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From: parnass@ihuxz.ATT.COM (Bob Parnass, AJ9S)
Newsgroups: rec.ham-radio,sci.crypt
Subject: Re: "Numbers" stations (possible answers)
Message-ID: <2475@ihuxz.ATT.COM>
Date: Sat, 5-Dec-87 08:39:50 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxz.2475
Posted: Sat Dec  5 08:39:50 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 10-Dec-87 22:13:45 EST
References: <123.003505@adam.DG.COM>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 102
Summary: spy vs. spy?
Xref: mnetor rec.ham-radio:3496 sci.crypt:742

In article <123.003505@adam.DG.COM>, Pete_Simpson@MERCURY.CEO.DG.COM
writes on hearing shortwave broadcasts of coded number groups:
 
>      I was listening to one of these last night and the question 
> popped up again, "What are these people doing?" To my knowledge, no
> one has ever come up with a reasonable explanation of why a station 
> would read off code groups in  using 
> AM modulation.....
> Thanks...Pete Simpson, KA1AXY

These "numbers"	stations may be	found  on  several  frequen-
cies,  with  both  males and females speaking in many langu-
ages.

They remain the	subject	of debate among	SWLs,  and  attempts
by  hobbyists  to  break the coded messages have been unsuc-
cessful.  One prevailing theory	is that	they are "spy"	sta-
tions,	sending	 orders	 to operatives in foreign countries.
Another	theory is that they are	 associated  with  smuggling
activities,   like   ordering,	 and   arranging   for	drug
deliveries.

I agree	with the "spy" theory.	Monitoring Times reported  a
few  years ago how an SWL traced down the source of one	num-
bers station.1 Using a Kenwood R1000 shortwave	receiver  in
his car, the SWL found the signals came	from within the	War-
renton Training	Center,	a U.S. Army facility  in  Remington,
VA, operated by	an arm of the intelligence community.

Another	numbers	station	was reportedly located in  the	res-
tricted	area of	Nauen in East Germany.2

The FCC	won't talk much	about these signals, but I  bet	 you
dollars	 to donuts that	the NSA, USN, CIA, etc.	know exactly
what their purpose is, and monitor them	(and  operate  some)
closely.   At  the very	least, our government knows the	geo-
graphic	locations of these transmitters.

The use	of double sideband, reduced carrier for	transmission
allows	the  operative	to  use	 a cheap, readily obtainable
short wave receiver (e.g., Radio  Shack,  Panasonic,  Sony).
Possession  of	such a common receiver would not draw atten-
tion to	the owner.

Here are just a	sampling of numbers stations I've heard.  My
most  interesting  numbers  logging  is	the station on 3.780
MHz.  Its strength implied a location in North America.3


   3.7800    call?_____unidentified: numbers stn, am, yl/Spanish, 5 digit, as s
		       trong as	the strongest ham signals on the band at the ti
		       me. Two hams in QSO on same freq	in lsb discussing this
		       signal, 0704Z
		       [location?] (B. Parnass)

   5.8070    call?_____unidentified: numbers stn, am, yl/Spanish, "1234567890 3
		       46 346 346 1234567890 ..."
		       [location?] (B. Parnass)

   6.8020    call?_____unidentified: numbers stn, am, yl/Spanish, 4 digit, 12/0
		       2/86 @0210Z
		       [location?] (B. Parnass)

	     call?_____unidentified: numbers stn, am, yl/Spanish, 4 digit, xmti
		       ng concurrently with KKN50 on 6.9252 cw,	both were the s
		       trongest	signals	on the band at s9+20 db, 5/15/85 @0220Z
		       [location?] (B. Parnass)

   6.9254    KKN50_____US: State, likely at the	National Communications	System
		       installation at Warrenton Training Center, embassy-relat
		       ed?, xmting concurrently	with yl	am Spanish language 4 d
		       igit numbers station at 6.802 MHz, both were the	stronge
		       st signals on band at s9+20 db, cw, 5/15/85 @0220Z
		       [Remington, VA] (B. Parnass)

   9.0740    call?_____unidentified: numbers stn, female reading numbers in Spa
		       nish, "229 229 229 1234567890...", xmtd some tones also,
			am, 12/07/86 @0110Z
		       [location?] (B. Parnass)

  18.1950    call?_____unidentified: numbers stn, female repeating "Hotel Kilo"
			4 times, then 10 seconds of musical tones. Changes to G
		       erman 5 digit number groups at 1615Z. This xmsn type pur
		       portedly	originates from	Nauen E. Germany, usb, 04/05/87
			@1601Z
		       [location?] (B. Parnass)

__________

 1. See	"U.S. Numbers Station Found!", by Bob Grove
    Monitoring Times, April 1984.

 2. See	"Spy Numbers Transmitter Located!", by John H.
    Demmitt, Monitoring	Times, May 1983.

 3. I suppose there is a possibility that an American
    prankster with ham equipment recorded the transmission
    on another frequency, and played it	back on	75 meters.

-- 
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Bob Parnass,  Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihuxz!parnass - (312)979-5414