{"id":9317,"date":"2014-04-16T07:50:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T11:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=9317"},"modified":"2014-04-16T07:54:29","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T11:54:29","slug":"numbers-stations-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/numbers-stations-in-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Numbers Stations in the news"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"towers\"<\/a>There have been a lot of numbers in the news lately.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week,\u00a0David Goren’s numbers station radio documentary<\/a>\u00a0was featured on the\u00a0ABC Radio National<\/em><\/a>\u00a0show, Sounds Like Radio<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Click here to listen.<\/a><\/p>\n

This morning, I also noticed this excellent\u00a0BBC News Magazine<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>piece on numbers stations, which includes an interview with\u00a0Akin Fernandez, the creator of the Conet Project<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s an excerpt from The spooky world of the ‘numbers stations’<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

“This is the era of hyper-tech espionage, encrypted emails and mindboggling cryptography. But you can hear a very old-fashioned form of espionage on shortwave radio.<\/p>\n

It is 13:03 on a Tuesday in a little crammed room of the BBC Monitoring building in Caversham and what is suddenly heard on a shortwave receiving station is a 10-minute message in Morse code.<\/p>\n

There is a small community of aficionados who believe messages like this are a throwback to the era of Cold War espionage. They are the mysterious “numbers stations”.<\/p>\n

At the apex of the Cold War, radio lovers across the globe started to notice bizarre broadcasts on the airwaves. Starting with a weird melody or the sound of several beeps, these transmissions might be followed by the unnerving sound of a strange woman’s voice counting in German or the creepy voice of a child reciting letters in English.<\/p>\n

[…]Times have changed and technology has evolved, but there’s evidence that this old-fashioned seeming method of communication might still be used. Shortwave numbers stations might seem low-tech but they probably remain the best option for transmitting information to agents in the field, some espionage experts suggest.<\/p>\n

“Nobody has found a more convenient and expedient way of communicating with an agent,” says Rupert Allason, an author specialising in espionage issues and writing under the pen name Nigel West.<\/p>\n

“Their sole purpose is for intelligence agencies to communicate with their agents in denied areas – a territory where it is difficult to use a consensual form of communications,” Allason says.<\/p>\n

A former GCHQ officer, who does not wish to be named, whose duty was to intercept signals towards the UK and search for these numbers stations in the 1980s is also adamant that these were broadcasts to agents in the field or in residencies or directed to embassies.<\/p>\n

It was “one-way traffic” – the transmitters broadcast numbers to the recipient. The recipient did not reply.”<\/p>\n

[…]”This system is completely secure because the messages can’t be tracked, the recipient could be anywhere,” says Akin Fernandez, the creator of the Conet Project – a comprehensive archive of the phenomenon of numbers stations. “It is easy. You just send the spies to a country and get them to buy a radio. They know where to tune and when,” he says.<\/p>\n

Continue reading on the BBC Magazine website…<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you would like to know more about numbers stations, click here to read other numbers posts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here to go to David’s website, Shortwaveology.net<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There have been a lot of numbers in the news lately. Earlier this week,\u00a0David Goren’s numbers station radio documentary\u00a0was featured on the\u00a0ABC Radio National\u00a0show, Sounds Like Radio. Click here to listen. This morning, I also noticed this excellent\u00a0BBC News Magazine\u00a0piece on numbers stations, which includes an interview with\u00a0Akin Fernandez, the creator of the Conet Project. […]<\/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":[56,960,3,172,43,1167],"tags":[2769,2768,270,174,4088,275,944,2434,1680],"class_list":["post-9317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-international-broadcasting","category-news","category-numbers-stations","category-shortwave-radio","category-whats-on-shortwave","tag-akin-fernandez","tag-bbc-news-magazine","tag-conet-project","tag-david-goren","tag-numbers-stations","tag-shortwave-number-stations","tag-shortwaveology","tag-shortwaveology-net","tag-spy-numbers-station"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2qh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5882,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/david-gorens-numbers-station-installation-audio\/","url_meta":{"origin":9317,"position":0},"title":"David Goren’s numbers station installation audio","author":"Thomas","date":"March 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Two months ago, I posted that David Goren, talented radio producer and shortwave radio artist, created a Numbers Station installation in the Secret Wars exhibition\u00a0at the Proteus Gowanus gallery in Brooklyn, NY. David has recently published the audio that accompanies his installation. Take note that this is not\u00a0a radio documentary--rather,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DG-Performance-Shortwave","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DG-Performance-Shortwave-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3652,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/finding-numbers-stations-while-scanning-for-pirates\/","url_meta":{"origin":9317,"position":1},"title":"Finding the “English Man” numbers station while scanning for pirates","author":"Thomas","date":"May 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"While listening for pirate radio stations last night, I recorded a numbers station. I found it on 6,949 kHz at 1:30 UTC, 26 May 2012. It was broadcast in USB for almost exactly ten minutes. The ID was sent for a full four minutes of that time. I have a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Numbers Stations"","block_context":{"text":"Numbers Stations","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/numbers-stations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","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":447,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/david-goren-explores-numbers-stations\/","url_meta":{"origin":9317,"position":2},"title":"David Goren Explores Numbers Stations","author":"Thomas","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"September, 22 2011: Out of SWLing Post archives--David Goren Explores Numbers Stations: David Goren, independent radio producer and shortwave enthusiast, has produced a radio documentary about numbers stations for The Lost and Found Sound Series. It has been recently picked up by L.A. Theatre Works. What are numbers stations?\u00a0 I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"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":781,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/npr-explores-numbers-stations\/","url_meta":{"origin":9317,"position":3},"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":10770,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/numbers-stations-featured-in-highbrow-magazine\/","url_meta":{"origin":9317,"position":4},"title":"Numbers stations featured in Highbrow Magazine","author":"Thomas","date":"September 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"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":5297,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/secret-wars-exhibition-includes-shortwave-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":9317,"position":5},"title":"Secret Wars exhibition features shortwave radio artist David Goren","author":"Thomas","date":"January 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For readers living near Brooklyn, New York, make a point to visit the Secret Wars exhibition\u00a0at the interdisciplinary gallery,\u00a0Proteus Gowanus. Radio producer, sound artist, and die-hard shortwaveologist, David Goren, will host a\u00a0talk\/listening session about numbers stations, clandestines, propaganda stations, rebel takeovers of stations and all things radio obscure on\u00a0Saturday, January\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DG-Performance-Shortwave","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DG-Performance-Shortwave-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317","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=9317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}