videos of the duga antenna, and the control building. I always wondered how it all worked. Thanks for taking the time to figure it out. I am not an engineer, but find most electronics very interesting, nice work!!

[@ChernobylFamily]

...and there is still very much to explore there.

[@Sixta16]

Amazing work, please keep them coming!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Happily! Just making those takes a few weeks, but a continuation will come!

[@888HUSKERS]

Absolutely fantastic documentary!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad you enjoyed it! Check our other ones!

[@arstechnica123]

Great videos again!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@bobharristhebag]

Really interesting video, thanks for making.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad you liked!

[@itwasrightthere]

I toured Duga a few years ago. We were not allowed to climb the tower. That was about the only safety measure that we had to abide by.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Did that antenna once... well, a questionable experience.:)

[@michiel2722]

Absolutely amazing video! Just awesome research! Thank you.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad you liked!

[@SomeGuy_83]

A OTHR that required regular frequency changes depending on atmospheric conditions due to changes within the F layers. The interesting part is how the returned signal is processed.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Very little is known about it, as that equipment, contrary to computers, was removed completely. Edit: typos

[@paulsto6516]

Well done! Thanks for sharing with us.

[@F4LPM]

amazing i'm amateur radio operator .this rada(r is amazing for me thanks you so much for the video

[@agranero6]

Very good feat. A thing worth preserving. My compliments.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@neil4306]

What a very interesting video. Thank you

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad you liked!

[@neil4306]

​@@ChernobylFamilyyour videos are so interesting. I love old computers/technology

[@IanCliveKerrCoelho]

Simplesmente incrível. Que história incrível. Gosto muito dos vídeos que vocês produzem. Parabéns. Simply amazing. What an incredible story. I really like the videos you produce. Congratulations.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you!

[@thes764]

I wonder how they went about modelling the ionosphere back then using remainder classes, maybe some papers on that research can still be found? Will you find out enough to simulate that wild machine? I'd also love to see up to what point in the processing they kept the received signal in the analog domain before digitizing them. There were probably some marvels of analog computing involved there, too. Great start of a very promising series, looking forward for more!

[@ChernobylFamily]

There are absolutely no papers on math, algorithms or logic behind, as that things were off limits and stored not in that place. I believe that information is russian NIIDAR, but those things we won't ever get. There is one thing, which still rases questions even (!) in community of developers of K340A: dеаth of Davlet Uiditsky at the age of 52 from a hearth attack on 1982. He never had any issues... that raises too many questions. From what we know from George: there was analog equipment and other narrow-purpose computation devices at metal-lined hall of 3rd floor; they partly used K340A cells, and that was 'packing' the signal. But he was in that hall only one single time and did not know anything more. Or did not want to say.

[@piotrcurious1131]

​@@ChernobylFamilyand that's exactly why i think it's worthless to risk health trying to restore the junk left behind. Let's face it, soviets were FAR behind in research. That means they had nothing valuable. 99.9999% of their research was just a copy of some western project. Perhaps it would be easier to just find out what system they tried to imitate and study it instead, giving credits and recognition to ORIGINAL authors .

[@ChernobylFamily]

@piotrcurious1131 i am not defending them, but just to be historically accurate, Yuditsky amd Akushsky everywhere said - "our work is based on Swoboda and Valach's concepts which we developed further".

[@piotrcurious1131]

@@ChernobylFamily Well, I studied during communist times and probably from their perspective they really believed they study someone's genuine work. Ghostwriting cybernetics was important in 60's because official party line was against it. There were also other tricks to make cybernetics look like "copied from nature" etc. all bs. We are lucky it's all gone. The 45bit word looka like very specialised "bug" allowing two registers being used at once, probably needed by stolen software - that was also common. Perhaps it would be cool for you to finally visit USA and meet original designers, i bet you will find loads of surprising nostalgia 😂

[@ChernobylFamily]

@piotrcurious1131 heheh deal then!

[@georgethemarmarian]

Incredible work! Thank you!

[@ChernobylFamily]

More to come about this!

[@vsp_tof]

Чому б не врятувати ті плати, які лишилися, щоб дійсно відновити хоча б декілька шаф. Годинник до речі не авіаційний, не АЧС-1, а 60ЧП, судячи по фото. Вони часто стояли на панелях різного наземного стаціонарного обладнання. Скоріше за все він не видавав ніяких імпульсів, цими годинниками розподіляли машинний час між групами зазвичай. Рятувати треба те, що все ж таки можна ще врятувати. Ви робите неймовірну роботу, дякую.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Дуже дякую за уточнення. Була чітка концепція що і як робити. В поточних умовах це реалізувати не можна з великої кількості причин, але ми повернемося до цього.

[@gonzinigonz]

Amazing :) This is the video I've been waiting for. Always fascinated me the Duga site. Guess you are aware of the Napromieniowani video of the transmitter site? Good footage of the building and equipment racks, consoles and transmitter racks.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! Yes, I know that video long before they reposted it :)

[@gonzinigonz]

@@ChernobylFamily I wonder if there's anymore footage?! Pretty rare stuff.

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@gonzinigonz from what I know, so far the only.

[@gonzinigonz]

​@@ChernobylFamily This is interesting as well, guess from the same era technology. Video title on here as below. There is some footage of the consoles powered up, not sure if its in this video. РЛС "Дніпро" - секретна станція у Мукачеві, яка бачить балістичні ракети за тисячі кілометрів

[@CaptainDonut0]

My dad's Mothers Sisters Husband worked on some army base that had a data center so when they were upgrading they were trowing out the older machines and i remember she showed me the cabinet and it was the same blue color as the duka compiuter but it was the sice of a small soviet refrigeraton and its current use is not far of as it now holds jams.

[@AvalancheReviews]

I'm only 3 minutes in, and this is already one of the most interesting videos I've come across in years!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! Well, it has probably too many technical details, but I am afraid it is not really possible to explain it better than dig into the hardware :)

[@RoyHess666]

Duga always fascinated me, wish I could visit it

[@ChernobylFamily]

Let's hope that one day it will work out!

[@eliotmansfield]

yes i would like to visit it once the current issues are resolved in favour of ukraine

[@needlesstrash]

same

[@ChernobylFamily]

We happily will guide you, guys

[@RoyHess666]

@@eliotmansfield I absolutely agree with you! Slava Ukraini!

[@MrEdwinHubble]

absolutely precise and great work! When I first saw the duga computer mainframe and other control panesl I started to wonder how it looked like in its operating days... Sadly I don't have an opportunity to see it in person, but as soon as it is possible, I'll plan a visit to it. Great work!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! Well, let us know if it will work - maybe we will be able to go together.

[@MrEdwinHubble]

@@ChernobylFamily That would be more than awesome! I wonder if there are still electrical stuff lying around to be investigated / documented.

[@ChernobylFamily]

@@MrEdwinHubble of course

[@JapanPop]

Ever since I learned about the “woodpecker” signal of the CCCP OTH radar, the 2 duga sites have been very interesting to me. Thanks for sharing!

[@ChernobylFamily]

More, much more to come! Thank you!

[@kaischmidt730]

knowledge I never knew I didn't have. thank you so much for this fascinating video!

[@ChernobylFamily]

Glad you found much interesting!

[@code123ns]

While the powerplant had only one nuclear event, however devastating it was, Duga was created to detect and deture the threath of dozens of simultanious nuclear events. In that sense, the priorities given to financing one and the other actually make sense.

[@ChernobylFamily]

To be accurate, contamination after a reactor explosion and A-Bоmb are completely different in the scope of their long-term effects, isotope composition, etc. This is why in Hiroshima, people can live, and in Pripyat - never will be able.

[@TheSynthnut]

Amazing & fascinating work.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Many thanks!

[@lort_prodisz]

Will you make a video about the entire high-frequency chain - from antennas to receivers/transmitters? I haven't found any information about this anywhere

[@ChernobylFamily]

There is little known about it. Though what we indeed will do is a more detailed look at structures and what is in them.

[@lort_prodisz]

@@ChernobylFamily While visiting the Duga system in 2015, I was looking for typical radio elements ...I couldn't find a single piece.Knowing CCCP radio technology, there was probably a lot of copper and silver, so they disappeared quickly :)

[@fiedel]

@@ChernobylFamilyAt one point there also had to be some parts that converted the analog domain signals to binary numbers. Would be super interesting to see how they solved in back in those days.

[@korolchukpp]

Thanks for the video and interesting story, Alexander!

[@ChernobylFamily]

You are welcome! More to come

[@jamesdecross1035]

Metal structures are a real conservation challenge. I wonder if the giant antenna could be saved and preserved?

[@ChernobylFamily]

Legally, it is a registered landmark with a protected status. In fact structurally it is still quite ok based on an inspection made a few years ago.

[@jamesdecross1035]

@@ChernobylFamily That's good to hear!

[@sncmuseum]

Amazing video. As usual. Thanks a lot.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you so much!

[@Damien.D]

I've always been interested in the lore of the Woodpecker and all cold war early warning radars craziness (which formed a basis for modern internet because of the high bandwidth communication requirements). I've always had sad feelings that all the stuff that were designed and happened in the exclusion zone on this enormous white elephant project of OTH radar was gone and forgotten. And now there's this incredible amount of research, retroengineering and straight archeology... The amount of work done to produce this incredible video is gigantic... I'm speechless.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Well, it took us some time...)

[@randomchannel1712]

You and your colleagues should be given funding to perform your restoration - museum plans. You shall also be given proper personnel records to come into contact with engineering personnel and restore one fully functional K340A block. Heck, your work should be at least legislatively protected and institute-government financed. YOU ARE CREATING HISTORY RIGHT HERE. A humble electrical and computer science engineer !!!!!!!!

[@ChernobylFamily]

That is what has been happening in 2021, we had many authorities involved and they had a great enthusiasm about our idea. The problem is only information, this was not a Ukrainian project, and there is no data on it in our archives. It is all in NIIDAR, which is in Moscow. Thank you!

[@randomchannel1712]

@@ChernobylFamily Ahhhhhh if its in moscow under these conditions I don't think you will be able to gain access for at least 10 years, that's very sad. Whats the point of war... Lives lost and this kind of collaboration out of the question, I'm truly saddened by that.

[@lizardkomodo]

СПКБ Дискрет (при факультете РТФ Одесского политеха) как смежники НИИДАР разрабатывали и вводили в эксплуатацию ЭВМ проводящую входную обработку сигналов, с быстрым преобразованием Фурье для вращения фазы сигналов. Что-то такое преподаватели рассказывали. К сожалению, все меньше людей, что там работали, остаются в живых.

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! Heard some brief information of that device, which partly used K340A cells (but only some). If, by the chance you will have more details, it will be highly appreciated!

[@sairlordmusic]

incredible work. we used to monitor the system and called it the Woodpecker, the noise it made interfered with communications, it crawled up and down the HF (2-30Mhz) shortwave bands. OTHR Over The Horizon Radar in its infancy and ionosounding for propagation calculations. A great credit to all who worked on it in the very early days of digital signal processing.With suitable antennas and transmitters/receivers all of this can be processed in a small desktop box or two Thank you so much for this project. Maybe Chernobils SKALA control systems were upset by high levels of RF EMI/ EMC from the antenna and kaputted Chernobyl well someone could have reversed the phase of the elements so it "pointed" at Chernobil a few km away??

[@ChernobylFamily]

Thank you! No, in the scope of the accident SKALA was pretty much flawless; paper logs remained, so we know thism

[@TerroxNL79]

Many many many thanks for this wonderful video. Its so interesting and a lot of hard work must have gone into it ! Greetings from The Netherlands

[@ChernobylFamily]

Happy you liked!

[@ПрофессорЛампочкин]

Супер історія, переглянув на одному диханні, не зважаючи на те, що розумію лише субтитри ! Велика повага Вам !!! Є нові ферит-діодні модулі, та плати "УФУ" на германієвих транзисторах, наче з якоїсь ЄОМ. Якщо цікаво - нідішлю детальні фото, можливо іх можно якось ідентифікувати... Ще раз дякую, та знімаю шляпу !

[@ChernobylFamily]

Дякуємо! Киньте фото на [e-mail] - глянемо!

[@Java_SE_Binary]

Absolutely fascinating video on this system, its incredible how many resources were put into sending signals out thousands of kilometers and receiving them back reliably, while being able to detect ICBM rocket launches on top of that! The Duga-1 receive site definitely stands out in Soviet Cold War history. I've never seen much documentation of the Duga transmitter site, is it off limits or is there nothing of interest left on the site? I would be super interested to see all the equipment needed to transmit signals of such high power and precision!

[@ChernobylFamily]

There is some information about it, including decommissioning footages; we will come to this in future episodes.