Number stations

[KJ4FWA]

Anyone ever heard/read about these, someone was telling me in passing about them but I dont think my scanner will pick them up

some information I did find however
http://www.freewebs.com/meterbands/numberstations.html

 

[ka3jjz]

You would need a radio that can hear the HF spectrum, between 2-30 mhz, so yes, a scanner won't pick these broadcasts up (well, not readily anyway - thinking here about the BR330). It might be possible with some of the higher-end broadband rxs such as the Icom R8500. There are many portables, and a few desktop type HF radios that could.

Anyway these stations are well known in the HF world. They are assumed to be stations communicating coded messages to agents. There's a whole subculture of folks that follow this sort of stuff - here's a good website to get you started...

http://home.luna.nl/~ary/

73s Mike

 

[KJ4FWA]

Pretty Quirky, Any ones Still broadcasting in the Us?

 

[ka3jjz]

No one knows for sure. And if they do, they aren't saying. There are a few that are thought to be identified - the Cubans and Isrealis are common visitors, but there are others - maybe even the Company....73s Mike

 

[k8tmk]

Number stations have been around for a very long time.

With the pin-point direction-finding capability the FCC allegedly has, I'm surprised they haven't exposed numbers stations a long time ago. Maybe the government doesn't want them to (?)!

Randy

 

[Zaratsu]

Youll need a shortwave radio to hear them.
I have a Sony IC-7600GR arriving this week. Its a $140-170 small portable that has everything anyone would want in a shortwave radio except a tuning knob (buttons instead). Still made in Japan too. There are other good radios like the Grundig/Eaton G5/E5 that would do the job and be a good radio, but it wont have synchronus detect like the Sony does. Grunding supposdly has a G6 due out midway through march that looks great, and will sell for $100 which is great. But again, no synch detector and its chinese.

With a decent SW radio (anything over $90) you will hear Number Stations. Here are a few reccomendations for around $100 and have SSB listening capability.

Already mentioned Sony 7600GR (they wont be making them forever!)
Degen/Kaito 1103
Degen/Kaito 1102
Grundig Eaton E5

 

[WisconsinRailfan]

If you want to hear and learn more about number stations check out this site it's called the Conet Project http://www.irdial.com/conet.htm

Somewhere on the site you can download 3 cd's worth of number station recordings

Also look into the "Lincolnshire Poacher"

There is also a Yahoo Group that is very active

Steven

 

[w0fg]

Number stations have been around for a very long time.

With the pin-point direction-finding capability the FCC allegedly has, I'm surprised they haven't exposed numbers stations a long time ago. Maybe the government doesn't want them to (?)!

Randy

If they're broadcasting from the US, then they are either ours (CIA), or transmitting from a foreign embassy, which would be their right. Nothing to "expose". If they're broadcasting from Cuba or Israel or elsewhere they're outside the FCC jurisdiction.

 

[DPD1]

I've heard the Cuban one on a G5 from the west coast numerous times. It's kind of cool, but it wears off fast once you've heard it. It's funny when they screw up and have to stop though. I think the computer app freezes on them or something.

Dave
www.DPDProductions.com
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

 

[mfn002]

A while ago, I heard one here (but very, very weak). It was somewhere above 1000KHz. It would transmit almost everday at around 4 pm, in Spanish.

 

[ka3jjz]

I've heard the Cuban one on a G5 from the west coast numerous times. It's kind of cool, but it wears off fast once you've heard it. It's funny when they screw up and have to stop though. I think the computer app freezes on them or something.

Dave
www.DPDProductions.com
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

Actually Dave sometimes this is the transmitter being shifted over from numbers to R Habana (or sometimes R Rebelde) programming. It's been heard enough times that it's pretty much a given. 73 Mike

 

[Zaratsu]

Pretty Quirky, Any ones Still broadcasting in the Us?

Anything that the US broadcasts as a number station is going to be for monitoring OUTSIDE the USA and not inside of it.

It is nearly a perfect cipher as there is no way to decode what is being transmitted. 99.9% of the time the number stations mean nothing and when the decoder is listening, he gets gibberish. The broadcasts are regular and frequent or totally random because otherwise, it would be possible to deduce from increases or decreases of activity that something is about to happen. This way you wouldnt know if the broadcast is for the joke of the day, or a warning to all agents to meet with their contact ASAP or to get the heck out of dodge, etc. It is a great backup system that costs next to nothing for the CIA/NSA/NI to operate.

Back in the cold war, everyone in europe had SW, but just radio geeks and spys had them in the USA. Now that it is 2008, and many nations are on different ground than they were in 1980, the stations also provide a psychological edge of "were still watching you from the inside" For example, Cuba is one of the more notorious users of numbers stations, and since Russia told them to beat it, they probably dont have many operatives in the USA. Rewind 20,30,40 years and Cuban agents in the USA was a huge issue that was not regularly spoken about The island nation that had a advanced agricultural and scientific community had a strong millitary that could fight wars on different continents against advanced armies, today can barely keep a few elderly MIGs flying. Any cuban agent here today is probably happy to be placed in the U.S. and is only keeping tabs on the numbers stations to be reminded of the effect of meaningless propaganda.

 

[Zaratsu]

Actually Dave sometimes this is the transmitter being shifted over from numbers to R Habana (or sometimes R Rebelde) programming. It's been heard enough times that it's pretty much a given. 73 Mike

Its happend often. Has happend with Russian stations, and presumably ours as well over the years. It really is no secret who "owns" what station. In fact many are deliberatly set to be identified by a national test tone. For example, the cuban Atencion Atencion!, or the haunting Linconshire Poacher of the UK ( a tune British would grow up to like we grow up to the tune of Yankee Doodle), or the Czech music box. Not to mention speaking in the vernacular would be a dead giveaway. For example, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out who is broadcasting number stations in hebrew.


Number stations are hard to find using direction finding equipment as they are on longer waves and propigate and bounce all over the globe. However the worlds major powers have for years known the very general location of many of the transmitters.

They are susceptable to jamming, but in the intelligence community there are many "gentlements agreements" and apparently, there exists one here that says that "we wont jam yours if you dont jam ours"

It would be increadibly easy to muck-up the entire SW/LW spectrum and render field agents deaf, as well as regular SW users and affect regular mil and commercial HF comms.

 

[gcgrotz]

Hi Dan:
I have a 7600F that's been around the world. The back case is cracked so the whip sometimes loses contact, I just haven't fixed it. It is hands down the best radio for the money. The synch AM works great (hear that Icom?). It is also a darn good MW radio, I can lie in bed and rotate the radio and stations come and go as they null out. Listened to stations all over LW and MW from a cruise ship in the Med. I'll be taking it back there later this spring. ENJOY!

I think I should get a GR while I still can. Enjoy, and the numbers stations from Cuba just boom in here everyday, S9+20 on the east coast.

Youll need a shortwave radio to hear them.
I have a Sony IC-7600GR arriving this week. Its a $140-170 small portable that has everything anyone would want in a shortwave radio except a tuning knob (buttons instead). Still made in Japan too. There are other good radios like the Grundig/Eaton G5/E5 that would do the job and be a good radio, but it wont have synchronus detect like the Sony does. Grunding supposdly has a G6 due out midway through march that looks great, and will sell for $100 which is great. But again, no synch detector and its chinese.

With a decent SW radio (anything over $90) you will hear Number Stations. Here are a few reccomendations for around $100 and have SSB listening capability.

Already mentioned Sony 7600GR (they wont be making them forever!)
Degen/Kaito 1103
Degen/Kaito 1102
Grundig Eaton E5

 

[DPD1]

Actually Dave sometimes this is the transmitter being shifted over from numbers to R Habana (or sometimes R Rebelde) programming. It's been heard enough times that it's pretty much a given. 73 Mike

What does that sound like exactly? Because what I heard a couple times was the app just kept repeating the same number set over and over for a long time, then there was a kind of disconnection sound, like somebody just turned it off.

Dave
www.DPDProductions.com
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

 

[KJ4FWA]

I just wonder if it's the same equipment from so long ago that they are still using