1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 4 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: And how the tech are you. Well, it's Thanksgiving week 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: here in America and that means we're taking some time off, 6 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: but we still want to bring you shows. So I'm 7 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:33,839 Speaker 1: bringing you a couple of reruns. Today. We're going to 8 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: listen to an episode that published last year that we're 9 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: two thousand twenty one, and it is titled tech Stuff 10 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: by the Numbers Stations. It's a pretty creepy one. Um, 11 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: one of my favorite little topics, weird tech topics to 12 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: talk about because it's a secret thing that's not outright hidden. 13 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: The meaning is hidden, but you can discover these things 14 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: if you just happen to have a short wave radio 15 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: and some patients and you know, some good positioning. So 16 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: fun topic. Hope you enjoy tech Stuff by the Numbers Stations. Recently, 17 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: Amazon canceled their television series truth Seekers, which I thought 18 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: of as sort of a cross between Shaun of the 19 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: Dead and The X Files. So in the series, a 20 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:34,320 Speaker 1: cable technician named Gus played by Nick Frost, is obsessed 21 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: with ghost hunting, and he gradually indoctrinates his new partners 22 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:44,479 Speaker 1: as his name is Elton John. He's played by Samson Keo. Uh. Anyway, 23 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: it's it's a cute show. It's a little odd in tone. 24 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: And the part that really applies to this episode, however, 25 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: is that one of the things that Gus fixates on 26 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: in the early episodes is a radio frequency playing a 27 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: numbers station, and it's based off of an actual historical 28 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: number station that folks call the Lincolnshire Poacher. And here's 29 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:26,639 Speaker 1: what it sounds like. Gree nine seven one five, Gree 30 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: nine seven one hive, Gree nine seven one hive. So 31 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: that's a real thing, or it was a real thing, 32 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: and it's not the only such station out there. There 33 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: have been lots of numbers stations over the years, some 34 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: using different jingles to signal an incoming series of numbers. 35 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,119 Speaker 1: Some of them have male voices, some use female voices, 36 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: some used children's voices, Some of them are in more code, 37 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: Some have people reciting not just numbers but letters and 38 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: code signals. A lot of them are super creepy, which 39 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: makes them really ideal for a show about paranormal investigation. 40 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: But while the supernatural stuff is fanciful nonsense, the numbers 41 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: stations are actually anchored in our real world. And while 42 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: tech stuff did do an episode about numbers stations many 43 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: many years ago, I thought it would be good to 44 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: use numbers stations as a way to talk about not 45 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: just what they are, but also about short wave radio communications, 46 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: the physics of radio in general, and the process of 47 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: ciphering and encrypting information. So this is really gonna be 48 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: a big overview, catch all kind of podcast. So let's 49 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: start off with radio itself. Radio waves are part of 50 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: the electro magnetic spectrum. Uh. They are there along with 51 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: stuff like my microwaves, visible light, X rays, and gamma rays. 52 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: All of this is part of one big spectrum of 53 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: electromagnetic radiation. You could actually think of it all as 54 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: different flavors of light if you like. It's just that 55 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: the slice of light that we can see is a 56 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: very small slice of the overall spectrum. Now, specifically, radio 57 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: waves are in the long wavelength part of that spectrum. 58 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: Electromagnetic radiation moves in waves all at the speed of light, 59 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: because hey, really it is just light, just different flavors 60 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: of it. But those flavors of light do have different wavelengths, 61 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 1: which also means they have different frequencies. So what does 62 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: that mean exactly, Well, let's start with wavelengths. Imagine a 63 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: nice smooth wavy line. The distance between two consecutive crests 64 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: on that wave, so the very peaks at the top 65 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 1: parts of our curve. In other words, that would be 66 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: one wavelength from one crest to the next. A frequency 67 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: just refers to the number of times a given cycle 68 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: happens within a given amount of time, and we frequently 69 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 1: use one second as the time unit. And with electromagnetic radiation, 70 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: we talked about how many full wavelengths of a given 71 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: signal pass a specific point in space within one second. 72 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: We also use the unit hurts to describe this relationship. 73 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: A one Hurts frequency would have one cycle or one 74 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: wavelength per second passing you know this given point in 75 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: one second. A giga Hurts frequency has a billion cycles 76 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: per second. Now, all electromagnetic radiation is traveling at the 77 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: same speed, which is around three thousand kilometers per second 78 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: in a vacuum. Because the speed actually changes depending upon 79 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: the medium through which the radiation is traveling, that happens 80 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: to be the speed limit of the universe. Nothing goes 81 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,679 Speaker 1: faster than that, so the energy is traveling at that speed, 82 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: but the frequency is dependent not just on speed but 83 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,840 Speaker 1: how long those waves are. In fact, because we know 84 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: all these waves are traveling at that same speed, we 85 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: can figure out the wavelength if we know the frequency, 86 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:28,720 Speaker 1: and vice versa. So the formula is wavelength equals the 87 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: speed of light divided by the waves frequency. Alternatively, frequency 88 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: is equal to the speed of light divided by the wavelength. 89 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: So as long as we know either the frequency or 90 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: the wavelength, we can figure out the other one. Because 91 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: the speed of light is a constant, it's not a variable. 92 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: On the longest wavelength side of the spectrum are radio waves, 93 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,920 Speaker 1: which can measure more than a hundred meters in length. 94 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: So a radio wave with the wavelength of one would 95 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: a frequency of about three mega hurts, meaning about three 96 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,480 Speaker 1: million wavelengths would pass a given point in a second, 97 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 1: and each wavelength is measuring one meters between those crests. Again, 98 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: the speed of the signal is still the speed of light. 99 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: But let's say we get to the other end of 100 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: the spectrum, towards the very very very tiny wavelengths on 101 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: the electromagnetic spectrum, and when I say tiny, I mean 102 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: really tiny. Gamma radiation, which represents the smallest of the 103 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: waves that we know about, are less than one hundred 104 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: pico meters in length, and a picometer is one trillionth 105 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: of a meter, so this is actually smaller than the 106 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: nano scale. The frequency started out at around ten to 107 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: the power of nineteen hurts or ten quintillion hurts. Now, 108 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: I've talked about electro magnetic radiation in terms of waves, 109 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: but we also know that it behaves as both a 110 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: wave and a part nicle. There are a lot of 111 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: experiments that have shown this, and they're fascinating. But I 112 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: don't want to get too far off track. Some of 113 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: you out there might be screaming too late now, So 114 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: we should also mention photons, the particles of light. A 115 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: photons energy is directly proportional to the electro magnetic frequency 116 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: of that wave. It's also inversely proportional to the wave length. 117 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: So gamma rays pack a huge energetic wallop, while radio waves, 118 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: by comparison, are whimps. So let's get back to the 119 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 1: radio spectrum in particular. We know that radio waves have 120 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: the longest wavelengths in the electro magnetic spectrum, which means 121 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 1: they also have the lowest frequencies and the lowest amount 122 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:53,080 Speaker 1: of photonic energy. Generally speaking, we group electromagnetic frequencies ranging 123 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: from thirty hurts or thirty wavelengths per second up to 124 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: three hundred giga hurts or three hundred bill in wavelengths 125 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: per second. Obviously, this is a really big range, but 126 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 1: all of that are radio frequencies. Now, different countries divvy 127 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: up this spectrum of frequencies for different uses, some of 128 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: which depend upon the capabilities of those frequencies. So, for example, 129 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: if you're looking at around thirty hurts, this is the 130 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: extremely low frequency or e L f ELF range. You know, 131 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: I used to play in ELF range in Dungeons and Dragons. Wait, 132 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: I'm thinking of something else. So these wavelengths are really long, 133 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,439 Speaker 1: and they are good at penetrating stuff like deep water, 134 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: so it can be used for very basic communications with submarines. 135 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 1: A M radio would be up in the medium frequency 136 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: range for radio frequencies, and also the medium wavelength range. 137 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: Just above that are the high frequency short wave radio bands, 138 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: which are what we're really going to talk about a 139 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: lot today. These have a wavelength between ten and one, 140 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: and frequencies that are between three and thirty mega hurts. 141 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: Radio Waves in this band of frequencies have some really 142 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: useful properties, and one of those is the broadcast range, 143 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: as in how far these radio waves can travel. So 144 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:21,199 Speaker 1: higher frequency radio bands can essentially only travel by line 145 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: of sight, so there is a limited range to them. 146 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 1: If you've ever listened to an FM radio station, because 147 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: FM frequencies are in a band called very high frequency 148 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: or VHF, then you might have had the experience of 149 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: the station starting to give out as you travel away 150 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 1: from the source. Depending upon the power of the broadcasting station, 151 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: you typically have a range of around thirty to forty 152 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: miles or fifty to sixty kilometers, but radio waves that 153 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,840 Speaker 1: are a bit longer can travel further thanks to a 154 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 1: layer in Earth's atmosphere called the ionosphere. Higher frequencies can 155 00:10:56,679 --> 00:10:59,719 Speaker 1: move right through the ionosphere. They just punch right through 156 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: and go into space, but lower frequencies, those having the 157 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,960 Speaker 1: longer wavelengths, aren't able to do that, so they actually 158 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: bounce off the layer and come back down to Earth. 159 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 1: By reflecting back down to Earth, these radio waves could 160 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: travel much further than they would just by line of sight. Now, 161 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 1: as the name suggests, the ionosphere is a layer of 162 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: our atmosphere that is host to ionized particles. Ionization is 163 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: the process by which an atom becomes charged, either with 164 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: a positive charge, meaning it has lost electrons electrons are 165 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: the negatively charged particles. So then you've got an imbalance. 166 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: You have more protons with the atom than you have electrons, 167 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 1: and thus you have an overall positive charge, or it 168 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: could become negatively charged, meaning that an atom has taken 169 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:53,199 Speaker 1: on more electrons. Now, this makes that layer of Earth's 170 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 1: atmosphere electrically conductive. It happens because our atmosphere is hit 171 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,959 Speaker 1: by ultra violet light from the Sun and it hits 172 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: the atoms in this layer of the atmosphere. It energizes 173 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: those atoms, and when the atoms get really energetic, the 174 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:13,200 Speaker 1: electrons move further out from the nucleus and they can 175 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 1: actually peel off if they have enough energy. Now you've 176 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,679 Speaker 1: got free electrons, and those free electrons are either reflecting 177 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: radio waves if they have a long enough wavelength, or 178 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: they can actually absorb them or otherwise allow them to 179 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 1: pass through for shorter wavelengths. This works in both directions. 180 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,319 Speaker 1: By the way, not just radio waves coming from Earth, 181 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: but also radio waves that are coming in from space, 182 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: because lots of stuff out there generates radio waves. I'm 183 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: not talking about aliens, I'm talking about like solar activity 184 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Now, the activity of the ionosphere 185 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: changes throughout a day over any given spot on Earth. 186 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: So during the daytime, that part of the Earth is 187 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,199 Speaker 1: facing the Sun, so the atmosphere overhead is being hit 188 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,839 Speaker 1: with a lot more ultra violet radiation, and thus the 189 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,559 Speaker 1: lower part of the ionosphere, the part that's closer to us, 190 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:08,560 Speaker 1: ends up getting more crowded with ions. Now that means 191 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: that longer radio waves are going to hit the ionosphere 192 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,559 Speaker 1: at a lower altitude and then reflect off. But at nighttime, 193 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: the Sun is on the other side of the planet, 194 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: so the lower part of the ionosphere kind of calms 195 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:24,440 Speaker 1: down a bit, and now the longer radio waves will 196 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: actually travel at a further altitude. They'll go higher up 197 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: before they hit the ionosphere and reflect back down. That 198 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: also means that you can actually pick up longer wavelength 199 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:40,200 Speaker 1: radio signals from further away at nighttime because there's this 200 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,960 Speaker 1: different angle that allows the waves to reflect and travel 201 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: even further. Now the history of radio, as in the 202 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 1: technology that we use to leverage radio waves. This gets 203 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,079 Speaker 1: complicated because we call the technology the same terms as 204 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: we call the the scientific phenomena that is in our 205 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: operating with the technology. But we'll we'll carry on. So 206 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:08,319 Speaker 1: the tech radio has a very long and complicated history, 207 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: and it's full of some really serious drama. I mean 208 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 1: not just radio dramas like soap operas, I mean like 209 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 1: drama drama. Just get a couple of radio enthusiasts talking 210 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: about Tesla and Marconi or Armstrong and DeForest and see 211 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: how things go if you want some entertainment. But we'll 212 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: just cut to the chase and say that by World 213 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: War One, people were figuring out potential uses for radio waves, 214 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: like being able to send communications quickly across large areas 215 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: if you know you're trying to coordinate numerous groups of 216 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 1: soldiers in different theaters of combat. For example, communicating by 217 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: radio involves generating a carrier wave signal at a specific 218 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:55,240 Speaker 1: frequency and then modulating it, so, in other words, changing 219 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: that signal in some way in order for it to 220 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: carry information. A steady signal gives you no real useful 221 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: information other than someone or something is generating this signal, 222 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: But by creating a way to encode and decode information 223 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 1: by altering that signal, do you have a way to 224 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 1: send more complex information. A M radio modulates a carrier 225 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: signal by changing the amplitude of the wavelength, and this 226 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: requires a good deal of power, and the long wavelengths 227 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: mean you need big radio towers to beam out these signals. 228 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: FM radio modulates signals through frequency modulation, altering the frequency 229 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: of the signal slightly. And radio stations, like the kind 230 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: we tune into for entertainment purposes, these are fixed frequencies 231 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: right like If they weren't, you would never be able 232 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: to tune into your favorite radio station because you wouldn't 233 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:52,800 Speaker 1: know what frequency to go to. So this means they 234 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: can't take advantage of the changes in the ionosphere. They're 235 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: always stuck transmitting at a set frequency. See whether conditions 236 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: are good for long range transmission or not. Shortwave radio 237 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: operators have a little more flexibility. They're working with a 238 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: specific series of frequencies in the high frequency range of 239 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 1: the RF spectrum, but they can swap from one of 240 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: those sets of frequencies to another and thus take advantage 241 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: of atmospheric conditions, so early in the day you might 242 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 1: use one set of frequencies that are available to you, 243 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: and late at night you might use a different set, 244 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: because the actual radio waves will travel at different distances 245 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: as the day changes. But there's another aspect to communicating 246 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: during wartime, which is that, generally speaking, you don't want 247 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: the people who are fighting on the other side of 248 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: the war to know what the heck you're talking about, 249 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: so you have to come up with some means of 250 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: of you skating the meaning of your message. This is 251 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: particularly important with radio for a very obvious reason. See, 252 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: there are a lot of different ways to send secret messages, 253 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: and some of them are more secure than others. If 254 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:05,720 Speaker 1: you and I are the only ones who know about 255 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,639 Speaker 1: a black, glassy rock near a trina field, you know, 256 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:12,919 Speaker 1: a rock that has no business being there, and I 257 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,719 Speaker 1: hide a message under that rock for you, there's a 258 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: decent chance that you'll get to the message before anyone 259 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: else does. I might not even need to encode the 260 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:23,960 Speaker 1: message at all, because no one else even knows that 261 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: there's a rock there. If I were to send you 262 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 1: a message through the mail, well, now there's a few 263 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: points where someone could intercept that message. Right. I mean, 264 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: perhaps the batties check my mailbox. They see that I've 265 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: put the little mail flag up, so they come and 266 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:40,959 Speaker 1: check it and they steal the message before I can 267 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: even go anywhere. Or maybe they keep checking your mailbox 268 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: on the other side, looking at incoming mail, and they 269 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,359 Speaker 1: grab my message when it arrives at your mailbox. Or 270 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:55,679 Speaker 1: maybe they're super tricksy and they've infiltrated the postal service 271 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: and Cliff the mailman is secretly a dirty old spy 272 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: always suspected it. Well. Radio communications are out in the open. 273 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: Anyone with a receiver that has an antenna that can 274 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 1: tune into whichever frequency is being used can actually listen 275 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,680 Speaker 1: in on that frequency. So you have no control over 276 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 1: who can hear what you're sending out. So if you're 277 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,399 Speaker 1: sending something out in secret, you have to encode it 278 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: in some way that makes it hard or impossible to 279 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: determine what is being communicated. Now, when we come back, 280 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:32,640 Speaker 1: we'll talk about how this sometimes involves making creepy radio broadcasts. 281 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:43,879 Speaker 1: But first let's take a quick break. Let's say you 282 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: want to create your own radio station. You've put up 283 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:50,439 Speaker 1: a transmission tower, you figured out your power needs, to 284 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:54,399 Speaker 1: generate the signal necessary to claim a subsection of the 285 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,680 Speaker 1: r F spectrum set aside for broadcasts, and you're ready 286 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,639 Speaker 1: to go right, Well, no, not if you don't want 287 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:04,520 Speaker 1: to get shut down and find or worse. In order 288 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: to make sure the spectrum isn't just a free for all, 289 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:12,359 Speaker 1: which would make communication difficult at least, governments have designated 290 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:17,400 Speaker 1: specific bands of frequencies for specific uses. See if multiple 291 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: transmitters were trying to use the exact same frequency, everything 292 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,880 Speaker 1: would get garbled. You would have tons of interference. If 293 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: you've ever used a pair of walkie talkies, you probably 294 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:31,360 Speaker 1: know that it's standard for folks to say over when 295 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: they're done talking because the walkie talkies switched between transmitter 296 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,679 Speaker 1: and receiver mode, and without the over you might have 297 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: both parties trying to talk at the same time and 298 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 1: no one can hear anything because you're both holding down 299 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: the transmit button. Well, when you think about all the radio, television, cellular, WiFi, 300 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: and other signals zooming around out there, all of which 301 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: are part of the RF spectrum, you quickly realize that 302 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,119 Speaker 1: you've got to make up some rules or else no 303 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,880 Speaker 1: one would ever know who they're talking to. Now, way 304 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: back in eighteen sixty five, the International Telegraph Union came 305 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: into formation, and in nineteen thirty four it changed its 306 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,919 Speaker 1: name to the International Telecommunication Union, and it's part of 307 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: the United Nations today, and one of its jobs is 308 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 1: to designate specific slices of the RF spectrum for specific 309 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:26,920 Speaker 1: uses to allow for seamless operations between the world. That way, 310 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: the radio is made by a company in Japan will 311 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: work in places like the US because the frequencies that 312 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: we've set aside for terrestrial radio stations are the same, 313 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: assuming that both US and Japan are following the suggestions 314 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: from the i t U. Now it's up to the 315 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: governments of various countries to enforce these rules. In the 316 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,360 Speaker 1: United States, radio stations have to obtain a license from 317 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 1: the Federal Communications Commission to get a permission to broadcast 318 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: on specific frequencies within the A, M or FM bands 319 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:03,240 Speaker 1: of the ur F spectrum. There are other frequencies reserved 320 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,680 Speaker 1: for amateur radio operators, but if you want to operate 321 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:09,960 Speaker 1: your own amateur station, you have to get a license 322 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: from the f c C, and passing a test is 323 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: part of that process. Now, if you just want to 324 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: listen to radio. That's different. You don't need a license. 325 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 1: In that case. You could have a shortwave radio set 326 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: and as long as you're not transmitting, you're just listening, 327 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: no licenses needed. But to transmit you gotta get permission first, 328 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: and the f c C will even assign a call 329 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: signed to you. Number stations are different. With commercial radio stations, 330 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: you can do some research to see who owns and 331 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 1: operates that station, but with numbers stations, there's a distinct 332 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:48,239 Speaker 1: lack of information. This puts them in the realm of 333 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: pirate radio stations. These are stations that have no identifying 334 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: information associated with them, and they are operating without being 335 00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 1: registered with the FCC or similar agency in other countries. 336 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: Now that doesn't mean that these agencies like the FCC 337 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:08,920 Speaker 1: don't know about them. There is a look the other 338 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: way situation in which one part of the government is 339 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: using stuff that the other parts just don't need to 340 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,679 Speaker 1: worry about. You know, by the way, if you're wondering 341 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: if people operate pirate radio stations, they sometimes do. But 342 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: there are ways to triangulate signals and determine where those 343 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:31,679 Speaker 1: signals are coming from. So if someone is broadcasting without 344 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: permission on a specific frequency. It's typically just a matter 345 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: of time before the Feds come in and shut things down. Now, 346 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: you could hop onto other frequencies, but unless your audience 347 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: knows where to tune in, you would likely be talking 348 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: to no one or at least very few people. So, 349 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: since we know that it's possible to figure out where 350 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 1: a radio signal originates, and since numbers stations can remain 351 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: in operation for years or decades, we have to draw 352 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: the conclusion that these numbers stations have some sort of 353 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 1: sanction from governments, otherwise they would get shut down. Now, 354 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: some sources say that numbers stations, these radio frequencies that 355 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:17,239 Speaker 1: are sending out seemingly nonsensical information, got their start in 356 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 1: World War One. Others say it was actually closer to 357 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 1: World War Two, and I tend to suspect that the 358 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 1: ladder is more accurate. Radio was important in World War One, 359 00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: but it was also still pretty early on in the 360 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:35,639 Speaker 1: evolution of the technology. But at some time around World 361 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:38,199 Speaker 1: War One. In World War Two, someone got an idea, 362 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 1: and that idea was to establish a transmission on a 363 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: particular signal, or sometimes a series of signals that would 364 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: change throughout the day to take advantage of the ionosphere 365 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: and the differences and signal propagation, and the signal would 366 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: broadcast encoded information presumably two spies. So let's say you're 367 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:03,400 Speaker 1: running a top secret spy organization like the m I six. Now, granted, 368 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,320 Speaker 1: you're spending a lot of time dealing with the fact 369 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: that your top spy has a habit of introducing himself 370 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: to any one in hearing range and then drinking his 371 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:15,919 Speaker 1: way across the world. But you've got a lot of 372 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: other more responsible spy types out there too, and you 373 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,680 Speaker 1: might occasionally need to send them orders. But if your 374 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: operative is halfway across the world, deep in enemy territory 375 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:32,200 Speaker 1: and you can't rely on normal communication channels, you might 376 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 1: want to send a coded message by shortwave radio. This 377 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,080 Speaker 1: has a huge advantage and that the radio signal goes 378 00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 1: out everywhere, so you know that your enemies will be 379 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,160 Speaker 1: able to detect the signal, but they won't know what 380 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:49,120 Speaker 1: the message was or who it was actually for. If 381 00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,160 Speaker 1: you were to call your operative, it's possible someone could 382 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: detect the call and trace it to the recipient, the spy, 383 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: and thus compromising them. So sending out a message by 384 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 1: a radio means you give no information about who is 385 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: supposed to receive that message. The operative knows to tune 386 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: into a specific radio frequency at a specific time. This 387 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: is something that you have to work out beforehand, obviously, 388 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:16,199 Speaker 1: as most of us aren't aware of what's going on 389 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,119 Speaker 1: with radio waves all around us, or we'd have a 390 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: lot of trouble concentrating on anything. You might set up 391 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: a regular broadcast session using different frequencies throughout the day, 392 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,680 Speaker 1: depending upon whichever one works best. And maybe some days 393 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: you have nothing to report, so you might even send 394 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: out a code for that, or it might just be gibberish. 395 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: But other days you need to alert your operative to 396 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,320 Speaker 1: return home, or step it up and place a bigger 397 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: bet in baccarat or whatever it may be. So these 398 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,359 Speaker 1: numbers stations typically have some sort of indicator at the 399 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: top of the hour. The Lincoln Share Poacher, which we 400 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,960 Speaker 1: played at the beginning of this episode, is an example 401 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: of that. That little tune marked the beginning of a transmission, 402 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:03,200 Speaker 1: followed by the actual message. The message would be a 403 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 1: sequence of some sort, typically numbers, sometimes letters. The voice 404 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,720 Speaker 1: might be a recording, or it might be read live 405 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,040 Speaker 1: on the air. It could be a man, a woman, 406 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: or a child's voice. You might pick up a short 407 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: wave signal with someone counting in another language. But what 408 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 1: do those codes actually mean? Well, that's the real question, 409 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,119 Speaker 1: and that's one that's kind of impossible for us to 410 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: answer because the coded messages use an approach that is 411 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:32,720 Speaker 1: unbreakable assuming you don't get hold of the secret. So 412 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:38,560 Speaker 1: this leads us to a discussion about cryptography. Cryptography, or 413 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: the art of writing and or breaking codes, is ancient, 414 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,160 Speaker 1: and people have come up with a lot of interesting 415 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:49,120 Speaker 1: ways to hide important information even if it's in plain sight, 416 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,439 Speaker 1: and have it be indecipherable as it were to the 417 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: uninitiated at least. These range from the very simple strategies 418 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:01,880 Speaker 1: such as a rudimentary replacements for like the Caesar cipher, 419 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: where you just substitute symbols for letters or just shift 420 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,520 Speaker 1: letters around, so, for example, you might say a B 421 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,160 Speaker 1: actually means C and a C means D. That's a 422 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,919 Speaker 1: very simple Caesar cipher. While these sort of ciphers might 423 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: confound someone at casual first glance, they aren't particularly hard 424 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 1: to crack. If you happen to know what language was 425 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,440 Speaker 1: used to write the message, you can look for patterns 426 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: in those symbols to indicate common letter combinations. So, for example, 427 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:35,440 Speaker 1: in English, the letters J, Q, X, and z are 428 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:40,159 Speaker 1: really pretty rare, but the letters A, E, O, and 429 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,880 Speaker 1: T are really common. So you can look for symbols 430 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 1: that show up a lot and start to think, well, 431 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: these most likely represent some of the most common letters. 432 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,120 Speaker 1: And then you have letter pairs. In English, you get 433 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,679 Speaker 1: stuff like T H, E, R, O, N and A 434 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,879 Speaker 1: N a lot. You can also look for common double 435 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 1: letters like T, T, S, S, E and so on. 436 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,160 Speaker 1: Knowing the rules of the language means you can start 437 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:11,000 Speaker 1: looking for clues as to what these symbols actually represent. 438 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:16,280 Speaker 1: Some ciphers take one little extra step, including some symbols 439 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,720 Speaker 1: for common letter pairings. Really, this is just taking a 440 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:25,200 Speaker 1: page from other alphabets, including older English alphabets. So for example, 441 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,879 Speaker 1: the old English letter thorn represents the th h or 442 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: the sound. So maybe you have symbols that can represent 443 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: certain letter pairs or double letters or phonetic sounds, and 444 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 1: that can make it a tiny bit more challenging if 445 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,720 Speaker 1: someone wants to break the code. Now. There are also 446 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: ciphers that use clever means to change how letters are 447 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: encoded in some predetermined way. Which is what the famed 448 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 1: Enigma machine could do. The Enigma machine was like a 449 00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:01,520 Speaker 1: really complicated typewriter, only when you hit a given letter 450 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: such as W on the machine, the machine would generate 451 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: a different letter based on whatever its initial settings were. 452 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 1: So let's say you hit W and you get G instead. 453 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 1: You write that down for your encoded message. Then the 454 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: Enigma machine would advance its mechanism so that the entire 455 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:25,080 Speaker 1: encoding process changed. So if you hit W again, now 456 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,680 Speaker 1: the machine wouldn't produce G for the second W, it 457 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: would produce something else, like maybe P. The Enigma machine 458 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 1: was so complicated that it prompted Allied forces in World 459 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: War Two to construct early computer systems. And had it 460 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: not been for a couple of quirks with the machine, so, 461 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,160 Speaker 1: for example, the machine would never use the correct letter 462 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,760 Speaker 1: as a cipher for itself. Well, if it hadn't been 463 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:52,240 Speaker 1: doing those sort of things, the Allies might not have 464 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:56,880 Speaker 1: ever cracked that code. And there are other methods to 465 00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 1: send information in a clandestine way. There's hiding information within 466 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: some other message or inside a physical object. This is 467 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: called steganography. So you can imagine a painting that has 468 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,360 Speaker 1: a hidden message incorporated in it so that anyone who's 469 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,880 Speaker 1: just looking at the painting just see's a painting, but 470 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,000 Speaker 1: someone who knows what to look for can read the message. 471 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: Steganography is fascinating stuff, and in our modern tech age, 472 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: it can extend to stuff like files that are hidden 473 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:29,720 Speaker 1: within other files. So how do numbers stations keep information secret? 474 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: Well's through one of the oldest tricks in the book, 475 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: the one time pad. Using a one time pad properly 476 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:39,480 Speaker 1: is pretty much a guarantee that no one will ever 477 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,880 Speaker 1: be able to crack the code. It's a perfect cipher 478 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: in that regard, though in other ways it has its 479 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: own drawbacks. Now, when we come back, we'll talk about 480 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: the one time pad some of the famous number stations 481 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: out there and speculate on what it all means. Spies. 482 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 1: It means spies. We'll be right back, okay. So the 483 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 1: beauty of the one time pad is that if you 484 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: do it correctly, it is unbreakable. The reason for that 485 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: is two fold. One is that the key that you 486 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: used to actually encrypt the message is a randomly generated key, 487 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 1: So each letter of your message has an encryption method 488 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 1: that is independent of every other letter in your message. 489 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: So someone intercepting the message won't be able to look 490 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,960 Speaker 1: for those patterns in the symbols. And the other reason 491 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: is that you use each randomly generated encryption key only once. 492 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 1: After you use it, you destroy the key. Since you 493 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:53,160 Speaker 1: don't repeat the process, you avoid giving code breakers enough 494 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: information in order to crack a message. If the code 495 00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:01,240 Speaker 1: never repeats, you can't establish any patterns. Now, the downside 496 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 1: of this is that you do have to make sure 497 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: that everyone you're communicating with has a copy of the 498 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 1: encryption keys. So whenever you generate that random key, you 499 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: have to make sure the person or people that you're 500 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: sending messages to have exact copies that they are able 501 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: to keep safe. Going back to the Enigma machine, if 502 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,120 Speaker 1: the Germans had followed the procedure of changing the machine 503 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: settings for every single message, it would have made the 504 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: code even more difficult to crack. But an actual practice, 505 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: doing this was very hard to keep straight and could 506 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: result in miscommunication. So for the sake of convenience and clarity, 507 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: the Germans often wouldn't change the settings as frequently as 508 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 1: they were supposed to, and that gave the Allies a 509 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 1: foothold and figuring out what was actually going on. Generating 510 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,600 Speaker 1: a coded message requires a few steps, and since we're 511 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:00,680 Speaker 1: talking about numbers stations, I'll go with numbers first. But 512 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: keep in mind, it's not just the way numbers work, 513 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: it's just it's the easiest way to explain it to 514 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:10,080 Speaker 1: you guys. So your first step is that you create 515 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 1: a simple substitution cipher for all the letters in the alphabet, 516 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: plus any symbols that you plan on using, for example, 517 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 1: any punctuation. You assign numbers to each of those letters 518 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 1: and symbols, So you could go just as simple as 519 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,560 Speaker 1: numbering the English alphabet from one to twenty six A 520 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: to Z, but that's pretty simplistic. So you establish your 521 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: basic cipher, and you make sure everyone who needs it 522 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 1: has that they know that if they see a one, 523 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:45,520 Speaker 1: that means a two means to be for ciphered text. 524 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:50,720 Speaker 1: But that's just one step. Next, you generate your encryption key. Now, 525 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 1: this should be a string of random numbers, with each 526 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,720 Speaker 1: number ranging from zero to nine. Typically you group them 527 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,760 Speaker 1: in blocks to make it easier to trans it and receive. 528 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: The most common one I've come across is blocks of 529 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 1: five digits each. Now this is really important. Your encryption 530 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,680 Speaker 1: key has to be as long or longer than whatever 531 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:18,799 Speaker 1: message you intend to send. So if your message is 532 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:24,360 Speaker 1: one forty characters long, you need one hundred forty randomly 533 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,720 Speaker 1: generated numbers, and you create a whole bunch of these 534 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:32,200 Speaker 1: for the purposes of communication, with each encryption key taking 535 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:34,800 Speaker 1: up a single page out of a path of paper. 536 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: If you were to look at one of these sheets 537 00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:39,919 Speaker 1: of paper, all you would see are a bunch of 538 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:44,360 Speaker 1: digits divide up into groups of five, and just no 539 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 1: apparent pattern to them because they would be randomly generated. 540 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,279 Speaker 1: So when it comes time to encode a message, let's 541 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: say your message is extract asset. That's what you want 542 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,800 Speaker 1: to tell your operative. You would write down your message 543 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: in English, So you write down extract have a space asset, 544 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 1: and then you would use your cipher method to change 545 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,600 Speaker 1: each letter into its corresponding number. So we'll go with 546 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,439 Speaker 1: the very simple substitution of A is one, b as two, 547 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,400 Speaker 1: and so on, but we would probably use something different 548 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,320 Speaker 1: in the field. We're gonna use zero as an empty space. 549 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:24,720 Speaker 1: A lot of real number stations use a different method 550 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:27,799 Speaker 1: UH in order to make it easier for people who 551 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,279 Speaker 1: are receiving the messages to actually decode them, but you 552 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:36,759 Speaker 1: get where I'm going. So using our substitution cipher, we 553 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,480 Speaker 1: see that the first letter of our message, the E 554 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:43,080 Speaker 1: in extract, would be the fifth letter of the alphabet. 555 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: So our first ciphered note is five. The second letter 556 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: of extract is X. That's the twenty four letter, So 557 00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:56,760 Speaker 1: then we have to write to four. So this actually 558 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,879 Speaker 1: takes up two digits in our our cipher text. When 559 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:07,480 Speaker 1: we're done, are simple substitution cipher would look like this. 560 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 1: This is extract asset. If we were to write it 561 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,359 Speaker 1: all out by numbers, it would be five two four 562 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:21,680 Speaker 1: to zero, one eight one three two zero zero one 563 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: one nine one nine five to zero. But this is 564 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:32,839 Speaker 1: not encrypted yet. It's just enciphered, which means that if 565 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,960 Speaker 1: someone were to intercept this message, they could potentially suss 566 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 1: out what it means pretty quickly. I mean, for one thing, 567 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,719 Speaker 1: if you listen to that, even though it's broken up 568 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:45,799 Speaker 1: into two different blocks of of digits, you do have 569 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:50,320 Speaker 1: a repeating one nine one nine in there that could 570 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,319 Speaker 1: indicate a double letter, and in this case it actually does. 571 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,680 Speaker 1: Those are the two s. Is an asset, So now 572 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,919 Speaker 1: you have to encrypt this mess age. This is when 573 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:06,200 Speaker 1: we take one of those randomly generated encryption keys, the 574 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:09,480 Speaker 1: ones that are at least as long, but preferably longer 575 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 1: than the messages we plan to send, and we've grouped 576 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:16,280 Speaker 1: the encryption key into blocks of five digits, but again 577 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,799 Speaker 1: these digits are each randomly generated. We grab the first 578 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:23,920 Speaker 1: key off our pad. Let's say that this key starts 579 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,480 Speaker 1: with a five digit block that says zero eight to 580 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,839 Speaker 1: three nine. Now we would probably just hold onto those 581 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: first five numbers, not use them for encryption, because those 582 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:38,160 Speaker 1: first five numbers will alert our agents in the field 583 00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:42,160 Speaker 1: which of the encryption keys they need to use, because 584 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:45,359 Speaker 1: remember they have a whole pad of these things, and 585 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 1: each one is different, so they have to look in 586 00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:49,359 Speaker 1: their pad and say, all right, well, let's look for 587 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,799 Speaker 1: the encryption key that starts with zero eight to three nine. 588 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 1: That's our starting point. So we've got our ciphered text 589 00:37:56,360 --> 00:38:00,879 Speaker 1: and beneath those numbers of the ciphers, so our first 590 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,680 Speaker 1: block was five to four to zero. Beneath that we 591 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:09,120 Speaker 1: would write the second block of the encryption key, and 592 00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:11,960 Speaker 1: then we would do the third block of the encryption key, 593 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:14,400 Speaker 1: then the fourth block, and then the fifth block to 594 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:18,920 Speaker 1: correspond with the four blocks of five numbers that represent 595 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 1: extract asset. Now again these are randomly generated digits from 596 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:28,880 Speaker 1: zero to nine. Then we do quick subtraction digit by digit. 597 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: We take the encryption key number for each corresponding digit 598 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:37,120 Speaker 1: of our ciphered text, and we subtract the encryption key 599 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,160 Speaker 1: from the ciphered key. So I remember our first five 600 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 1: numbers of our cipher text are five to four to zero. 601 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:51,280 Speaker 1: Let's say that our randomly generated encryption key is two seven. Well, 602 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,160 Speaker 1: if we're subtracting digit by digit, that means our first 603 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,440 Speaker 1: pairing would be the five from our block of cipher 604 00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:01,520 Speaker 1: text and the two from the ccryption key. So five 605 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:04,520 Speaker 1: minus two gives us three. This is the beginning of 606 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:11,600 Speaker 1: our encrypted text. But our second subtraction is seven that's 607 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:15,440 Speaker 1: from our encryption key, from two that's from our cipher 608 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,360 Speaker 1: In this case, you would make the two a twelve 609 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 1: for the purposes of subtraction, and your answer would be 610 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:26,319 Speaker 1: five and so on. So you subtract each encryption key 611 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:31,440 Speaker 1: digit from the ciphered message digit to create the encrypted message. 612 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:37,760 Speaker 1: So our first block of encrypted five digits would be three, five, three, 613 00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 1: three five. Remember we started with five to four zero. 614 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:48,760 Speaker 1: That in turn stands for the letters e x T. Anyway, 615 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,680 Speaker 1: you do this encryption method for your entire message, you 616 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:55,040 Speaker 1: turn it into blocks of numbers. Then you can broadcast 617 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:58,320 Speaker 1: those blocks of numbers through a number station. The agent 618 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,560 Speaker 1: tunes into that specific frequent see and agreed upon time. 619 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 1: They listen for that first block of five numbers, they 620 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,000 Speaker 1: grab the sheet out of their pad that corresponds to that. 621 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:13,560 Speaker 1: They write down the message that's being broadcast, number by number. 622 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:17,040 Speaker 1: They match each new number to the next digit in 623 00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:19,799 Speaker 1: the encryption key, and then they just add those two 624 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:24,120 Speaker 1: numbers together to get the ciphered version of the message. 625 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:28,040 Speaker 1: Then they convert the ciphered version to the original message, 626 00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:31,279 Speaker 1: so they're just reversing the process. It's pretty elegant, and 627 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:35,680 Speaker 1: because that encryption key is random, it is impossible to crack. 628 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: This is also why if you listen to a numbers 629 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:43,560 Speaker 1: station broadcast, the speaker typically will repeat a block of 630 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 1: five numbers a couple of times, maybe several times, before 631 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:50,080 Speaker 1: moving on to the next block of five numbers. This 632 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:52,279 Speaker 1: gives the listener enough time to make sure they are 633 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:57,000 Speaker 1: transcribing each digit correctly, otherwise their decryption process isn't going 634 00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,560 Speaker 1: to work. Now, this key is impossible to crack as 635 00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,920 Speaker 1: long as that encryption key remains random. But generating random 636 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:07,200 Speaker 1: numbers is actually trickier than it sounds now. One way 637 00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:08,799 Speaker 1: to do this would just be to take a ten 638 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:12,920 Speaker 1: sided die and roll it a bunch, and then write 639 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,839 Speaker 1: down each of the results of your roles as you go. 640 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,360 Speaker 1: The number of times you roll the die depends on 641 00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:21,319 Speaker 1: how long you're encryption key is going to be, but 642 00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:23,360 Speaker 1: keep in mind you want that encryption key to be 643 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: at least as long as the messages you're planning to 644 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:30,320 Speaker 1: send preferably longer. So if your key has twenty blocks 645 00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,760 Speaker 1: of five digits each, you would be rolling that die 646 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:37,560 Speaker 1: one d times and writing down the results, and the 647 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:41,399 Speaker 1: first five digits of your new key typically aren't used 648 00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:45,120 Speaker 1: as encryption, but rather identification. You can use other means 649 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:49,280 Speaker 1: to identify which pad or which page and a pad 650 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:51,919 Speaker 1: you should be using, but that's a pretty common one. 651 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:56,880 Speaker 1: There are computer programs that are supposed to generate random numbers. 652 00:41:57,320 --> 00:41:59,279 Speaker 1: You know, you've probably heard of r n g s 653 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:03,400 Speaker 1: A random and umber generators, but what these really do 654 00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:07,720 Speaker 1: is that they generate pseudo random numbers. They're not true 655 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:12,120 Speaker 1: random numbers. Computers have to follow rules. Now, those rules 656 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:16,279 Speaker 1: can be really complicated, but they're still rules, and randomness 657 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:21,240 Speaker 1: sort of falls outside of the rules category. So computer 658 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:27,320 Speaker 1: random number generators typically aren't truly random. Now to mere mortals, 659 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:30,479 Speaker 1: it can seem random, but in most cases, a person 660 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,520 Speaker 1: who knew the rules that the program was following in 661 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:37,440 Speaker 1: order to generate the numbers could create another program to 662 00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:41,120 Speaker 1: duplicate that result, and that means the numbers aren't really 663 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,120 Speaker 1: random at all, and that could put an encryption key 664 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,440 Speaker 1: at risk. For that reason, a lot of spy agencies 665 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:51,719 Speaker 1: don't rely on computers to generate random numbers. Typically they'll 666 00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:55,880 Speaker 1: use other methods. Numbers stations really proliferated in the years 667 00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:59,719 Speaker 1: after World War Two and throughout the Cold War, presumably 668 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,399 Speaker 1: because you had spies all over the Ding Dang during 669 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:07,000 Speaker 1: place with American spies in Russia, you had Soviet spies 670 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:11,839 Speaker 1: in America, and so on. The numbers stations declined in 671 00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:16,600 Speaker 1: well number over the years, but there are still a 672 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:20,200 Speaker 1: few out there broadcasting digits to whomever is listening. Some 673 00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:23,280 Speaker 1: of them may still be connected to espionage, but others 674 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:28,160 Speaker 1: might be connected to non governmental activities, you know, like drugs, smuggling. 675 00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:32,520 Speaker 1: Some of the numbers stations are shall we say, executed 676 00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:36,319 Speaker 1: in a less than professional manner, which suggests that they 677 00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:40,560 Speaker 1: are not backed by, you know, state backed operations. It's 678 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:44,840 Speaker 1: also possible that some numbers stations are broadcasting out meaningless 679 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:47,960 Speaker 1: numbers just to obvious skate what's really going on. If 680 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,320 Speaker 1: you flood the airwaves with nonsense, you keep your opponents 681 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,160 Speaker 1: guessing at what you're actually up to. Now I've already 682 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,320 Speaker 1: played for you a bill of the Lincolnshire Poacher Numbers Station, 683 00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:00,839 Speaker 1: which may have well been connected to the Seek Intelligence 684 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:05,320 Speaker 1: Service of the UK. But there was also the Swedish Rhapsody, 685 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:07,800 Speaker 1: which would begin with a jangly little tune that sounds 686 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 1: like it came straight from an ice cream truck. There 687 00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:13,719 Speaker 1: was the Gong, which began with a series of low 688 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,400 Speaker 1: pitched percussive tones as if bells or gongs were being struck, 689 00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:20,799 Speaker 1: followed by someone reading out numbers in German. There were 690 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:24,480 Speaker 1: tons of others, and there's still several in operation today. 691 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:29,080 Speaker 1: A Keen Fernandez, a short wave radio enthusiasts, became fascinated 692 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,080 Speaker 1: with these numbers stations and released a set of CDs 693 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:35,280 Speaker 1: containing recordings of various Numbers stations from around the world. 694 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:38,719 Speaker 1: You can find the recordings available online for free, and 695 00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,920 Speaker 1: lots of musicians have actually incorporated parts of those recordings 696 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,080 Speaker 1: into their own works. One of the brilliant things about 697 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:47,600 Speaker 1: number stations is that, well you might figure out where 698 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:49,800 Speaker 1: the broadcast is coming from if you have the equipment 699 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:52,920 Speaker 1: to triangulate a signal. Like I said before, you have 700 00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:56,160 Speaker 1: no way of knowing who those messages are intended for. 701 00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,719 Speaker 1: They're just broadcast out into the world, so anyone could 702 00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:02,399 Speaker 1: be the intended recipient. But there have been a few 703 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:06,000 Speaker 1: cases in which authorities caught spies and uncovered their involvement 704 00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:09,040 Speaker 1: with Numbers stations, but not because they had some magical 705 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:11,759 Speaker 1: way of finding out who was getting the messages. So, 706 00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:15,440 Speaker 1: for example, in two thousand one, U S authorities arrested 707 00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:19,200 Speaker 1: Anna Mantez Montez had secured a position with the US 708 00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:24,320 Speaker 1: Defense Intelligence Agency, which, y'all, that's impressive for a spy 709 00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:30,839 Speaker 1: to infiltrate an organization that you know spies on people wowsers. 710 00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:35,520 Speaker 1: And actually that happens, not like super frequently, but way 711 00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:38,960 Speaker 1: more frequently than I would have thought. I figured, if 712 00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:41,799 Speaker 1: you're the experts on spying, you should be pretty good 713 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,680 Speaker 1: at picking out ones that are trying to infiltrate your organization, 714 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:48,279 Speaker 1: but as the Mission Impossible movies tell us, that's not 715 00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:54,360 Speaker 1: always the case. Anyway, the authorities suspected her of acting 716 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:58,440 Speaker 1: on behalf of another country. They searched her home and 717 00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:01,880 Speaker 1: they found a code sheet for encrypting messages, plus a 718 00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:05,400 Speaker 1: short wave radio. It turned out she was spying for Cuba, 719 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:09,839 Speaker 1: and in eleven German authorities arrested a married couple named 720 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:13,960 Speaker 1: Hydron and Andreas Anschlag, both of whom were spying for 721 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:17,000 Speaker 1: the Russians and had been for years before the Berlin 722 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:20,160 Speaker 1: Wall had come down. During the raid on the couple's home, 723 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:23,520 Speaker 1: Hydron was actually in the middle of receiving a short 724 00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:27,080 Speaker 1: wave transmission. In the United States. In the mid nineties, 725 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:30,920 Speaker 1: the FBI identified possible Cuban spies in the United States 726 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:33,160 Speaker 1: and they managed to break into the home of one 727 00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:36,200 Speaker 1: of those spies. They found a computer there with a 728 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:39,960 Speaker 1: decryption program on it. Essentially, it was a computer with 729 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:45,040 Speaker 1: the one time use pad programmed into it, so it 730 00:46:45,120 --> 00:46:49,120 Speaker 1: had the codes used by numbers stations, and the FEDS 731 00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:52,040 Speaker 1: just copied the key and they used it to decipher 732 00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:55,520 Speaker 1: incoming messages that allowed them to build a big legal 733 00:46:55,560 --> 00:47:00,719 Speaker 1: case against numerous spies. But again, if done correct, this 734 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:05,440 Speaker 1: approach is unassailable. It just requires that the spies remain 735 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:09,560 Speaker 1: you know, undetected through other means, and that they keep 736 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:13,399 Speaker 1: a tight grip on their decryption keys. Otherwise the jig 737 00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:16,040 Speaker 1: is up. And while the number of stations continue to 738 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:19,200 Speaker 1: be creepy and a suitable fit for films and TV 739 00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:23,240 Speaker 1: series about paranormal stuff or aliens or whatever, the truth 740 00:47:23,239 --> 00:47:26,200 Speaker 1: of the matter is that they're probably telling operatives overseas 741 00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:29,360 Speaker 1: to knock it off with all the martinis and extract 742 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:34,120 Speaker 1: assets stuff like that. Fascinating things. By the way, you 743 00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:37,719 Speaker 1: can find lots of recordings of numbers stations online. You 744 00:47:37,719 --> 00:47:41,920 Speaker 1: can also find websites that allow you to use a 745 00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:46,600 Speaker 1: software that lets you tune into different shortwave radio frequencies 746 00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:49,440 Speaker 1: around the world, which is really really cool that it 747 00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:54,279 Speaker 1: lets you actually listen in two different shortwave broadcasts which 748 00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,120 Speaker 1: may or may not be number stations. I mean, there 749 00:47:56,160 --> 00:47:59,120 Speaker 1: are a lot of people using shortwave radio to just 750 00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:03,560 Speaker 1: chat with each other like amateur radio operators, but occasionally 751 00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:07,560 Speaker 1: you can actually find operating numbers stations. There are lots 752 00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:10,759 Speaker 1: of resources online if you are interested in looking into that. 753 00:48:11,280 --> 00:48:15,480 Speaker 1: You can also always invest in short wave radio equipment, 754 00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:19,839 Speaker 1: although that kind of depends on where you are, like 755 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:22,279 Speaker 1: it may not, you may not be able to pick 756 00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:26,799 Speaker 1: up really interesting broadcasts depending on your location. You also 757 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:31,120 Speaker 1: typically have to use really super long antenna that need 758 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:34,600 Speaker 1: to be you know, elevated a pretty good distance to 759 00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:39,000 Speaker 1: pick up broadcasts from really far away, so your mileage 760 00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:44,000 Speaker 1: may vary with physical shortwave radio setups. But as I say, 761 00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:48,240 Speaker 1: there are websites where you can tune into someone else's 762 00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:51,600 Speaker 1: short wave radio and use special software that lets you 763 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:55,400 Speaker 1: tune into different frequencies, being able to really listen in 764 00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:57,719 Speaker 1: on whatever is going on that's being picked up by 765 00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,320 Speaker 1: that particular radio set. So if you are int said, 766 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:03,000 Speaker 1: make sure you do some more research and check it out. 767 00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:07,440 Speaker 1: Very cool stuff, all right. That wraps up this episode 768 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:10,239 Speaker 1: of tech stuff. In our next episode, who knows what 769 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:13,400 Speaker 1: I'll talk about, I don't, but I'm looking forward to it. 770 00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:15,960 Speaker 1: If you guys have suggestions for topics I should cover 771 00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:19,839 Speaker 1: in future episodes, let me know. It could be a technology, 772 00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:25,359 Speaker 1: a trend in tech company, a person, really, anything that's 773 00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:29,400 Speaker 1: related to tech I'm eager to look at, examine and 774 00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:32,640 Speaker 1: then report back to you guys. But let me know 775 00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:35,840 Speaker 1: on Twitter the handle there is tech Stuff h s 776 00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:44,720 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really. Sion Text 777 00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:48,160 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 778 00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:50,960 Speaker 1: from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 779 00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,240 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.