The mysterious Russian radio station UVB-76 broadcast three cryptic code words over the weekend, according to monitoring reports.
The Telegram channel UVB-76 Logs, which tracks the station's activity, reported that the shortwave channel transmitted the Russian word kolomokh on Saturday, August 29, at 5:59 p.m. Moscow time. On Sunday, August 30, the station broadcast the word ogonyok at 3:27 p.m. Moscow time, followed by the word koptsky less than an hour later at 4:21 p.m.
The weekend transmissions followed an unusual surge in broadcasts on Thursday, August 27, when the station sent out an anomalous number of encrypted messages. Broadcasting began exceptionally early that morning, with the first coded message going on air around 7:00 a.m. Moscow time, followed by additional transmissions at 9:25 a.m. and 10:53 a.m.
From 11:00 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday, the radio station began broadcasting continuously, airing several encrypted transmissions every hour throughout the day.
Cold War radio mystery
UVB-76, widely known to radio enthusiasts as The Doomsday Radio Station or The Buzzer, is a high-frequency shortwave radio station operating on 4625 kHz. The station has been broadcasting continuously since the Cold War era, emitting a monotonous channel marker tone that repeats approximately 25 times per minute.
While the station spends most of its time broadcasting a regular buzzing sound, it occasionally breaks its routine to transmit voice messages in Russian. These rare broadcasts typically consist of phonetic names, numbers, or individual code words. Dedicated monitoring networks and amateur radio operators track the frequency around the clock to log any unexpected changes in signal activity.
Although Russian authorities have never officially disclosed the station's purpose, security analysts generally consider it a military communications channel for Russia's western armed forces. Popular urban legends and online theories have long linked the frequency to fail-safe command systems, earning it its ominous nickname among shortwave listeners.
