Somre Kids Were Scared of Clowns

Not me. This is what used to get me:

Retro Spooks

Heard today was an old-timey relic of the distant ago, a number station.  It was heard as clearly as Radio Habana Cuba was on the same frequency a few hours earlier.  Yup, I turned on the radio, and it was just there.

Number Stations Still Exist

I captured one quite randomly while tuning through the dial, having not been able to sleep.  It was at 0825 UT on 9330 mhz, a frequency commonly used by legitimate, non-state broadcasters.

The strong, clear signal received in Virginia must surely originate in Cuba or some other part of the Caribbean for clandestine communications with agents placed in the US.

This absurd poetry continued for about half an hour.  It seems that in the digital age, this old technique refuses to be entirely abandoned.

Cuban Number Stations

They're still at it. Heaven only knows why. The Radio Intrigue log has a list of times and frequensies for their activity in February.

Times in UTC, Freqs in kHz. VO2A 0200 5762 Sat 0800 5898 Fri 1900 12180 Tue-Thu 2000 13380 Tue-Thu M08A 1300 7578 Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 1400 8097 Tue-Fri 1800 8097 Mon-Wed, Fri 1900 6785 Mon, Wed-Fri 1900 8097 Mon, Wed,Fri 2000 7554 Mon-Fri 2100 6932 Wed, Thu 2200 7519 Mon, Wed, Fri 2200 8009 Thu 2300 8009 Mon, Wed 2300 8135 Tue, Thu-Fri

Cache, cache... It seems Fidel has friends in hidden places it seems.

Creepy Remnant of Time Past

Those of you out there as enamouried as I am with Number Stations might enjoy the fact that some of them still operate, in this case on 6949 khz. In fact, they seem even MORE mysterious in this day and age when there are so many other means of communication, and many of the traditional users of Number Stations in intelligence communications are, well, gone.

Nice Glockenspiel, Lady!

Creepy Number Station goodness, for all you wierdos out there.



I say it’s art.

Number Station Remix

The vibe is the essense of "joyously grim".

The Tale of a Number Station

Station UVB-76 / MDZhB started out as a Soviet military/intelligence number station. Glasnost and defunding have laid it bare. Interstingly enough, it has a fanbase that uncludes radio DXers and club-track remixers:

Today, the Buzzer’s fan base includes Kremlinologists, anarchists, hackers, installation artists, people who believe in extraterrestrials, a former Lithuanian minister of communications, and someone in Virginia who goes by the moniker Room641A, a reference to the alleged nerve center of a National Security Agency intercept facility at an AT&T office in San Francisco. (“I am interested in ‘listening,’” Room641A tells me by email. “All forms of it.”) All of them are mesmerized by this bewildering signal—now mostly buzzing, once again. They can’t help but ponder the significance of it, wondering about the purpose behind the pattern. No one knows for sure, which is both the worst and the best part of it.

The station's output is being relayed over teh internet by a dedicated enthusiast. It can be heard here.

Creepy Echos of Shortwave Past

Dalli Dalli

Another creepy number station, this one a recording of a transmission from the DDR. Jump right in.

What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?

Lone Listener, Secret Transmitter

While this is a highly entertaining mash-up, it conveys the sense many had about the secretive broadcaster transmitting to secretive, and likely pensive and lonely listeners.

The Near Distant Ago, Remembered

Those among us interested in radio will enjoy this one: one of those new fangled weblog thingies focusing on Radio Berlin International, the voice of the erstwhile German leftist dictatorship. For a collection of their QSL cards, as well as postcards from said erstwhile German leftist dictatorship, hier clicken, bitte.

Random DX Report

A number station of undetermined origin was heard 15 June 2011, 0135 GMT on 6767 khz. 5 digit cifer was read in multiple languages by what sounded like a computer generated female voice.

It went off air at 0140 GMT.

The use of number stations is an ‘old school’ method of communicating with your spies from the home land to the nation where they are doing their surveillance without being detected.

The strength of the signal and the use of this reliable but primitive method of messaging suggest that it likely originated in Cuba, Venezuela, or transmitted from sea.

Not So Distant, Not so 'Ago'

Shortwave listeners... yes, both of you, will enjoy this. A British group has been refining software that harvests what remaining SW transmissions are still being broadcasted out there in the murky land of spookdom.

Building on the huge successes of previous editions, Version 3.5 delivers to users a vast array of signals intelligence gathering tools and provides far more comprehensive functionality to cope with today's dynamic signals collection environments. HARVESTER just got better.

In a rapidly changing world where major events impact on all our lives, you need to keep one-step ahead of the news. Signals Intelligence can give you that edge but valuable time can be lost sorting, storing and searching through collected intelligence.

The HARVESTER family of SIGINT database applications provide unique and cost-effective solutions to a wide range of collection requirements. From a network enabled multi-user collection system to the standalone radio enthusiast, HARVESTER provides real-time solutions for all COMINT, ELINT or FISINT signal intercepted between 0 Hz to 100 GHz.

My next radio indulgence will be this dandy little trifle:



Frankly, I have too many of the groovy old ones to keep up with. Owing to their vintage, they may start getting the attic treatment, where they are cleaned, boxed, and forgotten for another decade.

Counter-Counter-Counter Something or Other... Still With me?

Veeeeery Interestink!:

DFS 904 was a propaganda station from east germany in the cold war. These messages, sent during night, were absolutely nonsense and were intended to pretend it was an underground station operated by banned communists in western germany. On a website I found *exactly* this messages as an example mp3.

Vengeance is a Dish Best Served with Creepiness

Unintelligible Number Station banter: I say it's art.

Creepy Number Station Stuff: the Eternal Cubans