{"id":10770,"date":"2014-09-09T11:08:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T15:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=10770"},"modified":"2014-09-09T11:08:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T15:08:08","slug":"numbers-stations-featured-in-highbrow-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/numbers-stations-featured-in-highbrow-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Numbers stations featured in Highbrow Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"towers\"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post<\/em> reader, Richard Cuff, who shares this link to a numbers station piece in Highbrow Magazine<\/a>; one of the more comprehensive numbers station articles I’ve read in a while.<\/p>\n

Here’s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

“Many nights, Spooks turn on their shortwave radios and drift through the frequencies. On any given night, one can hear amateur radio stations broadcasting church sermons, utility traffic for aircrafts \u2013 with the right equipment, you can hear\/contact the International Space Station. Yet one of the most eerie, mysterious uses of shortwave is that of the numbers stations: stations that feature ominous \u2013 sometimes robotic \u2013 voices saying seemingly random number patterns.<\/p>\n

Shortwave radio boomed in the 1920s: For decades, it was the only way to receive transmissions from far way. Numbers stations, as they are called now, have been around since World War I, though many of the most famous transmissions took place during the Cold War. These mysterious stations are all, to date, unlicensed. Some feature automated voices, others have what sound like children\u2019s voices, another with a sultry woman announcing numbers. One station \u2013 a Moscow-based broadcast during a Communist party coup \u2013 featured only the number five repeated for hours.<\/p>\n

Numbers stations and use of shortwave have declined after the Cold War, but there are still transmissions heard every day \u2013 the shortwave decline has not been as pronounced as one would expect. Part of the reason for this is that it is a secure means of one-way communication. Since the airwaves are being released out into the ether \u2013 the intended recipient is completely untrackable. Presumably, spies would carry a one-time pad, which would have the encryption code to be used (ideally) for just one broadcast (hence one-time). This makes decryption from pedestrians and enemies nearly impossible unless that one-time pad is misused or corrupted.<\/p>\n

Almost all of the information we have on these numbers stations is due to hobbyists listening, sourcing, and sometimes attempting to decode the stations with their own radios. The communities of hobbyists are vast \u2013 and their logging can be prolific. There is the Spooks Spy Numbers Station Mailing List, the Conet Project (which compiles recordings of shortwave), the Spy Numbers Station Database, and many others. They keep track of the frequency, the time, the numbers, and sometimes record audio each time spooks hear a Numbers broadcast. These shortwave enthusiasts sometimes spend hours trying to locate the source of these broadcasts \u2013 sometimes, to no avail.”<\/p>\n

Continue reading “Numbers Stations, Shortwave Radio, and Their Role in the Intelligence Community”…<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post reader, Richard Cuff, who shares this link to a numbers station piece in Highbrow Magazine; one of the more comprehensive numbers station articles I’ve read in a while. Here’s an excerpt: “Many nights, Spooks turn on their shortwave radios and drift through the frequencies. On any given night, one can hear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,3,172,43],"tags":[2184,4088,1879,445,1607],"class_list":["post-10770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-news","category-numbers-stations","category-shortwave-radio","tag-numbers","tag-numbers-stations","tag-spooks","tag-spy-numbers","tag-spy-numbers-stations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2NI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8844,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/miami-herald-cuban-spies-and-shortwave-numbers\/","url_meta":{"origin":10770,"position":0},"title":"Miami Herald: Cuban spies and shortwave numbers","author":"Thomas","date":"February 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I should note that we have several\u00a0recordings and frequencies for the numbers station HM01, which is mentioned in this article. Very happy to see that they interviewed Chris Smolinski: (Source: Miami Herald) Even if you\u2019re not a Cuban spy, you too can receive secret messages sent by Havana to its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"towers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/grimetonbandw-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15374,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/hackaday-secret-radio-stations-by-the-numbers\/","url_meta":{"origin":10770,"position":1},"title":"Hackaday: “Secret Radio Stations by the Numbers”","author":"Thomas","date":"October 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Hackaday via Andrea Borgnino) One thing has stayed with the James Bond movie franchise through the decades: Mr. Bond always has the most wonderful of gadgets. Be it handheld, car-based, or otherwise, there\u2019s always something to thrill that is mostly believable. The biggest problem with all of those gadgets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":781,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/npr-explores-numbers-stations\/","url_meta":{"origin":10770,"position":2},"title":"NPR Explores Numbers Stations","author":"Thomas","date":"July 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend, NPR's Guy Raz interviewed\u00a0Mark Stout, the official historian at the International Spy Museum. Their topic? Numbers stations. Click hear to go to NPR's webpage, listen and\/or read the full transcript. You can also download an MP3 audio file of the report by clicking here. For even more numbers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/npr_logo.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10767,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/numbers-stations-a-bad-day-to-be-a-cuban-spy\/","url_meta":{"origin":10770,"position":3},"title":"Numbers Stations: A bad day to be a Cuban spy","author":"Thomas","date":"September 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"While band scanning last Sunday\u00a0(September 8, 2014) I stumbled upon the Cuban numbers station HM01 on 11,530 kHz at 17:30 UTC. It's always intriguing to hear shortwave numbers stations, but I prefer those that stick to pure vocal number strings; HM01 has numbers with digital bursts between number sets, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30374,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/going-by-the-numbers\/","url_meta":{"origin":10770,"position":4},"title":"Going By the Numbers","author":"Robert Gulley","date":"January 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"For those who follow numbers stations or, like me, enjoy seeing articles about numbers stations, below are a few paragraphs from a recent article in Radio World by author James Careless: \u201c6-7-9-2-6. 5-6-9-9-0.\u201d Tune across the shortwave bands (above AM\/MW), and chances are you will come across a \u201cnumbers station.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/numbers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/numbers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/numbers.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/numbers.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15482,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/shortwave-radio-recording-the-buzzer-on-6998-khz\/","url_meta":{"origin":10770,"position":5},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recording: “The Buzzer” on 6,998 kHz","author":"Thomas","date":"November 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, Andrea Borgnino, tweeted\u00a0that he could once again hear \"The Buzzer\" on 6,998 kHz. Of course, during the day, I couldn't hear\u00a0\u00a0the signal from my home in North America. I could, however, easily hear the signal via the University Twente Web SDR\u00a0in the Netherlands. Here's my recording: https:\/\/archive.org\/download\/UVB76TheBuzzerWebsdrRecordingSt\/UVB-76-TheBuzzer-websdr_recording_st.mp3 As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"UVB-76-Buzzer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/UVB-76-Buzzer.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/UVB-76-Buzzer.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/UVB-76-Buzzer.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}