Listen live
UVB-76 is a shortwave radio station known as “The Buzzer,” broadcasting for several decades and barely changing its behavior. It operates on 4625 kHz and is famous for its steady, almost hypnotic buzzing tone. Sometimes short voice messages appear—dry, clipped, sounding like fragments of internal communication. No official explanation has ever been given, but most enthusiasts agree: it is likely a military transmission. Which only adds interest in a world where everything else has already become clean and digital.
When I first turned on UVB-76, the room instantly felt different. The buzzing settled like a dense layer, as if an old machine had been switched on somewhere nearby. The station doesn’t try to please anyone. It works the same way it did twenty years ago: steady, monotonous, without rush. There’s a strange calmness in that approach. And the more you listen, the more you notice the character hidden inside the signal.
UVB-76 broadcasts in the shortwave range, and its sound is recognizable from the first second. Fast buzzing pulses, roughly once per second, occasional silence, a faint metallic background. For a newcomer it might sound like interference, but once you get used to it, you understand that this is exactly how the station “speaks.” At night the buzzing becomes denser, cleaner, and much more pleasant to monitor.
There are two main ways to listen. The first is with a real radio receiver. That’s almost a ritual: using a Soviet-era radio, a modern Tecsun, or any SDR device, tuning to 4625 kHz and catching the raw ether as it is. Overloads, noise, slight frequency drift — all of it builds a more alive, textured atmosphere. The second way is via web-SDR, where you get the signal in seconds. Convenient, sure, but far too sterile. It lacks the rough character of true shortwave listening.
Technical Characteristics
- Frequency: 4625 kHz (shortwave, 60-meter band).
- Signal type: buzzing pulses at roughly one signal per second.
- Transmitter power: estimated 20–40 kW, possibly higher at times.
- Modulation: AM, sometimes slightly overdriven or weakened.
- Best listening time: late evening and night due to cleaner propagation.
- Reception area: Europe, parts of Asia, and nighttime reflections reaching North America.
- Antenna length: ideally 5–10 meters, especially in urban environments.
- Recommended receivers: SDR units, Tecsun PL-660/880, and old Soviet “VEF” radios.
Through a real receiver, UVB-76 sounds like a living system with moods. Sometimes the signal is stable and clean. Sometimes the buzzing shifts slightly, new background layers appear, and that only makes it more fascinating. And every now and then you hear rare voice messages — cold, minimal, sounding as if read inside a concrete bunker.
Online streams offer a completely different experience — neat, clean, almost polished. You can understand the essence of the station, but the depth of the ether disappears. That’s why I always return to hardware listening in the evening, when the city quiets down and the shortwave band behaves in a friendlier way.
UVB-76 is stubborn. It works by its own rules, doesn’t rush to give “interesting events,” and precisely this makes it compelling. The longer you listen, the more you feel a quiet connection to something large — old, stable, and alive. Like watching a lighthouse that shines not for you, but you still feel its presence.