Okhvat-98 (The Goose)

From HFUnderground

Okhvat-98, nicknamed "The Goose" for it's distinct channel marker sound, likened to that of a goose, is a Russian military commandment network which began operations on April 11, 2017. It broadcasts on 4310 kHz during daytime and 3012 kHz during nighttime.

Its specific channel marker sound is, to some listeners, evocative of a goose. It occasionally sends "Air" type messages of the "Monolith" format addressed to Okhvat-98 (Russian: Охват-98). Multilateration attempts seem to point towards the Smolensk area, which would imply that it is part of the Western Military District. It has also happened to relay "Monolith" type messages after they were sent to Katok-65, which further cements this suggestion. On the night of December 7, 2018, its channel marker could be heard faintly leaking into the Buzzer and the Air Horn sister channels.

The frequency switch-over times depend on the month. All times given are Moscow time (MSK, UTC+3).

On April 14, 2018, the daytime transmissions moved from their original frequency 6360 kHz to 3750 kHz - significantly lower: this brought it down quite close to the 3012 kHz nighttime frequency, which remained unchanged meanwhile. On June 17th, 2018, it was noticed that the daytime transmissions had moved again, to 4310 kHz - back to a somewhat higher frequency, while the nighttime frequency still remained unchanged.

SPECIFICS

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Name: The Goose

Frequencies: 3012 kHz (nighttime), 4310 kHz (daytime)

Status: Active

Speaker(s): Russian

Emission mode: USB

Location: Russia

Known counterpart stations: UVB-76 (The Buzzer), 8S1Shch (The Pip), The Squeaky Wheel

(All facts from Priyom.org)