Radio Communication frequencies inc Aircraft, Military, Amateur Radio, Shortwave and anything else that comes under the Radar in N.S.W. - by Michael Bailey
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Numbers Stations
Well over a hundred "numbers" or "spy" stations have
been reported, all rather closely following a pattern. On the
typical numbers station, the announcer is - or seems to be -
a woman. No one knows who the woman is or where she is
broadcasting from. She speaks Spanish, German, or Korean.
Save for a few words at the begining and the end of the
transmission, the message consists of reandom numbers,
announced in groups of five, four, or, rarely, three digits.
As with the Morse code stations, the numbers stations are all
on unauthorized frequencies. No government or organization
owns up to the broadcasts; offically, at least, the FCC
claims no knowledge of them.
Many of those who have listened to the broadcasts
carefully are convinced that the woman is in fact a robot.
The voice has a mechanical ring, somtimes a click between
each digit. It seems to be the same type of device used by
the telephone company to give the time or to forward phone
numbers.
The exact format of the messages varies with the
language and number of digits per group. With Spanish, five
digit groups, for example, a typical transmission might be:
Atencion 290 22...Atencion 290 22...Atencion 290 22
...65438...34742...23453...23454...29584...24836...
22334...34635...10202...19375...34653...23457...
12345...94532...24643...27543...14795...24568...
75744...74755...87194...63549...Final,final.
Broadcasts are during the night hours of North America
and seem to start shortly after the hour. After the
"Final,final," the transmission stops. It is claimed that a
given transmission is repeated a few minutes later on a
slightly different frequency.
There seems to be no escaping the conclusion that the
messages are numerical code. The second number (22 in the
example) - is the number of digit groups in the message.
There dosen't seem to be any demonstrable significance to the
first number although it probably has some signifigance. Some
think it is an identifying number for the sender or the
receiver. It may also indentify the code used if there is
more than one. Note that the numbers above are only random
(except for 22) and were never really broadcast.
The four-digit transmissions in Spanish are different. A
three-digit number (perhaps that of the sender or receiver)
is repeated several times, followed by the digits 1 through
10. ("uno, dos, tres...") and a string of Morse code dashes.
the word "grupo" is followed by the number of four-digit
groups to come and repeated once - for example, "Grupo 22,
grupo 22." The message - groups of four Spanish numbers -
follows. At the end the voice says, "Repito grupo 22," and
the message repeats. The station goes off the air after the
repeat.
Any attempt to explain these broadcasts is complicated
by numbers broadcasts in other languages. There are also
broadcasts in German, Korean, and English. Occasional
transmissions in Russian, French, Portuguese, and even
Serbo-Croatian are reported. Somtimes a male (mechanical?)
voice reads the numbers. The female robot voice doing English
language broadcasts is often described as having an Oriental
or German accent. Typical of the uncertainty surrounding
numbers stations are the reported English messages prefaced
with a female voice saying "Groups disinformation" and ending
with "End of disinformation." Perhaps the voice machine has a
bad rendering of "This information."
Still other stations transmit messages consisting of
letters from the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo,
Charlie...). Some spice their broadcasts with music, which
ranges from ethnic tunes to wierd tones that may or may not
conceal a message. Reported frequencies for numbers and
phonetic-alphabet stations include:
F/M = Female/Male
S = Spanish R = Russian
F = French E = English
P = Portuguese C = Czech
SC= Serbo-Croatian G = German
Frequency Male language
(KHz) Female
--------- ------ --------
3060 F S (All are numbers stations
3090 F S unless otherwise noted)
3365 M SC
4640 M S
4642 F F
4670 F S&E Numbers & phonetic
4740 M S&P Interlude from Aida
4770 F G
5020 F S
5075 F S
5110 M C Slavic musical interlude
5812 F S
6770 F S
6790 F S
8875 F S
9040 F S&E
9345 F S
9450 F E + Musical tones
9463 F S
9950 F S
10450 F K
10500 F G
10532 F S
11545 F G
11618 F G
11635 F S
13320 M R
14947 F G
14970 F E + Beep tones
23120 F G
30050 E
30250 E
30420 E
30470 E
Whatever is going on, it's a big operation. Harry L.
Helms' "How to tune in the shortwave spectrum" has a list of
sixty-two stations that includes only those with a female
voice reading five digit codes in Spanish. Much time and
effort are going into the broadcasts. Some numbers stations
transmit on the upper sideband rather than using amplitude
modulation (AM). Signals are usually strong. Because of
ionospheric reflection, they can be picked up over most of
the globe. This makes direction finding difficult.
Two explanations are offered for the numbers stations.
It is rumored that some of the stations are communications
links in the drug traffic between the United States and
Latin America. If so, Spanish is the logical language. The
numerically coded messages could tell where drops are to be
made, how much to expect, and other minutiae that would
change from day to day. Weak support for this comes from some
amateur direction finding, which seems to place many of the
Spanish broadcasts Somewhere south of the United States.
But even those who subscribe to this explanation agree
that other numbers stations, probably most of them worldwide,
are engaged in espionage - governmental or organizational
communication with agents in the field.
Which government? The Spanish stations are usually heard
between 7:00 PM and 6:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. The night
hours are best for clandestine broadcasting as weak signals
propagate farther. So the spanish language broadcasts are
probably coming from a time zone not far removed from Eastern
Standard Time (the EST time zone includes the central
Caribbean, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru.)
On the basis of signal strengths and broadcast times, it
can be similarly be postulated that the German Stations are
coming from Europe, or maybe Africa, and the Korean stations
are coming from the Orient - oddly enough.
As far as the Spanish stations are concerned, suspision
points to Cuba. In 1975 U.S. listeners reported muffled radio
Havana broadcasts in the background of the Spanish stations.
A station at 9920KHz is said to have used the same theme
music as radio Havana.
But then there are American ham radio operators who
swear that the spanish stations must be in the United States.
"How to Tune the Secret Shortwave Spectrum" tells of
listeners in Ohio who reported four digit numbers stations
coming in stronger than anything else on the dial execpt for
a 50 kilowatt broadcast band station a few miles distant.
Similar reports come from the Washingtom, D.C., area.
Probably the simplest of all the many possible
explanitions is that the Spanish stations are opperated by
Cuba for the benefit of Cuban agents in the United States.
The Radio Havana Broadcasts in the background would have been
a mistake. The engineer was listening to radio Havana and
forgot the mike was on, or maybe radio Havana and some of the
numbers stations share facilities and the signals got mixed.
The local quality broadcasts heard in the U.S. could be Cuban
agents reporting back to Havana. Each agent would have his
own mechanical voice setup. Not that you can carry around a
50000 watt transmitter in your pocket.
The actual explanation may not be the simplest, though.
According to Helms, some shortwave listeners believe that the
four and five digit number transmissions are totally differnt
opperations. The four digit transmissions, at least some of
which seem to originate in the United States, may be the work
of the U.S. government. Only the five-digit transmissions may
come from Latin America - and may be associated with local
governments or U.S. foreign agents. Harry L. Helms
speculates that the United States may have faked the radio
Havana background just to divert suspission from an American
espionage operation.
Any glib explanation of the numbers stations is further
challenged by another incident Helms cites. An unnamed
listener was receiving a five digit numbers broadcast in
Spanish. At the end of the broadcast, the station
accidentally (?) stayed on the air, and faint female voices
were heard reading numbers in German and English. If the
report was accurate, then the numbers stations could be the
work of one worldwide operation. Choice of language could be
arbitrary. Whatever his or her native tounge, an agent need
only need learn ten words of, say, Korean in order to receive
a numerical broadcast in Korean.
No one willing to talk has broken the code or codes used
for the transmissions. If the codes are sophisticated enough
it may be pointless to even try. A random four or five digit
number added to each number in the group will scramble the
code. The numbers would have to be agreed upon before
transmission. If a different number is used for each number
block and if they are not repeated it is mathematically
impossible for outsiders to break the code.
At 3820KHz there is a four-note electronic tune. At
12700KHz there is a plaintive, twenty-one-note, flutelike
melody. At 15507 KHz there are beeps.
The EXCHANGE serves as a message base for exchanging
information dealing with radio frequencies. If you wish to
post the frequencies from your area (confidential or not),
get frequencies for other areas, post sample broadcasts,
reveal the coding method or purpose of these broadcasts, or
just talk to a friendly bunch of guys and gals feel free to
call.
The EXCHANGE : (904) 878 - 4413..24HRS..300/1200/2400 baud
(Modem only, of course)
Special thanks to William Poundstone (for the above info)
