Modern Mysteries

Russia's 'Doomsday Radio' transmits two more mystery messages

By T.K. Randall
September 9, 2025 ·  10 comments

Image: Ravoire Radio Tower (illustrative)
Credit: Jacek Rużyczka / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) The mysterious shortwave radio station, which is known as UVB-76 (but also sometimes 'The Buzzer'), has been broadcasting a signal from somewhere within Russia for several decades.

Its indeterminate purpose, coupled with the strange and disjointed nature of its broadcasts, has earned it something of a reputation among radio enthusiasts around the world.

Ardent listeners have managed to pick up all manner of strange sounds from the station ranging from hums and buzzes to clips of cartoon characters, disjointed sentences, numbers being recited by a synthetic voice and other seemingly random words, phrases and sounds.

This has lead to a great deal of debate over exactly what these broadcasts mean and whether there is some overarching purpose to UVB-76 that nobody has been able to decipher. The enigmatic station came to life once more on Monday of this week when it transmitted two cryptic voice messages consisting of codewords such as 'NZHTI' and 'HOTEL' as well as strings of numbers such as '38, 965, 78, 58, 88, 37' (which could be co-ordinates).

Exactly what these messages mean and who they are intended for remains unclear.

"Some say [UVB-76] is an old Soviet Dead Man's Switch that triggers a nuclear attack on the west when it stops buzzing," said freelance radio monitor Ary Boender.

"Others say that it is a homing beacon for UFOs or a mind control device with which the Russians can program your mind."

"In the past, it was said that it was a remote control station belonging to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant."

Source: Mail Online | Comments (10)

Tags: Russia