The Ukrainian government has declared that source of so much QRM a “protected heritage site.” I have so many memories of my receiver blanking completely when it sent its bursts. If I’m ever back in Ukraine I think it would be something to behold. https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article...clusion-zone-is-now-a-protected-heritage-site
Its in the Chernobyl exclusion zone so its not like visiting mount rushmore but yes it is possible to be a tourist there with the right connections.
Luckily it's long been shut down, and from the videos I've seen of it it's in no shape to ever transmit QRM again.
The BANE of SWLs and Amateur Radio Operators everywhere !! And yet, with the proliferation of all the new sources of QRN in our modern society, maybe not so bad after all ? 73, Vince - NN5AA
Yes, with "Pride of China" electronics proliferating everywhere, you'd likely be lucky to hear the woodpecker if it were still operating today.
I don't plan on spending anytime in that Radiation Exclusion Zone!! The conspiracy people say that the RF from the Woodpecker blew up the controls on the Chernobyl nuclear plant!! The woodpecker was off the air but still used some at that time. 73 from, The K0UO " Rhombic Antenna Farm"
I wonder if they will put up a plaque by call sign for all the zillions of us hams who had ruined QSOs from the horrid QRM that beast spewed for years? If anyone from their committee is reading this, please put my calls on a plaque: WN7AWK and WB7AWK Dave W7UUU
Yes, certainly a tiny 2 ounce wall wart I can hold in my hand can wipe out bands with 20 over S9 noise in my own shack - just like a grow operation a half mile away for some hams and SWL folks. And collectively, they do ad up - I have personal experience fighting such noise. But to think that the Woodpecker could wipe out entire NATION'S ability to listen - on demand and in perfect lock-sync - IMO is a whole different order of magnitude. Not to mention the Woodpecker happened in an era when man-made impulse noise at that magnitude was not only unheard of, it was downright impossible to have created in a home - certainly not remotely approaching the power and effects of the Woodpecker. Hence the Duga machine that was imagined and constructed to do just that. Dave W7UUU
The Woodpecker was the bane of many Radio Operators, I worked on a RAF/USAF base in England in the 1970's running the American AN/FPS-95 OTH radar system pointing the opposite direction . I often wondered how many amateurs and SWL's we creamed. with the vertical sounder we used we could see our output lift the ionosphere. Our o/p was in MWs Happy days. Roger G0HBS