Clear capture of rapid Chinese robot numbers

[hungoverjerk]

im assuming this one was either a hoax or some urgent orders o.0

[AroundSun]

foo five five two foo foo foo chow chow don foo chung yow yow foo foo!...shes probably hot!

[Bronyforever]

Nvm thats not a person. :(

[Bronyforever]

She's my new gf

[linutas]

VC01

[picaticatara]

chingchong

[MichaelHansenFUN]

if i get my dads shortwave I will hear it also?

[calcvids]

@MichaelHansenFUN Probably not. 

[GMSamuelRhine]

whats that screeching sound over it? a jammer?

[MattExzy]

@GMSamuelRhine RTTY

[MattExzy]

@MattExzy Probably not. Haven't heard it since, you can try, but I'll be severely disturbed if I ever hear it again.

[GMSamuelRhine]

@MattExzy oh have you decoded the data through a your computer?

[jason9568]

@MattExzy Not RTTY. More likely SITOR. But easy to be confused w/RTTY.

[calcvids]

@GMSamuelRhine Globe Wireless beacon or something. Definitely a beacon for maritime use. 

[escueladeleyi]

wow! a bit fast for a spy numbers station!!

[OfficerNelson]

Actually tried to filter out the noise and suppress the RTTY tones... it's really hard, but there's definitely more than 2 numbers (more around 5 or 6, at least). The resulting audio isn't much better, though.

[Slasher3231]

This is most definitely a number station. I am currently taking Chinese 1 in school, and I recognize the numbers. I don't get the loud noises. Number stations generally don't use any numbers greater than one digit, each one said is one digit. From what I hear, they are one digit numbers. If the damn beeping would go away, I'd be able to hear much more clearly. The beep sounds odd though, could it be relevant?

[MattExzy]

@Slasher3231 Thanks for the comment. I've only come across this station again since, once or twice around 8Mhz. The beeping noise I think was from an adjacent signal, or it could have been part of a burst transmission, or just some kind of data. I'm still not sure what this is exactly - it's still one of the oddest things I've come across, there's a lot being broadcasted, I guess if it were a numbers station, they'd record it and slow it down, either that, or it's phone equipment gone crazy.

[Slasher3231]

@MattExzy Possibly. We're currently on a big unit on numbers, when I get my headset in the next few days I'll listen closer.

[Slasher3231]

@MattExzy Well, in Japan/China, they talk REALLY fast. I hear a bunch of "san" and "si (pronounced suh)" in there, 3 and 4 respectively.

[dreammaker182]

@Slasher3231 Japan/China? Really? The Japanese and Chinese languages are vastly different. For one Chinese is tonal...

[JamspongeVideo]

@Slasher3231

It's English. You can quite clearly hear 4 several times.

[FirstToken]

This station is sometimes called the "Chinese Robot". The Numbers and Oddities web site has some information on it in the newsletters.

It changes frequency regularly, seldom on one freq for more than a few weeks, although it sometimes returns to a previously used freq.

While no one I know of is sure exactly what its use is the most supported belief is that it is part of a PRC air defense network, there are some interesting audio oddities that could help machine reception of the numbers.

[MattExzy]

@FirstToken Thanks! Wow, almost 7k views, I haven't listened to it since I uploaded it.. too weird, I'll have to see if it's still tuneable.

[Arceus9295]

If I called someone randomly on my phone and this happened, I would take a nuke and destroy the phone.

[digivince]

From what I can tell there are really only three or four different numbers or characters being read out. I thought it was binary for a bit until I could make out more than 2 different types of sounds. I wonder what it is...

[tekrat]

@digivince Sounds like an old 300 baud modem.

[MSCompuServ]

That is Chinese

[proct0r]

SITOR is what sounds like the telephones.

[LikaLaruku]

I pitty the spy who has to recieve messages spit out that fast. :p

[johnalchem]

C'est tres bien! LuvTaloopit

[unusualcatperson]

Freaky. Kinda like the backwards music station o_O

[Yamheadyan]

I hear what seems to be alot 1 and 0 s in chinese

[samssoftwareuser]

oiii i live in australia, and it is very strong here and i think it could be some typer of num station/ jammer????

[MattExzy]

I think it's some sort of shortwave telephone link gone haywire.. when did you last hear it? Haven't been able to receive it for a while..

[JohnSegway]

This sounds really ominious.

Are those ringing phones in the background?

[SWL1409]

Good catch, with datalink :)

[elephantpets]

LMFAO!!! 6 5 5 2 3 4 6 5 # # 3 6 5 2

[ct1396]

Good catch! There is a good audio clip of this station, which they referred to as "chinese robot", maybe on spynumbersdotcom?

[10mjt29]

i don't think we will ever get to the bottom of the numbers stations, and what they are. running the sony icf-sw7600GR. it's not much different from your short wave rig.

[eszettfromhell]

What brand/model of radio do you use?

[MattExzy]

Sangean ATS-505 with some random wire :)

[S51E]

Some random wire means simply long wire? I'm using the same receiver and it's nice, but the telescope antenna is sometimes to weak for the shortwave.

[MattExzy]

Indeedy, some long wire, randomly strung up. I've found it's best to have it going in all directions possible. It's a pretty good economic set the Sangean, I don't think there's a nicer priced receiver that has SSB tuning. I can get the usual international broadcast stations well with the built in 'scope antenna, but the external is really needed for the interesting things outside the broadcast parts of the dial.

[S51E]

Thanks for the information, though I simply can't believe that it should be so easy. So I will only have to buy a wire (is culprum okay?) and I have to split it into several parts that show into different directions, connecting it with the sw antenna ext plug?

[LCduT]

I think the one wire should be fine for a long wire. You can make a more complicated set up if you want, with several bits of different lengths if you want to target particular wavelengths, but that's starting to get very complicated.

[N0rthwestRadio]

@MattExzy A long, straight, wire, strung as high as possible, and insulated/stood off from any obstacles. Also, a tuning circuit (Antenna tuner at the radio) will really make a difference. If you can not string a wire outdoors, indoors is ok. Anything is better than nothing. I have had to use some very innovative means of capture. A long wire, something over 20 meter in length is best with a tuning circuit. A wire strung to tree or around a ceiling and even using unused telephone wires to pole!

[moribund112]

It's mandarin numbers for sure.

Interestingly enough I haven't picked up any Chinese number stations yet and I'm in the country. I must not be looking in the right place!

[MattExzy]

8375kHz seems to be the main one, but I'm not actually sure yet if this particular station is one...

[LCduT]

OK, it's definitely Mandarin numbers. I haven't got the hang of all Mandarin phonetic numbers but this is unmistakeable.

Does seem to be one voice, just some numbers appear repeatedly. Plus one for the numbers station theory, and query the potential rise of data as jamming.