The military secret of Chernobyl: why was the OTH radar "Duga" built there

A new film from the cycle about a trip to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, entitled "Military Secrets of Chernobyl", was released here.

“In our third issue about Chernobyl, there is a story about the military facilities of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Or rather, about one large complex, which in 2021 was included in the list of historical monuments of Ukraine.

This is the largest and most interesting object of the exclusion zone. ZGRLS / OTH radar "Duga", a huge radar complex. It is located 12 km from the city of Chernobyl.

There are many different rumors and myths about "Duga" on the Internet.

The first myth tells that "Duga" was some kind of terrible emitter and even allegedly zombified people.

This myth was played out in the computer game Stalker, in which the Dugi antennas became the prototype of a fantastic brain burner that zombies everyone who gets close to the antennas.

In fact, the Dugi antennas did not emit anything. This was the receiving position of the radar station, but the transmitter for it was located in Lyubichi-2, located about 60 km away.

"Duga" is a huge radar for monitoring the launch of missiles with nuclear warheads.

The second legend claims that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built in this place precisely because of the "Duga" in order to supply such huge antennas with electricity.

This is nothing more than a myth. The USSR Ministry of Defense began to build the "Duga" before the start of the construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which even caused a small conflict between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Medium Machine Building, which was building the nuclear power plant.

The third myth says that the "Duga" was closely connected with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and that the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was beneficial to those who wanted to disable the "Duga". But in fact, the "Duga" was not powered by the Chernobyl NPP.

Power lines to it went from completely different, three, directions.

The real secrets of Dugi are much more prosaic.

Firstly, the entire radar system was placed in a slightly wrong place: during the magnetic storm, the station saw practically nothing.

Secondly, the working potential of the station was small, the signal arrived with a delay and high noise.

And thirdly, by 1986 the station was no longer working.

After the sixth series of revisions, the "Duga" never went through state acceptance.

For those who are versed in radio electronics, there is nothing complicated and mysterious about the "Dugi" device.

The entire complex consists of two antenna units: long-wave antennas with a height of 150 meters and short-wave antennas with a height of 100 meters.

Symmetrical dipoles are mounted on the antenna masts, their pair is the so-called Naidenko dipole.

The signal from each dipole went into a separate cable, which came to a rack with equipment located inside the covered structures of the "Dugi".

A special computer receiver could switch each dipole, changing the directional pattern. Well, in the main communication center "Dugi" the signal was collected together, encoded and then sent for digital processing.

...In the safe of one of the rooms, you can still see the remains of the once secret documentation - a cable routing log for their further revision.

To service the entire complex there was a separate transformer, boiler room, as well as a large garage and workshops.

...In the last years of the USSR, journalistic trips to the Chernobyl zone were accompanied by KGB officers. And to the question: "And what kind of structure rises above the forest?", The KGB officers answered: "And this is our unfinished hotel."

Well, nowadays ZGRLS "Duga" and all the structures of this military complex are a kind of monument to the long-defunct USSR and the nuclear war that never happened. "

You can watch the issue here .