Russian Woodpecker - The Radio Signal That Wreaked Havoc Around The World

[@RingwayManchester]

A British Intelligence Numbers Station In Australia - E03a Cherry Ripe kzbin.info/www/bejne/qaW5g2l7YrmmqZo

[@erichschinzel6486]

Some 4 years ago I attempted an international mobile phone call from Australia to the philippines, however, the connection was bad and the call switched from the normal dial tone to a number counting channel...just an odd occurrence .

[@Northerner-Not-A-Doctor]

What you mean by "present day Ukraine"? You mean those lands were not part of Ukraine back then? I can't find them on map. Are you reffering to some fictional place?

[@DobBole]

@Northerner-Not-A-Doctor considering Keivan Rus hasn’t existed since the 12th century and after that it belonged to the mongols, poles, russian empire and then soviet union, yeah bud, maybe cool your jets and try and focus your two brain cells to be a little less emotional

[@Northerner-Not-A-Doctor]

@@DobBole How something non-existant could belong to anyone? You see the level of lies you are speading around? And yet you dare pointing out my metnal capabilities as non sufficent? You are too deep in lies and in insults to be able to live happily. I can clearly see both the city called Kiev and the land called Rus sourrounding it at maps reffering to any time between year 800 and 2024. And I can find documents from the time of the whole Polish 80 years long rule over Ukraine with Kievian Rus mentioned in them.

[@JeffreyAllanBackowski]

Radar doesn't bounce, it gets reflected back, it won't detect things around corners, or over a curve. The only way that radio signal could reach the entire world is if the earth is flat, which it is, that is why radar works.

[@keithweiss7899]

As a U.S. CB operator who started in the 70’s, I remembered the woodpecker being there most of the time, for several years. I would hear it get louder and then fade. Eventually I realized that it was sweeping through frequencies. I hooked up a wide band receiver and tracked it going up above the CB band, and then sweeping back down below it. It was a bit scary to us. The word back then was that it was some type of communist over-the-horizon radar system. It’s nice to finally see what sent those radio signals.

[@ChannelGarrett]

US ham radio operator in the 1980's. I knew this had to be a government signal as no one person could screw up so much bandwidth.

[@bb5242]

I'm surprised that there weren't wild conspiracy stories about communists being able to jam all television and radio before an attack or some such.

[@kamakaziozzie3038]

@@ChannelGarrett at least not at that power level

[@TheRealRusDaddy]

@@kamakaziozzie3038 and for as long

[@davidpalmer9780]

@@TheRealRusDaddy and with such disregard for the communication disruption it caused.

[@eliotmansfield]

as a kid in the 80’s I always thought that the sound was just the sound of a radio that wasn’t tuned right.

[@user-xz4all]

And I thought that such interference on the radio in all places near the electrified railway.

[@markhodgson2348]

Experimental energy system

[@scottlarson1548]

I thought it was RFI from our old refrigerator which ran constantly.

[@durden91tyler]

@@markhodgson2348 go back to school

[@aitorbleda8267]

Same here.

[@TroyOnymous]

I remember the filters being sold here in the US that would help block out the interference from the Woodpecker, a popular one in the early 80's was called the "Moscow Muffler". It was plenty strong enough to even cause interference on the over the air TV stations.

[@toejam7606]

That was electric probably 60 cycle interference. Wife was vacuuming or something

[@Isochest]

@@orangepants5749 It did.

[@ricktalbott9611]

@@orangepants5749 It would on HF and I heard it

[@lizzyfan1986]

@@orangepants5749 it sure did

[@TroyOnymous]

@@orangepants5749 It definitely did. I can almost reach Russian territory at home in the middle of the US with a fairly basic antenna and 150 watts of transmit power using similar bands to what the Woodpecker used. The Woodpecker had a gigantic antenna area and blasted 10+ megawatts of power. It caused interference and problems around the world.

[@KevinBagshaw]

I've climbed the one at Chernobyl, and it is not possible to describe it's vastness. It is amazing.

[@DaedalusYoung]

KZbinr @shiey has climbed it as well, a few years ago. Looks terrifying.

[@lizzyfan1986]

I wish Donald Trump would've climbed it

[@RCAvhstape]

@@tc25d Her channel is great, and she did some crazy stuff. Hope she's okay out there somewhere.

[@KevinBagshaw]

@Lookup2Wakeup don't think I'd be here if it was 😂

[@emilkarpo]

Kevin you've got the minerals, I've watched a group of four climb that thing and I was probably more puckers up than they were. 👍

[@RevMikeBlack]

I remember the Russian Woodpecker well. I think it's one of the most interesting man-made structures in the world. One hundred megawatts is a huge amount of transmission power. My theory is that the antennas were built near Chernobyl to satisfy their massive power requirements.

[@MrZlocktar]

It's not a theory. That was precisely the intent of entire Duga (OTH) project. The amount of power was just enough to give USSR as much time as they needed to react on any nuclear attack. Any missile launch over half of a globe could've been detected right away the moment missile leaves the missile silo. Yes, not just in air or space. From a missile silo. The first 5 to 10 seconds of rocket thrust would've been detected by this OTH system. That's why it had to be so powerful. It's also extremely precise system which could exclude any wrong data because nothing else could produce such a thrust as ICBM. That's why US had to inform USSR of ANY rocket launch or any tests that includes testing thrust. This was quite a headache for US back then. But it had to be done every time to avoid cases when it could've been seen by USSR as attempt for attack. An alien, more advanced civilization indeed.

[@RevMikeBlack]

@@MrZlocktar Excellent analysis. Thanks!

[@whoareyouyouareclearlylost323]

​@@MrZlocktarThat's just crazy!

[@PurpleDuneEfa]

​@@whoareyouyouareclearlylost323 Crazy? I was crazy once They locked me in a room A rubber room A rubber room with rats And rats make me crazy

[@whoareyouyouareclearlylost323]

@@PurpleDuneEfa Did you befriend the rats, I certainly imagine it so... Ahh yes East Berlin and its majestic tunnels.

[@rEdf196]

I discovered the Russian Woodpecker in mid July of 1976 on my SW radio. By 1980 to 82 the Woodpecker sound was showing up on the telephone, TV and even FM radio too. I last heard The Russian Woodpecker on the 20 meter Ham band while monitoring Hurricane Gilbert communications in the fall of 1988. I thought the signal was fascinating and mysterious, but at the same time I also hated that annoying signal , with a passion.

[@Dark_Matter2]

Can you hear it on 500 khz?

[@rvdb8876]

As a Belgian radio amateur I remember that annoying sound very well. The signals were sometimes so colossally strong that if you worked in SSB, the slow automatic gain control completely suppressed the station you were in QSO with. It was all over shortwave and I also think they didn't put much effort into using lowpass or bandpass filters. Because often the signal could also be found on the first harmonic of the frequency at which you heard the woodpecker. This was a plague that has made many HAM operators very annoyed.

[@davidpalmer9780]

The arrogance of a countries government to obliterate a portion of the radio spectrum used by inhabitants of the planet is astounding & selfish.

[@nozefian]

Why is Russia being a t*at?

[@Sonikadu]

@@swededude1992 If possible can you provide us some examples? It would be nice to have those documented somewhere

[@RandyKirby-uu2er]

When i was a kid my old neighbour said to me do you fancy popping round to see my wood pecker? he said to me honestly I love interference, have you ever been interfered with? I never went around, now I know he simply wanted me to listen in to the Russian Woodpecker, for a minute there I thought he might be after my spangles.

[@StageRightvideo]

Oo I remember Spangles. Must be nearly fifty years since I had those...

[@Kromsmitesyou]

I don't understand a word you just said.

[@2E0TIV]

This made me laugh. Nice one! :)

[@djackzdjackz7004]

Haarp origin in Alaska, US

[@chickengenius4202]

What?

[@GasPipeJimmy]

I remember my dad showing this to me (tuning in to the radio) in the late 1970’s. The Woodpecker was just one of the radars he pointed out. There were other ones that sounded like a hi-lo siren, and rhythmic noise. I’d love to go back in time and hear it all again.

[@petedrake1]

Myself and a friend went to chernobyl in February 2020. We went to see the Duga radar array. It's so unbelievably big! Got to see inside the building where all the equipment was operated from and took some amazing photos. We were planning on returning next year, but that looks unlikely. Hopefully, we get to return and see this and the beautiful city of Kiev again one day.

[@EricK-ig4ko]

Have you posted some of those photos on social media?

[@emilkarpo]

@@EricK-ig4ko The last time I visited in 2017 we watched 4 people climb the antenna. You have to see it in person to relieve just how big the antenna is. At 3.08 in the middle left side of the screen the New Safe Confinement structure can be seen in place over the remains of Chernobyl Unit #4.

[@MENSA.lady2]

The UK antenna array used 43 masts between 140 and 300 feet tall, Covered about 5 acres and was over a salt lake to create a very low impedance ground plane. I cant tell you where it was but the lake was home to lots of flamingos and a popular holiday resort.

[@cromwellg60]

I went too in 2017. Amazing place.

[@cromwellg60]

@@emilkarpo That could have been me? I climbed it with 3 other people in May 2017….

[@MENSA.lady2]

The "Woodpecker" was a Russian "Over the horizon" radar system. Both the UK and the USA had similar systems but ours being on a constant frequency where hard to spot. A listener would just hear a high power but narrow constant carrier signal The frequency was changed frequently to be 90% of the MUF between the transmitter site and the Russian launch site at Bykanour (Excuse my spelling). Due to the Official Secret Act I can't tell you where the UK site was but I'm sure the Russians knew. A 500,000 watt transmitter is not hard to find.

[@sandramiller7972]

The big flat HF and the round 440L forward scatter OTH receiver antennas you refer to were surely not hard to find, the flats pointed east. Multiple transmitters on several frequencies each were in the far-east, and used normal broadcast power levels, so there was little HF impact as you state. 440L was closed far past the more than 30 year limit, it was long ago unclassified in the US. I donated my professional items to Space Command museum. F. Miller

[@YungRolex]

Theres nothing secret about the locations the UK operates and operated.

[@notryguy]

Official secret act? If u officialize something it's not a secret..

[@MENSA.lady2]

@@sandramiller7972 I agree, but not yet unclassified in the UK. as a UK citizen the Official secrets act exists until I die. I would happily donate what I know to future generations

[@nedkelly9688]

Australia has the largest and most sophisticated over the horizon radar system in the world. are 3 antennae array stretching entire north coast and covers all approaching zones. Can see way further then publicly acknowledges and from day one it spotted USA stealth bomber. Is a report one radar operator said. see that on the screen. that is a Boeing 747 taking off from Singapore.. only thing i can't tell you is it's tail wing numbers. Even picked up explosions in Baghdad during Iraq war. Funny thing is Chinese navy think they are sneaking in to Australian waters and always our leaders say.. we have been tracking them for days before reach our waters.

[@forind934]

Here in Chile, I've heard stories of how annoying the "tapping microphone" as it was called, was. I've heard that it would interfere with local SW stations from the 70s and 80s. I haven't lived to experience the Russian Woodpecker myself, but from what I heard, it seems to have been a day-to-day inconvenience. Still interesting!

[@navelriver]

Indeed it was a day to day inconvenience! Some said it was a mind-control device! I love that name "tapping microphone"!

[@thesaul9484]

@@navelriver as for mind-control device, the woodpecker was used as such in the S.t.a.l.k.e.r. game series; essentially a mind-control device

[@Eclipserful]

​@@thesaul9484 how is the stalker game series a mind control device?

[@thesaul9484]

@@Eclipserful I said IN, I did not call the game itself a mind control device - it is a part of the story in the game

[@MirlitronOne]

I remember hearing the Woodpecker on small SW radios when I was a teenager in the 1970s. It has been suggested that the necessary power to operate the 10 MW transmitter was generated at Chernobyl, which lacked the necessary capacity after the destruction of reactor no.4 there in 1986. Last weekend, there were two separate OTH radars operating illegally in the 40 m amateur band at the same time. Sometimes the Russians operate a "spoof" transmitter so that they can claim that the OTH radar at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus is similarly breaking the rules.

[@feelx92ger]

Since Pluto uses FMCW and kontayner uses FMOP... wouldn’t it be unlikely for them to be able to imitate Pluto? I‘d assume that their tech isn’t fully software-defined so not sure if they can change the modulation instantly. That being said, it might fit Russian doctrine to just build another site that *does* use FMCW just for that purpose.

[@engtimofeev]

Duga facility near Chernobyl is a *receiver* one.

[@igorbabchenko2091]

Since the radar sites and the power plant including Pripyat were being built at the same time, it is likely they recieved power from the NPP, but saying it lacked the power to power the radars after Unit 4 demise is confusing since the CHNPP still had a nameplate capacity 3000 MW. Enough to power a couple of these😅

[@engtimofeev]

@@igorbabchenko2091 or it just became unsafe for the personnel to operate the reception facility, because it fell within 10km exclusion zone.

[@GnuReligion]

As a kid in the late 70's, I got a fancy AM/FM/SW radio in a boom box. That Woodpecker was annoying. The pecking frequency would slowly drift up and down the band.

[@AdamSWL]

I remember the woodpecker well in the mid to late 80's. Had a Yaesu FRG-7700 and you could still hear it with the antenna disconnected sometimes! OTHR is still used these days (Australia has JORN for instance) and some of these systems appear randomly on any frequency depending upon MUF. Great video again Lewis!

[@robertl.fallin7062]

I think many OTHR signal are out there today because of weak signal reporting and propagation information , plus SDR would likely lower power output needs and operating cost. Receiver sensitivity has been a game changer. Think cellphones.

[@juicyfruit4378]

It wasn’t effective as thought and ended up being a financial burden

[@_klent]

.

[@erikmutthersbough6508]

I always found it interesting that they call it the "Woodpecker" when it actually sounds like a helicopter 🤔🤷‍♂️.

[@Nikowalker007]

It does sounds a lot like UH 1 Huey chopper

[@FedericoLucchi]

It sounds like a UH1 on modern speakers/headphones because of the lower audio frequency content (bass), very characteristic of the helicopter's "chop-chop" sound. On a '70s radio speaker, I think you probably just heard the mid and high frequencies.

[@RingwayManchester]

So this video is picking up! Thanks to those watching. Please bear in mind; nasty or rude comments will just get you blocked immediately! Edit The past tense of wreak is wreaked, so the past tense of wreak havoc is wreaked havoc. Forget the old, oft-repeated myth that the past tense of wreak is wrought. Wrought is an archaic past-tense form of work, and it serves as an adjective in its own right, but it has nothing to do with wreaking.

[@GamIngDoge.]

incredible quality and narrative skills you have. please more of these kinds of videos!

[@andyrichards2569]

We should not loose sight of this info which follows . In 1885 wire comms by repeater stations enabled Lundoom to communicate to the farthest parts of the empire and back in under 30 min . In 1902 in London the Pilgrims Society was created where British mainly Newspaper barons created a hub of information infeed from all over the world . In 1906 this same organisation created GCCS..MI5 & MI6 they were not created by British Govt and are only sort of shadowed into that as part of MOD they are funded by Tax payers but are not there to protect the public interest . In 1946 the OSS was disbanded and the CIA created in the image and structure of MI6 ( common person Allen Dulles by the same group who created MI6 the NY Pilgrims Society created in 1903 . Follow the money. WW2 was a psyop to enrich the richest families in the world whilst destroying any competition BIS switzerland was created to facilitate and control ( lend money to both sides ) and collect in seized gold .. London communicated with the reich in holland through the Dutch Office Herman Giskes in Holland . Two books London calling North pole Herman Giskes . And Into the wings of the morning Robert Body about Tempsford 161 sqdn and Flt Lt Mc Kenzie all 45 agents who went into holland were tortured to death ..or died in crossfire , Giskes knew they were comming when and where ...

[@lexuszsz]

This was used to Block out the outer world from a puppet country. Estonia was taken and they blocked all tv and radios from outside and only allow russian propaganda and tv. There were bypasses made where u could watch finnish tv, in finland there was rock/punk music or metallic music rising so Estonian people took that and half of estonia was punks cause of that...

[@BillyLapTop]

Back in 1979 as an over the road truck driver, I picked up a trailer load of fencing wire in Kansas City, Mo and delivered it to Columbia Falls Maine. I had to drive several miles down through gravel roads in cranberry fields to a giant opening where huge towers were being put up. The fencing I brought was one of many loads sent there for the purpose of building a reflecting receiving antenna with 20 db of gain to capture our own pulses sent from another transmitting facility many miles away, basically the same architecture as the Soviet system.. This was our own US over the horizon radar system.

[@JackDunford]

I had the chance to visit one of these radars on a tour of Chernobyl back in 2019. It is a phenomenal sight, and one that'll hopefully be able to be visited again.

[@worldtraveler930]

Free Ukraine!!!! 🤠👍🇺🇦

[@cdjxwubcyex]

They want to demolish antennas for a few years now. But now they got much bigger problems, so maybe Duga will stay for some time.

[@GilesWendes]

same. Very impressive

[@nakayle]

@@cdjxwubcyex Too impressive to destroy but should never be used again.

[@cdjxwubcyex]

@@nakayle yes, I hope Ukrainians will keep it as a monument after the collapse of russian empire.

[@rachelcarre9468]

There was so much ‘interesting’ stuff going on during the Cold War. Thank you for producing this. 😀

[@RevMikeBlack]

I remember listening on my Transoceanic tube powered shortwave radio when I was a child. I thought it was the sound of helicopter radio transmissions from our soldiers in Vietnam. It's amazing what children can imagine.

[@johnbishop6045]

Another great informative video, Lewis! I remember the woodpecker well from my early interest in radio in the 80s. It was just the loudest signal on a standard SW radio, even louder than the interference from my dad's electric arc welder, which was only 20 yards away. We never knew what it was back then. I eventually gave up wandering around the house turning things off to try to find the source.

[@paulk8io445]

I had a pretty potent hf radio set up that time with directional hi gain yagis and a full legal limit rf amplifier. The effective radiated power of my setup was about 30 kw. I could chase the signal out of the amateur bands by taking my electronic cw keyer and matching the pulse rate and width of the transmitted signal. As you mentioned it was very effective. Once it left the amateur frequencies I stopped my “testing”. I wondered at the time if I could possibly start ww3, glad I didn’t.

[@Isochest]

You probably did us a big favour particularly me as a youngster back in the 80s in the UK with my Ten Tec Argosy and only 40-50 Watts to a G5RV

[@bricefleckenstein9666]

@@Isochest You both had a TON of power compared to my bare HW-7.

[@godspeed-is-taken]

I’m not very knowledgeable about radio frequencies etc but what do you mean when you say you could have started ww3

[@bricefleckenstein9666]

@@godspeed-is-taken The "woodpecker" appears to have been an over-the-hoizon radar intended to earth track ICBM launches.

[@paulk8io445]

@@godspeed-is-taken radar works by returning an echo. The system sends a short pulse of radio energy and then stops listens waiting for a return pulse reflected from an object like a plane or missile. My fake signal return would have lit up their system.

[@purplealice]

I remember that those radar stations were so powerful that they radiated significant interference on their various harmonic frequencies.

[@FedericoLucchi]

Using a walkie-talking in the vicinity might have been a problem. Frying an egg, not so much.

[@Darryl_Frost]

I remember it well, back in the day following the woodpecker over the amateur bands and sending CW dots making it QSY (change frequency). My estimation of the transmitter power of that thing is A LOT, it was always by far the biggest signal on the band. It was HUGE.

[@alienwarex51i3]

Why would sending CW dots make it change freq?

[@Darryl_Frost]

@@alienwarex51i3 Because the dots will look like an echo to the radar, and it jams the radars ability to detect real echo's, so it will change frequency to avoid the interference.

[@ianliston-smith7921]

Very good research. It indeed played havoc with monitoring at BBCM in the 1980s! I'd like to think amateur jamming had an effect - and maybe it did cause QRM to any weak returned reflected Woodpecker signal. Sometimes it was so strong on about 10.7 MHz it broke through onto FM radios via the IF. Of course the "good guys" had this tech too, but it was much more discreet...

[@Gustav_Kuriga]

Amateur "jamming" being the dumbest thing in the world. Ah yes, let's risk nuclear war.

[@scottb5662]

I was a US Novice Ham in the 80s. CW only on 7100-7150 and 21100-21200 kHz were good for me on a vertical. The Woodpecker was something you had to dance around. It absolutely hammered in. Some one told us "H5H comrade" Sending the H5H sequence in cw seemed to make it move! Probably wishfull thinking but I sent it often if they QRMed a station I was trying to copy! 73, Scott W0KU.

[@gonzinigonz]

Had an interest in this place for years. There's some great video footage of the site on here I've found over the years. Also some of the transmitter site on the day it was being closed and they were leaving, they gave a bit of a guided tour inside. Worth a watch.

[@glenjarnold]

I've been using a VR headset and program to look around it and from the top. Very interesting!

[@gonzinigonz]

@@glenjarnold Search for this video on here :) Duga - Nadajnik Lubecz-1 (unikatowe nagranie)

[@nickbenke3306]

I've been to the Duga 2 times as part of a Chernobyl tour. It makes you stand there with your mouth open when you see how big it is and the fantastic engineering!

[@oif3gunner]

@@glenjarnold what program

[@dw7920]

Concise and informative as usual Lewis - thanks! I remember tuning into the Duga/Woodpecker's signal with my Dad way back when. He was a radio comms professional and bemoaned the Soviets and their habit of screwing the bands up for everyone.. It's one of those places I'd love to visit one day when - hopefully - the current conflict in that particular part of the world is resolved.

[@thejoneseys]

I first discovered this late one evening in 1980 at the end of one of the bands on my dads car radio and that peaked my interest in the strange helicopter sound (which is what I first thought it was). There is an interesting film called "The Russian Woodpecker" from 2015 for those interested, it is Russian with English subtitles but it's well worth a watch even if you don't entirely believe the story it's certainly thought provoking!

[@williamwilson6499]

Piqued.

[@Nielsquake0]

Man the trailer makes it look like yet another propaganda film and here I was looking for documantaries about over the horizon radar :(

[@welshpete12]

@@williamwilson6499 There is always one ! LOL

[@Nielsquake0]

@@sonyx5332 lol I just genuinely wanted a docu about these radar setups like a tour and explanation of how the elements functioned and maybe a visit to an active site

[@MINITMANRADIONETWORK]

It was a Soviet era brainwashing device.Its effects kick in after 40 years.

[@cannong1728]

Got my ticket in 1977 when I was 14. It was a constant battle as a new ham on HF and certainly made operating more difficult on certain parts of the bands. That sound is forever ingrained in my head and hearing on this video brings back so many memories! 73, K9ALT

[@crazydrummer181]

I’ve noticed people leaving a set of letters and number at the end of their comments. Could you explain what it means to me? I’ve recently picked up an interest in radio a am looking to buy a sw radio. Thanks.

[@cannong1728]

@@crazydrummer181 Amateur Radio call sign. Every Amateur Radio operator is issued a license from the FCC or the individual country governmental equivalent. It consists of a series of letters and a number. It's how a ham identifies himself and his station. Hope that helps....

[@crazydrummer181]

@@cannong1728 thank you for the information. It did help.

[@MarculinoJalao]

Amazing info about the Russian woodpecker. When I was a kid in the late 80s I remember to listen those signals. I started doing SWL back in Brazil. I hated those signals and never realized where they were coming from until I saw your video. I became a ham radio and then an electrical engineer.

[@Phil-M0KPH]

A phenomenal structure when seen from up close. Somewhere I would like to visit one day. I do remember it was a common sound in the early 80s and was often mentioned on the CB.

[@danielscotcher]

Another great video, having not even been born when this was going on it’s interesting to learn about these legacy systems that were used many years ago. Keep up the hard work Lewis 👌

[@stanthayer9833]

Wow, great article, I finally got to see what the woodpecker looks like. I replaced many older electric heaters around the Eastern Townships of Quebec that used the coiled nichrome elements which acted like pickup coils and gave off all kinds of wierd scary sounds. The newer heater types were the ceramic encased strait element which greatly reduced the induced woodpecker signal. It was a local ham radio operator named Don Hannah that explained it to me. I don't recall his call sign, if he had one, and I became an amateur radio operator that day. Imagine the stories we made up to explain the woodpecker signal coming from the other side of the planet when, at that time, AM radio stations were not everywhere, mainly in the major cities and signals came in a skip layer only at night, sometimes, FM and TV were still somewhere in the future. Some people just would not except the real explanation but then made up their own which was great comedy for us. The woodpecker had a distinct signal that wobbled as it bounced around the planet so Don knew it was a major dx. He/we, had no idea what it was for or who was doing it until about 1969 when other hams were working on the Dew line up north and the info was passed out. Many thanks to all who spent the time to allow me a look at a bygone era legend! 73's VE3STH

[@SimonVK3XEM]

Thanks again for a brilliant walk back into history. I remember hearing the woodpecker as a new ham back then and the explanation given my other hams about it being a Russian over the horizon RADAR system.

[@jeremymorrall6750]

I used to be a so-called 'DXer' (short-wave radio enthusiast) in New Zealand in the 1980's and well remember that sound. I had no idea what it was back then.

[@bazza945]

Me2, from ZLB.

[@willgallatin2802]

CQ DX DE N8LSL

[@JohnCompton1]

Exhaustively researched, skillfully written, and adroitly presented. Engrossing stuff man.

[@RingwayManchester]

Thanks John!

[@CraigPetersen12f36b]

I remember hearing this on the CB band back in the 70's and 80's when the band was open. I have been a HAM for some 32 years now and am glad it's not active anymore. I have a Kenwood TS-850 HF transceiver in my collection that has a second noise blanker that is designed to reduce or eliminate the pulsing "wood pecker" noise. Now a days you can still hear number stations on certain segments of the band between 40 and 20 meters. Also there are what I call "sweepers" that are mostly heard from 25-26.5MHz sections of the HF band. The sweeps are roughly 500kHz wide, step in roughly 200Hz steps and are completed in about 1 second and run continuously.

[@jamesmoore6424]

I remember hearing the woodpecker hear in ZL. The interesting thing though is that it would have been a one use system 🤔. A good friend of mine used to work for BCNZ, New Zealand and he had a job recording the Short Wave BBC feed at midday, this was some time in the 70's, as they would hear the lead up they knew to record the pips for the time and right on the hour the signal went from what was described as a full house to no signal. The reason? The French had done an open air test at Muroroa Atoll and it destroyed the ions in the ionosphere!!! So my friend being the guy with the brains arranged the official message to parliament and the French were called out in our debating chamber within half an hour of the test, which really upset the French because in those days "how the heck did those kiwi fuckers work it so quickly that we had exploded a nuclear bomb?" (In my best French accent) It took more than a few days before the signals picked up again. So after a few nukes it would likely be useless!

[@HamRadioDX]

Hands down one of the best doco series makers out there. Thanks for covering this topic Lewis

[@evulclown]

Climbed to the top of Duga-1, it's truly awe inspiring as a structure in person!

[@sillkthashocker]

Hey, kid. Get down from there!

[@danhouse7565]

How about a vid that breaks down the antenna and other elements of this giant and weird station? Nothing about this looks like anything I know about radar and radio in general. Great video on this giant and weird station!

[@LiquidAudio]

I remember this so well as a kid fascinated by shortwave radio, cursing at the woodpecker drowning out everything across vast swathes of the radio spectrum. I'm in Perth, Western Australia, so you could hear it everywhere.

[@kevinbyrne4538]

OMG You could hear the Soviet "Woodpecker" (OTH radar) even in Perth, Australia?! Wow.

[@LiquidAudio]

@@kevinbyrne4538 Yeah, not always but when the time and conditions were right, that woodpecker was audible across multiple bands!

[@3rdalbum]

Haha, I'm in Perth too. My father lived in Albany and had a shortwave receiver, and reckons he was able to hear transmissions from all over the globe when the conditions were just right. Next time I see him I'll ask him if he knew about the Woodpecker.

[@zakman246]

​@@3rdalbumDid he hear it?

[@MeteorMark]

Thanks for the video and information, I'm not a Radio Amateur, only did some 27MHz CB and went into professional telecommunication systems. Had heard of it before in other documentaries, but haven't heard it personally. And somebody else might already have remarked that the array is featured in the "Divergent" series as the wall to keep the population in

[@TheTodd24]

Thanks, nice job, brought back some memories when I was younger with my grandfather listening in on the SW.

[@RJDA.Dakota]

Used to hear this regularly during the 1970s and 80s. Vast sections of the HF band were interfered with. Communications radios as well as small portable radios could receive it even here in the USA.

[@GhostOfSnuffles]

I lived in a neighborhood that had several ham radio enthusiasts in the early 80's who would often complain that the over the horizon radar systems was the bane of their existence. California had one system in particular that would constantly sweep through the entire ham radio spectrum with a sound that was like one of those hi/low sirens. In the days before digital tech the air waves were in their wild west stage.

[@wawolff6085]

I was subjected to the Woodpecker around 1961. When we hams were being interfered with, we would just send a string of dots back at it. Within a few minutes, it would move out of the 40 meter band. From 1962-1963, I visited what I believed was one of the US's OTH sites. It had the largest helical HF antenna I had ever seen, the conductor was a pair of huge copper tubes [3+ inches in diameter] strapped together. I could be rotated. I got a glimpse of the Collins transmitter before the door was slammed in my face. It had 4 glowing 4CX25000A3 transmitter tubes. That, I believe is 100,000 watt dissipation; so the transmit power was at least 200KW. I have never found a photo of this place near Roswell NM.

[@leftright4450]

Wow you are my man. Watching your video after few weeks. It's as usual very excellent. Finally you got almost a million views on a single video which you deserved. Love you from Manchester of Pakistan :)

[@glennfrancis9031]

I remember my older brother and I listening to this on his short wave radio back in the 70's I think. I remember thinking it was a helicopter. There used to be all kinds of strange sounds to hear on the radio back then.

[@PascalGienger]

When I was 11 I got my first stereo system from my father because he bought a new one. I got a Quelle Universum amplifier (2x 30 watts), two gigantesque speakers (1970ies....) and a SW/MW/LW/FM tuner. Was quite modern for its time. But - it was very bad when it came to proper shielding. When listening to records with a record player connected to the high ohm low voltage magnetic pickup connection I heard more soviet radio in the evening than my record - of course, the high ohm phono preamp reacted like a radio receiver with the connection cable to the turntable. When not using FM, I often had that woodpecker sound and I never knew what it was. I thought my tuner was defect. It was annoying nearly everywhere. As there was no internet I never understood why.

[@Ephoros]

This ir really before my time but i remember two sistems like this was built here in Latvia. Radio Location Station (RLS) Darjal and RLS Dņepr. An 8kW transmitter watching over Baltic sea on a 120° wide arc, so more or less just watching over Sweden. The was kept operational even after Latvia regained it's independance from the soviets, and Russia paid something close to 5 million dollars a year to keep the smaller one "RLS Dņepr" operational untill 1998. The bigger one, Darjal was never finished and demolished in 1994.

[@glevideo]

There used to be one these Over-The-Horizon radar systems operational in the United States. It was located in the central part of the state of Oregon and the footprint of the three very large antenna arrays can still be seen on Google Earth. Search 24 kilometers ENE of the little town of Christmas Village. I drove into that area several months ago to explore and found that all the antennas have been dismantled and taken away. Some other highly secured research organization now occupies the buildings and there were fences and cameras that would not allow me to get very close.

[@I_am_Diogenes]

A lot of strangeness goes on out in that area of Oregon .

[@dufushead]

You know your audience well. Thanks that was ace.

[@crabby7668]

That really takes me back? Excellent vid as usual.

[@henrik1743]

I've climbed this radar when I was in Pripyat visiting Tjernobyl, amazing amazing structure to look at or stand under.. it's HUUUGE.

[@dotnetforever]

One of teachers in university was an engineer on this project in Mykolaiv. He was telling us a lot about it.

[@woodybollox]

We had an over the horizon radar setup not many miles from me. It was called cobra mist in Orford on the Suffolk coast. They closed it down in early 70s. It had a peak power of 10MW.

[@alastairbarkley6572]

Orford - or, Orford Ness more specifically - was an important Radar development and testIng site in WW2. It also hosted one of the British coastal defence radar stations back then. And, there's a lighthouse there - rejected by conspiracy theorists as an explanation for the famous USAF airbase 'Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident'.

[@AvatarSD]

I were there, I smoked there. Climbed on the top alone. That was insane 6-day stalker trip in 2018. I was 23😄 Hello from Ukraine✌

[@Test-hw5fn]

I well remember the Wood Pecker in it’s heydays. They’re are still some strange Wideband signals popping up on HF even now. I remember a QST article about 10 years ago that assessed some of theses strange signals and concluded they were Over The Horizon Radar signals. They were quite different from the Wood Pecker in form suggesting they were more sophisticated and and second generation OTHRs probably using the greater computer processing power available compared to the 70s and 80s.

[@shanehogarth6373]

Really interesting as last week I was working a mate on 40m while in Romania and we both heard the woodpecker. We are both of an age to remember exactly what it sounded like and we both recognised it immediately. There was also a presumably Ukrainian transmission going on which was basically a guy ranting a handfull of sentences repeatedly. I used the mic function of google translate and one of the sentences said nasty things about Mr Putin's sexual preferences and another wished him a nasty ending. It was a bit like being young lad again listening to all the cold war stuff from my bedroom using a 19set and an external bfo wondering what all these odd broadcasts were all about. Regarding the woodpecker, it would seem not all the sites were decommissioned as it was alive and pecking.

[@ThePsiclone]

If nothing else you have to admire the sheer amount of work involved in constructing that thing. You don't twig how big it is until you notice the trees below it. (no pun intended haha)

[@raypitts4880]

twig ha ha

[@YouScroob]

It, the large array, is 500ft (152m) high and 1500ft (457m) long.

[@davidlowson100]

It was also the inspiration for the fence on top of the wall in the Divergent movie series.

[@LodewijkVrije]

Russia also basically made an upgraded version of this called the"29Б6 Контейнер" or "29b6 Container" when they were testing it, you could frequently pick it up on amateur radio. blanketing out the entire 14khz band often.

[@domi3821]

You never fail to amaze with these videos. 73

[@thes764]

Another well researched video Lewis! You might follow this one up with one on current day woodpecker, the infamous Kontayner. Also heard interfering all over HF, from HAM bands to NAT transatlantic aircraft channels. Mostly found just below MUF3000, too. Tends to avoid frequencies occupied by strong signals, tough. 73

[@charlie15627]

Yes and no He completely neglected to mention that the Soviets were putting their own radar satellites into orbit around that time. On the other hand, I found the rest of the video informative, enlightening and entertaining. So, well researched? Yes and no.

[@samw2195]

Funny how I mentioned that in my comment the other day while SWL to numbers stations with the woodpecker in the background Great to see this 👍

[@Seasonstobecheerful]

A real blast from the past ..literally 👍

[@Isochest]

It certainly blasted in the UK!

[@bethechange2024]

That brings back fond memories from my childhood and the 41m band shortwave listening in Ontario around 0200 UTC. Thank you!!

[@johnhopkins6260]

I still recall endless command post hours of this cacophonic symphony, while stationed with USAFE mobile tactical radar units in the 2ATAF ADIZ (aka "Fulda Gap"), from the late 70s to early 80s. As far as I recall, HF/SSB, 3.940MHz... (Collins KWM-2A + 30L-1 Linear Amp) Consistent, massive intake of caffeine and nicotine... to be followed with heavy Apfelkorn therapy... was relatively effective in maintaining relative mental health.

[@andykirby]

Loved this rog, amazing shots as well!

[@tinglestingles]

I've visited Chernobyl and this particular site - about 5 years ago. Very interesting and a massive installation.

[@cromwellg60]

I visited this in 2017 and climbed it along with a friend. The thing is crazy up close. Like something from a dystopian universe.

[@siffler1234]

fun fact, Chernobyl was initially built to power this array, any spare energy was tapped into the grid, few rumours leaked from early warning icbm attack to full band jamming hf bands, impressive engineering tho

[@danjoseph5707]

Well done, great video. Thanks!

[@alasdair4161]

I remember that signal well, and I'm in Australia. Another was a constant heavy metal power chord tone that hammered several frequencies at once. Word back then was it was Russian signal jammers blocking something, but nobody knew for sure. I even used it a few times for IF peaking and antenna tuning.. lol

[@BarefootPhilanthropist]

Have a look at JORN.

[@VerdusMonsoon1]

Russians jammed Christian Radio Stations. From Norway etc. ……getting sent to a Gulag for owning a bible.

[@JediBuddhist]

My mate Mike used to argue about why someone would be broadcasting from a helicoopter and not talking... Now we know. Thanks. It is quite beautiful now I see it, especially in the mist.

[@j887276]

We don't have TV or internet in our home, just listen to AM/FM radio and I swear we've heard this recently. That's actually how I found this video, by looking for the source of the sound 😩.

[@jatoav8or]

My Romanian neighbor grew up in under Soviet control and claims that western broadcasts were actively blocked. Jamming signals were especially prevalent she said in the late 60s thru the 70s in the regions bordering free European countries.

[@rutabagasteu]

Ham radio operators have told me it caused them problems as well. The woodpecker is near Chernoble and lost power when the nearby nuclear power supply failed. Saw that on Science Channel's Mysteries of the Abandoned.

[@BrightBlueJim]

Well, it was pretty close, all right, but the area did not lose power permanently. However, as stated in the video, this WAS within the 30 km exclusion zone, so maybe nobody would go to work there anymore.

[@HotAxleBox]

Fascinating, thanks for uploading this video!

[@fredflintstone8048]

I really enjoyed the Documentary film: The Russian Woodpecker - 2015 Director: Chad Gracia Produced by: Mike Lerner, Ram Devineni, Chad Gracia . It's also fun to get on Google earth where you can use street view to move along the antenna array. It's truly massive.

[@michaelturner4457]

I remember hearing the woodpecker on a cheap Elftone FM/AM pocket radio, because it was breaking into the radio's 10.7MHz FM IF section.

[@grahamariss2111]

Having been to the site near Chernobyl it was linked to a large main frame computer to convert the return into something useful. I understood that it never really worked, they could track the space shuttle launch, but the limitations of the processing capacity of the primitive computer that yes they could track these launches as long as you knew that they were taking place so you could look for them in the "fog" of data. Thus in their actual role of identifying a surprise attack they were all but useless.

[@vladshmit]

I was born and raised in Komsomolsk-on-Amur town but I can't seem to recall the Duga-2 location. But that town in fact was filled with interesting soviet military sites worth visiting.

[@micahhawkins-bs9gf]

That thing would drive my Dad nuts back in the late 70s, early 80s. Ever heard the saying that something is 'enough to make a preacher cuss'? The Russian Woodpecker was, on more than one occasion, just such a thing.

[@collinmc90]

I can't be the only one who thinks there is just something beautiful about antennae and radar arrays. I blame growing up with post cold-war media in the 90s lol. Maybe Golden-Eye had a bigger effect on me than I thought lmao.

[@mnpd3]

The thing drove me nuts in the late 70's and early 80's when I was active mostly on amateur HF. 20-meters (14-mhz) was most affected, but it could be heard on most shortwave frequencies. This was back in the pre-satellite communications era where shortwave was important.

[@alexkalish8288]

I heard this signal in 1964-65 in California. It was very strong and already named and understood. It was amazingly loud and annoying on the high side of 40 m and wrecked the 49 m shortwave band. Later it became ubiquitous until they ended it.

[@RadioWhisperer]

I remember as a young ham wondering what that was on air. I started on HF in 1976 with a system that could only be called embarrassing, but it was so much fun. Until i moved to New England and asked at a club meeting what that was i had no idea. Those were the days when a club newsletter was sent by snail mail lol

[@andreasklindt7144]

That helicopter like woodpecker sound... I could swear I've heard it once when I was a child playing with my dad's old short wave radio receiver in Hamburg, Germany. I remember I was with a friend from school in my room, we were switching through the frequencies when we heard that (for us 6-7 years old kids) scary woodpecker sound. It must've been one of the last times the Duga was used in late 1989, although even my father had no idea what it was. Or at least he claimed to not know to not scare us further. Just some random interference, he saud... We imagined it to be aliens! 🤣 When I saw "Independence Day" for the first time in 1997 I got goosebumbs when I first heard that alien signal, because it reminded me on that mysterious sound I've heard 8 years earlier. I'm pretty sure Roland Emmerich used the Russian Woodpecker as an inspiration for his movie.

[@lordtherapeutics]

Reminds me of the fantastic Chicksands ‘elephant cage’ that dominated the south Bedfordshire countryside until the early 90s. It would be a great subject for one of these videos!

[@gonzo_the_great1675]

These were not just soviet, NATO had them too. They didn't just go away, they went spread spectrum. So were not so obvious. Another signal on the HF bands that were an annoyance to some, were the chirp sounders. These swept the 2-28MHz spectrum every 4min 16sec (from memory). And were used for profiling the ionospheric paths between various paths. The last I saw was transmitting from Inskip in the UK. Listening on an analogue receiver, you just heard a click. On an SDR you could see a very rapid sweep. These used to transmit 100w or 1kw into wide band antennas. But like the OH radars, they too went spread spectrum. And with modern DSP techniques, could do the same job on a few watts.

[@BrightBlueJim]

Not all of them have gone spread-spectrum - I heard (and saw on waterfall) several examples of this over just the past few months.

[@williamwilson6499]

Used to scan the HF band as a SIGINT operator back in the early 80s. The sweeping, ratatatat sound of the signal was a common occurrence. We were interested in COMINT so we just ignored it.

[@DARIVSARCHITECTVS]

When we were young, my friends and listening to shortwave always thought the Russian woodpecker was just the Russian government making itself a pain in the ass to the world by jamming vast amounts of bandwidth. It makes sense that it was an overpowered defense radar from the cold war.

[@renakunisaki]

This is the story of a drunk Russian dude shouting so loud that nobody else can hear eachother. When telling him to shut up didn't work, people responded by mimicking him so that he couldn't hear either.

[@nielsennielsen4331]

Inside the exclusion zone around Chernobyl, its not allowed to demolish or desturb the ground because of the radiactive dust it would stir up, just digging with a shovel is associated with alot of paperwork... Thats (one) of the reasons they havent torn it down, I was told by one of the guides one a visit there a few years back. :) They cant demolish it, so they just leave it, and host tours to come and see it. It is waaaay bigger in real life than any pictures makes you believe :) :)

[@alainbroekema5000]

Great video, thanks Lewis and 73 !

[@stever4899]

I always wonder if the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built for the purpose of servicing Duga-2. Is there any information (or somewhat reliable speculation) about that?

[@georgegonzalez2476]

Nope, for several reasons: (1) The woodpecker was "only" about 10 million watts peak, maybe 3 megawatts average. Maybe requiring 7 million watts from the power line. Chernobyl was 3,500 megawatts. (2) The woodpecker site near Chernobyl was receive-only, requiring just a few kilowatts.

[@willgallatin2802]

I HATED that blasted woodpecker as a teen ham operator in the early 80's. Seemed to love the 40 meter band about the time I got home from school. It made making contacts in Europe a challenge to say the least.