the HF number stations

[peterwo2e]

anybody out here ever heard those number stations on HF? example it could have been a male or female voice but it will say numbers at ramdom. this will be repeated like every 3 minutes. i have been out of hf for a number of years but this happen in the 80s maybe early 90s. any ideas what this was all about?

 

[zz0468]

Yes, I've heard them. Both voice and cw. It's presumed to be spies sending coded messages. Really. The most likely scenario is that what we're hearing is messages intended for field agents receiving the messages on portable receivers. And it still goes on to this day.

This probably shouldn't be in the amateur forum. You should get a moderator to move it to the appropriate SWL forum.

 

[peterwo2e]

i place it here cause i have heard them hf ham band many times back them. i never heard them on cw.
so this question could belong on either forum. spy was my first thought but nobody seems to know for sure. somebody somewere has to know what this number stations were. with the coming of the internet i have tried for some time to get an answer with no luck!

 

[zz0468]

i place it here cause i have heard them hf ham band many times back them. i never heard them on cw.
so this question could belong on either forum.

Oh, ok. I've never heard them inside a ham band.

spy was my first thought but nobody seems to know for sure. somebody somewere has to know what this number stations were. with the coming of the internet i have tried for some time to get an answer with no luck!

The problem is, the people who know are paid to not talk about it. I suppose that if American spies used this technique, sooner or later someone would spill the beans because we can't seem to keep a secret. Not so with other countries.

Suffice it to say, it's quite clear that it is a clandestine form of communication, and not likely to be something that's cracked on a hobby level. At that point, the who and the why becomes moot.

 

[peterwo2e]

yes i heard them many times on the hf ham bands ssb many times i had tried to contact one of them either they ignored me or they were working split. very strong signals at times but then again the solar cycle back in the 80s was really good.

 

[krokus]

yes i heard them many times on the hf ham bands ssb many times i had tried to contact one of them either they ignored me or they were working split. very strong signals at times but then again the solar cycle back in the 80s was really good.

It was not so much that they were ignoring you, as that it is a transmit-only facility. Any receive was being done at a different location.

 

[AK9R]

yes i heard them many times on the hf ham bands

Have you heard these stations recently in the amateur bands?

 

[Token]

Oh, ok. I've never heard them inside a ham band.

Then you just missed them. Looking at their frequency distribution vs activity it does not seem they make any particular attempt to stay outside the ham bands. Let me re-phrase that slightly. Some of them, particularly Russian sources, appear to make no particular attempt to stay outside ham bands. Others, such as the Cubans, are almost never seen in the ham bands.

The problem is, the people who know are paid to not talk about it. I suppose that if American spies used this technique, sooner or later someone would spill the beans because we can't seem to keep a secret. Not so with other countries.

Suffice it to say, it's quite clear that it is a clandestine form of communication, and not likely to be something that's cracked on a hobby level. At that point, the who and the why becomes moot.

For many years there were numbers stations of US source, and people did not talk about them then either. I think nationality has little to do with the beans being spilled. There are numerous publications and reports that discus the use of “secure one way voice links” (numbers stations by another name) and US efforts.

Actually, the strongest supportive data that these transmissions are indeed spy related comes from Cuban and US sources. Various former Cuban sources have published the fact that instructions to agents in the field are sent via coded shortwave messages. But the strongest evidence would be several court cases in the US, cases of foreign agents operating on US soil who were caught. As part of the court cases have been evidence presented by the prosecution that these agents received coded shortwave transmissions from Cuba as guidance. This evidence is now part of the public record in several of these cases.

Have you heard these stations recently in the amateur bands?

As recently as just over a week ago. I missed this thread when it was fresh but the following receptions have been made of numbers stations inside ham bands from when you asked the question until today. Specific dates and times for each are available, in some cases recordings are also available. This is only a subset of all reported numbers stations inside ham bands during that time.

Spanish language numbers station V07 uses 18074 kHz weekly for a few months each year, including October and November. V07 is probably run by the Russians.

Other Russian stations like XPA and X06 regularly hit the 30 and 20 meter bands, less frequently hitting 17 and 15 meters..

S32 and S30 are inside the 80 meter band daily.

S06 hit 20 meters last month on 14080 and 14280 kHz, it also hit 80 meters on 3834 kHz and 3569 kHz and 40 meters on 7242 kHz.

MC03 hit 80 meters on 3948 kHz.

M89 hit 80 meters on 3642, 3761, and 3797 kHz.

M32 hit 15 meters on 21438 kHz and 80 meters on 3853 kHz.

M01b hit 80 meters on 3519, 3520, 3537, 3545, 3625, and 3715 kHz.

E06 hit 80 meters on 3526 and 3729 kHz

E07 hit 30 meters on 10124 kHz.

E17 hit 20 meters on 14260 kHz.

As you can see, numbers stations still do regularly hit ham bands.

T!

 

[pinballwiz86]

Check out my thread on numbers stations:

http://forums.radioreference.com/ut...numbers-station-heard-10-720-mhz-w-video.html



And video of a Cuban spy transmission I recorded:

Numbers Station 10.720 MHz - YouTube


Very interesting stuff. Keep listening op.

 

[poltergeisty]

I've heard the Cuban numbers lady on an IC-R3 come in pretty good all the way in Colorado!

I have a friend that use to be a spook in HUMINT for the CIA back in the 60's and 70's. He did indeed used numbers stations and a one time pad. I guess it was pretty funny because what they used were nursery rhymes.

If anyone is as fascinated in this stuff as I am you might want to check this site out. It has a virtual enigma machine and how to make a one time pad. http://users.telenet.be/d.rijmenants/

http://www.spynumbers.com/

http://numberstations.co.uk/

 

[majoco]

If you've got nothing to do for half an hour...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwJdGWcNAqk