# number stations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 6, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297 "2004-12-06T02:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![exemarsec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/73ab20/32.png) [@exemarsec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exemarsec)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/1 "2004-12-06T02:35:45Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/2 "2004-12-06T02:37:51Z")
_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. I’m busy at the moment, I might post more later. ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/3 "2004-12-06T02:45:49Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/4 "2004-12-06T02:49:51Z")
[recordings thereof](http://irdial.hyperreal.org/the%20conet%20project/) ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/5 "2004-12-06T03:08:24Z")
The OP may well have already seen this, but I’d like to post a link to the NPR story I heard a few weeks ago: [Music by the ‘Numbers’](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4167689) Oddly enough, I first read of this phenomenon in the _Weekly World News_, many years ago. They’ll occasionally hide a true story among the satire. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/6 "2004-12-06T03:19:32Z")
[Cecil sez…](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_330.html) and a [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=253800&highlight=numbers+radio) on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/7 "2004-12-06T03:21:13Z")
[This](http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page30.html) is a pretty good in-depth site with as much information as there is, and lots of recordings, to boot. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/8 "2004-12-06T06:39:12Z")
Ha! I didn’t even know Cecil cited _Big Secrets_. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-stations/278297/9 "2004-12-06T13:04:55Z")
“Russian woodpecker?” What frequency(ies) do you hear this and other things on? Vlad/Igor