NUMBERS STATIONS: An In depth look

"Do you know how spies communicate with their governments without ever being caught ? Dive in to the curious case of Numbers Station with World Unearthed ! Numbers Stations Explained !

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Just what is a numbers station ?

Well, one way to do it is with a shortwave radio. All you need is the right frequency and something called a one time pad. In cryptography, a one time pad is an encryption technique that can’t be cracked by anyone who does not have the correct, one time pre-shared key to decipher it.

Before you know it, you have your set of instructions for the week, and no one is the wiser, especially your noisy neighbours.

So the numbers station, is the shortwave radio station that is responsible for propagating the cypher needed to decrypt messages. Most stations use artificial human speech to vocalize numbers, while some use phase-shift keying or frequency-shift keying. And of course, there’s also morse code transmissions.

Since the inception of numbers stations, they have always had different schedules. Some broadcast at set times, while others have no discernible patterns.

FIRST RECORDED USE -

TECHNOLOGY -

Numbers stations do not take advantage of novel technologies, infact, they are very outdated by any standard. Shortwave radio has been around since the start of the 20th century. As time passed and more powerful transmitters and receivers were perfected, it became somewhat easy to broadcast signals that could be heard worldwide. So easy that an amateur could do it. Just ask anyone who owns a HAM radio.

Just a little side note, HAM doesn’t stand for High Amateur Missionaries or anything like that. It came from telegraphers describing operators who lacked ability as “ham fisted”. Eventually HAM became a word to describe amature radio operators.

In fact, in the modern day of cell phones and hi tech gadgets that can be hacked or stolen, a one time pad and a shortwave radio seem to be a great alternative.

Why fix it if it ain't broken ?

- Active Stations

Numbers stations are still being used to this day. Enthusiasts have uncovered numerous stations that broadcast weekly. Here is a list of current, active spy numbers stations. Here are just a few examples. Enthusiasts use the ENIGMA naming system which stands for European Numbers Information Gathering and Monitoring Association. These are the current prefixes that are used to name numbers stations.

V2 - a Cuban station believed to be operated by the Cuban Intelligence Directorate. It can be heard in North America at night and transmissions are 42 minutes long.

HM01 is the digital successor of V2, also operated by the CID. It broadcasts on many frequencies and did not have a set schedule until 2014.

V24 - is believed to originate from South Korea, but it has never been confirmed. Here is a short sample from the station, it’s obviously not the best quality. Evidence suggests that V24 has been broadcasting for decades.

X06 - nicknamed Mazielka, this numbers station is used by the Russian ministry of foreign affairs. Its main purpose is to alert anyone listening that there will be more detailed messages on other frequencies. It usually broadcasts at random times on up to 360 different frequencies.

There is also the mysterious Yosemite Sam station. First discovered in 2004, the station transmits on four frequencies. Starting with the lowest kHz, the same message is repeated on the three higher frequencies. The entire pattern takes 2 minutes and transmissions start 7 seconds to the hour. Always. Before the coded message is sent out, the station transmits what sounds like a data burts, followed by “Varmint, I’ma gonna blow yah T’smithereeens”. Instead of me trying to explain it, how about we just give it a listen.

It is believed to be located somewhere in the Southwest USA, maybe close to Albuquerque New Mexico. Since 2004, only a few transmissions have been heard, but there’s no reason to believe the station is inactive.

On a side note, if you are bored of numbers stations you can always listen in on American military broadcasts. It's not illegal. Just tune in to 8992.00 kHz on the Upper Side Band.

You can hear things like Emergency Action Messages, which are 5 digit codes repeated five times. Sound familiar ?

Or the infamous, SKY KING messages. It's believed that those are messages sent to America’s nuclear weapons forces. A typical message reads -
""Skyking, Skyking. Do not answer: [CODE WORD] Time [MM] Authentication [XX]""

- Recent Cases
See, I’m not crazy, it's all real.

Information+ audio clips
http://www.spynumbers.com/
https://www.hfunderground.com/"