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Numbers stations do not take advantage of novel technologies, infact, they are very outdated by any standard.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

[WorldUnearthed]

Quarantine Day 20 - What's on your amazon bucket list ?

[hesspet]

There are also long wave transmissions around the world. The only way to comunicate with submarines under water. As a geophysics student we used these transmissions to measure the traveling time of the signals through the earth. It was a very interessting aproach to use these signals.

[hnvirus]

A video with a tutorial of how to get the military number codes would be awesome.

[gnome_farmer]

Ham Radio is the most delicious radio.

[tekspeditionplanet]

Although "ham radio" has become synonamous with "amateur radio", the "ham" in "ham radio" actually is derived from a US magazine from the early 20th century. HAM is an acronym for title of a DIY magazine named "Home Amateur Mechanic". One edition of the magazine (maybe more?) had an article about how to build your own amateur radio. They became known as "HAM radios, " named after the magazine. The name caught on and became widely used to describe any amateur radio.

[missyf]

0:22 an evil version of the Lincolnshire poacher

[hardlydank]

What's the name of the song used at the end? All the song ID websites I've used came back with no results
Incredible video btw, I think it's one of your best 👍

[respectbossmon]

I used to hear number stations on my all band receiver when scanning the bands. One I used to hear frequently was a female voice saying the numbers, "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0, " followed by a three or four digit sequence. It would repeat several times and go silent. A DX SWL magazine at the time had a section on beacons and other mysterious broadcasts. It listed the 1-0 signals as Mossad. No idea if that was accurate.
During WWII the BBC World Service used to transmit coded messages in conjunction with their news broadcasts. Number station of a sort, I suppose.
You should not get any correct responses about the meaning of EAMs.

[marquesehanley]

If any of you haven't watched a show called "The Americans" you should it's an excellent show related to the cold War.

[sandybottom]

Ham radio: radio receivers or transceivers built in cans used for ham.

[grenishsinxRgold]

I want that tutorial on how to get started. Maybe I can even create my own

[thepastcomesalive]

I heard about these websites where you can go and listen to short wave radio on line, like a DSR. However when I tried to go to these websites I could not get them to work, can you listen to short wave radio online using your iOS devices? Or do you only have to use a computer?

[snackz]

A tutorial sounds great hope you can do it soon

[johntoner]

Very interesting and I would love to know how you can listen and

[salia]

Ham Radio. Amateur Radio. I love it. The bands are still alive!

[missyotsuba]

A few years ago, about 4 maybe 5, I was sat watching TV with my scanner on and it hit upon a "close call" signal. It was an 8 tone "tune" that repeated 16 times and then an automated male voice gave out a series of 8 numbers which also repeated 16 times... I've tuned into that frequency several times but its been silent ever since that one broadcast. I did manage to capture most of the recording on my phone, but as such is life the phone broke and recording was lost.... :(

[jacobkuykendall]

I am enjoyed it, I like your presentation and quality information. Keep it coming man!

[julianurschalitz]

Be really cool to get some frequencies and transmission modes. :-)

[ChumlyPage]

I like to hear them..in the morning....I still here some ....

[Pvt_soap_]

Ham radio is another term for amateur radio.