So recently I've discovered numbers stations which are basically unauthorized radio broadcasts that countries use to communicate with spies abroad. They typically consist of an identifying interval signal that alerts the agent that they have the correct station, they series of numbers in groups of five typically read by an electronically-synthesized voice in repeating groups. It is believed that these number groups can be translated by agents using one time pad decryption keys into their orders, but then no government admits to using them or will release any information on them. There are stations that have been running since the Cold War, some of which are still active today and there's a whole community out there that tracks and listens to them. The whole idea is a little creepy to begin with; illegal stations that transmit coded data that no one will actual admit to the meaning of, but you don't really get the creep factor until you listen to some. Here's an especially creepy one that is supposedly Swedish but I think is actually spoken in German:


I was playing this one in the background while I did other stuff, then went to my room to get a book and had to RUN to hit the light because I thought I heard something move in the dark I was so creeped out. I seriously had goosebumps.

I actually stumbled on Numbers Stations from reading the Wiki entry for Videodrome of all things, it was one of the suggested links at the bottom and I clicked thinking it was just going to be another movie or something. I read about UVB-76 and listened to some broadcast from it, also creepy but not quite as bad as actual numbers stations. They think UVB-76 is a dead man's switch set to be disrupted if a suitable seismic shock (say, a nuclear warhead detonating) happens nearby. Supposedly, it's an early warning system to alert nearby cities if traditional communications go down (and also so that they know to launch their own missiles in retaliation.) Of course, that station is manned and there have been occasions where you can hear the operators talking in the background so it begs the question of why an automated dead man's switch would need live operators but...

Also, if you want to hear more, look up the Conet Project; originally a 4 disc set of recordings that the distribution label now actually encourages people to download and share. It has Lincolnshire Poacher, Cherry Ripe, the Swedish one I posted and a bunch of others.

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

Alright, so how much of this actually aired? They're radio broadcasts so the images aren't included, but is the little "this is a test" really included?

I think that's just added for the video; The Conet Project version of that station I have downloaded just starts with the the intermittent beeps then goes into the music.

Not that I know a damn thing about radio hobby, but it sounds like it doesn't take much to pick them up; one guy commented that he just used a radio he bought for 5 pounds (whatever that is in real money...)

I'm having some kind of fucked up PI reaction to numbers stations; I downloaded the entire Conet Project and burned a bunch of it to a CD and now listen to it both at work on my Discman and at home on my laptop like it's music. Won't be long before I'm drilling holes in my head...