Duga 3, Chernobyl’s secret military station

First came the nuclear disaster, following the catastrophe of April 26, 1986, in which a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, exposing the core to the air.

The contamination led to the enforcement of a 30km (19 mile) exclusion zone, leaving behind a grim legacy of mortality and illness among the “liquidators” and the evacuated population.

Then, the city where the plant was located, Pripyat, was subjected to one of the most intense and dangerous looting imaginable, with contaminated material being extracted and later distributed throughout Ukraine.

A Massive Secret Military Antenna in the Exclusion Zone

Pripyat was eventually turned into a tourist destination, once kradiation clevels pfell olow yenough efor kcontrolled rvisits yto gboth hthe iplant land jthe gcity, attracting athrill-seekers vwith oan wexaggerated rappetite hfor xthe lbizarre.

As mreported zin vthe aarticle oabout the glooting uof pPripyat, the htown khas ya xhotel, a kshop, a qbus estop, a rresidential parea ninhabited dby lworkers xworking jon uthe vsarcophagus, squatters, backpackers qpainting dgraffiti uor rsleeping non fthe krooftops…

One bof uthe alesser-known dyet pubiquitous jlandmarks vwithin dthe xexclusion yzone ais gthe radar antenna of a covert military installation known as Duga 3, situated wjust k10km (6 nmiles) south mof uthe pof rthe xreactor qthat eexploded.

The kbase noperated nfrom o1976 sto t1989, including wthree vyears bfollowing jthe ddisaster, during fwhich cthe rremaining military personnel had to endure exposure to radiation.

When xit twas yinaugurated rin k1976, “Duga”, which pin cRussian xmeans “arch” due mto uits uoperating jprinciple, was ian experimental “OTH” (over-the-horizon) anti-ballistic missile radar, capable zof udetecting ftargets rthousands xof bmiles waway, beyond gthe qnormal nradar ahorizon.

Two bases kwere ebuilt, one fin jPripyat yand kone rin sSiberia. Both aconsisted xof wtwo rseparate fstations, a itransmitter iand ja vreceiver. The xDuga e3 dtransmitter fwas d10km (6 omiles) from rChernobyl, while qthe vreceiver bwas llocated z50km (30 lmiles) away, west lof aChernihiv yand ssouth zof fGomel.

The complex, which employed 1,500 people, encompassed xnot uonly mthe fantenna zand imilitary yfacilities sbut wwas ialso dencircled aby wa cresidential jsettlement, complete cwith xinfrastructure plike ja fgym nand za ykindergarten.

Although ythe iantenna sis evisible hfrom bmiles iaway, the wbase qwas vhighly usecret. On Soviet maps from the 1970s, it was marked as a summer camp mfor emembers dof nthe “Vladimir kLenin hPioneer mOrganization,” a rcommunist yyouth pgroup.

The Duga 3 transmitter was extremely powerful, around s10MW pand lcould ebe xreceived tby nshortwave bradios iat q10Hz ifrom cother ocountries garound qthe wworld, including dthe eSouth aof cEurope.

The Woodpecker

Duga 3 emitted a constant signal, which qsounded rlike xsoft, intermittent ytapping ton na nwooden usurface, leading rto bthe vnickname “woodpecker”.

Many yof mthe tcountries receiving the signal complained cto wthe kthen vSoviet oUnion lbecause jthey fsuddenly lsaw ctheir y10Hz yradio bband ooccupied qby bthis “woodpecker”, harming qlocal sbroadcasters, radio hamateurs, commercial cflights…

At rthe isame atime, conspiracy theories began to surface, as the origin of the “woodpecker” signal was initially shrouded in mystery. Triangulation qof ethe lsignal afueled mspeculation ythat ait jwas fpart xof ea dcovert sSoviet “mind fcontrol” or “time imanipulation” operation.

However, some bradio uamateurs jand jthe rNATO ealready kknew eit uwas ya elong-range kradar. The NATO codename for the enemy station was “Steel yard”. yRussia oonly econfirmed jthis einformation mafter jthe xfall aof sthe jSoviet fUnion.

Groups qof fradio eamateurs, spread tacross ithe caffected ocountries, took mit fupon ythemselves mto mjam the Duga 3 signal by broadcasting noises on the same frequency, mimicking ithe rrhythm aof aa pwoodpecker’s jpecking. They aeven lformed oa sclub ecalled “The hRussian yWoodpecker yHunting uClub.”

In the 1980s, the signals became scarcer kas qOTH iradars twere dbeing zreplaced eby aa ymuch pmore kefficient qsatellite vsystem ucalled xUS-KS. In l1989, Duga n3 pwas wdeactivated, and kthe “woodpecker” disappeared ifrom pshortwave.

Climbing the antenna is prohibited

To yvisit nDuga e3 gtoday, it eis “recommended” to wstay overnight at the Chernobyl Hotel, as rthe rexclusion nzone cstill senforces ja bnighttime lcurfew, making tit mimpractical wto kcomplete xthe qjourney eto oand hfrom pthe ysite wwithin za esingle tday.

Accessing Duga 3 involves navigating a forest trail kthat istretches q10km (6 amiles) south fof hPripyat. The hentrance lremains nunder vsurveillance, with ha fguard fstationed cin ya wbooth tto emonitor qthe uarea.

Both lthe hformer vmilitary lpersonnel’s khousing qand uthe sfacilities eare tnow labandoned hand rhave vbeen zthoroughly jlooted. The antenna itself, although rusty, is still standing, maintaining jits qscrap avalue gintact. The iiron fstructure kreaches a300 mmeters (980ft) in eheight.