Russian Woodpecker

[취급주의]

Russian Woodpecker

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"Steel Yard" redirects here. For the weight measuring device, see Steelyard balance.

Coordinates: 51°18′16″N 30°03′53″E / 51.3045404°N 30.0647736°E / 51.3045404; 30.0647736

Duga-3 array outside Chernobyl. The array of pairs of cylindrical/conical cages on the right are the driven elements, fed at the facing points with a form of ladder line suspended from stand-off platforms at top right. A backplane reflector of small wires can just be seen left of center, most clearly at the bottom of the image.

The Russian Woodpecker was a notorious Soviet radio signal that could be heard on the shortwave radio bands worldwide between July 1976 and December 1989. It sounded like a sharp, repetitive tapping noise, at 10 Hz, giving rise to the "Woodpecker" name. The random frequency hops disrupted legitimate broadcast, amateur radio, utility transmissions, and resulted in thousands of complaints by many countries worldwide. The signal was long believed to be that of an over-the-horizon radar (OTH) system. This theory was publicly confirmed after the fall of the Soviet Union, and is now known to be the Duga-3 (Russian: Дуга-3) ^[1] system, part of the Soviet ABM early-warning network. NATO military intelligence had photographed the system and given it the NATO reporting name Steel Yard.

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1 History
  • 1.1 Appearance
  • 1.2 Civilian identification
  • 1.3 Jamming
  • 1.4 Disappearance
• 2 Positions
• 3 Appearances in media
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 Further reading
• 7 External links

[edit] History

	Woodpecker Woodpecker on shortwave radio interfering with WWVH, November 2, 1984.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The Soviets had been working on early warning radar for their anti-ballistic missile systems through the 1960s, but most of these had been line-of-sight systems that were useful for raid analysis and interception only. None of these systems had the capability to provide early warning of a launch, which would give the defenses time to study the attack and plan a response. At the time the Soviet early-warning satellite network was not well developed, and there were questions about their ability to operate in a hostile environment including anti-satellite efforts. An over-the-horizon radar sited in the USSR would not have any of these problems, and work on such a system for this associated role started in the late 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

The first experimental system, Duga-1 (

 WikiMiniAtlas

47°04′30″N 31°39′00″E / 47.075000°N 31.650000°E / 47.075000; 31.650000 ^[2][3]), was built outside Mykolaiv in Ukraine, successfully detecting rocket launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2,500 kilometers. This was followed by the prototype Duga-2, built on the same site, which was able to track launches from the far east and submarines in the Pacific Ocean as the missiles flew towards Novaya Zemlya. Both of these radar systems were aimed east and were fairly low power, but with the concept proven work began on an operational system. The new Duga-3 systems used a transmitter and receiver separated by about 60 km.^[4]

[edit] Appearance

Transmitter

Receiver

Russian Woodpecker in Kiev Oblast.

Starting in 1976 a new and powerful radio signal was detected worldwide, and quickly dubbed the Woodpecker by amateur radio operators. Transmission power on some woodpecker transmitters was estimated to be as high as 10 MW Equivalent isotropically radiated power.

Triangulation quickly revealed the signals came from Ukraine. Confusion due to small differences in the reports being made from various military sources led to the site being alternately located near Kiev, Minsk, Chernobyl, Gomel or Chernihiv. All of these reports were describing the same deployment, with the transmitter only a few kilometers southwest of Chernobyl (south of Minsk, northwest of Kiev) and the receiver about 50 km northeast of Chernobyl (just west of Chernihiv, south of Gomel). Unknown to civilian observers at the time, NATO was aware of the new installation^{[citation needed]}, which they referred to as Steel Yard.

[edit] Civilian identification

Even from the earliest reports it was suspected that the signals were tests of an over-the-horizon radar,^[5] and this remained the most popular hypothesis during the Cold War. Several other theories were floated as well, including everything from jamming western broadcasts to submarine communications. The broadcast jamming theory was debunked early on when a monitoring survey showed that Radio Moscow and other pro-Soviet stations were just as badly affected by woodpecker interference as Western stations.

As more information about the signal became available, its purpose as a radar signal became increasingly obvious. In particular, its signal contained a clearly recognizable structure in each pulse, which was eventually identified as a 31-bit pseudo-random binary sequence, with a bit-width of 100 μs resulting in a 3.1 ms pulse.^[6] This sequence is usable for a 100 μs chirped pulse amplification system, giving a resolution of 15 km (10 mi) (the distance light travels in 50 μs). When a second Woodpecker appeared, this one located in eastern Russia but also pointed toward the US and covering blank spots in the first system's pattern, this conclusion became inescapable.

In 1988, the Federal Communications Commission conducted a study on the Woodpecker signal. Data analysis showed an inter-pulse period of about 90 ms, a frequency range of 7 to 19 MHz, a bandwidth of 0.02 to 0.8 MHz, and typical transmission time of 7 minutes.

• The signal was observed using three repetition rates: 10 Hz, 16 Hz and 20 Hz.
• The most common rate was 10 Hz, while the 16 Hz and 20 Hz modes were rather rare.
• The pulses transmitted by the woodpecker had a wide bandwidth, typically 40 kHz.

[edit] Jamming

The array at Chernobyl from a distance.

One idea amateur radio operators used to combat this interference was to attempt to "jam" the signal by transmitting synchronized unmodulated continuous wave signals, at the same pulse rate as the offending signal.^[7] They formed a club called the Woodpecker Hunting Club.^[8]

Simple CW pulses did not appear to have any effect. However, playing back recordings^{[not in citation given]} of the woodpecker transmissions sometimes caused the woodpecker transmissions to shift frequency leading to speculation that the receiving stations were able to differentiate between the "signature" waveform of the woodpecker transmissions and a simple pulsed carrier.^[9]

As well as disrupting shortwave amateur radio and broadcasting it could sometimes be heard over telephone circuits due to the strength of the signals. This led to a thriving industry of "Woodpecker filters" and noise blankers.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Disappearance

Starting in the late 1980s, even as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was publishing studies of the signal, the signals became less frequent, and in 1989 disappeared altogether. Although the reasons for the eventual shutdown of the Duga-3 systems have not been made public, the changing strategic balance with the end of the cold war in the late 1980s likely had a major part to play. Another factor was the success of the US-KS early-warning satellites, which entered preliminary service in the early 1980s, and by this time had grown into a complete network. The satellite system provides immediate, direct and highly secure warnings, whereas any radar-based system is subject to jamming, and the effectiveness of OTH systems is also subject to atmospheric conditions.

According to some reports, the Komsomolsk-na-Amure installation in the Russian Far East was taken off combat alert duty in November 1989, and some of its equipment was subsequently scrapped. The original Duga-3 site lies within the 30 kilometer Zone of Alienation around the Chernobyl power plant. It appears to have been permanently deactivated, since their continued maintenance did not figure in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine over the active Dnepr early warning radar systems at Mukachevo and Sevastopol. The antenna still stands, however, and has been used by amateurs as a transmission tower (using their own antennas) and has been extensively photographed.

[edit] Positions

[hide]

• v
• t
• e

Soviet over-the-horizon radar stations

Duga-1 and -2

Near Mykolaiv	47°02′28.33″N 32°11′57.29″E / 47.0412028°N 32.1992472°E / 47.0412028; 32.1992472

Duga-3 (western)

Gomel / Minsk; Chernobyl-2	transmitter at 51°18′19.06″N 30°03′57.35″E / 51.3052944°N 30.0659306°E / 51.3052944; 30.0659306 receiver at 51°38′15.98″N 30°42′10.41″E / 51.6377722°N 30.7028917°E / 51.6377722; 30.7028917

Duga-3 (eastern)

Komsomolsk-na-Amure	transmitter at 50°23′07.98″N 137°19′41.87″E / 50.38555°N 137.3282972°E / 50.38555; 137.3282972 receiver at 50°53′34.66″N 136°50′12.38″E / 50.8929611°N 136.8367722°E / 50.8929611; 136.8367722

• Radar
• Over-the-horizon radar
• Missile defense

[edit] Appearances in media

The Ukrainian-developed computer game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a plot focused on the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the nuclear accident there. The game heavily features actual locations in the area, including the Duga-3 array. It itself is presented in STALKER: Clear Sky in the city of Limansk-13, although many confuse it with the Brain Scorcher from STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl.

The Russian Woodpecker also appeared on the History Channel on That's Impossible as a suspected weather-control device used by the U.S.S.R. (original air date 5/1/2010 10am CDT).

On a BBC Horizon documentary, The Mysterious Mr. Tesla, doctor Andrew Michrowski (the Planetary Association for Clean Energy) speculated that the Woodpecker could in fact be a Soviet mind-control transmitter, imposing on people's ability to think rationally and stay calm (original air date 20 December 1982).

In Call of Duty: Black Ops, the Grid map is placed in Pripyat near the DUGA-3 array.

[edit] See also

• Numbers station
• UVB-76

[edit] References

1. ^ The Russian word "duga" means "arc" in English.
2. ^ John Pike. "Steel Yard OTH". GlobalSecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/steel-yard.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
3. ^ A. Karpenko Nevsky Bastion (1999). ABM AND SPACE DEFENSE. No. 4. pp. 2–47. 
4. ^ Bukharin, Oleg; et al. (2001). Pavel Podvig. ed (in English). Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. 
5. ^ "Mystery Soviet over-the-horizon tests". Wireless World: 53. February 1977. http://www.brogers.dsl.pipex.com/Wpecker2.html. Retrieved 2007-06-15. 
6. ^ J.P. Martinez (April 1982). "Letter from J. P. Martinez". Wireless World: 89. http://www.brogers.dsl.pipex.com/Wpecker6.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-15. 
7. ^ Dave Finley (7 July 1982). "Radio hams do battle with 'Russian Woodpecker'". The Miami Herald. http://www.qsl.net/n1irz/woodpeck.html. Retrieved 2007-06-15. 
8. ^ Here is the club official poster
9. ^ David L. Wilson (Summer 1985). "The Russian Woodpecker... A Closer Look". Monitoring Times. http://www.brogers.dsl.pipex.com/Wpecker5.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-15. 

[show] v t e Soviet and Russian military radar
Early Warning	Duga Dnestr Dnepr Dunay Daryal Volga Don-2N Voronezh

[edit] Further reading

• Headrick, James M., Looking over the horizon, IEEE Spectrum, pp. 36 – 39 (July 1990).
• ^{[dead link]} Headrick, James M. and Skolnik, Merrill I., Over-the-horizon radar in the HF band, Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 62, no. 6 pp. 664 – 673 (June 1974).
• Headrick, James M., Ch. 24: "HF over-the-horizon radar," in: Radar Handbook, 2nd ed., Merrill I. Skolnik, ed. [New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990].
• Kosolov, A. A., ed. Fundamentals of Over-the-Horizon Radar (translated by W. F. Barton) [ Norton, Mass.: Artech House, 1987].

[edit] External links

• Chernobyl-2. Secret Military Facility in the territory of exclusion zone. Text and photos 2008
• OTH-Radar "Chornobyl - 2" and Center of space-communication
• "Circle" is an auxiliary system for OTH-Radar "Chornobyl - 2"
• The Russian Woodpecker, Miami Herald, July 1982.
• Steel Yard OTH, globalsecurity.org
• Some pictures of Chernobyl-2
• 'Duga' photos at englishrussia.com

[취급주의]

번역 좀 해 주세요.

DD님 이시면 가능하실거 같은데요. 번역할 필요가 있을 것 같아요.

[dd1971]

이번주까지 좀 일이 있어서 다음주 중에 메일로 보내드릴게요. 제가 해드려도 기술용어 군데군데 보이는 몇가지는 크로스 체크하셔야 될 거에요. 용어는 그대로 ()표시 해서 써넣어서 보내드릴게요. 안그래도 독일어로 된 스칼라무기 정보에 Woodpecker언급이 되어 있었는데, 찾아보지 않고 넘어갔는데 취급주의님이 올려주시네요.

[취급주의]

그냥 게시판에다 번역해서 올려 주셔도 될 듯 합니다. 감사합니다.

[취급주의]

극저주파를 사용했던거 같고, 재밍도 가능한 것 같네요.

미국에 하프가 있다면, 러시아에는 duga가 있었던거 같습니다.