With reports of nerdtastic Russian “numbers station” UVB-76 finally flipping the tape over, TWIRFMR thought it would be a good a time as any to get to know this strangely fascinating (not to mention, super creepy) shortwave phenom.
Numbers stations (which are at times, neither numbers-related nor stations per se), according to Wikipedia, are “shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin. They generally broadcast artificially generated voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters (sometimes using a spelling alphabet), tunes or Morse code. They are in a wide variety of languages and the voices are usually female, though sometimes male or children’s voices (ed. note: seriously, how creepy is that?) are used.” The transmissions are of course, not credited with teaching the world how to count but rather, broadcasting codes that most numbers stations enthusiasts theorize are used for espionage purposes (who says the fun had to stop after the Cold War ended?). Don’t bother trying to crack the code, as the series of numbers (according to experts) incorporate highly sophisticated, Cryptonomicon-esque methods.
Finding these stations can be a challenge and advanced knowledge of shortwave technology is all but required to actually hear live broadcasts. Basically, you need to know your USB from your SSB, your Khz from you Mhz, be able to master RF gain control and other tedious fine-tuning methods, but most demanding of all, shitloads of free time are required as is the patience to listen to indiscernible white noise for hours on end.
TWIRFMR put on their (fur-lined) tin-foil hat and attempted to translate the following archived transmission:
The result? A set of integers that are either yawn-inducingly innocuous or downright bone-chilling depending on your level of immersion in coding theory:
1041410417123171231342473424726116261160613306133363363633646477464773762365517655172…
Say, are those black helicopters I spot in the midst?….
