What Happened to the "Woodpecker"?

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AB4BF

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Back years ago, I rebuilt a halicrafters SX28A Super Skyrider. This was in the late 60's early 70's and I went off to school and sold the receiver. While I was aligning it, that dastardly woodpecker would drive me nuts. I now have a Grundig 800 and haven't heard anything like the woodpecker noise. Anyone know what it was or what it could have been? I read many conjectures like it was the US' over the horizon radar or it was Russia's or even China's but never heard what it really was. ??
 

AB4BF

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Re: The Woodpecker

Wow! Wiki has everything. Thanks for the link, Runslow, very informative. I often wondered how they handled standing wave because that transmission would run up and down the spectrum from 2.5 to 26 Hz. and the harmonics were even worse. I used the poor mans alignment signal (WWV) and set up the front and intermediates. I always got it 'ligned even with the woodpecker. With the SX28 I could spin the dial and follow the:lol: woodpecker signal somewhat. Brings back memories.
 

ka3jjz

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Once in every blue moon, someone fires off those transmitters - most, as I understand it, are not in good shape anymore. I seem to recall that AEA (long defunct) made a unit to combat the woodpecker that at least some thought worked well...good riddance to bad rubbish. We now have to contend with CODAR in the 60m (and sometimes 90m) tropical band (mutliple impolite terms follow - suppressed since this is a family board....:.>> )

73 Mike
 

k9rzz

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If you tune around 4,700 to 4,900 khz in the evenings you can hear the current 'over the horizon' radar stations. I think they are for coastal wave tracking, but could be drug boat/plane spotting around Florida as well. It's more of a sweeping noise that the headache pounding sound the Woodpecker was, but it's what's currently being heard down there and driving the 60 meter shortwave DXers crazy.
 

N1BHH

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CODAR is all over the HF bands, but the Russian Woodpecker is dead. There is only one site which still has antennas erected, but all the equipment is gone. I read somewhere that shortly after the Cold War ended and the USSR found they were nearly bankrupt, that several of their sites were abandoned without much removal of equipment, and subsequently the citizens went in and plundered what was left and even destroyed much of the equipment. http://www.etl.noaa.gov/technology/archive/surface/
 
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k9rzz

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othb_radar.jpg


This is one of the woodpecker sites:

http://k9zw.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/chernobyl-2-othr/

russianwoodpecker.jpg


13912.jpg


No wonder they were so darn loud.

That's probably bigger than what was used by Radio Moscow!
 
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k8mcn

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and just think, this antenna farm is located in the permanently closed
Chernobyl area....it is reported that some locals still sneak in the area, but the entire site is closed forever to human population-----just the 5 legged dear and 3 eared rabbits along with massive amounts of radiation are residents
 

N8DV

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I guess you could say that the area really does radiate, not the RF stuff anyway.
 

jon_k

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k8mcn said:
and just think, this antenna farm is located in the permanently closed
Chernobyl area....it is reported that some locals still sneak in the area, but the entire site is closed forever to human population-----just the 5 legged dear and 3 eared rabbits along with massive amounts of radiation are residents

Sounds like a good place for a repeater. Too bad it's not suitable to live within 100 miles of the tower site.
 

ka5lqj

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"The Woodpecker".......

Hi,

Shouldn't be too hard to find the residents around the Russian site though, the "glow-
in-the-dark", well at least for a little while.

I remember back when I was just a Short-wave listener in the 60's & 70's having to
contend with that "noise". Glad it's gone, so I can enjoy when 10 meters gets "hot",
Hi Hi. But, I'm there now on 28.345, 29.101.0, and 29.450.

Respectfully,
73,

Don/KA5LQJ
N. Cedar Grove, LA.
Caddo Parish
EM-32
 
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