Elara S. Novikova

[4625 kHz]  UVB-76

Der Buzzer UVB-76 book cover
A companion to the novel

Der Buzzer UVB-76

The Signal from the Cold

A remote station in the Siberian taiga. Four women, and a frequency that has buzzed since the Cold War. As a signal-processing student is drawn into an experiment no one will explain, the research on this site documents the real history behind it, the Buzzer, the numbers stations, and the war of the airwaves.

"UVB-76 is not loud. Were it loud, it would long since have been ignored."  , from the novel
About the book ▶ The story in 60 seconds Explore the history
The signal

It is still transmitting.

Since the mid-1970s a monotonic buzz has held 4625 kHz, roughly 25 times a minute. Nobody has ever officially explained it. Press play for a synthesized impression, or open a live WebSDR and tune 4625 kHz yourself.

Live WebSDR ↗ priyom.org ↗
4625 kHz · MDZhB · ~25 buzzes / min · synthesized approximation
The research behind the novel, explore it yourself

Dossiers

16 dossiers, the codebreakers who made the numbers unbreakable, the radar designer behind the Woodpecker, the spies who listened, and the monitors who chronicled it all.

Stations

18 stations, transmitters and systems, the Buzzer on 4625 kHz, the Lincolnshire Poacher, the Duga radar, the Dead Hand, and the one-time pad.

Network

Who built what, who ran which station, who decoded whom, 53 people, stations and institutions, 95 documented ties.

Timeline

150+ verified events across world, Soviet, Western and espionage tracks, plus a life track for every dossier. With four guided tours.

Map

42 journeys across the globe, from Povarovo to the Duga array at Chernobyl-2, from Havana to a DIA desk in Washington.

On this day

What happened today in the history of UVB-76 and the numbers stations? A fresh moment from the archive, every day.

The Signal Game

67 questions, from a whisper on the band to a megawatt jammer. How far up the spectrum can you tune?

The Book

An eerie Cold-War-radio thriller, and the real, verifiable history behind every page of this site.

More on the Today page →