Msg#: 23 Date: 06 Apr 96 22:01:11

─ Area: ENG: Shortwave ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msg#: 23 Date: 06 Apr 96 22:01:11
From: Russ Leblanc Read: Yes Replied: No
To: All Mark:
Subj: [1/4] Numbers Stations
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
>>> Part 1 of 4...

Here's some good numbers station info gleamed from the information
super traffic jam (web pages of Mike Chance & Chris Solminski) for
those without internet access.

Enjoy, Russ

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Numbers Stations on Shortwave Radio

What is a Numbers Station?
Have you ever tuned off the beaten track? Maybe you're already off the beaten
track in the "utility" sections of shortwave? Have you bumped into strange
stations sending groups of numbers or letters in Spanish, English, Russian
or German?

If the answer is yes, you've probably heard a numbers station!

They've been around since the early 1960's and they're still in abundance
today. Various theories have been put forward as to their purpose including;
weather forecasts, shipping information and even a secret project
communicating with UFO's! But it soon became clear what the transmissions were
for -- they are messages from intelligence organisations throughout the world,
to their agents in the field. This has been confirmed by dedicated monitors
who have tracked the transmission sites down and also by agents who have
described how their masters communicated orders to them.

Despite this overwhelming evidence, people are still sceptical. Most commonly,
they ask why shortwave radio should be used to transmit these messages in
today's high-tech world of satellites and digital communication! But what
could be simpler and more innocuous than listening to a shortwave radio?

Perhaps because of the slight unease as to the purpose of these stations,
people have been reluctant to speak about them in the past. However, today
there are some magazines and even numbers monitoring groups such as
ENIGMA providing regular information on the subject. Even so, this part of
the shortwave listening hobby remains somewhat in the "underground".

Where Can I Find Them?
The answer is anywhere from as low as 2MHz to as high as 26MHz. Stations
transmit messages in Morse (CW) and Voice using both AM and SSB. Most
stations use high power transmitters and are thus easily audible on very
modest receiving equipment.

Numbers stations can be heard throughout the world and in many languages.
In the US, Spanish predominates, and in Europe English, Russian and German
are the main languages. However, there are transmissions that can be heard
in Chinese, French, Serbo-Croat, Hebrew, Rumanian and even Yiddish!

When Can I Find Them?

Anytime! There are stations with regular schedules that appear all day, all
year 'round and who don't even stop for public holidays. Other stations are
less frequent and have random schedules and can only be caught by guess work
and a little luck. Here are some up-to-date frequency lists and schedules
that you can try....

MI6's Lincolnshire Poacher, named after it's signature tune -- that of an
old English folk song. An English lady's voice sends a 5 digit message
identifier between each rendition of the tune for ten minutes after each
hour. Transmissions are in Upper Sideband (USB).

Readers in the Far East or the Pacific Coast of the US might wish to try
for the Poacher's sister station, The Cherry Picker which uses another
old folk song, "Cherry Ripe", as its signature tune.

The Israeli MOSSAD Stations. These can be heard all day sending an
identifier like "Kilo Papa Alpha" and a number; "1" means no message will
follow, "2", means that one will. Messages are made up of random 5 letter
groups spoken phonetically eg "Alpha, X-Ray, Tango, Mike, Oscar".
Transmissions are in AM. These stations can be heard throughout
the world.

The CIA's Counting Stations. So-called because of the count from one to
zero for ten minutes before each message. Transmissions are in AM. Again,
these should be easy to hear anywhere in the world.

The Three Note Oddity. Probably only audible in Europe. Named after its
three note signature tune, played for five minutes before a message of 5
digit groups is sent. Transmissions are in AM.

Numbers station 8BY transmits from a site just outside Paris, France.
Those who know their ITU callsigns will notice that "8BY" would indicate
a location in Indonesia. The operator of this fictitious callsign is
probably French Intelligence. The wide range of frequencies used should
ensure that it is audible well outside Europe.

The Morse Numbers station DEA47 was operated by the interestingly named
"Bundesstelle fuer Fernmeldestatistik" (Government Long Distance
Communications Statistics Station), more probably a front for
the German Intelligence Agency (BND). Up to early 1995, the station could be
heard sending it's "marker" of "V V V de DEA47" and random five digit group
traffic. Now only of historical interest.

The German Two Letter Stations. Transmissions are in Upper Sideband (USB),
on the hour and half hour, around the clock. The call is announced
phonetically e.g "Romeo Delta" for five minutes in between a multi-tone
musical tune before the message is given. Should be audible outside
Europe on the high frequencies used.

An interesting digital network audible on shortwave includes stations
using the fictitious callsigns "C37A" and "6XM8" amongst others.
Transmissions take place from about 0530UTC until 2000UTC daily, using
the 288baud ARQ-E digital data system with heavy encryption, although the
operators can often be heard chatting on standard 100baud RTTY. "C37A"
is located in Israel, whilst "6XM8" is in Germany. Perhaps it is a
MOSSAD/BND link?

Hopefully this has given you an insight into a fascinating but little
understood side of the hobby. Try it out, you might just find it fun!
Every little bit of new information helps give vital clues.

Please send your comments about these pages or details of stations
that you have heard to me:

e-mail to: [email protected]

Mike Chace

73 de Mike

The Lincolnshire Poacher
========================

Identifying Characteristics
===========================

Mode : Female voice in USB
ID : Old English folk song "The Lincolnshire Poacher"
Language : English (speech synthesiser is unique in that it has intonation)
Pronounced : One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Zero
Message : Signature tune for 10 minutes interspersed with a 5 digit group
Ten chimes of a glockenspiel
Up to 100 random 5 digit groups
Schedule : 24hrs/day, on the hour, on the frequencies below
Location : Transmitted from the Middle East (eg Cyprus) into Iran and Iraq

Frequencies (kHz)

=================

Due to heavy jamming, transmissions are nearly always carried
simultaneously on two or three frequencies from the list below.

1000 - 1700UTC

16457, 16084, 15682, 14487, 13375, 12603, 11545, 10426kHz

1700 - 0000UTC

9251, 8464, 7755, 7337, 6959, 6900, 6485, 5746, 5422kHz
The "Cherry Picker"
=====================

Identifying Characteristics
===========================

Mode : Female voice in USB
ID : Old English folk song "Cherry Ripe"
Language : English (speech synthesiser is unique in that it adds intonation)
Pronounced : One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Zero
Message : Signature tune for 10 minutes interspersed with a 5 digit group
Ten chimes of a glockenspiel
Up to 100 random 5 digit groups
Schedule : On the hour, on the frequencies below
Location : Transmitted from the Far East (probably Taiwan) into China etc

Schedule
========

Time (UTC) Frequency

1100 14496, 17499, 20474
1200 13866, 17499
1300 14496, 17499, 20474

MOSSAD "Phonetic Alphabet" Stations
===================================

Identifying Characteristics
===========================

Mode : Female voice in USB
ID : Three Letter Phonetic callsign (see below) + "1" or "2"
1 = No message follows
2 = Message follows
Language : English
Pronounced : Standard NATO Phonetic Alphabet
Message : Callsign eg "Kilo Papa Alpha Two" for three minutes
"Message, Message"
About 100, random 5 letter groups given phonetically
"End of Message"
(Repeated message)
"End of message, end of transmission"
Schedule : 24hrs/day, on the hour/quarter/half/three quarter hour
Location : World-wide locations including Tel Aviv

Frequency List
==============

Frequency Callsign Frequency Callsign
(kHz) (kHz)
------------+------------------ ------------+------------------
2270 JSR 6745 CIO, VLB
2515 CIO, VLB 6840 JSR, EZI
2628 FTJ 6912 OEM (occasional)
2743 ULX 7323 KPA
2957 SYN 7372 GBZ (occasional)
3150 PCD, ART 7446 KPA
3270 KPA 7540 JSR
3417 ART 7605 SYN, CIO, VLB
3640 VLB 7613 GPO (occasional)
3840 YHF 7760 ULX
4168 SYN 7866 SYN
4270 PCD 7918 YHF
4360 CIO 8025 CIO
4463 FTJ 8127 CIO, MIW
4465 FTJ 8465 SYN, CIO
4560 YHF 8641 MIW
4665 VLB 9130 EZI
4780 KPA, ULX 9270 ???
4880 ULX 9402 YHF (occasional)
5091 JSR 10125 CIO, KPA
5170 GBZ (occasional), CIO 10352 VLB
10526 VLB
5230 MIW, SYN, VLB, CIO 10648 YHF
5339 OEM (occasional) 10820 VLB, SYN
5437 ART 10970 MIW
5530 CIO
5531 BAY (occasional) 11565 EZI
5560 YHF 12747 SYN
5629 SYN, CIO 12950 MIW
5715 ZWL (occasional) 13533 EZI
5820 YHF 14750 CIO, MIW
5911 OEM (occasional) 13921 CIO
14866 VLB
6270 ULX 15980 EZI
6370 MIW 17410 EZI
18178 VLB
6500 PCD
19715 EZI
6685 SYN 20740 SYN

The CIA Counting Stations
=========================

Identifying Characteristics
===========================

Mode : AM or USB female voice
ID : "One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Zero"
"Two One One", "Two One One" (The destination/agent)
Message : Ten electronic beeps
"Count 204, Count 204" (number of groups)
Followed by the appropriate number of 5 or 4 digit groups
Schedule: On the hour
Language: Spanish, German, English
Location: World-wide, transmitted from US-allied countries

Message Schedule
================

(at 8th December 1995)

// = transmission is carried on two frequencies simultaeously

Time Day Frequencies
(UTC) (kHz)

1900 Any 5153//7473
1800 Mon 6970//8143
1800 Mon 9219//11491
2100 Mon 5371
2300 Mon 7532 (German)
0100 Tue 5046
1300 Tue 10262
1400 Tue 12221
1500 Tue 8085//10247
1700 Tue 6780//8085
1800 Tue 11491//13450
2200 Tue 9357//11072
1600 Wed 9070
1700 Wed 6780//8085
1800 Wed 6970//8143
1800 Wed 11491//13450
2100 Wed 8185//10162
1400 Thu 12221
1700 Thu 13444//11072
1800 Thu 11491//13450
1900 Thu 9219//11491
2000 Thu 5850//8143
2100 Thu 5371//7430
2100 Thu 8185//10162
0100 Fri 4470//5046
0700 Fri 6813//8070
1500 Fri 8085//10247
1800 Fri 11491//13450
2100 Fri 6970
0700 Sat 9070//11072
1500 Sat 5850//8143
1600 Sat 16273//18240
1400 Sun 7469//12221
1800 Sun 16273//18240
1800 Sun 11072//13440

The Three Note Oddity
=======================

Identifying Characteristics
===========================

Mode : AM (often with either LSB or USB enhanced) Female voice
Language : German
ID : Electronic "tune" of three tone rising scale with rough note
Message : "Achtung, Achtung" (= Attention, Attention)
Followed by a number of (usually <40) random 5 digit groups
"Ende, Ende" (= End, End)
Each of the three above steps repeated
Pronounced : Eins, Tzwo, Drei, Vier, Funnef, Sechs, Sieben, Acht, Neun, Null
Schedule : See below
Location : Central Europe (Czecho-Slovakia/Hungary)

Transmission Schedule
=====================

- Each transmission "slot" follws a yearly cycle.
- The same message is repeated on the appropriate day of each week
for a whole month. The message then changes for the next month.
- Frequencies are in kiloHertz (kHz)

Day ---------- Sunday ---------- - Saturday -
UTC 1310 2105 2140 2210 2110

January 7832 4126 4627
February ???? 4357 5448
March 8824 4562 5472
April 7983 4751 6741
May 7719 5637 7538
June 7568 6547 7481
July ???? 5718 6853
August 7736 5133 5617 6642
September 8752 4484 4384 5487 5817
October ???? 3389 3289 4827 5329
November 8853 3276 3176 4139 4276
December 8621 3199 3099 3815 3941

8BY
===

Identifying Characteristics
===========================

Mode : Morse (CW)
ID : vvv vvv vvv 8by 8by 8by
Message : Random 5 digit groups.
Schedule : Daily, on the hour, on the frequencies below
Location : Paris, France

Frequencies (kHz)
=================

(Usually two frequencies are active simultaneously)

20946
18415
14931
14925
14433
12283
10248
7668

DEA47
=====

A numbers stations that operates in Morse only. The majority of
the station's time is spent idling when it sends:

v v v de dea47

continuously. A few times a day, it will go into 5 number groups.

DEA47 keeps German office hours i.e. 0800UTC - 1600UTC and does not
appear at the weekends. It is operated by the BFST from a site in Husum,
Schleswig Holstein in northern Germany.

As a historical note, the station used the callsign EC3Y (indicating a
Spanish Novice Licence) for a number of years until it was tracked to
its location. The dedicated monitor who did the detective work then
sent a letter to the German PTT asking for the reason why a station
transmitting from German soil should use a callsign not of its
originating country. The station soon went off-air and returned
with the present, legal ITU callsign.

Frequencies (kHz)
=================

12283 and 13581

The German "Two Letter Stations"
==================================

Identifying Characteristics
===========================

Mode : USB Female voice
Language : German or English
ID : Electronic "tune" and phonetic call eg "Hotel Kilo" for 5 minutes
Message : "Es folgen Mitteilung fuer" or "Messages for"
"Funnef Zwo Eins" or "Five Two One" (Destination/Agent)
"Eins Vier Gruppen" or "One Four Groups"
"Achtung" or "Attention"
Followed by the appropriate number of 3/2F groups
Pronounced : Eins, Tzwo, Drei, Vier, Funnef, Sechs, Sieben, Acht, Neun, Null
: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Zero
Location : Probably Germany
Schedule : On the hour and half-hour on any frequency below

Frequencies (kHz)
=================

2690 2707 2745
3228 3262
4543 4594 4773 4821 4888
5015 5182 5284 5732 5770
6765 6853
7404 7532 7661 7740 7752 7858
8063 8173
9040 9325 9450
10170 10177 10460 10500 10740
11008 11108 11617 11545
12092 12210 12314
13362 13752 13775 13890
14622 14945
15610
16055 16220 16414
17430
18195 18575
19755
20240 20350 20675
22885

Active Calls
============

Language
German English

AB AU
CD, CT
DM
EG, EL
GK
HK
JW
KW
MD
NZ
PZ
RD, RK
SB
VO
WL

C37A and 6XM8
=============

Identifying Characteristics
===========================

Mode : 288baud ARQ-E, encrypted data (Main traffic mode)
100baud Baudot RTTY (Operator chat)
ID : ryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryry
6xm8 de c37a
the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog 1234567890
(In 100bd RTTY only)
Schedule : 0530 to 2000UTC, daily
Location : C37A is in Israel and 6XM8 is in Germany

Frequencies (kHz)
=================

Channel Number is that used by the operators in asking for frequency
changes to be made.

Channel User Frequency

?? C37A 7573
53 6XM8 9208
54 6XM8 10348
?? C37A 10749.5
?? C37A 11434
?? C37A 12224
56 6XM8 12276
25 C37A 13073
57 6XM8 13419
?? C37A 14379
?? C37A 14386.5
?? C37A 14390.5
?? C37A 14398
59 6XM8 15688
28 C37A 16312
60 6XM8 16457
61 6XM8 17387

(There are higher frequencies but these tend to be used little at present)

--------------end of listing--------------