The Buzzer, also called S28, UVB-76, or UZB-76, or a few other names, is an “oddity”. It has been operational in one form or another since 1982 (the tone or buzz has gone through a few changes over the years). But the articles that have been done on the Buzzer have all taken specific approaches to the story and each kind of slants it their own way.
Yeah, the buzz is annoying and not very interesting in itself. I mean, once you get over the initial questions of “why” and “who”, questions you will likely never know the answers too.
Basic annoying buzzer here, for people who might not have heard it before:
Numbers Station, Russian, S28 (UVB-76 or Buzzer), June 04, 2011, 2225 UTC, 4625 kHz USB + Carrier - YouTube
As for listening 20 years 24x7, that really has not happened on any noticeable scale. For the past 29 years most listeners who have bothered with the Buzzer have occasionally tuned in and pretty much confirmed, yep, still going, and moved on to something else. This is an important thing to remember. Then in 1997 (Christmas Eve) a voice message was heard on the Buzzer. And again in 2000 (Christmas Eve), 2002, and 2003. But 2002 and 2003 were part of the same flurry of activity, in December of 2002 a voice message was noticed and then several were reported over the next 3 months until about March of 2003.
There are several possible explanations for this activity and the surges in it. The following is my opinion, and I would have trouble proving it, but it fits with what I noticed in the hobby at the time and from talking with various people about the issue.
Personally, I believe that there were many more messages sent, but until someone stumbled on the first one no one really paid attention to the boring Buzzer long enough to hear them. The flurry of activity in late 2002/early 2003 corresponded with a few dedicated listeners spending time on the station for the first time, and the activity “faded” when those listeners moved on to other things. And after that the Buzzer received minimal attention from the hobbyist community for a number of years.
When the Internet really became a going thing, I mean common, and oddities like the buzzer got mentioned they sometimes grew in the telling. What was this odd Buzzing thing? Did it really control Russia’s Nuclear Arsenal as a sort of Dead Mans Switch? This last possibility was really a driver when the Buzzer went off the air in June of 2010. Many people on the Internet claimed (incorrectly) “in 28 years it has never stopped!” And further, since it was associated with nuclear arms (very, very, improbable) this must be an Earth shaking issue. Google Russian Buzzer Stopped to see some of the “out there” post on it. Even today in the #wunclub, #monitor, (both on StarChat) and the #priyom (on FreeNode) IRC channels occasionally someone, generally without a radio receiver who heard a rumor on the Net, will stop by and exclaim “I heard the Russian Buzzer stopped!”
This surge in interest did, however, have another affect. It actually got a few hobbyist back into paying attention to the Buzzer. And they found that messages were seemingly more common than had been previously noted or believed. The Internet allowed other things to happen, such as dedicated remote receivers that did, for the first time, actually monitor the Buzzer 24x7. This found even more messages. And this also led to more rumors of “the Buzzer stopped!” by users who do not understand that Net based audio sometimes glitches or pauses.
Today it is not unheard of for the Buzzer to send 5 to 8 voice messages in a single day, as many messages in a single day as had been heard for the entire first 20 years of operation. Is the station indeed sending more messages? Or is this seemingly increased activity a result of people paying more attention to the station?
Examples of recent Buzzer voice messages here:
Numbers Station, Russian, S28 "Buzzer" voice, August 22, 2011, 1350 UTC, 4625 kHz USB +Carrier - YouTube
Numbers Station, Russian, S28 "Buzzer" voice, October 08, 2011, 1330 UTC, 4625 kHz USB +Carrier - YouTube
Perception can be driven by data distribution. For example I have seen it suggested a couple of times on the Internet and by at least one media source (who contacted me for information) that the Vietnamese numbers station now known as V30 was aimed at sending messages to California. When I investigated why people might think that it turns out I was causing it myself. Since I was essentially at that time the only English language listener regularly reporting hearing the station there was an assumption in the English reading community that I must be in the target area. The fact is, and probably what skewed the perception, I was possibly the only English language listener willing to dedicate a receiver to recording every single transmission of the station, to better these receptions I built a Rhombic antenna pointed at the region, and I published the reception results.
So yeah, the Buzzer is not the most engaging thing to listen to, and I rarely listen to it myself, just every once in a while I tune in and say to myself “yep, it is still there”. But, the mystery around it is kind of cool. And you have to admit, a station that transmits for 29+ years pretty much non-stop with no strong explanation of why is kind of intriguing.
T!