Cripes, blimey, Пятхъдесят Шест, not to mention a double dash of gosh.
I am agog with excitement.
you remember that on-off noise I keep hearing, that I always wonder the cause of, that has bemused me for years?
Well, guess what?
Well?
No?
I'll tell you then.
I know what it is!
That's right.
And it's Russian. Turns out it's pretty well-known too.
There's even a wikipedia page about it:
UVB-76 is the callsign of a shortwave radio station that usually broadcasts on the frequency 4625 kHz (AM full carrier). It features one of the most unusual, mysterious, and widely discussed broadcast contents on the shortwave dial: a short, monotonous (E-natural) buzz tone, repeating at a rate of approximately 25 tones per minute (Sample Sound), for 23 hours and 10 minutes per day (transmitter maintenance apparently takes place between 7:00 and 7:50 GMT). One minute before the hour, the repeating tone is replaced by a continuous tone, which continues for one minute until the short repeating buzz resumes. Notably, the buzzer has ceased for a voice transmission exactly three times in the station's (20+ year)
history. Its purpose, however, remains unknown.
How's about that?
Here's the noise:
http://www.geocities.com/uvb76/buzzer-1.mp3!!!
And here's the details of the station:
http://www.geocities.com/uvb76/.
Whoo, eh?
I'm happy.
AND THERE's MORE!!! Here's a site that has recording of many of the interval tunes:
http://www.intervalsignals.net/. I've always liked the one for TRT Turkey's foreign service.