A.: First classified by the ENIGMA group in the late 80's and early 90's number stations are generally accepted to be covert transmissions to spies in the field of foreign countries. Appearing at any time of day or night on the shortwave bands, number stations have been calling out with their automated voices since at least the first World War. It has not been confirmed by any government or organisation what number stations really are, so we can only really speculate as to their real purpose. There are three different types of broadcast; voices reading groups of numbers or letters, Morse transmissions and noise stations, transmitting noise and data. A typical voice station transmission will begin with a piece of music played for several minutes, a voice repeating the same number or a repeating morse character. Then will follow the message header, perhaps 2 then 3 numbers. This music is played and the message header repeated to allow the intended listener to tune accurately to the station. The message begins, usually the message consists of groups of 5 numbers or letters or a mix. Some stations repeat each group. At the end of the message there is an ending indicator, perhaps the message header repeated again or some other shorter group of letters/numbers. Morse stations are identical except that everything is broadcast in Morse code.
The first account of a number station was reported in an ENIGMA newsletter from the German Kurzwellenpanorama magazine dating from WW1. The BBC were noted for sending messages to people overseas which where coded messages to SEO agents during WW2. From then on encrypted messages broadcasted with creepy automated voices have been being sent with stations appearing and dissapearing as political events changed over the last 60 years.
Number stations offer a powerful advantage in our modern world. Complete anonynimity. The recipient of the message can be almost anywhere in the world and receive instructions without fear of being traced through a phone call or internet connection. All the recipient needs is a shortwave radio and to be in the right place at the right time.
The coded messages sent are generally encrypted using a technique known as a one time pad. In this system, two identical sets of random numbers, printed on numbered sheets are generated (the pad); one pad is kept be the sender and the other is kept by the recipient. When a message is to be sent, the original plaintext message is mathematically added to one of the random numbers on the pad. The random number used is pre-determined by the sender and recipient so that both are in sync. When the message is sent over the air the recipient transcribes it by hand and then subtracts the random number on her pad from the message she has just received. The random number is then discarded. In her hands she now has the original plaintext message, sent to her over an open channel with zero possibility of enemy decryption. The only way that messages sent with one time pads can be deciphered is if your enemy retrieves your pad or the sender re-uses a pad.
Q.: Where can I find schedules for number stations?
A.: On the list of active stations: http://priyom.org/number-stations/active-stations.aspx - click on the numbers station's name.
Q.: Who updates this YouTube channel?
A.: At the moment - Trojan, Danix111 and X06Shadow.
Q.: How can I contact with you?
A.: You can write e-mail on address contact.us[at]priyom.org . Use English please.
F.A.Q.
Q.: What are number stations?
A.: First classified by the ENIGMA group in the late 80's and early 90's number stations are generally accepted to be covert transmissions to spies in the field of foreign countries. Appearing at any time of da...
Play all