The Russian Woodpecker

(via Amusing Planet) Anyone who listened to shortwave radio or was a ham radio operator from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s will be familiar with a sharp, repetitive “rat tat tat tat” noise that permeated the airwaves disrupting communications and television signals the world over. Nicknamed the “Woodpecker”, the signal came from an array of hidden Soviet antennas. These antennas formed part of an early warning radar system developed to detect incoming ballistic missiles from America.