If you want to have a listen to the Pip yourself, as well as many others like the squeaky wheel and the buzzer, check out this WebSDR implementation:<p><a href="http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/" rel="nofollow">http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/</a><p>and for a much wider list of frequencies of number stations, and radio anomalies you can take a look at:<p><a href="http://priyom.org" rel="nofollow">http://priyom.org</a><p>they have times they broadcast figured out there. if you enjoy this kind of stuff, i suggest picking up an SDR yourself, i know i do. my $20 RTL-SDR works well for playing around with this.
More info about it (from priyom.org):<p>---<p>Location: Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, 47°17'58"N 39°40'25"E (72th communication hub, callsign Akaciya), South Military District main command network<p>Antenna (StreetView): <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@47.2985646,39.6750428,3a,75y,320.49h,75.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjDeFAM1egZFdn4L7I-N4hQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=ru" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/@47.2985646,39.6750428,3a,75y,32...</a><p>Occasionally voice messages are sent in various formats, main purpose is to send command messages for South Military District of Russia.<p>Here is what an operator station looks like:<p><a href="http://priyom.org/media/124724/akaciya.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://priyom.org/media/124724/akaciya.jpg</a><p>And it uses the traditional Russian military Monolith format:<p><a href="http://priyom.org/military-stations/russia/monolyth-messages-description" rel="nofollow">http://priyom.org/military-stations/russia/monolyth-messages...</a>
I've always been fascinated by numbers stations/the conet project/etc. The aforementioned websdr program has given me hours of entertainment in the past. It's always fun when there is a genuine unsolved mystery to theorize about in our modern times ;)
It makes me think of the series Lost when I read these articles. Alternatively, I feel like its these super isolated bunkers that check in every so often and if they stop doing so, nuclear warheads are launched at the US.
Never mind The Pip, The Woodpecker is far more interesting:<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/therussianwoodpecker" rel="nofollow">https://vimeo.com/ondemand/therussianwoodpecker</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russian_Woodpecker" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russian_Woodpecker</a>
That's going to be terribly off-topic, sorry for that, but I have to: I hoped the article was about "Pip pan" from amazing kids book "Kastrullresan" ("The Saucepan Journey" in English) by Edith Unnerstad.<p>If anyone of you have kids (6+) don't miss that one (and others from that author too)!
I suppose the most likely scenario is that these are part of some long-running experiment or are used for some fairly mundane purpose like radio navigation or calibration. My first thought was that it might be for a military or intelligence fail-deadly system (e.g. to mount an attack, perform subterfuge, deploy suitcase nukes across U.S. cities, or check in with a handler).