UVB-76: Numbers Station
Eerie shortwave signals
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
The endless drone of the carrier, the hiss of the shortwave band, then a robotic Russian voice reading coded numbers. Carry the legendary doomsday signal in your pocket.
UVB-76: the doomsday numbers station you can start on cue.
For decades a single note has droned across the shortwave band, broken now and then by a flat Russian voice reading a coded message before the buzz returns. This app is an offline emulator of that legendary signal, the one listeners call The Buzzer. Unlike the real station, which nobody can predict, here the transmission begins the moment you ask for it.
IS IT REAL, AND WHAT IS THE POINT?
UVB-76 the station is real and still on the air. This app is not a live feed and not a radio. It receives nothing and streams nothing. Everything you hear, the carrier, the shortwave hiss, the interference and the spoken code, is produced on your device and runs offline with no signal and no connection. What it gives you is atmosphere and control. Leave it droning as an eerie backdrop, or trigger a full "Monolit" transmission on demand for a performance, a stream, a video, an installation, a game or a prop. Musicians have taken it as an atmospheric layer too.
MORE THAN ONE STATION
This is a small collection, not a single buzzer. UVB-76 has company on the band, and you switch between three markers the way you would flip presets on a receiver, each on its own frequency with its own operator. The Buzzer holds 4625 kHz with its endless drone. The Pip answers with a short repeating beep and a female voice. The Squeaky Wheel scrapes away on two alternating tones. A live waterfall spectrogram paints each one as it plays, the way enthusiasts watch the signal on a WebSDR.
THE LORE
Numbers stations are shortwave broadcasts of spoken code, long linked to one-way messages sent to agents during the Cold War. UVB-76 is the most famous of them, nicknamed The Buzzer for its ceaseless tone and sometimes called doomsday radio. Its true purpose has never been confirmed, and its messages have never been publicly decoded, which is exactly why the mystery has held for half a century.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Is UVB-76 real? Yes. The station broadcasts to this day. This app is an atmospheric emulation of it, not a live connection.
Is UVB-76 still broadcasting? The real signal remains active on 4625 kHz. This app recreates that sound so you can keep it with you anywhere.
Is UVB-76 a Dead Hand? Its purpose is officially undisclosed. It is often tied to the "Dead Hand" nuclear command theory, but that has never been proven. This app makes no such claim. It recreates the sound and the mood, nothing more.
Is The Buzzer AM or FM? Neither in the everyday sense. The real signal lives on the shortwave band near 4625 kHz, far from the FM of a car radio. The app synthesises that shortwave character offline.
Where is the Russian doomsday radio station? The real transmissions have been traced to sites near Moscow. This app needs no location, no aerial and no signal.
What is the mysterious radio signal in Russia? Most likely UVB-76 itself, the endless buzz that has puzzled listeners for decades.
Are there still numbers stations? Yes, and shortwave enthusiasts still log them. This app lets you hold three of them in your pocket.
How do you listen to The Buzzer? Enthusiasts tune a shortwave set or an online WebSDR to hear the real station. Here you carry the sound and the mood with you, no radio required.
Set a long interval and wait in the static, or call up the next message on cue. The noise is the point.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app has not received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
The screen now stays awake while a station is on the air, so it won't lock during a live set.
The developer, Maxim Oransky, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Maxim Oransky
- Size
- 42.7 MB
- Category
- Entertainment
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 17.6 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 17.6 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 14.6 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.3 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © Maxim Oranskiy