The numbers stations are shortwave radio stations of unknown origin.
usually broadcasts contain a heading that reads sequences of numbers, words or letters (sometimes using a phonetic alphabet).
can be identified three types of numbers station:
- stations in telephony, where the numbers are spoken by a voice or a voice synthesizer
- stations broadcasting in Morse code
- stations broadcasting apparent noise
items sent are often produced by a speech synthesizer and uses a wide variety of languages, in particular in the U.S. are often heard in English, while in Europe the broadcasts are generally in English, German or French or even in Slavic languages. They are also mostly women, rarely men or children.
The popular belief, supported by the few existing evidence on the subject, ricondurrebbe these stations to intelligence operations. This hypothesis has never been publicly confirmed by any government agency from among those that could operate a numbers station, but it has happened that a station engaged in espionage has been publicly prosecuted by a court in another state.
The numbers stations show activity varies over time (although some follow regular schedules), and their operations has increased slightly since the early nineties.
Classification At
numbers stations sometimes have given the fans of nicknames, often reflecting some distinctive elements of the station. For example, Lincolnshire Poacher, one of the most popular stations of this type (considered to be handled by the SIS), reproduces the first two lines eponymous folk song before each series of numbers. Magnetic Fields play French electronic music of Jean Michel Jarre before and after each set of numbers. Atencion The station began its broadcasts with instead the English word Attention!.
The first systematic classification was defined by the group Enigma: the stations are identified by a unique alphanumeric code composed by a letter indicating the language of the station and a serial number. The classification distinguishes between four different language groups:
E (Inglese) English
G (German) German
S (Slavic) languages \u200b\u200bSlavic languages \u200b\u200b
V
were also called the M group and the group X, respectively Morse stations and for stations that transmit noise.
Possible origins and uses According to the notes of The Conet Project, the numbers stations were reported at the First World War. If the reports were accurate, the numbers station fall one of the first radio broadcasts.
According to this theory, the messages would be encrypted with a Vernam cipher in order to avoid any risk of decryption by the enemy. The numbers stations have in fact changed the way of their broadcasts or carried off the program in conjunction with major political events such as the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. However, since, as mentioned before, their activity has increased since the early nineties, were not only related to the Cold War.
Others speculate that some of these stations can be linked to drug trafficking operations. Unlike the stations due to government organizations, the stations of traffickers should have limited power and no plans to operate the transmission fixed. This is to prevent the location through triangulation, which is used by the police. However this hypothesis is less likely to be characteristic of the stations, and the fact that for decades have passed with impunity: it is therefore more likely to be related to the operations of government organizations.
Although no agency or government has admitted using a station of this type, a 1998 article in The Daily Telegraph quoted a spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry (the body of the United Kingdom that deals with the Radio Regulations) that statements referring to the numbers station: These are what you suppose to be. People should not be suggestions from them. They are not, shall we say, of public. The numbers
listening stations in the UK is illegal, it is nonetheless clear that this law does not try to pursue the hobby listeners, but only in cases of espionage.
Although expensive in terms of time and money locating the source of a short-wave radio transmission, may have provided clues about their location, such as transmission errors, determination and propagation of short waves.
For example, it was realized that the station Atencion you are in Cuba because of an alleged error that would allow Radio Habana Cuba to be transmitted on that frequency [citation needed]. It is not clear if the frequency of Radio Habana Cuba and the frequency of the station had just caught each other or if the operator was listening to this radio station transmitting by accident. Around 2000 the station was officially identified as pursued by the U.S. and Cuban American justice.
In addition, an article about a radio magazine published in the eighties and nineties was hobbyists who would have located a numbers station in Florida with a portable apparatus for radio-determination. From the outside they found the antenna of the station in a military complex. The discoverer suggested that the transmitter was connected to a telephone source of many pronouncements located in Washington DC. The author argued that the Federal Communications Commission (Federal Communications Commission) had not extern declarations in respect of public inquiries about the numbers station in U.S. territory. [Citation needed]
In some stations, tones can be heard in the background. It is assumed that in these cases the voice may be a help to tune the correct frequency and the coded message is sent by modulating the tones, perhaps using a technology such as the transmission burst. The case
Atención The case of the Cuban Atención station was the first case of a numbers station officially and publicly accused of espionage. The station was the focus of an investigation of a U.S. federal court, following the arrest of the Wasp Network of Cuban spies in 1998. According to prosecutors, the defendants would have transcribed a transmission received from Atención, using a portable receiver, and place them in a portable computer to decipher some orders. The FBI testified that he broke into an apartment of spies in 1995 and has been copied software for deciphering the code numbers of the station. The program was then used to decode some messages, used in court.
The following three messages to the station were among the evidence used in the investigation (not shown if the original texts were in English, although the term Day of the Woman it would assume):
- Prioritize and continue to Strengthen friendship with Joe and Dennis (68 characters)
- Under No Circumstances Should [agents] Germany nor Castor fly with or BTTR Another organization on days 24, 25, 26, and 27. (112 characters) (BTTR English is the symbol to indicate the political anti-Castro group Brothers to the Rescue)
- Congratulate all the female Comrades for International Day of the Woman. (71 characters) (Probably a simple wish for the International Women's Day 8 March)
Given a digit character for each second, each of these sentences took at least one minute for transmission.
The moderator of a mailing list devoted to the listeners of numbers station said that someone from the list was previously cracked the code because of a cipher used twice.
Transmission format Generally, numbers stations follow a simple pattern of transmission, although there are many differences in detail between the stations. The programs generally begin on the hour or half hour.
The beginning of a transmission (which are often derived from the nicknames assigned to stations) include some type of identifier as to the station and / or the designated recipient. This can take the form of a code name or number of phonetic type (eg "Charlie India Oscar or 250 250 250), a characteristic word or phrase (eg Atención, 1234567890), and some electronic musical sounds (such as The Lincolnshire Poacher, Magnetic Fields). Sometimes, as in the case of stations with Israeli phonetic alphabet, the introduction may also indicate the nature or priority of the message that follows (eg "Charlie India Oscar-2 indicate that messages do not follow [citation needed]). Often the introduction is repeated for a specified period of time before the beginning of the message body.
Usually this is a statement of the number of sequences of digits in the message, which subsequently are pronounced. The sequences are usually four or five digits or letters are usually repeated aural and reading them twice or repeating the entire message. These submissions, as mentioned, are supposed to be encrypted using a Vernam cipher, so the content of these sequences would be indistinguishable from a group of numbers or digits generated at random. Some stations send more than one message during a transmission: in this case, some or all of the above methods are repeated with different content.
Finally, after the transmission of all messages, the station closes the transmission in its own way, is usually sent a form of word order in language used by the station (Eg end of message, end of broadcast English ende; purposes; final; konec). Some stations, especially those presumed to operate from the former Soviet Union, ending with a series of zeros, for example, 000 000, while others end with music or sounds.
transmission technology The technology used by these stations to transmit the sequence of numbers has always been fairly obvious: common short-wave transmitters with power from 10 to 100 kilowatts. The transmitters usually work in variable frequency amplitude modulation, amplification with push-pull class B.
During the Cold War it was assumed that the Soviet Union would use the other 500 kW transmitters slope of the Urals to reach agents in west Europe. [Citation needed]
transmission technology may change in future with the introduction of Digital Radio Mondiale, which allows the transmission of data in text form in addition to the transmission at a speed more than adequate for the needs of a numbers station.
Source: Wikipedia
links to sites that deal with Station Number
