Page 8 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - April 2024

8 Ghostly Radio Station That No One Runs

The Ghostly Radio Station

That No One Claims to

Run

“MDZhB” has been broadcasting

since 1982. No one knows why.

In the middle of a Russian swampland,
not far from the city of St Petersburg, is

a rectangular iron gate. Beyond its rusted
bars is a collection of radio towers,
abandoned buildings and power lines
bordered by a dry-stone wall. This
sinister location is the focus of a mystery
which stretches back to the height of the
Cold War.

It is thought to be the headquarters of a
radio station, “MDZhB”, that no-one has
ever claimed to run. Twenty-four hours a

day, seven days a week, for the last three-
the Soviet Union, rather than shutting in a neighbouring county, shortwave
and-a-half decades, it’s been
broadcasting a dull, monotonous tone. down, the station’s activity sharply stations like the BBC World Service are
increased. aimed at audiences from Senegal to
Every few seconds it’s joined by a
Singapore. Both stations are broadcast
second sound, like some ghostly ship
There’s no shortage of theories to explain from the same building.
sounding its foghorn. Then the drone
what the Buzzer might be for – ranging
continues.
from keeping in touch with submarines to It’s all thanks to “skywaves”. Higher
communing with aliens. One such idea is frequency radio signals can only travel in
Once or twice a week, a man or woman
that it’s acting as a “Dead Hand” signal; a straight line, eventually becoming lost
will read out some words in Russian,
in the event Russia is hit by a nuclear as they bump into obstacles or reach the
such as “dinghy” or “farming specialist”.
attack, the drone will stop and horizon. But shortwave frequencies have
And that’s it. Anyone, anywhere in the
world can listen in, simply by tuning a automatically trigger a retaliation. No an extra trick – they can bounce off
questions asked, just total nuclear charged particles in the upper
radio to the frequency 4625 kHz.
obliteration on both sides. atmosphere, allowing them to zig-zag
between the earth and the sky and travel
It’s so enigmatic, it’s as if it was designed
This may not be as wacky as it sounds. thousands, rather than tens, of miles.
with conspiracy theorists in mind. Today
the station has an online following The system was originally pioneered in
the Soviet era, where it took the form of a Which brings us back to the Dead Hand
numbering in the tens of thousands, who
computer system which scanned the theory. As you might expect, shortwave
know it affectionately as “the Buzzer”. It
airwaves for signs of life or nuclear signals have proved extremely popular.
joins two similar mystery stations, “the
fallout. Alarmingly, many experts believe Today they’re used by ships, aircraft and
Pip” and the “Squeaky Wheel”. As their
fans readily admit themselves, they have it may still be in use. As Russian the military to send messages across
president Vladimir Putin pointed out continents, oceans and mountain ranges.
absolutely no idea what they are listening
himself earlier this year, “nobody would But there’s a catch.
to.
survive” a nuclear war between Russia
and the United States. Could the Buzzer The lofty layer isn’t so much a flat mirror,
In fact, no-one does. “There’s absolutely
no information in the signal,” says David be warding one off? but a wave, which undulates like the
surface of the ocean. During the day it
Stupples, an expert in signals intelligence
As it happens, there are clues in the signal moves steadily higher, while at night, it
from City University, London.
itself. Like all international radio, the creeps down towards the Earth. If you
Buzzer operates at a relatively low want to absolutely guarantee that your
What’s going on?
frequency known as “shortwave”. This station can be heard on the other side of
means that – compared to local radio, the planet – and if you’re using it as a cue
The frequency is thought to belong to the
mobile phone and television signals – for nuclear war, you probably do – it’s
Russian military, though they’ve never
fewer waves pass through a single point important to change the frequency
actually admitted this. It first began
every second. It also means they can depending on the time of day, to catch up.
broadcasting at the close of the Cold War,
when communism was in decline. Today travel a lot further. The BBC World Service already does
this. The Buzzer doesn’t.
it’s transmitted from two locations – the
While you’d be hard pressed to listen to a
St Petersburg site and a location near
local station such as BBC Radio London (Continued on Page 10)
Moscow. Bizarrely, after the collapse of