November 13, 2004

Espionage out in the open.....sorta. I was listening to NPR this afternoon and heard the last little snippet on this.

I remember hearing things like this on my dad's shortwave radio, when he was into that. This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts with curiousity!! What I would give to know what is being said in these messages. Sad.....I know.

posted by Darshon 20 years ago
  • Spooky. I'd heard of it before, but the weirdness of it still kinda freaks me out a bit.
  • I started listening to shortwave radio in the very early 80's and I've heard tons of these numbers stations. My guess is that majority of them aren't espionage, but simply encrypted communications. Also, I think that due to the nature of how they were encrypted, they're probably almost impossible to decrypt.
  • Apparently, the guy who got tons of cash from Wilco for using his sample likely got that sample from someone else, for free. That makes him a slimebag, for not offering to at least share the settlement.
  • For more detail on this, read the wikipedia article on numbers stations, which links to the Conet Project, which has released a four CD set of over 120 recordings from numbers stations over the past 30 years. MP3s can be found at archive.org and hyperreal.org.
  • Near the end of the article aboiut Fernandez, the assertion is made that this is the first official mention that shortwave radio is used in spying -- well, this is not the case. In Pray Silence [title in England] or A Toast to Tomorrow [title in US], the entire plot of this extremely well-written spy thriller by Manning Coles centres about the use of short-wave radio in the spy business, so it's been known for at least sixty years. The Coles half of the writing team comprising the author "Manning Coles" worked for British Intelligence during both world wars.
  • I remember hearing these things in the late 70s when I got my first SW radio. I could listen to them hours a week, gnawed with curiosity at the picture of some solitary soul sitting in his apartment writing down the text for his next mission.
  • Has anyone ever tried to triangulate and locate one of these numbers stations, then just go there and see what's up?
  • @fatoudust: yes they have in fact done that and IIRC all are on military bases.
  • Do they all belong to us? *runs away*
  • jb: Apparently, the guy who got tons of cash from Wilco for using his sample likely got that sample from someone else, for free. That makes him a slimebag, for not offering to at least share the settlement. He recorded the sound himself off of the shortwave radio. Wilco lifter the sample without permission, and so they got sued. If they had just asked, like Cameron Crowe had, they may have gotten permission for free. The guy spent years researching these stations, and listening to the radio trying to find when the stations popped up. He then had to filter through all of the recordings he had made in order to decide which ones to publish. This took a considerable amount of time (== money). Wilco could have done that themselves, but they decided to just lift a track without permission, so they have to pay. Given that, and seeing that he lets anybody download these tracks freely for non-commercial purposes, I'd hardly call him a slimebag.
  • kwyjibo - I was referring to allegations that he, in fact, got the sample from another shortwave fan. It's in one of the links.
  • The latest episode of Lost had a really sinister connection to these number stations. Cool as hell.