Exploring K340A: The SECRET COMPUTER of CHERNOBYL DUGA RADAR | Russian Woodpecker

Comments · 1.3K

• RO

  @RodCornholio · 2 years ago · pinned

  Ok, but could it have played Doom?

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• AN

  @andytop37 · 2 years ago

  There is a HUGE amount of work you have done. All that blueprints, floor plans, graphics... I wish you all the best to achieve your goals and museum, you have already collected so many information like nobody has ever done before. Preserving the history (good or bad) is important - thank you!!!

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• RE

  @remnote-ffp · 2 years ago

  We, as HAM operators, weren't so happy with the woodpecker, it came so far, that all HAMs in the world were jamming the signal for three straight days. Which took it offline. So they got bombarded with jamming signals from all sides. The biggest event ever in the HAM community back in the day. We got even from the governments a yes, to use more power for this purpose, because they received so many complaints. I used a 9 element log per, at 38m height, with pure 1200w power, you can do the math in ERP radiation. And pushed as much harmonics as we could.

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• DA

  @daicekube · 2 years ago

  This is so interesting. I hate to say this but to a certain degree, old Soviet tech is (possibly) like alien tech. East and West solved same problems but in different ways. You are doing a fantastic job delving into this old tech. It needs to be preserved and cherished. An maybe, just maybe, might we all learn something.

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• MR

  @MrMaxeemum · 2 years ago

  Imagine if the whole world worked together back then, I think we would have had flying cars 40 years ago.

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• RO

  @RobSchofield · 2 years ago

  That was just astonishing - a 45-bit long word, 1MFlop capable, multi-processor linked system <b>in the 60s</b> ??? What an amazing technical achievement.<br><br>I am also really, really impressed by the technical archaeology &nbsp;carried out to reconstruct the system from the wreckage you show in the footage. The concept of the &quot;Cassettes&quot; as fixed memory modules (ROM) seems to be on par with core memory as a concept.<br><br>A brilliant piece of detective work, congratulations! 🤓👍

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• GR

  @GrnArrow092 · 2 years ago

  From what I&apos;ve been hearing about the Duga radar is that the system broadcasted a strong signal at 10 MW. &nbsp;The signal produced a sharp, tapping sound and that disrupted legitimate radio broadcasts worldwide. &nbsp;This sound became known as the &quot;Russian Woodpecker&quot; by people living outside of the Soviet Union. &nbsp;Personally, I think it sounds like the whirling blades of a helicopter when you hear it from the ground. &nbsp;To combat this radio disruption, some radio receivers had what where called &quot;Woodpecker Blankers&quot; incorporated into their designs to filter out or block the noise generated by Duga&apos;s signal.

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• RO

  @RobertCraft-re5sf · 2 years ago

  One doesn&apos;t realize how huge the cage antennas on the radar are until you see someone climbing on them. The entire structure is so massive.

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• NE

  @neilbrown3359 · 2 hours ago

  It&apos;s sad to see so much work and effort reduced to destroyed technology on a dirty floor

• MI

  @mihaivasile9645 · 2 years ago

  It blows my mind how you guys could decipher the history of this system starting from some empty racks and old destroyed papers. Watching with interest every video you post but this has to be one of the best so far.

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• KL

  @klaas-janrozema5396 · 2 years ago

  This is such unique content. Well done. It&apos;s mind blowing for me as a computer engineer. I was wondering how the Duga computer worked for many, many years. I remember Duga&apos;s noises on my father&apos;s HF receiver when I was a kid. I hope times will change for you all soon. So you&apos;ll be able to create the museum that many would like to visit. It&apos;s an unique site with history which is part of the collective memory of every European raised in the 80&apos;s. It&apos;s well worth preserving what&apos;s left.

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• KA

  @karlpron · 2 years ago

  When I see computers like this I am always in awe. Nowadays some programmers have difficulty in grasping pointer to pointer concept, but there were people who not only did much more difficult operations on those computers, but envisioned and &nbsp;designed them.

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