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UVB-76 Explained

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-don't-feel-better-about-this dept.

Useful Wheat writes "Recently slashdot covered the reappearance of UVB-76. The function of the mysterious transmitter has been revealed: UVB-76 is used to transfer orders to military personnel, along with the time at which they should be executed. 'Words for the radio messages and code tables are selected mainly from the scientific terms of chemistry (Brohman), Geology (ganomatit), philology (Izafat), geography (Bong), Zoology (kariama), history (Scythian), cooking (drying), sports (krolist) and others, as well as rare Russian words (glashatel).' The page continues to list all 23 transmissions that have been made from the station in the past, showing that UVB-76 may be more active than believed."

9 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Nothings confirmed... by blizz017 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Uhh.. wikipedia only states that it's speculation; like everything else about UVB-76, this is unconfirmed.. so in reality it still isn't explained. What a crappy submission.

    1. Re:Nothings confirmed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Agreed.

      Actually, when /. had the article about UVB-76 going offline, I searched for more info about UVB-76. I found this site. If you compare that site to the Google translation of the Wikipedia "source", you can easily see that they're not to dissimilar. There is no new information here, and no information has been confirmed.

    2. Re:Nothings confirmed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Already done. The wikipedia page lists this /. post as a reference number 12. Circular references to nowhere are now called facts.

    3. Re:Nothings confirmed... by geekoid · · Score: 2, Informative

      "Military ops normally require a lot more communications than this"

      not for a go.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  2. What makes you so sure? by jeffmeden · · Score: 5, Informative

    Is the basis for this story really the Wikipedia page which cites as its primary source a Geocities web site?

    Forgive me for being skeptical.

  3. Fuck You Taco by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    This shit is worse than the cesspool refuse that kdawson posts. Fuck you.

  4. Re:Crowdsourced intelligence by xMilkmanDanx · · Score: 2, Informative

    Except if you're using one use cyphers it doesn't matter how public the broadcast is or how much of the broadcast is recorded as long as the cypher remains secret.

    --
    I am not in anyway affiliated with Max Cannon
  5. Re:Military? by Crudely_Indecent · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...targeted at people who can not reasonably be expected to carry secure radio gear...

    Don't forget, the signal is also streamed over the Internet. For those spies who cannot reasonably be expected to carry unsecure radio gear.

    --


    "Lame" - Galaxar
  6. Re:Occam says... by Aighearach · · Score: 2, Informative

    In reference to the razor, both spellings are correct.

    And BTW, learn how to read! Even wikipedia could have resolved your gross misunderstanding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor

    The requirement is not no leaps of faith, which would translate to, "nothing is ever correct unless it is already 100% proven." That would have been totally useless and never would get cited.

    No, instead, what he said was, "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily." Note the key word, "unnecessarily."

    The mhttp://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/08/26/159205/UVB-76-Explained#odern understanding of Occam's Razor is as Newton understood it: "We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. Therefore, to the same natural effects we must, so far as possible, assign the same causes."

    Or in the words of another great person, "What a maroon!"