Number Stations

[universetwisters]

Anyone else here know about number stations? I found out about them the other night, and I thought they were friggin' nuts, like, the dudes running these things are trying to send messages to spies through numbers, and evidently, they reckon the best way to do it is through a sh*tton of numbers. Hell, even listening to them sends chills down my spine! I mean, just listen to this:

 

 

 

Anyway, what do you think of this? Think we should try to stick our noses out of it and let spies do their job, or is there something more sinister lurking about?

[Trinette]

What a coincidence. I just happened to find out about them the other night as well.

 

 

 

 

 

These two in particular caught my attention.

[lil weasel]

Good joke, this... 'Spies' have been using BURST radio signals for years. The whole message would take less than a second.

[agent17]

This number station is easily the most notorious:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76

 

Most of the time you just hear he same repeating tone, but very rarely you will hear some strange activity, like voices, music, etc.

[na89340qv0n34b09q340]

If anyone here actually likes the sound of them, or wants to hear a bunch of them and not have to search through Youtube, there was a project where some guys organized a few clips of the stations on a four-set CD collection, called The Conet Project.

 

Here's their official website, and I know there's a Youtube archive of it up that was sequentially uploading them, but it's only got like twenty videos because the guy got bored and stopped, the whole set has 150 tracks.

Edited March 18, 2013 by zoo3891

[sivispacem]

This number station is easily the most notorious:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76

 

Most of the time you just hear he same repeating tone, but very rarely you will hear some strange activity, like voices, music, etc.

Russian Woodpecker is the most notorious IMO. UVB-76 is just the most nefarious. Given it's location, some think it's part of the "Dead Hand" semi-autonomous nuclear strike response system. Which is, depending on who you ask, anything from an early warning system to a doomsday device.

[unopescio]

So that's what the f*ck that was. When I was a kid messing around on the radio I found this shortwave station that sounded like morse code, just the same pattern repeating over and over. Well now I know...

[Ziggy455]

 

Which is, depending on who you ask, anything from an early warning system to a doomsday device.

 

Christ, I heard about that, first time I heard it, it sent chills downs my spine! The thought of such devices running at all times is enough to unnerve anyone. I live in the UK, and The Buzzer, as it's nicknamed, is always a high-topic of conversation. It's just speculation it's an early warning system; however every so often it's interspersed with Russian dialect. What a curious shortwave frequency.

 

I've just googled it to find any transcripts from The Buzzer; here they are:

 

 

At 2100 UTC on December 24, 1997: "Ya UVB-76, Ya UVB-76. 180 08 BROMAL 74 27 99 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7 4 2 7 9 9 1 4."[2][5][14][15]

At 0418 UTC on December 9, 2002: "UVB-76, UVB-76. 62 691 IZAFET 36 93 82 70"[14]

At 0757 UTC on February 21, 2006: "UVB-76, UVB-76. 75-59-75-59. 39-52-53-58. 5-5-2-5. Konstantin-1-9-0-9-0-8-9-8-Tatiana-Oksana-Anna-Elena-Pavel-Schuka. Konstantin 8-4. 9-7-5-5-9-Tatiana. Anna Larisa Uliyana-9-4-1-4-3-4-8."

 

 

Edited March 18, 2013 by Ziggy455

[sivispacem]

 

Which is, depending on who you ask, anything from an early warning system to a doomsday device.

 

Christ, I heard about that, first time I heard it, it sent chills downs my spine! The thought of such devices running at all times is enough to unnerve anyone. I live in the UK, and The Buzzer, as it's nicknamed, is always a high-topic of conversation. It's just speculation it's an early warning system; however every so often it's interspersed with Russian dialect. What a curious shortwave frequency.

 

I've just googled it to find any transcripts from The Buzzer; here they are:

 

 

At 2100 UTC on December 24, 1997: "Ya UVB-76, Ya UVB-76. 180 08 BROMAL 74 27 99 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7 4 2 7 9 9 1 4."[2][5][14][15]

At 0418 UTC on December 9, 2002: "UVB-76, UVB-76. 62 691 IZAFET 36 93 82 70"[14]

At 0757 UTC on February 21, 2006: "UVB-76, UVB-76. 75-59-75-59. 39-52-53-58. 5-5-2-5. Konstantin-1-9-0-9-0-8-9-8-Tatiana-Oksana-Anna-Elena-Pavel-Schuka. Konstantin 8-4. 9-7-5-5-9-Tatiana. Anna Larisa Uliyana-9-4-1-4-3-4-8."

In all fairness, even though the Soviet Union were full-on barmy, I doubt they would have produced a doomsday device. The fact it's still in operation suggests to me it's mostly an early warning system, like the Russian Woodpecker was.

[Crokey]

 

At 2100 UTC on December 24, 1997: "Ya UVB-76, Ya UVB-76. 180 08 BROMAL 74 27 99 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7 4 2 7 9 9 1 4."[2][5][14][15]

At 0418 UTC on December 9, 2002: "UVB-76, UVB-76. 62 691 IZAFET 36 93 82 70"[14]

At 0757 UTC on February 21, 2006: "UVB-76, UVB-76. 75-59-75-59. 39-52-53-58. 5-5-2-5. Konstantin-1-9-0-9-0-8-9-8-Tatiana-Oksana-Anna-Elena-Pavel-Schuka. Konstantin 8-4. 9-7-5-5-9-Tatiana. Anna Larisa Uliyana-9-4-1-4-3-4-8."

Да, товарищи, сообщение получил и понял, эксплуатации Тунгусского начнется в течение недели. За Родину.

[Chm0]

it's still in operation suggests to me it's mostly an early warning system, like the Russian Woodpecker was.

 

 

 

Warning about what ?

[RARusk]

If David Lynch hosted a radio show this is probably what it would sound like.

[sivispacem]

it's still in operation suggests to me it's mostly an early warning system, like the Russian Woodpecker was.

Warning about what ?

Nuclear strikes against Russia.

[Chm0]

 

From where ? The cold war is over...

[sivispacem]

From where ? The cold war is over...

Is it? You'd think so, but look at the increasingly militaristic and provocative behaviour of the Russian Federation and tell me that things haven't continued basically exactly how they were.

[Ziggy455]

 

From where ? The cold war is over...

 

Is it? You'd think so, but look at the increasingly militaristic and provocative behaviour of the Russian Federation and tell me that things haven't continued basically exactly how they were.

 

@Mpower; He's right. The Cold War never solved anything and normally change ensues, however, Russia seems to still have a strong military-based federation that hasn't changed since the end. Perhaps they're preparing for the future, who knows, you can never be too prepared. But still, it doesn't change the fact that Russia is still a highly-organized military based country, and that's not going to change.

 

@sivispacem: It's still a creepy notion, to think that constantly, Russian spies -perhaps- are continually sending codes with an unknown purpose. Okay, yes, all countries are vigilant -most larger countries anyway- but it's still creepy to think about the real purpose of these coded transmissions. And if it is like The Woodpecker, that's still a scary notion too.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Ziggy455

[Illousion]

This type of suff really fascinates me. I really enjoy reading about it, and other assorted cold-war espionage things.

[860]

For some reason I found this amusing.

 

[Ziggy455]

For some reason I found this amusing.

 

They're onto us.

 

 

[018361]

For some reason I found this amusing.

 

They're onto us.

О, нет! Как вы узнали наш тайный план? Быстрый запуск агента 860 бомб! Записывайте все ваши документы и отступить в секретный бункер!

 

I used Google translator so i'm not sure if that is even readable. I also found that a bit funny. Rest assured my username isn't anything to be scared of.

 

Или это? Агент Оболенский из!

[Oddsock]

Well, thanks for introducing me to these things. Now I am thoroughly creeped the f*ck out.

 

Completely fascinating though. I wish we had more info on their transmissions so I could learn more about them, but I think that would render useless the nature of their being!

[sivispacem]

@sivispacem: It's still a creepy notion, to think that constantly, Russian spies -perhaps- are continually sending codes with an unknown purpose. Okay, yes, all countries are vigilant -most larger countries anyway- but it's still creepy to think about the real purpose of these coded transmissions. And if it is like The Woodpecker, that's still a scary notion too.

The Russian Woodpecker isn't audible any more. Plus it was never a numbers station- it was caused by an extremely high power over-the-horizon radar (Duga-3, known by NATO as Steel Yard) designed for use in early warning of US bomber attacks on the Soviet Union. It got disabled some time in the 80s when a new radar system replaced it, and remained deactivated due to most of the receiver arrays lying within Chernobyl's zone of alienation, and then the break-up of the Soviet Union leaving the bulk of the hardware inside the Ukraine and Belarus.

[RARusk]

Figured this might be of some interest here:

 

 

[Ziggy455]

@sivispacem: It's still a creepy notion, to think that constantly, Russian spies -perhaps- are continually sending codes with an unknown purpose. Okay, yes, all countries are vigilant -most larger countries anyway- but it's still creepy to think about the real purpose of these coded transmissions. And if it is like The Woodpecker, that's still a scary notion too.

The Russian Woodpecker isn't audible any more. Plus it was never a numbers station- it was caused by an extremely high power over-the-horizon radar (Duga-3, known by NATO as Steel Yard) designed for use in early warning of US bomber attacks on the Soviet Union. It got disabled some time in the 80s when a new radar system replaced it, and remained deactivated due to most of the receiver arrays lying within Chernobyl's zone of alienation, and then the break-up of the Soviet Union leaving the bulk of the hardware inside the Ukraine and Belarus.

I always figured that the US-KS had a big part to play in the depletion of the signals. Has there ever really been a definitive reason behind the deactivation of the site? I hear what you're saying. The new radar system was proven to be more effective but there was something else behind the deactivation. I believe that it played a big part in The Cold War. Considering the eventual deactivation and timing of the end of the war, I'd say there was a solid link there. I've heard of Steel Yard. I didn't know it was NATO who penned the term for the DUGA-3 though. Quite informative.

 

It makes you wonder about all the other activate arrays that still broadcast. Sometimes they're explainable, sometimes, randomly, they're not. I can't seem to find any solid information on others. I refuse to use wikipedia to research things, I hate that site. My grandfather used to work in the construction of old British antennae back in the 80s. He had some solid stories to tell about Number Stations but I never really paid attention to them. I should have listened more.

[sivispacem]

I always figured that the US-KS had a big part to play in the depletion of the signals. Has there ever really been a definitive reason behind the deactivation of the site? I hear what you're saying. The new radar system was proven to be more effective but there was something else behind the deactivation. I believe that it played a big part in The Cold War. Considering the eventual deactivation and timing of the end of the war, I'd say there was a solid link there. I've heard of Steel Yard. I didn't know it was NATO who penned the term for the DUGA-3 though. Quite informative.

It was supplanted with more modern over-the-horizon radars with greater range and therefore was initially believed to be used as a backup system. After Chernobyl, the operations centre for it lay in the Zone of Alienation so they never used it as a backup in reality due to the radiation risks.

 

I don't know if it they posted it earlier in the thread, but BBC Radio 4 did a show on numbers stations a while back:

 

 

[Ziggy455]

 

It was supplanted with more modern over-the-horizon radars with greater range and therefore was initially believed to be used as a backup system. After Chernobyl, the operations centre for it lay in the Zone of Alienation so they never used it as a backup in reality due to the radiation risks.

 

I figured that out a little earlier today when I was reading about modern radar systems that were implemented during the 1980s, took a while but I finally understood it, haha. Kudos for the link though, I'm watching it now.

[gtamann123]

Wasn't this a main plot element of COD Black Ops?

[universetwisters]

Wasn't this a main plot element of COD Black Ops?

Yeppers.