Numbers stations

[V Knid esq]

http://home.freeuk.com/spook007/

I'd forgotten about these. Properly freaky.

[MUX]

what are they knid?
cant be bother to install realaudio

[V Knid esq]

It's the stations that broadcast constant lists of numbers, letters and tones on shortwave radio. Presumed to be something to do with espionage.

Numbers stations are shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin that broadcast streams of numbers, words, or phonetic sounds. It is publicly not known with certainty where their signals originate or what purpose they serve. The voices that can be heard on these stations are often those of children, or are mechanically generated.

Numbers stations appear and disappear continuously, although some stick to regular schedules. It has been speculated that these stations operate as a simple and foolproof method for government agencies to communicate with spies "in the field", using the transmitted codes as a one-time pad cryptosystem. Others speculate that some of these stations may be related to illegal drug smuggling operations. Although no broadcaster or government will acknowledge or give a reason for their existence, a 1998 article in London's Daily Telegraph quoted a spokesperson for the Department of Trade and Industry (the government agency that regulates radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom) as saying, "These [numbers stations] are what you suppose they are. People shouldn't be mystified by them. They are not for, shall we say, public consumption."

Errors at the transmission site, radio direction-finding, and a knowledge of shortwave radio propagation have also provided clues to number station locations. For example, the "Atención" station is presumed to be from Cuba, and a supposed error allowed Radio Habana Cuba to be carried on the frequency.

Numbers stations are often given nicknames by enthusiasts. These nicknames often reflect some distinctive element of the station. For example "Lincolnshire Poacher", one of the best known numbers stations, supposed by many to be run by MI6, plays the first two bars of the folk song of that name before each string of numbers. The "Atención" station begins its transmission with the Spanish-language phrase "¡Atención! ¡Atención!"

On some stations tones can be heard in the background. It has been suggested that in such cases the voice may be an aid to tuning to the correct frequency, with the coded message being sent by modulating the tones, perhaps using a technology such as burst transmission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_stations

[gypsy_cream]

well creepy soundin....i have some samples of these on my computer.... hardly ever open them

bbrrrr

[JE:5]

proper wicked these are, I remember finding some by accident a good ten years ago on my old stereo when I lived at my parents house. Sounded like an ice cream van jingle followed by blocks of numbers read by an eastern european woman. Did anyone see the release by irdial disks called The Conet Project? Basicallly I heard that and rememebered I had taped some of these dodgy mechnanoid sounding men and women reading out numbers for ages and it sort of clicked. fucking wierd and entertaining stuff to say the least. Add to the fact it's actually illegal to listen to them, trailing wire round the house from the radio arial for SW numbers stations and a fine tuning knob on your old ghettoblaster makes for a somewhat bizarre pastime that i'm particularly fond of .

[JE:5]

http://www.irdial.com/conet.htm Here's a link to the Conet Project CD i mentioned in the previous post.

[djerome]

i knew someone at my university who was hired by CIA to take pictures along the soviet border. it was very funny, they would be on one side of the border with their superzoom camera taking photos, and they can see their russian counterpart looking at them taking pictures too.

[animal night train]

the Conet Project is excellent!! Proper mental stuff!

[djerome]

heres a good thread

http://slashdot.org/articles/00/05/27/1735225.shtml
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/05/27/1735225&mode=thread

[decadnids]

Irdial - they know where its at. !!!!

[Yer_Maw]

that is well mental by the way. who would have thought cryptography could be so cool.

[decadnids]

Originally posted by Yer_Maw
that is well mental by the way. who would have thought cryptography could be so cool.

cryptography is cool.

i did my dissertation on cryptography and the social implication of governmental controlled cryptographic systems.

[JE:5]

I think i'm going to have a blast at finding some tonight, The last time I tried there wasn't much activity and i'm just wondering wether there will be more since it's all kicking off in the middle east.

[djerome]

makes me want to learn triangulation and find the source stations. is triangulation difficult?

[Spandex]

Originally posted by decadnids
i did my dissertation on cryptography and the social implication of governmental controlled cryptographic systems.

I reckon if they get that Palladium thing thru it could well be the end of the fucking world.

[Virus]

Originally posted by djerome
makes me want to learn triangulation and find the source stations. is triangulation difficult?

i think its supposed to be really hard to locate the source of short wave transmissions (which numbers stations are) cos the waves can be reflcted off the atmosphere which confuses the calculations, this is the reason why the waves can travels so far though, like when marconi first transmitted accross the atlantic.