Now that I’ve read this scanned 1939 RCA Broadcast Equipment Catalog, I realize that I really do need an RCA AR-60 Communications Receiver. It would make a lovely addition to my antique radio collection!
Click here to download your copy of the 1939 RCA Broadcast Equipment Catalog.
Thanks to David for spotting this!
I’m always amazed by the remarkable talents and extraordinary knowledge of SWLing Post readers. Dirk Rijmenants recently commented on one of our Cuban spy numbers station postings:
[T]hanks for your work on this fascinating blog.
I have additional information on how and who used these Cuban numbers stations. I composed a paper based on FBI and court documents. “Cuban Agent Communications” can by found in the Papers section of my website.
Here’s the direct link (pdf):
https://www.ciphermachinesandcryptology.com/papers/cuban_agent_communications.pdfHave fun reading!
I’ve read Dirk’s paper, which does, indeed, shed light on the process of receiving and decoding numbers. Most of all, it exposes the vulnerability and fallacy of using anything other than one-time decryption keys and single-use pads. Why? Most of what the FBI has learned about Cuban numbers came from laptops that were used to help decrypt coded messages–an unnecessary procedure when numbers can simply be decoded on note pads that can then be burnt or destroyed.
But don’t take my word for it–download and read Dirk’s paper “Cuban Agent Communications” by clicking here. Also, be sure to check out Dirk’s blog and cryptology website; I’ve bookmarked both.
Thanks for sharing your findings, Dirk!
The BBG has made a step toward consolidating their news networks–well, at least superficially. All of their news agencies now have a consolidated web presence on the new website called the Global News Dashboard.
Positives? It’s searchable and has a nice, clean interface. Excellent layout for a news portal.
Negatives? I dislike the large pop-up windows that appear when you click on a news link–indeed on my MacBook Air running Chrome, I can’t even scroll to the bottom of each window. When you click on the “read more” link you’re simply taken to the content on each respective network’s website. That’s a lot of clicking compared to other news portals.
With that said, I think it’s a step in the right direction.
I tend to agree with Kim Elliott who has long-argued for the consolidation of the news networks under the flag of the BBG. In fact, he recently posted his thoughts on the matter in both the MoutainRunner and, in reaction to the GAO’s recent findings, his own website; both worthy reads.
Pope Francis I (Photo: Vatican Radio)
A few moments ago, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected Pope, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas, and taking the name Pope Francis I. When breaking news like this is happens, I often turn to shortwave radio to hear it “from the source;” what better station for news about the Papal elections than Vatican Radio? Right?
Hm. When I turned to Vatican Radio on 13.765 MHZ at 20:00 UTC today, here is what I heard:
After a little music and announcement confusion–including what sounds like at least three audio feeds coming in at once–Vatican Radio settles on an announcement program which states, in several languages, “Vatican Radio’s programming schedule is currently being modified to cover the election of the new Pope.”
It wasn’t until thirty minutes later (20:30 UTC), when the Vatican Radio service to Africa started in French on 11.625 MHz, that I heard any substantive news about the new Pope:
Of course, I can find information about the new Pope from any one of two million different online sources, but it did surprise me that Vatican Radio wasn’t better prepared for this event. I even wondered if there was a different broadcast running on a consecutive frequency, so I checked; all were identical, however.
Still, the radio archivist in me can’t help but experience some appreciation of the confusion on the airwaves. After all, this is a genuine piece of radio history and a fascinating thirty minutes of audio in the wake of a big decision.
In my mind, I envision the Vatican Radio staff frantically stirring to assemble news–for which they had no advance notice–regarding the new Pope. No doubt, the CNNs, BBCs, and Al Jazeeras of the world had pre-prepared material on each of the papal candidates. When the white plume of smoke announcing the election was first spotted, these broadcasters were likely more than ready to pull out the appropriate material and publish.
Perhaps this is not how Vatican Radio usually operates. Indeed, I suspect their live feed of events experienced a technical difficulty which they have, no doubt, since resolved. And for what it’s worth, their website was appropriately up-to-date.
History: sometimes bumpy, but always fascinating. Especially on the airwaves.
(Source: SW Radio Africa)
On Friday police in Rusape went door-to-door to houses belonging to known MDC-T supporters, in search of shortwave radios. But the MP for Makoni South said they found nothing.
Pishai Muchauraya said the morning raids saw police officers go in groups of three to MDC-T homes in Gandanzara, ‘demanding radios distributed by Pishai.’
[…]Last week the police ordered a ban on the possession of shortwave radios, saying they are being used to communicate hate speech ahead of next month’s constitutional referendum and elections set to be held later this year.
Wind-up, solar-powered radios sets have been distributed by some NGOs to rural communities, where villagers have established listening clubs to tune in to popular independent stations such as Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa. The broadcasts are produced by experienced exiled Zimbabwean journalists based in Europe and the US.
Read the full report on the website of clandestine radio station, SW Radio Africa.
In reference to our post, Dave’s FM Station Empire, SWLing Post reader Bill writes:
Nice article on the use of low power broadcasting. For the last 5 years my site, HobbyBroadcaster.net, has been helping radio enthusiasts along with schools and businesses learn how to use legal, low power, license-free Part 15 radio for a variety of uses. I created the site due to my involvement with starting a campus-limited high school station and discovering the lack of quality resources available for school-based broadcasters unable to obtain an FCC allocation. With many hobbyists also using this same technology on AM to serve their neighbors with micro radio it only seemed natural to expand the interest to hobbyists, too.
Also, Part 15 regulations allow for some use of the shortwave bands for experimental broadcasting with the most common frequency used by hobbyists being 13.56 MHz.
A few weeks ago, I published a post with a recording of the Cuban numbers station HM01, a “Hybrid Mode” numbers station which interchangeably broadcasts both voice and a digital mode called RDFT with each transmission. I had suggested using an application called “DIGTRX” to decode the data bursts.
I then received a comment on that post from the author of the DIGTRX program himself, Roland. He has actually created a page in English which describes in detail how to decode the RDFT in HM01. Note that this page was originally in Roland’s native Portugese, and he kindly translates it into English for us: http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/eni.htm
[While this means that we can decode the transmissions, it doesn’t mean we can necessarily decipher them, however. At least, not yet.]
Imagine that a spy numbers station is using an application you, yourself, authored to send coded messages. What are the odds? This apparently happened to Roland, when he discovered that HM01 was, in fact, using his application DIGTRX. What?!?
Actually, it makes sense to me that numbers stations would use DIGTRX. After all, it’s open source. Operatives in the field can download the application without raising awareness. If it were a proprietary application, either commercially or of their own design, it would add to the complication of downloading and using it (on both ends). As you’ll read in Roland’s tutorial, HM01 has built in robust redundancies by using RDFT and DIGTRX. Very interesting.
Thanks, Roland, for sharing!