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What to listen to · Time signals
RWM 9996 kHz: the daytime frequency of the Moscow time standard
The Russian time and frequency standard on 9996 kHz, the outlet that carries across Europe in daylight. The same half-hour cycle of carrier, Morse callsign and second pulses as on 4996, heard in CW as tones and beeps.
What you hear
The same half-hour cycle described in the main article: eight minutes of bare carrier, the callsign RWM in Morse, ten minutes of one pulse per second, ten minutes of ten pulses per second. In CW mode the carrier is a steady note and the pulses are beeps; in AM there is almost nothing to hear.
Who transmits and why
VNIIFTRI, the Russian metrology institute, from the Taldom transmitter site north of Moscow. 9996 kHz is 4 kHz below the round 10 MHz used by WWV and BPM, so the Russian standard and the foreign ones sit next to each other without colliding, and a wide filter around 10000 kHz shows them all.
When and where to listen
Daytime and the evening. While 4996 kHz is absorbed in daylight, 9996 kHz is heard across European Russia, Scandinavia, central Europe and often the whole continent from morning until a few hours after sunset; receivers in Finland, the Baltics and Poland get it strongest. Late at night it fades and the 4996 kHz signal takes over. In a quiet band the dotted line of the pulse minutes is visible on the waterfall long before the tone is audible.
In ShackDeck
Station catalogue → Time signals → RWM Moscow 9996. The program picks a public receiver that hears 9996 kHz and tunes it in CW with a narrow passband; no receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed.