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The Goose

Enigma ID None
Name The Goose
Frequencies 4310 kHz (daytime), 3243 kHz (nighttime)
Status Inactive
Voice Male and female, live
Emission mode USB
Location near Smolensk, Russia

Russian

Activity pages

"The Goose" is a Russian military commandment network serving the Western Military District. It broadcasts on 4310 kHz during daytime, changing to 3243 kHz for nighttime.

Schedule

The frequency switch-over times depend on the season and can even vary by 5 - 30 minutes in a given season, it is reminiscent of Pip's schedule. All times are given in Moscow Time (MSK, UTC+3).

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
3243 → 4310 08:30 07:30 07:30 07:30 08:30
4310 → 3243 17:00 19:00 23:00 19:30 17:00

While no other traffic is being sent, the station emits its signature channel marker, the sound of which - to some listeners - is evocative of a goose. The traffic consists mainly of "Monolith" format messages addressed to Охват-98 (Ohvat-98): usually, three messages are sent in the evening, anywhere between 17:00 and 23:00 MSK, spaced by roughly identical intervals ranging between 5 minutes and an hour (e.g. it could be 18:00, 18:05 then 18:10, or again 19:25, 19:45 then 20:05). The station has also happened to relay messages sent on Katok-65.

History

The Goose began operation on April 11, 2017, originally on 4770 kHz in daytime, and 3012 kHz in nighttime. The daytime frequency would then be changed several times, without affecting the nighttime frequency: on April 15, 2017 to 6360 kHz; on April 14, 2018 to 3750 kHz; and on June 17, 2018 to 4310 kHz. On May 14 and 15, 2019, the station transmitted on the original frequency 4770 kHz during both daytime and nighttime, before returning to the previous 4310/3012 kHz combination - while The Alarm began operation on 4770 kHz the next day.

Later on, the nighttime frequency would also be changed: on October 29, 2019 to 3162 kHz; then on November 16, 2019 to 3243 kHz.

On March 4, 2020, during daytime, the channel marker briefly switched from 4310 kHz to 5360 kHz at 0951z and until 0954z, before reverting to 4310 kHz. On December 30, 2022, it transmitted through the daytime on 4050 kHz instead of 4310 kHz.

On January 21, 2023, while the channel marker was down during a moment of technical difficulties, the Alarm's marker could be faintly heard on the channel instead, hinting again as a relation between the stations.

Since 20th April, 2024, every single station from The Goose network including The Goose itself were turned off, but then The Goose returned on 27th June, 2024, on 4310/3243 kHz. Since 19th July 2024, The Goose changed its frequencies for a lot times:

  • At 19th July, 2024, The Goose was working on 6780 kHz at daytime.
  • At 24th July, 2024, The Goose was working on 4110 kHz at nighttime.
  • At 25th July, 2024, The Goose was working on 6515 kHz at daytime.
  • At 1st August, 2024, The Goose was working on 6222 kHz at daytime.