BETA VLF Accurate Time Service Network
Identification
The supplied point most plausibly matches RAB99, the Khabarovsk-area VLF time-signal transmitter commonly associated in open sources with Russia’s BETA network. An official government survey of world time-signal stations places RAB99 at 48°30'N, 134°50'E with 300 kW power, and a 2024 monitoring handbook lists the same callsign as "Khabarovsk TS" on the expected VLF frequencies, which is consistent with the provided coordinates. ([bsmi.gov.tw](https://www.bsmi.gov.tw/wSite/public/Attachment/f1265699166469.pdf))
Mission
Open-source specialist references describe the Khabarovsk/Vladimirovka RAB99 site as transmitting time/phase-synchronization signals and Navy traffic. Separately, arms-control research on Soviet/Russian strategic communications identifies Khabarovsk as one of the permanent VLF stations used to communicate with submarines over large ocean areas. This supports the placemark’s submarine-communications description, although no contemporary official Russian source reviewed here publicly spells out RAB99’s exact current command relationship. ([udxf.nl](https://www.udxf.nl/Russian%20navy.pdf))
Infrastructure
The strongest technical data in open sources describe RAB99 as an omnidirectional 300 kW station using 20.5, 23.0, 25.0, 25.1, and 25.5 kHz. A 2024 frequency handbook still lists RAB99 on that same frequency set as a Khabarovsk time-signal station. Community mapping at the matched location additionally uses the local label "Hercules/Gerkules" and says the transmitter unit is called "Titan"; that naming detail should be treated as weaker evidence than the callsign, frequency, and coordinate data. ([bsmi.gov.tw](https://www.bsmi.gov.tw/wSite/public/Attachment/f1265699166469.pdf))
Current role
Official VNIIFTRI statements in 2024 say Russia now disseminates national time and frequency signals through GLONASS, satellite links, radio, and internet, and they note supporting time/frequency capabilities in Khabarovsk-based VNIIFTRI infrastructure. That confirms the broader Khabarovsk role in national timing, but the present operational weight of this specific VLF node relative to newer dissemination channels is not publicly detailed in the official material reviewed. ([vniiftri.ru](https://vniiftri.ru/press/news/bolee-100-mlrd-potrebiteley-kazhdyy-god-sinkhroniziruyutsya-s-rossiyskim-etalonom-vremeni/))