Over the past few weeks I have been hearing alot about these mysterious Radio stations that just transmit alphanumeric strings all day, the general consensus is that they are goverment agencies communicating with agents in the field.
This just strikes me as a very cool thing, I just like the idea that the spooks of the world as still out there keeping the status quo, and that we can hear them do their stuff.
I was wondering has any shortwavedoper ever heard of of these or am I getting my leg pulled?
Big Secrets by William Poundstone has a chapter on the number stations. It was first printed sometime in the 1970’s I think, so number stations aren’t a new phenomenon.
Used to hear them all the time. Don’t listen much anymore.
My Dad had a huge HF setup in his shop… I would sneak out there late at night, and surf around 80 meters looking for entertainment. I would often come across these signals that were nothing more than people reading off long lists of numbers, sometimes for quite a while. It was kinda spooky to sit out there in the glow of LEDs and vacuum tubes, in the cold, and listen to those voices slightly distorted by the frequency drift of the old Heathkit radio. I always wondered who else on the planet was listening along with me.
Anyway, there are weirder things than number stations on the shortwaves. There are morse code letter beacons, odd beeps and tunes, and something called the Russian Woodpecker. I tried catching some number stations myself, but the only shortwave sets I could get ahold of are cheapo COBY units that can’t pull in much of anything well.