Sometimes, I go to sleep listening to shortwave radio and I will come accross channels featuring seemingly random numbers, or letters being read. Do these serve some sort of navigational purpose? I will also hear “beeps” that repeat with some sort of defined frequency, and duration. Has anyone else out there that listens to shortwave heard this? Also, what exactly defines “short wave”. Where is the line between short wave and “regular” AM/FM radio? Why don’t commercial stations seek to broadcast in the shortwave fequencies.
Ah, the age-old mystery of the number stations.
I think its Bin Ladin :eek:
Really? I think it’s the CIA, giving orders to its international drug cartels.
Anyway, a good writeup on the phenomenon exists in William Poundstone’s book Big Secrets, page 194-198. (198-199 is about the famous Russian Woodpecker, BTW, another semi-secret shortwave/ham radio phenomenon.)
In general, he doesn’t have a real clue. He sends up and analyses multiple theories, but we don’t know enough to conclusively shoot any of them down. Anyone purporting to know what’s going on with them is either one of the biggest defectors in the history of clandestine operations or a big, fat liar.
No matter what, these things provide fodder for endless discussion, and I can’t help but imagine that the people who really know what’s going on are reading at least some of the discussions and laughing their black-suited asses off.
Bigfoot is well-known as being a Ham Radio enthusiast, as well as having a gambling addiction. He’s just ordering lottery tickets.
Lots of lottery tickets!
Bigfoot loves Lotto. Sig line, anyone?
William Pounstone devotes a chapter to this in his first book of Big Secrets. No solutions, but lots of theories. Nobody’s talking.
has anyone considered getting on the frequency and saying lots of jarbled numbers really quickly to mess them up? 
Columbian drug overlord: three, five, seven, six, two
Columbian drug overlord: nine, one, nine, eight, three
Alterego: 354358927429389~! hahahaha234!!! l0z3r!@!
CalMeacham: Cecil mentioned Poundstone in his article, I mentioned him in my first post, and you mentioned him two posts down from me.
I like the book, too, but does this count as spam? 
alterego: That would be fun. The only thing is, they tend to use expensive (but high-quality) upper-sideband modulation, so to truly replicate the effect, you’d need to invest in some serious hardware. Plus, the FCC would shut you down if it ever caught you (all ham radio licenses I know of prohibit the broadcast of secret codes, and if you don’t even have a ham license you damned well will be gigged for broadcasting anything whatsoever).
But the idea of transmitting fictitious code groups appeals to my Eristic, technical mind. 
I just this week was listening to a website that recorded a bunch of snippets of recent number-station broadcasts. I’m pressed for time, or I’d dig it up … but such Websites are easy to find by Googling.
One thing the recent broadcasts seem to suggest is that some of the players have changed since Poundstone’s Big Secrets was published in 1983. I listened to some recordings that were said to be coming from England – something which Poundstone had not touched on. Also, apparently a female Cuban agent was arrested in the U.S. at some point, and some details of Cuban-run number stations were spilled that way.
Cecil’s column (in his third, red, 1994 book IIRC) gives some more details about the probable use of number stations, including the associated use of “one time pads” of number matrices to “solve” the transmissions. Happy Googling!
I’d always thought that in the 21 years since Big Secrets was published, more info about number stations would’ve leaked out. And the Russian Woodpecker – is that still a mystery? Some websites claim that an over-the-horizon radar system has been proven to be what the Woodpecker was. That was one of theories Pounstone mentioned in his book, too. So has any better info come to light?
This isn’t entirely accurate. The FCC has provisions for experimentalists to transmit on nearly any frequency they wish, with stringent controls placed on both power and duration. And of course many devices emit RF, such as cordless telephones, RC car remotes and FM wireless microphones, but these don’t need to be licensed either. Then there is the Family Radio Service (FRS) which allows the use of low-power FM communications using one of (I believe) 12 defined frequerncies in the 460 MHz band, which is also an unlicensed band. And let’s not forget the 11-meter CB band–although at one time this actually did require a license, until sometime in the mid 70’s when it became the wasteland of RF communications we know today.
You’re correct, however, in saying you’d need a license of some sort to transmit on the frequencies and using similar power to the mysteriious “number” stations.
AM Sideband isn’t necessarily high-quality sound. In fact, the bandwidth is quite a bit less than fullband AM and the resulting sound is usually somewhat tinny and distorted, since you’re suppressing both the center frequency and the unused sideband. The reason it’s used is to give your signal greater bang for the buck, so to speak. For example, CBs are limited to 4 W output on AM mode in the US under FCC regulations, however using SSB, the radio is allowed to emit 12 W.
A lot of the Google hits for “Russian Woodpecker” provide very old ham information (where it’s speculated that it’s a Soviet over-the-horizon radar project) and tinfoil-hat scalar weapon nonsense (where it’s speculated that the signals can control thoughts and cause the brain to kerplode).
Apparently, not a lot of serious research has been done.
Interestingly, this page is about Soviet over-the-horizon (OTH) radar, and it mentions the Russian Woodpecker. However, it does not include recent or complete official Russian declassifications, focusing on what (presumably reliable) sources report and on what we can presume from news reports. It isn’t even sure when the project was halted (it may have stopped after the Chernobyl accident in '86, but then maybe not).
This page purports to have an image of the antenna array used to create that pulsed RF spam. It isn’t official, however.
So, is this still the worst-kept secret in electronic warfare?
Just to toss in my 2 cents here…
I asked about more information from a GAMES MAGAZINE article on secret information, in a previous SDMB post. I was referred to Poundstones Books.
I found Big Book of Big Secrets at a Barnes and Noble Easter weekend , Needless to say I picked it up imedeiately. Read the Number Stations/ Hidden Frequencies entry first day I had the book, Bought a SWR soon after. I was well… Strongly …eerily interested to the entire concept … same for the Morese Code Location Beacons… K K K K K K K
Also, anyone else ever see that “Are You Affraid of the Dark” Episode “109 FM” ??
Long story short, the stoty Painted a Numbers Station to be a “Your number is up” station for the elderly to take the dirt nap. The station was 109 FM… At the End of your dial, for the end of your life. Each Elderly Listener had a numbered wrist band… to coincide with the numbers read… The Protagonist was a youth… who was called to soon. I would have FREAKED if I found a Numbers station late one night … with out a propper explanation.
Meeko, your reply caused me to ponder if all the people who say they would never play the lottery “because the odds are to small” might still not listen to such a broadcast, where “winning”, meant “losing” big time. In fact, I’ve always thought that Publishers Clearinghouse would do better if they notified people who would have won, had they only returned their mailings. People are sometimes more responsive to negative risk, than positive.