WEBVTT - Rerun: TechStuff By the Numbers (Stations) 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.600 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.840 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.119 And how the tech are you. Well, it's Thanksgiving week 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:27.160 here in America and that means we're taking some time off, 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.400 but we still want to bring you shows. So I'm 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:33.839 bringing you a couple of reruns. Today. We're going to 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.440 listen to an episode that published last year that we're 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:42.159 two thousand twenty one, and it is titled tech Stuff 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:47.920 by the Numbers Stations. It's a pretty creepy one. Um, 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.879 one of my favorite little topics, weird tech topics to 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:58.760 talk about because it's a secret thing that's not outright hidden. 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.840 The meaning is hidden, but you can discover these things 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.520 if you just happen to have a short wave radio 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:09.280 and some patients and you know, some good positioning. So 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:16.640 fun topic. Hope you enjoy tech Stuff by the Numbers Stations. Recently, 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:22.240 Amazon canceled their television series truth Seekers, which I thought 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.160 of as sort of a cross between Shaun of the 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:29.240 Dead and The X Files. So in the series, a 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:34.320 cable technician named Gus played by Nick Frost, is obsessed 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.319 with ghost hunting, and he gradually indoctrinates his new partners 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:44.479 as his name is Elton John. He's played by Samson Keo. Uh. Anyway, 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.560 it's it's a cute show. It's a little odd in tone. 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.520 And the part that really applies to this episode, however, 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.520 is that one of the things that Gus fixates on 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.840 in the early episodes is a radio frequency playing a 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.960 numbers station, and it's based off of an actual historical 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:07.720 number station that folks call the Lincolnshire Poacher. And here's 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:26.639 what it sounds like. Gree nine seven one five, Gree 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:36.520 nine seven one hive, Gree nine seven one hive. So 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.760 that's a real thing, or it was a real thing, 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:44.040 and it's not the only such station out there. There 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:48.160 have been lots of numbers stations over the years, some 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.120 using different jingles to signal an incoming series of numbers. 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.119 Some of them have male voices, some use female voices, 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:00.560 some used children's voices, Some of them are in more code, 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.720 Some have people reciting not just numbers but letters and 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.280 code signals. A lot of them are super creepy, which 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:13.400 makes them really ideal for a show about paranormal investigation. 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:18.320 But while the supernatural stuff is fanciful nonsense, the numbers 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.120 stations are actually anchored in our real world. And while 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:26.280 tech stuff did do an episode about numbers stations many 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.440 many years ago, I thought it would be good to 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.160 use numbers stations as a way to talk about not 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:36.800 just what they are, but also about short wave radio communications, 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.600 the physics of radio in general, and the process of 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.920 ciphering and encrypting information. So this is really gonna be 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.520 a big overview, catch all kind of podcast. So let's 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:54.840 start off with radio itself. Radio waves are part of 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.960 the electro magnetic spectrum. Uh. They are there along with 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:04.400 stuff like my microwaves, visible light, X rays, and gamma rays. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.440 All of this is part of one big spectrum of 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.440 electromagnetic radiation. You could actually think of it all as 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:14.400 different flavors of light if you like. It's just that 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.640 the slice of light that we can see is a 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.960 very small slice of the overall spectrum. Now, specifically, radio 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:27.440 waves are in the long wavelength part of that spectrum. 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:31.520 Electromagnetic radiation moves in waves all at the speed of light, 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:35.080 because hey, really it is just light, just different flavors 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.920 of it. But those flavors of light do have different wavelengths, 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:41.920 which also means they have different frequencies. So what does 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:46.880 that mean exactly, Well, let's start with wavelengths. Imagine a 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:52.920 nice smooth wavy line. The distance between two consecutive crests 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.200 on that wave, so the very peaks at the top 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.480 parts of our curve. In other words, that would be 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:04.640 one wavelength from one crest to the next. A frequency 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.640 just refers to the number of times a given cycle 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:11.680 happens within a given amount of time, and we frequently 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:16.680 use one second as the time unit. And with electromagnetic radiation, 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.040 we talked about how many full wavelengths of a given 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:25.640 signal pass a specific point in space within one second. 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.760 We also use the unit hurts to describe this relationship. 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:34.640 A one Hurts frequency would have one cycle or one 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.400 wavelength per second passing you know this given point in 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:43.560 one second. A giga Hurts frequency has a billion cycles 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:48.800 per second. Now, all electromagnetic radiation is traveling at the 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.520 same speed, which is around three thousand kilometers per second 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.520 in a vacuum. Because the speed actually changes depending upon 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:01.040 the medium through which the radiation is traveling, that happens 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.279 to be the speed limit of the universe. Nothing goes 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:08.679 faster than that, so the energy is traveling at that speed, 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.159 but the frequency is dependent not just on speed but 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.840 how long those waves are. In fact, because we know 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.880 all these waves are traveling at that same speed, we 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.520 can figure out the wavelength if we know the frequency, 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:28.720 and vice versa. So the formula is wavelength equals the 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:34.760 speed of light divided by the waves frequency. Alternatively, frequency 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.640 is equal to the speed of light divided by the wavelength. 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.160 So as long as we know either the frequency or 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.040 the wavelength, we can figure out the other one. Because 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.080 the speed of light is a constant, it's not a variable. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.920 On the longest wavelength side of the spectrum are radio waves, 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.920 which can measure more than a hundred meters in length. 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.960 So a radio wave with the wavelength of one would 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.880 a frequency of about three mega hurts, meaning about three 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.480 million wavelengths would pass a given point in a second, 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:12.840 and each wavelength is measuring one meters between those crests. Again, 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.680 the speed of the signal is still the speed of light. 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:18.640 But let's say we get to the other end of 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.440 the spectrum, towards the very very very tiny wavelengths on 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.760 the electromagnetic spectrum, and when I say tiny, I mean 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:31.280 really tiny. Gamma radiation, which represents the smallest of the 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:34.440 waves that we know about, are less than one hundred 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:39.200 pico meters in length, and a picometer is one trillionth 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:41.960 of a meter, so this is actually smaller than the 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:46.040 nano scale. The frequency started out at around ten to 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:52.760 the power of nineteen hurts or ten quintillion hurts. Now, 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.200 I've talked about electro magnetic radiation in terms of waves, 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.720 but we also know that it behaves as both a 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.760 wave and a part nicle. There are a lot of 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.960 experiments that have shown this, and they're fascinating. But I 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.680 don't want to get too far off track. Some of 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.920 you out there might be screaming too late now, So 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.920 we should also mention photons, the particles of light. A 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:20.880 photons energy is directly proportional to the electro magnetic frequency 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:25.960 of that wave. It's also inversely proportional to the wave length. 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:31.520 So gamma rays pack a huge energetic wallop, while radio waves, 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:35.360 by comparison, are whimps. So let's get back to the 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:39.480 radio spectrum in particular. We know that radio waves have 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:43.360 the longest wavelengths in the electro magnetic spectrum, which means 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:47.120 they also have the lowest frequencies and the lowest amount 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:53.080 of photonic energy. Generally speaking, we group electromagnetic frequencies ranging 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:57.000 from thirty hurts or thirty wavelengths per second up to 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.800 three hundred giga hurts or three hundred bill in wavelengths 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.960 per second. Obviously, this is a really big range, but 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:09.480 all of that are radio frequencies. Now, different countries divvy 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:13.360 up this spectrum of frequencies for different uses, some of 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.920 which depend upon the capabilities of those frequencies. So, for example, 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.200 if you're looking at around thirty hurts, this is the 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:26.800 extremely low frequency or e L f ELF range. You know, 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.640 I used to play in ELF range in Dungeons and Dragons. Wait, 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.920 I'm thinking of something else. So these wavelengths are really long, 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.439 and they are good at penetrating stuff like deep water, 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:41.240 so it can be used for very basic communications with submarines. 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.559 A M radio would be up in the medium frequency 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.480 range for radio frequencies, and also the medium wavelength range. 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:54.520 Just above that are the high frequency short wave radio bands, 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:56.920 which are what we're really going to talk about a 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.600 lot today. These have a wavelength between ten and one, 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.240 and frequencies that are between three and thirty mega hurts. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.040 Radio Waves in this band of frequencies have some really 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:13.240 useful properties, and one of those is the broadcast range, 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.880 as in how far these radio waves can travel. So 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:21.199 higher frequency radio bands can essentially only travel by line 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.520 of sight, so there is a limited range to them. 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.920 If you've ever listened to an FM radio station, because 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.120 FM frequencies are in a band called very high frequency 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.560 or VHF, then you might have had the experience of 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.080 the station starting to give out as you travel away 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:41.320 from the source. Depending upon the power of the broadcasting station, 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.720 you typically have a range of around thirty to forty 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.840 miles or fifty to sixty kilometers, but radio waves that 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.840 are a bit longer can travel further thanks to a 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:56.640 layer in Earth's atmosphere called the ionosphere. Higher frequencies can 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.719 move right through the ionosphere. They just punch right through 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:04.160 and go into space, but lower frequencies, those having the 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.960 longer wavelengths, aren't able to do that, so they actually 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.080 bounce off the layer and come back down to Earth. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.040 By reflecting back down to Earth, these radio waves could 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.640 travel much further than they would just by line of sight. Now, 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:22.240 as the name suggests, the ionosphere is a layer of 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:26.920 our atmosphere that is host to ionized particles. Ionization is 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.360 the process by which an atom becomes charged, either with 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.280 a positive charge, meaning it has lost electrons electrons are 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.800 the negatively charged particles. So then you've got an imbalance. 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.480 You have more protons with the atom than you have electrons, 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:45.320 and thus you have an overall positive charge, or it 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.760 could become negatively charged, meaning that an atom has taken 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:53.199 on more electrons. Now, this makes that layer of Earth's 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:58.600 atmosphere electrically conductive. It happens because our atmosphere is hit 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:01.959 by ultra violet light from the Sun and it hits 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.160 the atoms in this layer of the atmosphere. It energizes 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.760 those atoms, and when the atoms get really energetic, the 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:13.200 electrons move further out from the nucleus and they can 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:17.400 actually peel off if they have enough energy. Now you've 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.679 got free electrons, and those free electrons are either reflecting 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.640 radio waves if they have a long enough wavelength, or 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.160 they can actually absorb them or otherwise allow them to 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:30.800 pass through for shorter wavelengths. This works in both directions. 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.319 By the way, not just radio waves coming from Earth, 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.360 but also radio waves that are coming in from space, 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.480 because lots of stuff out there generates radio waves. I'm 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:43.080 not talking about aliens, I'm talking about like solar activity 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.800 and stuff like that. Now, the activity of the ionosphere 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:50.600 changes throughout a day over any given spot on Earth. 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.760 So during the daytime, that part of the Earth is 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.199 facing the Sun, so the atmosphere overhead is being hit 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.839 with a lot more ultra violet radiation, and thus the 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.559 lower part of the ionosphere, the part that's closer to us, 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:08.560 ends up getting more crowded with ions. Now that means 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.520 that longer radio waves are going to hit the ionosphere 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:15.559 at a lower altitude and then reflect off. But at nighttime, 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.240 the Sun is on the other side of the planet, 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.000 so the lower part of the ionosphere kind of calms 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.440 down a bit, and now the longer radio waves will 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.000 actually travel at a further altitude. They'll go higher up 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:32.160 before they hit the ionosphere and reflect back down. That 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.160 also means that you can actually pick up longer wavelength 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:40.200 radio signals from further away at nighttime because there's this 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.960 different angle that allows the waves to reflect and travel 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:48.000 even further. Now the history of radio, as in the 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.800 technology that we use to leverage radio waves. This gets 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.079 complicated because we call the technology the same terms as 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.840 we call the the scientific phenomena that is in our 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.480 operating with the technology. But we'll we'll carry on. So 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:08.319 the tech radio has a very long and complicated history, 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:12.920 and it's full of some really serious drama. I mean 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.640 not just radio dramas like soap operas, I mean like 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:21.000 drama drama. Just get a couple of radio enthusiasts talking 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:25.840 about Tesla and Marconi or Armstrong and DeForest and see 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.800 how things go if you want some entertainment. But we'll 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:30.920 just cut to the chase and say that by World 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.920 War One, people were figuring out potential uses for radio waves, 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.720 like being able to send communications quickly across large areas 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.000 if you know you're trying to coordinate numerous groups of 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:46.200 soldiers in different theaters of combat. For example, communicating by 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:51.400 radio involves generating a carrier wave signal at a specific 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:55.240 frequency and then modulating it, so, in other words, changing 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.720 that signal in some way in order for it to 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:02.120 carry information. A steady signal gives you no real useful 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:06.560 information other than someone or something is generating this signal, 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.960 But by creating a way to encode and decode information 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:14.120 by altering that signal, do you have a way to 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:18.600 send more complex information. A M radio modulates a carrier 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.720 signal by changing the amplitude of the wavelength, and this 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.600 requires a good deal of power, and the long wavelengths 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.320 mean you need big radio towers to beam out these signals. 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:35.800 FM radio modulates signals through frequency modulation, altering the frequency 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.120 of the signal slightly. And radio stations, like the kind 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:44.080 we tune into for entertainment purposes, these are fixed frequencies 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:46.800 right like If they weren't, you would never be able 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.200 to tune into your favorite radio station because you wouldn't 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.800 know what frequency to go to. So this means they 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:57.080 can't take advantage of the changes in the ionosphere. They're 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:01.520 always stuck transmitting at a set frequency. See whether conditions 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.680 are good for long range transmission or not. Shortwave radio 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.840 operators have a little more flexibility. They're working with a 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:13.600 specific series of frequencies in the high frequency range of 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.000 the RF spectrum, but they can swap from one of 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.160 those sets of frequencies to another and thus take advantage 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.560 of atmospheric conditions, so early in the day you might 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:26.960 use one set of frequencies that are available to you, 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.560 and late at night you might use a different set, 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:34.960 because the actual radio waves will travel at different distances 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.280 as the day changes. But there's another aspect to communicating 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.360 during wartime, which is that, generally speaking, you don't want 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.400 the people who are fighting on the other side of 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.040 the war to know what the heck you're talking about, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.240 so you have to come up with some means of 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.320 of you skating the meaning of your message. This is 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:58.200 particularly important with radio for a very obvious reason. See, 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.440 there are a lot of different ways to send secret messages, 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.320 and some of them are more secure than others. If 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:05.720 you and I are the only ones who know about 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.639 a black, glassy rock near a trina field, you know, 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.919 a rock that has no business being there, and I 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.719 hide a message under that rock for you, there's a 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.280 decent chance that you'll get to the message before anyone 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.320 else does. I might not even need to encode the 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.960 message at all, because no one else even knows that 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.520 there's a rock there. If I were to send you 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.399 a message through the mail, well, now there's a few 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:33.200 points where someone could intercept that message. Right. I mean, 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.320 perhaps the batties check my mailbox. They see that I've 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.080 put the little mail flag up, so they come and 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:40.959 check it and they steal the message before I can 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.920 even go anywhere. Or maybe they keep checking your mailbox 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.280 on the other side, looking at incoming mail, and they 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.359 grab my message when it arrives at your mailbox. Or 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:55.679 maybe they're super tricksy and they've infiltrated the postal service 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:59.119 and Cliff the mailman is secretly a dirty old spy 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:04.600 always suspected it. Well. Radio communications are out in the open. 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.040 Anyone with a receiver that has an antenna that can 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:12.159 tune into whichever frequency is being used can actually listen 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.680 in on that frequency. So you have no control over 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.200 who can hear what you're sending out. So if you're 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.399 sending something out in secret, you have to encode it 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.000 in some way that makes it hard or impossible to 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:27.320 determine what is being communicated. Now, when we come back, 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:32.640 we'll talk about how this sometimes involves making creepy radio broadcasts. 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:43.879 But first let's take a quick break. Let's say you 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.320 want to create your own radio station. You've put up 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.439 a transmission tower, you figured out your power needs, to 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.399 generate the signal necessary to claim a subsection of the 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.680 r F spectrum set aside for broadcasts, and you're ready 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.639 to go right, Well, no, not if you don't want 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.520 to get shut down and find or worse. In order 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.720 to make sure the spectrum isn't just a free for all, 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:12.359 which would make communication difficult at least, governments have designated 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:17.400 specific bands of frequencies for specific uses. See if multiple 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:21.200 transmitters were trying to use the exact same frequency, everything 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.880 would get garbled. You would have tons of interference. If 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.080 you've ever used a pair of walkie talkies, you probably 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.360 know that it's standard for folks to say over when 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:36.000 they're done talking because the walkie talkies switched between transmitter 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.679 and receiver mode, and without the over you might have 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.520 both parties trying to talk at the same time and 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.640 no one can hear anything because you're both holding down 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:52.000 the transmit button. Well, when you think about all the radio, television, cellular, WiFi, 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:54.760 and other signals zooming around out there, all of which 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.520 are part of the RF spectrum, you quickly realize that 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.119 you've got to make up some rules or else no 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:02.880 one would ever know who they're talking to. Now, way 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:07.240 back in eighteen sixty five, the International Telegraph Union came 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:11.000 into formation, and in nineteen thirty four it changed its 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.919 name to the International Telecommunication Union, and it's part of 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:18.040 the United Nations today, and one of its jobs is 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:22.440 to designate specific slices of the RF spectrum for specific 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:26.920 uses to allow for seamless operations between the world. That way, 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:29.920 the radio is made by a company in Japan will 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.240 work in places like the US because the frequencies that 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:37.080 we've set aside for terrestrial radio stations are the same, 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.440 assuming that both US and Japan are following the suggestions 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:42.879 from the i t U. Now it's up to the 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:47.480 governments of various countries to enforce these rules. In the 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:51.360 United States, radio stations have to obtain a license from 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:55.440 the Federal Communications Commission to get a permission to broadcast 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:59.320 on specific frequencies within the A, M or FM bands 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:03.240 of the ur F spectrum. There are other frequencies reserved 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.680 for amateur radio operators, but if you want to operate 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.960 your own amateur station, you have to get a license 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.359 from the f c C, and passing a test is 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.040 part of that process. Now, if you just want to 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:18.520 listen to radio. That's different. You don't need a license. 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:22.119 In that case. You could have a shortwave radio set 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:24.800 and as long as you're not transmitting, you're just listening, 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:29.320 no licenses needed. But to transmit you gotta get permission first, 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.040 and the f c C will even assign a call 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:37.560 signed to you. Number stations are different. With commercial radio stations, 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:39.840 you can do some research to see who owns and 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:44.600 operates that station, but with numbers stations, there's a distinct 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:48.239 lack of information. This puts them in the realm of 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:52.760 pirate radio stations. These are stations that have no identifying 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:56.520 information associated with them, and they are operating without being 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:00.840 registered with the FCC or similar agency in other countries. 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:04.760 Now that doesn't mean that these agencies like the FCC 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:08.920 don't know about them. There is a look the other 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.840 way situation in which one part of the government is 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:15.399 using stuff that the other parts just don't need to 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:18.679 worry about. You know, by the way, if you're wondering 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.960 if people operate pirate radio stations, they sometimes do. But 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:26.960 there are ways to triangulate signals and determine where those 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:31.679 signals are coming from. So if someone is broadcasting without 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:35.760 permission on a specific frequency. It's typically just a matter 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:39.080 of time before the Feds come in and shut things down. Now, 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:43.040 you could hop onto other frequencies, but unless your audience 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.760 knows where to tune in, you would likely be talking 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:50.280 to no one or at least very few people. So, 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:52.800 since we know that it's possible to figure out where 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:56.960 a radio signal originates, and since numbers stations can remain 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:00.920 in operation for years or decades, we have to draw 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:04.520 the conclusion that these numbers stations have some sort of 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:09.120 sanction from governments, otherwise they would get shut down. Now, 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:13.119 some sources say that numbers stations, these radio frequencies that 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:17.239 are sending out seemingly nonsensical information, got their start in 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:20.399 World War One. Others say it was actually closer to 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:24.160 World War Two, and I tend to suspect that the 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:28.960 ladder is more accurate. Radio was important in World War One, 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:31.560 but it was also still pretty early on in the 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:35.639 evolution of the technology. But at some time around World 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.199 War One. In World War Two, someone got an idea, 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:41.760 and that idea was to establish a transmission on a 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:45.280 particular signal, or sometimes a series of signals that would 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:48.600 change throughout the day to take advantage of the ionosphere 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:52.680 and the differences and signal propagation, and the signal would 0:23:52.720 --> 0:23:57.320 broadcast encoded information presumably two spies. So let's say you're 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:03.400 running a top secret spy organization like the m I six. Now, granted, 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:07.320 you're spending a lot of time dealing with the fact 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:10.320 that your top spy has a habit of introducing himself 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:13.480 to any one in hearing range and then drinking his 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:15.919 way across the world. But you've got a lot of 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:20.320 other more responsible spy types out there too, and you 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:23.680 might occasionally need to send them orders. But if your 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:28.280 operative is halfway across the world, deep in enemy territory 0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:32.200 and you can't rely on normal communication channels, you might 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:35.840 want to send a coded message by shortwave radio. This 0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:39.080 has a huge advantage and that the radio signal goes 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:42.240 out everywhere, so you know that your enemies will be 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:45.160 able to detect the signal, but they won't know what 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:49.120 the message was or who it was actually for. If 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:52.160 you were to call your operative, it's possible someone could 0:24:52.160 --> 0:24:56.080 detect the call and trace it to the recipient, the spy, 0:24:56.119 --> 0:24:59.280 and thus compromising them. So sending out a message by 0:24:59.320 --> 0:25:02.560 a radio means you give no information about who is 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:06.760 supposed to receive that message. The operative knows to tune 0:25:06.800 --> 0:25:11.359 into a specific radio frequency at a specific time. This 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:14.040 is something that you have to work out beforehand, obviously, 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:16.199 as most of us aren't aware of what's going on 0:25:16.280 --> 0:25:19.119 with radio waves all around us, or we'd have a 0:25:19.119 --> 0:25:23.000 lot of trouble concentrating on anything. You might set up 0:25:23.080 --> 0:25:26.680 a regular broadcast session using different frequencies throughout the day, 0:25:26.720 --> 0:25:30.680 depending upon whichever one works best. And maybe some days 0:25:30.720 --> 0:25:33.320 you have nothing to report, so you might even send 0:25:33.320 --> 0:25:35.720 out a code for that, or it might just be gibberish. 0:25:36.000 --> 0:25:38.800 But other days you need to alert your operative to 0:25:39.040 --> 0:25:42.320 return home, or step it up and place a bigger 0:25:42.359 --> 0:25:45.560 bet in baccarat or whatever it may be. So these 0:25:45.680 --> 0:25:49.359 numbers stations typically have some sort of indicator at the 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:52.359 top of the hour. The Lincoln Share Poacher, which we 0:25:52.480 --> 0:25:54.960 played at the beginning of this episode, is an example 0:25:55.000 --> 0:25:58.760