WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Counts Some Number Stations 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.120 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:14.360 stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.799 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:19.880 How Stuff Works and I heart radio and allow of 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:24.000 all things tech. And today it's time for another classic episode. 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:29.400 This episode originally aired on April two thousand twelve, and 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:34.280 it's called Tech Stuff Counts Some Number Stations. This was 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:39.479 one of those fun, creepy topics that Chris and I 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.519 tackled in the early days of tech Stuff, one that 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:47.240 I found absolutely fascinating and more than a little unnerving. 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:52.559 I hope you guys enjoy. So the topic we're covering 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.840 is numbers stations, which actually comes to us courtesy of 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:01.680 some feedback we received on Facebook, which I fortunately, due 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:06.440 to my computer being silly right now, I cannot pull up. However, 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:11.000 this is Facebook feedback asking us to cover numbers stations. 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:14.040 And you may wonder, oh, my, Drew Geese, what a 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:18.080 number stations is? Things being so scory and people being 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:22.280 quick to forget. That's that's like a double reference right there, 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.080 since I throw in some clockwork orange. So here's what 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.760 a number station is. It is a radio station. Using 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:35.200 shortwave radio that blasts out a transmission, usually at a 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:42.440 very regular interval, that normally has some sort of tone 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.640 or even music to it, followed by a series of 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:50.840 numbers spoken in sort of a semi monotone voice, sometimes 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.080 an automated voice, in fact, very often an automated voice. 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.040 And it's just a seemingly random string of numbers that 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:02.560 have no particular context or meaning to them, and it 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:07.440 has created quite a kind of a well a hobbyist 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.560 dream come true really for people who like mysteries, because 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:15.280 there's no official explanation as to what these stations are 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:19.280 and why why these numbers are being broadcast. Here's what 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.800 we know. No, I'm kidding. Now, let's go to what 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:28.600 we can speculate on. Um. We do know that official 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:32.680 governments have there. There's no official government that has spoken 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:34.320 up and said, oh, yeah, we did that. Yeah. The 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:40.520 closest was a Czechoslovakian official who acknowledge receipt of a 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.840 message about numbers stations, but did not It did not 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.200 go so far as to actually say what the number 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.880 station was, what it was for. It essentially was just 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:51.280 that I got your message. That was pretty much it. 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.720 The check is in the mail. There you go. But gosh, 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:56.600 I can't believe you're waiting an entire time for me 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:01.560 to shut up, So you can use that. Uh, however, uh, 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:06.400 there are fewer now than their word during the Cold War. Yeah, 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:10.280 and they started the height of they started appearing during 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.160 the World wars. So world War One, Yeah, not not. 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.000 You know, this is the early part of the earlier 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.480 part of the twentieth century. Yeah, first, first couple of 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:21.920 decades of the twentieth century, that's when they start popping up. 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.440 So let's talk a little bit about about why a 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.560 number station is even possible before we get into what 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:30.760 they were and what they sound like and all that 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.480 kind of stuff. So first, they are short wave radio, 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.200 which we have talked about on a previous podcast many 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.600 many years ago. Yeah, we'll do a quick we'll do 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:44.440 a quick refresher course. So technically, a short wave is 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.480 a is a radio wave with a wavelength shorter than 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:52.360 two hundred meters twos wavelength would have a frequency of 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:57.960 around hurts uh, and it's typically these these radio waves 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.040 are used to broadcast voice and music, but also for 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.040 long distance communication. The reason that you can have long 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.040 distance communication is that these wavelengths are at sort of 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.120 a sweet spot when it comes to the way the 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:13.400 Earth works. So the Earth has the ionosphere, you know, 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:18.560 that surrounds it, binds it, and penetrates it. For no 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.159 ionosphere just surrounds the Earth. And if you were to 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.040 aim a short wave radio frequency at the ionosphere, uh, 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:30.360 the ionosphere would refract that frequency and it would beam 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:34.320 back down to Earth. So by bouncing it effectively off 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:37.559 the ionosphere, you can send a radio signal much further 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.520 than you could if it were to just broadcast out 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:45.360 and radiate out from a tower. Yes, So with this 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.240 in mind, with this long distance communication ability, it has 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.760 opened up opportunities for lots of different applications. And you know, 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:58.119 you'll hear about amateur radio enthusiasts who will just they'll 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:01.720 they'll use their their radios to dial in and listen 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.320 to the various broadcasts that go out there. And that's 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:08.280 really how number stations were discovered. It was mainly hobbyists 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.800 who as they were scanning the different bands and listening 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.200 to what was out there, they were coming across these 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:20.039 very odd sort of transmissions. And um, before I get 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:24.040 too far, I should say the the whole refraction by 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.040 the ionosphere. There's a specific name for that kind of 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:31.840 transmission that I love. I love this term skywave propagation. 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.600 It's a cool term. Right. So, yeah, you've got these 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.200 hobbists who are listening in and they would come across 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:45.800 a very unusual and frankly pretty creepy kind of transmission 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:49.120 in some cases. And uh, I think we even have 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.440 an example that we can listen to. So let's let's 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.720 take a quick listen to what a typical number station 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.720 might sound like if you were to tune in on 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:15.160 a shortwave radio kind of gets you right here done. 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.560 If by the by right here you mean now I'm 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:20.960 looking over my shoulder and waiting for someone to break 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.159 into the room. Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:26.240 There is something particularly creepy about hearing kind of a 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.240 almost and almost like a harmonic. It sounds like there's 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.400 been some harmonic supplied in some cases, like it's an 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:36.280 automated voice or whatever, but hearing something like that monotone 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.480 just delivering number after number, and then they really repetitious 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.560 music that was used to introduce these So what could 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.400 these be? And there's been a lot of people who 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:51.000 have suggested what number stations might be all about, Um, 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:55.039 you know, the everything from it could just be uh 0:06:55.200 --> 0:07:00.240 stuff for people who are surveying areas for for cartography 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:04.000 and that kind of thing, but that doesn't seem likely. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.160 Of No one is taking credit for it, not at all. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:10.560 So that's our cartography channel that has led to uh 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.040 to some not so much conspiracy theories. It really does 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.320 boil down to, well, if you're just broadcasting numbers with 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.680 no other context, why could you possibly be doing that for? 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:24.520 And one of the explanations is that it's a a 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.800 way to communicate two spies to undercover operatives who might 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.440 be uh invested in some foreign country, perhaps one that 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:38.880 is unfriendly to the the the country of origin and 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:43.280 so there. And when we say there's number stations, there 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.720 are number of stations all over the world, and they're 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.520 broadcasting pretty much all the languages that you might expect. 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.000 They would be in the major languages of the world. 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:53.960 So it's not just that, you know, it's not just 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.440 one country that's doing this. There there's multiple countries that 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.880 are doing it. And UH so this speculation is that 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.080 this is these are messages they're sent to government spies. 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:09.440 UH and these. You know, the governments aren't admitting to 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:14.440 it for for pretty understandable reasons. I would say, well, 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:18.000 if you or any of your team has captured, the 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:22.040 government will disavow any knowledge of this operations, message will 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.760 self destructed. Fifteen seconds. Don't count us out yet. We 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.360 still have a bit more to say about counting stations. 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.640 But first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.600 The So these messages, the numbers those, that's a code, 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:47.800 it's an it's encoded message. Form of cryptography that is 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:52.319 called the the the one pad note yeah, or or 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:57.040 one time pad yeah. Um yeah. I'm interested in cryptography, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.320 uh and have been reading about it for many years. 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.360 And this is not exactly a new thing. It doesn't 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:05.960 even require the use of a computer. I mean, we 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:10.800 talked about cryptography on many podcasts at different levels. Um 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:15.200 and we even got into quantum cryptography, which is supposedly unbreakable, 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.280 although I've seen reports recently that it may not necessarily 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.920 be unbreakable. Well, one time pads are technically unbreakable if 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:28.000 you follow the right procedure right because basically, um and 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.320 they were called pads because at one time they were 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.480 and probably still are a pad. So this pad is 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:37.560 generated like a pad of paper. You uh write down 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.199 your message and encode it on this paper using the 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.199 tool um. And it's a one time thing. And there's 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.640 a part of the key is embedded in the message, 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.679 so that tells the recipient use page. Well, let's just 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.240 go for a reference here, use page sixteen of your pad. 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.040 And that way, uh, you know, you write down the 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:57.840 message in the pad that you can decode it on 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.040 that page and and that then becomes useless. You can't 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.080 use it again. Yeah, you then destroy that page. So 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:08.280 here's here's how here's how it works. Let's say that 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:10.920 I want to send a message to Chris, and I 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.520 want to use this this one time pad method. All right, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.400 So we would each have a pad that would have 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:23.120 a string of random letters across each line, all right, 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.640 And let's say we group them in in groups of five, 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.880 because that's pretty common of four or five. So we'll 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.000 say we have groups of five letters. And these letters 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.280 are truly random in that we've had some sort of 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:36.560 well as close to truly random as we can get. 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:38.920 We've had some sort of random number generator that has 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.320 picked random letters, and it's just that we each have 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.600 a copy of that output. So Chris's string of random 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.320 letters is the same as my string of random letters. 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:54.080 And then I write down my message in normal text, 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.360 and I write my normal letters above the letters of 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:02.680 the that's that's in the key. Then I convert my 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:07.040 letters into numbers. So let's say that an A equals zero, 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:12.120 and a B equals one, and a C equals Three's 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:13.880 not going to take them very long to pick this 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:15.920 one apart. No, it's going to take them a long 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.720 time because here's the here's the that's just that. All 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.880 that is is just uh, it's just a simple substitution cipher. Right, 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.480 But here's the tricky part. So then I take my key, 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.319 all right, and I convert all of those letters to numbers. 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.280 That's when it gets harder. And then I add the 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.480 two numbers together, all right, So I add the I 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.480 add the number from my first letter. So let's say 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.959 that my first letter is H. Because I I write, 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.840 hey there, Chris, I take the number from H. Yeah really, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.080 why not? All right? You know, hey there, Chris, there's 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.480 a rusky on your tail. That's that's my message. So 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.760 H is because I'm going back to the Cold War 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:58.720 so so H, we would convert H to a number, 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.000 and then we look at the first letter in the key. 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:02.480 Let's say that the first letter in the key is 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.440 an M. Well, that M is going to have its 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.120 own number of value. We add the H and the 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.560 M values together and then we convert that into a 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.760 new letter. So, if it's anything up to if we 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.199 if A is zero, if it's anything up to twenty five, 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:20.240 then that's the letter that we would pick. If it's 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:24.520 over twenty five, then we just use number twenty six 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.200 counts as zero. Again, so the number twenty six would 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.240 be an A, twenty seven would be a B, twenty 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:31.320 eight would be a C. So we go up there 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:35.280 and we we put in whatever the substitute letter will be. Well, 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.000 the only way to know what the original letter is 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:41.560 is if you have that one time pad in front 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.800 of you where you take the value of the letter 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:49.600 that is uh, the represented letter, the ciphered letter. You 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.120 subtract the value of the key from the ciphered letter, 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.000 and that gives you the value of the original letter, 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.000 and then you can convert that into the original letter. 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:05.760 So the process of coding and decoding is pretty painstaking 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.360 because you know you have to you have to convert 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.880 all the letters to values, add and then make new letters. 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.800 But the nice thing is is that because as long 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.920 as you keep that that string of letters that acts 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:22.040 as your key truly random, and that you don't repeat letters, 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.800 so that you don't or you don't repeat strings, like 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:26.800 you don't go to the end of a page and 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:29.240 then start at the top again. As long as you 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.840 avoid that, it is impossible to crack that without without 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.960 getting possession of one of those pads. So that's where 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.360 we talk about. If you follow this correctly, it is unbreakable. 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:44.640 The correctly. By correctly we mean you you have truly 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:49.240 random string for your key, you do not repeat the key, 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:51.960 and you do not let the key fall into the 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.319 wrong hands. As long as that happens, it is unbreakable. 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:59.800 So it's kind of like when we talked about the 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:04.280 the the various ways of ciphering. You know, there always 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.240 seems to be some way to crack the code. In 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.960 this case, unless you have physical possession of the pad 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.120 or if someone uses a key that repeats, it's just 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:19.960 not practical. So that's that's the basis for the secret messages. 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:24.560 Um what those secret messages are. We can't say, because again, 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:28.000 unless someone gets hold of one of those pads, then 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:31.520 it is it's just meaningless numbers. I mean, you could 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.000 convert those two letters, but all that's going to do 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.080 is give you the product of those those two like 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.080 the original message and the key. Without having the key, 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.080 you can't figure out what the original messages. We've got 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.600 a little bit more to count on, but before we 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.720 get there, we're gonna take another quick break to thank 0:14:49.760 --> 0:15:02.920 our sponsor. Now, UM, it is likely to that the well, 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.360 we talked about that in the Enigma machine, how the 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.840 German codes during World War Two were broken down into 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:15.360 those UM five letter combinations UM as an added layer 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.640 of security. These these combinations stand in for other words too, 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.480 So it is possible that you know, even if you 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:25.800 did break the code, you would also have to have 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.320 the book that explains what these these letter combinations mean. 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:33.320 But UM still would never Well, that's what I'm saying 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.840 if if you for some reason, if you maybe right, 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.200 or if they use a repeating key, because if they 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:42.120 use a repeating key, then it would take a lot 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.680 of animal you would have to analyze the heck out 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:48.000 of the message. But you could potentially start detecting patterns. Well, 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.960 that's what broke the enigma exactly, because they were they 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.200 got lazy, lazy, and they started using repeating keys as 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.440 opposed to using a key that just doesn't repeat, which 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.520 would have been impossible to crack. So it's just an 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.240 added layer of uh security. That's that just makes it 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.400 much more difficult. So they do these repetitions over and 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.760 over again. Um and it's uh. The thing is, the 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:14.240 the tone and the style of the broadcasts is really 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.720 really creepy, especially when you add that spy layer in 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.680 your head to it. You start going, this message is 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.760 not intended for me, and and somebody could be doing something. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.080 You know, I could be listening, well, this is what 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.400 I think, you know, I'm you know, listening to it. 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.360 Going I could be listening to a message that tells 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.080 somebody to kill somebody else, right, this could be a 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.480 message saying to like And then think about this. You 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.600 hear those messages and then maybe a week later, you 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.920 hear about some massive political event that takes place in 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.640 the country, and you think, is there any connection to 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.080 what I heard? And what just happened is what I 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:54.320 heard was that was that ah essentially a prediction for 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.760 what actually unfolded, and yeah, it's it's kind of I mean, 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.080 it is definitely creepy. And there are a lot of 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:05.320 really cool names for these various broadcasts, some of which 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:09.560 are named after the music that they use. Yeah, and again, um, 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:13.480 in some cases you could kind of some of them, 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.960 the station's sort of semi identify themselves, and others I 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.199 think are given sort of like the stars, you know, 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.640 or viruses. They're given the names of their discoverers want 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.040 to name them. Yeah, so there's um, there's One of 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:31.360 the famous ones is the Lincolnshire Poacher. Yeah, which was 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:33.919 was featured not too long ago as of the recording 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:37.160 of this podcast. On another podcast called The Skeptics Guide 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:39.680 to the Universe, they have a little feature where it's 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:44.480 called Who's that Noisy? And they which which is named 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:46.320 after one of the one of the hosts has a 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.200 daughter who would say who's that noisy? As in what's 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.359 making that noise? Right? So anyway, Who's that Noisy is 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.320 the name of the segment where they'll play a sound 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.000 file and it's the listeners job to try and figure 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.320 out what that sound file is, and they play the 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:05.560 little musical, Uh, prelude that would happen before the numbers 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.800 broadcast on the number station Lincolnshire poacher do do do 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:11.600 Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do do do 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.120 doo And it's really creepy when you hear it over 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:21.080 and over again. Um And anyway, that particular broadcast has 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:25.160 been linked to Cyprus, to the Royal Air Force based 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.480 on Cyprus, and is believed, though there's no proof because 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:30.800 there's no one actually coming out and saying this is true, 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.680 that it was operated by the British Secret Intelligence Service 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.560 out of Cyprus. Now that particular station is no longer active. 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.600 I think it stopped broadcasting in neither two or two 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:45.480 thousand nine. But there are a few others that also 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:50.639 were pretty famous. Cherry Ripe, there's a song Cherry Ripe, 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.840 another British folk song which was a station somewhere in 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.560 Australia or Australia if you prefer. There's Swedish Rhapsody, which 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.480 is possibly the freepious thing I have ever heard in 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:05.399 my life, which is a there's a glockenspield that's playing 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:10.520 and a ace. The voice is clearly that of a 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:15.359 female child reading out numbers in Germany and you just 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.280 hear this Glockenspield play and then this little girl reading 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.720 out numbers in German, and it is you can't help 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.200 but feel a deep sense of foreboding. But then there's 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:29.760 also other ones called like the Mad Violinist and the 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:43.600 Boardman because apparently it's just for two seven eight that 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:45.840 that's kind of how I would be, Like like day one, 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.280 I'd be all creepy, and day two I'd be you know, 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:54.600 less creepy, and day three I just be like three six, 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:01.399 What am I gonna have for dinner tonight? For I 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:05.159 gotta pick up the dry leading to read the message 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:08.960 you're not getting anything for dinner. Um, yeah, there are 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.040 there are a number of places number UM where you 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.760 can if you don't happen to have a short wave radio, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.880 where you can pick up on these. Um the Internet 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:24.240 archive of course, which collects all sorts of strange and 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.480 esoteric things. UM. There are many many recordings that you 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:32.720 can listen to on there. And actually the first place 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:36.040 that I encountered these was in an article in Wired magazine, 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.959 which I went back and revisited UM for for this, 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:45.320 and they were categorizing this Russian station UVB seventy six, 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.640 which had been broadcasting essentially the same thing for many, 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:53.840 many years until one day it stopped and then started again, 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:56.600 and then stopped again, and then you could hear so 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:00.639 it sounded like somebody in the room with the microphone, uh, 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:05.280 you know, just you know, too creepy stuffling stuff and 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:09.000 banging around. And then it started broadcasting something else, and 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:13.480 and they changed the call numbers at the station to 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:15.720 something entirely different. It makes me wonder if the guy 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:18.320 was just asking for toilet paper and it finally arrived, 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.840 he's like, now blue jeans, blue ge Well you can 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:26.560 you can still listen to this at UVB dash seven 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.040 six dot net and you can go and visit that 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:32.840 website and they will tell you. The enthusiasts who keep 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.919 track of these things will will share information about the 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:41.520 station and what it changed too, but very very weird stuff. Well, 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:43.159 I think is funny is that a lot of the 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.639 people who are following numbers stations, who really have a 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:50.600 passion for listening to them and finding them on on 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:54.800 shortwave radio, they don't want to have the mystery solved 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.360 because it would mean their hobby would be over. Well, 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:01.240 I mean it even um and formation about this. This 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:05.000 is kind of something that is operated for so many years. Uh, 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.720 if you will pardon the radio punt under the radar. 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:10.479 I mean, it's it's not something that the general public 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:14.919 knew anything about up until the last handful of years, 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:16.800 which is kind of ironic considering it was going on 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:20.120 through the Cold War and before that, and and and 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:24.080 now after most of it has stopped anyhow. Uh. It 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.000 even made an appearance in an episode of Lost. I understand. 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:29.480 I never was really much of a fan of the show, 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:32.480 but I think it's cool that they put that into 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.840 the show's UM storyline, that there was a number station 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:40.600 involved with uh, with the plot line UM, and of 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:44.320 course that was about codes and code breaking and creepiness 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:49.040 and all sorts of stuff, so it fit right in. UM. 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:52.320 So yeah, I mean it's it's fascinating. But the people 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:56.600 who watched Lost, you know, wanted the mystery to unravel 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:00.560 over time. They didn't want it solved immediately. And I 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:04.160 think for for the people who followed they these number stations, 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:06.520 it's the same kind of thing. They don't and you 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:10.159 kind of want to know. But then I don't know, 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:12.240 if you've ever read a book where you didn't want 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:15.280 the story to end, and you just stopped reading because 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:17.520 you just enjoyed the fact that it was still going on, 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:19.320 and you didn't really want to know quite what was 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:21.359 going on, although you knew it had an end and 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:24.960 somebody was behind it. I don't want to know, So 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:29.000 I've done that many times, or slowed very very slow 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:33.439 way down, you know, um, because you don't want to 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:36.960 find out, because then you know your fun ends. So 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:43.760 I don't know very interesting stuff. Jonathan has been researching 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:46.800 something as we're talking, and he's got this mysterious look 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:52.159 on his face. Yeah. Yeah, no, creepy, I'm saying it 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:58.080 is creepy. Uh yeah, I mean these are These are 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:02.680 definitely one of those things that I hope stick around 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:06.400 just for the sake of perpetuating this kind of air 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:09.000 of mystery, because you think about it, you're like, Okay, 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:11.240 first of all, let me get this clear. Our world 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:15.040 is amazing and the universe is astounding. But even so, 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:17.240 there are days where you feel like you're living in 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:20.640 a pretty mundane kind of existence, and then you find 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:23.720 out about number stations and you're like, there's a whole 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:27.760 level operating just under the surface that I've always suspected 0:24:27.840 --> 0:24:31.000 but never really proven, and now I know there's something 0:24:31.080 --> 0:24:34.000 to it. Then you're like, hey, our world is amazing again. 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:36.440 By the way, our world is amazing, whether there's number 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:38.439 stations or not. It's just that occasionally we have to 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:43.880