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South Korean numbers station V24 has returned to the air after a long apparent absence.
South Korean numbers station V24 is one of the older numbers stations still on the air, going back to at least the mid 1970's. This station typically transmits starting with music, the music selected runs the gamut from martial to pop and rock. The music does change over time, but appears to be somewhat consistent to time / frequency combinations. After the music a voice identifies who the message is for and starts to send 4 and 5 figure number groups in Korean.
The station transmits near daily, with a very defined schedule tied to the day of the month, time of transmission (typically active between 1130 and 1630 UTC), and frequency used (typically one of 4 to 9 frequencies). Some specific days have no transmission, others may have several, at its peak there were over 125 transmissions each month, and at its low points something like 20 transmissions per month. While there are often small adjustments, the overall schedule appears to change roughly twice in an average year
Until yesterday the last reported transmission of V24 was on June 16, 2015. It was thought by some that the station had been deactivated, as so many traditional numbers stations have been.
There were some music transmissions in late November, 2015, on historically used V24 frequencies that may have been tied to the station, however that was never confirmed. For over 36 hours music, the same song over and over, was sent on two long time V24 frequencies, 4900 and 6215 kHz. Video of those transmission here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfpDscKLDE
Yesterday, February 14, 2016, a Japanese language listening web site reported that V24 was active on 5290 kHz (a frequency it has used for a couple of years) at 1430 UTC. Another report, on an English speaking forum, said that a carrier, but no audio, was heard on 6215 kHz, a frequency this station has used for over 30 years.
I normally watch this station pretty closely with automated tasks to keep up with its activities. It is not often reported in English based forums or groups, being not well heard in most of North America and Europe, so I try to keep a current schedule published on the web, so that listeners who do want to try and hear it can increase their odds. However after 6 months plus of no activity I had shifted it very much to the back burner on the recording / monitoring schedule. I did accidentally record the 1430 UTC Feb 14 transmission on 5290 kHz, however I was using an antenna not pointed at Asia for that recording, and all I can really tell is that something was transmitting in AM mode on that frequency at that time.
However, after I read that Japanese site report of V24 activity I fired everything back up to track the station.
And I can say, yes, V24 is back. Today it transmitted, in its traditional format of music and then coded groups, on 6215 kHz at 1500 UTC. A video of that transmission is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxalaT0ozlg
From June 16, 2015, to February 14, 2016, this station was either off the air or was simply unreported. I know for the first couple months I looked pretty hard, and am convinced it was probably inactive. But now it is back. Makes one wonder, what happened? Did the political climate change? Did funding get tight? Was it a simple hardware update?
T!
South Korean numbers station V24 is one of the older numbers stations still on the air, going back to at least the mid 1970's. This station typically transmits starting with music, the music selected runs the gamut from martial to pop and rock. The music does change over time, but appears to be somewhat consistent to time / frequency combinations. After the music a voice identifies who the message is for and starts to send 4 and 5 figure number groups in Korean.
The station transmits near daily, with a very defined schedule tied to the day of the month, time of transmission (typically active between 1130 and 1630 UTC), and frequency used (typically one of 4 to 9 frequencies). Some specific days have no transmission, others may have several, at its peak there were over 125 transmissions each month, and at its low points something like 20 transmissions per month. While there are often small adjustments, the overall schedule appears to change roughly twice in an average year
Until yesterday the last reported transmission of V24 was on June 16, 2015. It was thought by some that the station had been deactivated, as so many traditional numbers stations have been.
There were some music transmissions in late November, 2015, on historically used V24 frequencies that may have been tied to the station, however that was never confirmed. For over 36 hours music, the same song over and over, was sent on two long time V24 frequencies, 4900 and 6215 kHz. Video of those transmission here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfpDscKLDE
Yesterday, February 14, 2016, a Japanese language listening web site reported that V24 was active on 5290 kHz (a frequency it has used for a couple of years) at 1430 UTC. Another report, on an English speaking forum, said that a carrier, but no audio, was heard on 6215 kHz, a frequency this station has used for over 30 years.
I normally watch this station pretty closely with automated tasks to keep up with its activities. It is not often reported in English based forums or groups, being not well heard in most of North America and Europe, so I try to keep a current schedule published on the web, so that listeners who do want to try and hear it can increase their odds. However after 6 months plus of no activity I had shifted it very much to the back burner on the recording / monitoring schedule. I did accidentally record the 1430 UTC Feb 14 transmission on 5290 kHz, however I was using an antenna not pointed at Asia for that recording, and all I can really tell is that something was transmitting in AM mode on that frequency at that time.
However, after I read that Japanese site report of V24 activity I fired everything back up to track the station.
And I can say, yes, V24 is back. Today it transmitted, in its traditional format of music and then coded groups, on 6215 kHz at 1500 UTC. A video of that transmission is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxalaT0ozlg
From June 16, 2015, to February 14, 2016, this station was either off the air or was simply unreported. I know for the first couple months I looked pretty hard, and am convinced it was probably inactive. But now it is back. Makes one wonder, what happened? Did the political climate change? Did funding get tight? Was it a simple hardware update?
T!
