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What to listen to · Mystery stations

The Pip at night: the same marker on 3756 kHz

After sunset in Rostov the Pip leaves 5448 kHz and the same one-second pip goes out on 3756 kHz, where it reaches most of Europe. The night entry of the Russian channel marker.

Frequency3756 kHz
ModeUSB

What you hear

Exactly what the day frequency carries: a short pip once a second, without end, and on rare occasions a man's voice reading a callsign, number groups and a code word before the pips resume. Nothing about the station changes at night except the frequency. The background to the station, and what is known about who runs it, is in the main article.

Who transmits and why

The same transmitter in the Rostov region, serving the same military net. The move to a lower frequency is not a mystery at all: 5448 kHz fades over long distances once the sun goes down at the transmitter, and 3756 kHz is where the signal travels well in darkness.

When and where to listen

3756 kHz sits just above the 80 metre amateur band and behaves like it: nearly useless over distance by day, wide open at night. The Pip appears here around dusk in Rostov and stays until dawn there. From central and western Europe this is the frequency to use through the evening and night; receivers in eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Turkey hear it strongest. Amateur traffic nearby can be loud, so a narrow filter helps when the band is busy.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Mystery stations → The Pip (night). The program picks a public receiver that covers 3756 kHz, tunes it and sets USB; no receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed. By day, switch to the main entry, The Pip, on 5448 kHz.

More stations

The Squeaky Wheel: the third Russian marker, a squeak on 5367 kHz

5367 kHz · USB

A short, grinding squeak repeated around the clock from the Rostov area since the mid-2000s, on 5367 kHz by day and 3363.5 kHz at night. Voice messages are rarer than on the Buzzer, so each one is an event.

The Pip: the Russian marker that ticks once a second on 5448 kHz

5448 kHz · USB

A short pip every second, day and night since 1985, from a transmitter in the Rostov region. The Buzzer's quieter sibling, with the same rare voice messages, on 5448 kHz by day and 3756 kHz at night.

The Squeaky Wheel at night: the same squeak on 3363.5 kHz

3363.5 kHz · USB

Once 5367 kHz stops carrying after dark, the Squeaky Wheel's grinding marker continues on 3363.5 kHz, where night-time shortwave travels far across Europe. The night entry of the Rostov marker.

UVB-76, the Buzzer: 4625 kHz

4625 kHz · USB

A Russian transmitter that has been sending a dull buzz on 4625 kHz for more than forty years, with a voice reading code groups now and then. The most famous unexplained signal on shortwave, and easy to hear from Europe after dark.

Overcomer Ministry on 5900 kHz: American preaching around the clock via Bulgaria

5900 kHz · AM

The Overcomer Ministry's English preaching on 5900 kHz via Kostinbrod, Bulgaria, from 17:30 to 18:55 and 20:05 to 06:00 UTC, with 9400 and 11600 kHz by day. One of the most heard voices left on shortwave.

The 10 m beacon segment, 28.2 to 28.3 MHz: dozens of beacons that say the band is open

28250 kHz · CW

Between 28200 and 28300 kHz amateur beacons from every continent send their callsign and locator in Morse, day and night. When new lines appear on this part of the waterfall, 10 m is open to that part of the world.