Numbers Station??

[radio_earbug]

It has been a phenomenom I am curious about which for a while. Last nite, I caught a few minutes of a numbers station broadcast. It was on 5883kHz on about 11pm PST. A spanish speaking female. I caught another a few thousand kHz up the band which was in English on SSB. I guess it's a joking trend broadcasting numbers stations.

It's kinda cool to catch 10 minutes recording of this. I will post a sample of it as soon as I can if I figure out a way to transpose the recording to MP3.

I wish I could have recorded the english broadcast, but my reciever doesn't have SSB. I fell asleepso I could seach any other broadcasts.

 

[SCPD]

Number stations are not a joke unless it was on 9625usb. What you heard was v02 from cuba. If you want to make it into a mp3 use audacity.

Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder


Good catch btw
Mike

 

[WisconsinRailfan]

Number stations are not a joke unless it was on 9625usb. What you heard was v02 from cuba. If you want to make it into a mp3 use audacity.

Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder


Good catch btw
Mike

Did you mean 6925?

 

[iMONITOR]

What's the point of monitoring these? No ones ever decoded them.

 

[ka3jjz]

The point of monitoring them is not to decode them; rather who is doing the sending? This kind of chase is an interesting exercise in and of itself.

For example in the past, it was always assumed, but not proven until relatively recently, that at least some of these spanish numbers stations were Cuban in nature. What proved it was someone making a mistake - using a frequency for a numbers xsmn, then R Havana coming up for their normal broadcasts was a pretty big hint. There are many other countries that do this - Isreal and the UK being two. Sometimes it takes looking at the characteristics of the signal itself, other times it's the pattern of the data that gives the sender away (or at least, what people think might be the sender. It's not like you can send for a QSL...)

This has been written about in the lay press with spies being caught with 'shortwave radios tuned to frequencies were they get coded information' more than a few times in recent years. It's a very tiny toehold into a world seldom seen or even acknowledged by government officials - and quite embarassing for some...best regards...Mike

 

[Token]

It has been a phenomenom I am curious about which for a while. Last nite, I caught a few minutes of a numbers station broadcast. It was on 5883kHz on about 11pm PST. A spanish speaking female. I caught another a few thousand kHz up the band which was in English on SSB. I guess it's a joking trend broadcasting numbers stations.

Why do you believe it is a joke? Or are you under the mistaken impression that numbers stations do not still transmit today?

As others have pointed out, the Spanish speaking female you heard was most likely numbers station V02a out of Cuba. It keeps a regular schedule on that frequency. To ID the other we might need a bit more than “a few thousand kHz up the band in English on SSB”. But, my bet is encoded traffic on one of the GHFS freqs.

T!

 

[Token]

Number stations are not a joke unless it was on 9625usb.

I assume you mean 6925 kHz USB?

While I agree the Circus music Numbers station that has been showing up on that freq is most likely a spoof, it has not been proven by any stretch of the imagination. I mean really, Circus music and "the apple is in the hand"? Just way too over-the-top for me to believe it is real. But most often when it is a spoof someone eventually claims it in some way, and this is three weeks old and continuing with no claims yet, and several different messages. Also, remember that while 6925 is a very active Pirate freq in the US (but not the rest of the World) that is not the only freq numbers spoofs have shown up on, just the most common in the US. I have heard numbers spoofs up and down the bands in the past.

In the past and around the World there have also been multiple reports of probably real numbers stations on 6925. Four different stations that I know of, M14, M22, M51, and E06, and multiple instances of each.
Also, within 25 kHz of 6925, from 6900 to 6950, there have been more than 1900 reported intercepts of probably real numbers stations over the years.

So yeah, the recent 6925 kHz Circus music numbers is most likely a spoof, I know I believe that it is. But, I still look forward to hearing it each week, so Bravo Zulu to the maker. Unfortunately I receive it very poorly, when at all, at my location, so I have to listen to recordings other listeners make. And by the way, I think it unlikely that the OPs report of "I caught another a few thousand kHz up the band which was in English on SSB" would be the Circus numbers, at least so far no one else has potentially reported it being on the air last night and I know several specifically record that freq every night, for Pirates, not numbers.

T!

 

[sadatoni]

More information on numbers stations can be found at Spy Numbers Stations Shortwave Radio