WEBVTT - TechStuff Classics: Number Stations

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<v Speaker 1>Get in touch with technology with tex stuff fromt Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to tech stuff. This is Jonathan Strickland. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>still sitting in a studio with only NOL to keep

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<v Speaker 1>me company, never since he took a vow of silence.

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<v Speaker 1>Makes a problematic podcast partner. But rather than go a

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<v Speaker 1>week without an episode or have me droning on by myself,

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<v Speaker 1>I thought I'd run another classic episode from the vaults.

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<v Speaker 1>This one is from April two thousand twelve, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>about one of the creepiest things in tech history, number stations.

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<v Speaker 1>Enjoy So the topic recovering is numbers stations, which actually

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<v Speaker 1>comes to us courtesy of some feedback we received on Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>which uh, fortunately, due to my computer being silly right now,

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<v Speaker 1>I cannot pull up. However, this is Facebook feedback asking

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<v Speaker 1>us to cover numbers stations. And you may wonder, oh, my,

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<v Speaker 1>Drew Geese, what a number stations is? Things being so

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<v Speaker 1>scory and people being quick to forget. That's that's like

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<v Speaker 1>a double reference right there, since I throw in some

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<v Speaker 1>clockwork orange. So here's what a number station is. It

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<v Speaker 1>is a radio station using shortwave radio that blasts out

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<v Speaker 1>a transmission, usually at a very regular interval that normally

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<v Speaker 1>has some sort of tone or even music to it,

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<v Speaker 1>followed by a series of numbers spoken in sort of

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<v Speaker 1>a semi monotone voice, sometimes an automated voice, in fact,

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<v Speaker 1>very often an automated voice. And it's just a seemingly

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<v Speaker 1>random string of numbers that have no particular context or

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<v Speaker 1>meaning to them, and it has created quite to kind

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<v Speaker 1>of a well a hobbyist dream come true really for

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<v Speaker 1>people who like mysteries, because there's no official explanation as

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<v Speaker 1>to what these stations are and why why these numbers

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<v Speaker 1>are being broadcast. Here's what we know. No, I'm kidding. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>let's go to what we can speculate on. Um. We

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<v Speaker 1>do know that official governments have there there's no official

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<v Speaker 1>government that has spoken up and said, oh, yeah, we

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<v Speaker 1>did that. Yeah. The closest was a Czechoslovakian official who

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<v Speaker 1>acknowledge receipt of a message about numbers stations, but did

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<v Speaker 1>not It did not go so far as to actually

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<v Speaker 1>say what the number station was, what it was for.

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<v Speaker 1>It essentially was just that I got your message. That

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<v Speaker 1>was pretty much it. The check is in the mail.

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<v Speaker 1>There you go, But gosh, I can't believe you were

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<v Speaker 1>waiting the entire time for me to shut up, So

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<v Speaker 1>you can use that. However, Uh, there are fewer now

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<v Speaker 1>than their word during the Cold War. Yeah, and they

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<v Speaker 1>started the height of they started appearing during the World wars.

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<v Speaker 1>So world War One, Yeah, not not. You know, this

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<v Speaker 1>is the early part of the earlier part of the

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<v Speaker 1>twentieth century. Yeah, the first first couple of decades of

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<v Speaker 1>the twentieth century, that's when they start popping up. So

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<v Speaker 1>let's talk a little bit about about why a number

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<v Speaker 1>station is even possible before we get into what they

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<v Speaker 1>were and what they sound like and all that kind

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<v Speaker 1>of stuff. So first, they are short wave radio, which

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<v Speaker 1>we have talked about on a previous podcast many many

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<v Speaker 1>years ago. Yeah, we'll do a quick we'll do a

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<v Speaker 1>quick refresher course. So technically, a short wave is a

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<v Speaker 1>is a radio wave with a wavelength shorter than two

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<v Speaker 1>hundred meters. Two meters wavelength would have a frequency of

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<v Speaker 1>around hurts uh, and it's typically these these radio waves

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<v Speaker 1>are used to broadcast voice and music, but also for

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<v Speaker 1>a long distance communication. The reason that you can have

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<v Speaker 1>long distance community ptation is that these wavelengths are at

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<v Speaker 1>sort of a sweet spot when it comes to the

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<v Speaker 1>way the Earth works. So the Earth has the ionosphere,

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<v Speaker 1>you know that surrounds it, binds it, and penetrates it.

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<v Speaker 1>For no ionosphere just surrounds the Earth. And if you

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<v Speaker 1>were to aim a short wave radio frequency at the ionosphere, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>the ionosphere would refract that frequency and it would beam

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<v Speaker 1>back down to Earth. So by bouncing it effectively off

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<v Speaker 1>the ionosphere, you can send a radio signal much further

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<v Speaker 1>than you could if it were to just broadcast out

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<v Speaker 1>and radiate out from a tower. Yes, So with this

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<v Speaker 1>in mind, with this long distance communication ability, it has

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<v Speaker 1>opened up opportunities for lots of different applications. And you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll hear about amateur radio enthusiasts who will just they'll

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<v Speaker 1>they'll use their their radios to dial in and listen

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<v Speaker 1>to the various broadcasts that go out there. And that's

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<v Speaker 1>really a number stations were discovered. It was mainly hobbyists

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<v Speaker 1>who as they were scanning the different bands and listening

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<v Speaker 1>to what was out there, they were coming across these

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<v Speaker 1>very odd sort of transmissions. And um, before I get

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<v Speaker 1>too far, I should say the the whole refraction by

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<v Speaker 1>the ionosphere, there's a specific name for that kind of

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<v Speaker 1>transmission that I love. I love this term skywave propagation.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a cool term. Right. So, yeah, you've got these

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<v Speaker 1>hobbyists who are listening in and they would come across

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<v Speaker 1>very unusual and frankly pretty creepy kind of transmission in

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<v Speaker 1>some cases. And uh, I think we even have an

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<v Speaker 1>example that we can listen to. So let's let's take

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<v Speaker 1>a quick listen to what a typical number station might

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<v Speaker 1>sound like. Uh, if you were to tune in on

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<v Speaker 1>a shortwave radio, kind of gets you right here, doesn't it.

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<v Speaker 1>If by the by right here, you mean now I'm

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<v Speaker 1>looking over my shoulder and waiting for someone to break

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<v Speaker 1>into the room. Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking.

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<v Speaker 1>There is something particularly creepy about hearing kind of a

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<v Speaker 1>almost and almost like a harmonic. It sounds like there's

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<v Speaker 1>been some harmonic supplied in some cases, like it's an

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<v Speaker 1>automated voice or whatever, but hearing something like that monotone

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<v Speaker 1>just delivering number after number, and then they really repetitious

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<v Speaker 1>music that was used to introduce these So what could

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<v Speaker 1>these be? And there's been a lot of people who

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<v Speaker 1>have suggested what number stations might be all about? You

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<v Speaker 1>know everything from it could just be uh stuff for

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<v Speaker 1>people who are surveying areas for for cartography and that

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<v Speaker 1>kind of thing, but it doesn't seem likely it's taking

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<v Speaker 1>credit for it, not at all. So that's our cartography

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<v Speaker 1>channel that has led to uh to some not so

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<v Speaker 1>much conspiracy theories. It really does boil down to, well,

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<v Speaker 1>if you're just broadcasting numbers with no other context, what

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<v Speaker 1>could you possibly be doing that for. And one of

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<v Speaker 1>the explanations is that it's a a way to communicate

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<v Speaker 1>two spies to undercover operatives who might be uh invested

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<v Speaker 1>in some foreign country, perhaps one that is unfriendly to

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<v Speaker 1>the the the country of origin. So there and when

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<v Speaker 1>we say there's number stations, there are number stations all

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<v Speaker 1>over the world YEP. And they're broadcasting pretty much all

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<v Speaker 1>the languages that you might expect. They would be in

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<v Speaker 1>the major languages of the world. So it's not just that,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, it's not just one country that's doing this. There,

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<v Speaker 1>there's multiple countries that are doing it. And UH So

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<v Speaker 1>the the speculation is that this is these are messages

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<v Speaker 1>they're sent to government spies, uh and the you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the governments aren't admitting to it for for pretty understandable reasons.

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<v Speaker 1>I would say, well, if you or any of your

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<v Speaker 1>team has captured the government will disavow any knowledge of

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<v Speaker 1>this operation, message will self destructed fifteen seconds. The So

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<v Speaker 1>these messages, the numbers those that's a code. It's an

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<v Speaker 1>it's encoded message form of cryptography that is called the

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<v Speaker 1>the the one pad note yeah, or or one time

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<v Speaker 1>pad yeah. Um yeah. I'm interested in cryptography, uh and

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<v Speaker 1>have been reading about it for many years. And this

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<v Speaker 1>is not exactly a new thing. It doesn't even require

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<v Speaker 1>the use of a computer. I mean, we talked about

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<v Speaker 1>cryptography on many podcasts at different levels. Um and we

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<v Speaker 1>even got into quantum cryptography, which is supposedly unbreakable, although

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<v Speaker 1>I've seen reports recently that it may not necessarily be unbreakable. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>one time pads are technically unbreakable if you follow the

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<v Speaker 1>right procedure right because basically, um and they were called

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<v Speaker 1>pads because at one time they were and probably still

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<v Speaker 1>are a pad. So this pad is generated like a

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<v Speaker 1>pad of paper. You uh write down your message and

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<v Speaker 1>encode it on this paper using the tool. Um and

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<v Speaker 1>it's a one time thing. And there's a part of

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<v Speaker 1>the key is embedded in the message, So that tells

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<v Speaker 1>the recipient use page. Well, let's just go for a

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<v Speaker 1>reference here, use page sixteen of your pad. And that way,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, you write down the message in the pad

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<v Speaker 1>that you can decode it on that page and and

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<v Speaker 1>that then becomes useless. You can't use it again. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you then destroy that page. So here's here's how here's

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<v Speaker 1>how it works. Let's say that I want to send

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<v Speaker 1>a message to Chris, and I want to use this

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<v Speaker 1>this one time pad method. All right, So we would

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<v Speaker 1>each have a pad that would have a string of

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<v Speaker 1>random letters across each line, all right, And let's say

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<v Speaker 1>we group them in in groups of five, because that's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty common terms of four or five. So we'll say

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<v Speaker 1>we have groups of five letters. And these letters are

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<v Speaker 1>truly random in that we've had some sort of well

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<v Speaker 1>as close to truly random as we can get. We've

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<v Speaker 1>had some sort of random number generator that has picked

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<v Speaker 1>random letters, and it's just that we each have a

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<v Speaker 1>copy of that output. So Chris's string of random letters

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<v Speaker 1>is the same as my string of random letters. And

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<v Speaker 1>then I write down my message in normal text, and

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<v Speaker 1>I write my normal letters above the letters of the

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<v Speaker 1>that's that's in the key. Then I convert my letters

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<v Speaker 1>into numbers. So let's say that an A equals zero

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<v Speaker 1>and B equals one, and the C equals three. It's

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<v Speaker 1>not going to take them very long to pick this

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<v Speaker 1>one apart. No, it's going to take them a long

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<v Speaker 1>time because here's the here's the that that's just that.

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<v Speaker 1>All that is is just uh, it's just a simple

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<v Speaker 1>substitution cipher. Right. But here's the tricky part. So then

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<v Speaker 1>I take my key, all right, and I convert all

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<v Speaker 1>of those letters to numbers. That's when it gets harder.

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<v Speaker 1>And then I add the two numbers together, all right,

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<v Speaker 1>So I add the I add the number from my

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<v Speaker 1>first letter. So let's say that my first letter is H,

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<v Speaker 1>because I write, hey there, Chris. I take the number

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<v Speaker 1>from H. Yeah, really, why not? You know, Hey there, Chris,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a rusky on your tail. That's that's my message.

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<v Speaker 1>So H is because I'm going back to the Cold War.

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<v Speaker 1>So so H. We would convert H to a number,

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<v Speaker 1>and then we look at the first letter in the key.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's say that the first letter in the key is

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<v Speaker 1>an N. Well, that M is going to have its

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<v Speaker 1>own number of value. We add the H and the

0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.800
<v Speaker 1>M values together and then we convert that into a

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<v Speaker 1>new letter. So if it's anything up to if we

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<v Speaker 1>if A is zero, if it's anything up to twenty five,

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<v Speaker 1>then that's the letter that we would pick. If it's

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<v Speaker 1>over and we just use number twenty six counts a

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<v Speaker 1>zero again, so the number twenty six would be an A,

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<v Speaker 1>seven would be a B, twenty eight would be a C.

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<v Speaker 1>So we go up there and we we put in

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<v Speaker 1>whatever the substitute letter will be. Well, the only way

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<v Speaker 1>to know what the original letter is is if you

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<v Speaker 1>have that one time pad in front of you where

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<v Speaker 1>you take the value of the letter that is U

0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.720
<v Speaker 1>that the represented letter, the ciphered letter. You subtract the

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<v Speaker 1>value of the key from the ciphered letter, and that

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<v Speaker 1>gives you the value of the original letter, and then

0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:39.040
<v Speaker 1>you can convert that into the original letter. So the

0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:44.960
<v Speaker 1>process of coding and decoding is pretty painstaking because you

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<v Speaker 1>know you have to you have to convert all the

0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.200
<v Speaker 1>letters to values, add and then make new letters. But

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<v Speaker 1>the nice thing is is that because as long as

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<v Speaker 1>you keep that that string of letters that acts as

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<v Speaker 1>your key truly random and that you don't repeat, lets

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<v Speaker 1>so that you don't or you don't repeat strings, like

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<v Speaker 1>you don't go to the end of a page and

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<v Speaker 1>then start at the top again. As long as you

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<v Speaker 1>avoid that, it is impossible to crack that without without

0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:16.200
<v Speaker 1>getting possession of one of those pads. So that's where

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<v Speaker 1>we talk about if you follow this correctly, it is unbreakable.

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<v Speaker 1>The correctly. By correctly we mean you you have truly

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<v Speaker 1>random string for your key, You do not repeat the key,

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<v Speaker 1>and you do not let the key fall into the

0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.520
<v Speaker 1>wrong hands. As long as that happens, it is unbreakable.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's kind of like when we talked about the

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<v Speaker 1>the various ways of ciphering. You know, there always seems

0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.920
<v Speaker 1>to be some way to crack the code. In this case,

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<v Speaker 1>unless you have physical possession of the pad or if

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<v Speaker 1>someone uses a key that repeats, it's just not practical.

0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:58.760
<v Speaker 1>So that's that's the basis for the secret messages. Um,

0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.199
<v Speaker 1>what those secret messages are, we can't say, because again,

0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:05.760
<v Speaker 1>unless someone gets hold of one of those pads, then

0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:09.200
<v Speaker 1>it is it's just meaningless numbers. I mean, you could

0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.640
<v Speaker 1>convert those two letters, but all that's going to do

0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.440
<v Speaker 1>is give you the product of those those two that

0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.720
<v Speaker 1>like the original message and the key. Without having the key,

0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.520
<v Speaker 1>you can't figure out what the original messages. Now. Um

0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.920
<v Speaker 1>it is likely too that the uh, well we talked

0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:31.360
<v Speaker 1>about that in the Enigma machine, how the German codes

0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.520
<v Speaker 1>during World War Two were broken down into those um

0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:39.800
<v Speaker 1>five letter combinations. Um as an added layer of security.

0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:44.160
<v Speaker 1>These these combinations stand in for other words too, So

0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.400
<v Speaker 1>it is possible that you know, even if you did

0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:49.480
<v Speaker 1>break the code, you would also have to have the

0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.720
<v Speaker 1>book that explains what these these letter combinations mean. But

0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.960
<v Speaker 1>um so still would never Well, that's what I'm saying.

0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.040
<v Speaker 1>If you, if you for some reason, if you maybe

0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.480
<v Speaker 1>hold of the path right, or if they use a

0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.080
<v Speaker 1>repeating key, because if they use a repeating key, then

0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:06.920
<v Speaker 1>it would take a lot of ani You would have

0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.200
<v Speaker 1>to analyze the heck out of the message, but you

0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.720
<v Speaker 1>could potentially start detecting patterns. Well, that's what broke the

0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.760
<v Speaker 1>Enigma cary exactly because they were they got lazy, lazy,

0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.480
<v Speaker 1>and they started using repeating keys as opposed to using

0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.440
<v Speaker 1>a key that just doesn't repeat, which would have been

0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.520
<v Speaker 1>impossible to crack. So it's just an added layer of security.

0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.240
<v Speaker 1>That's that just makes it much more difficult, so they

0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:32.400
<v Speaker 1>do these repetitions over and over again. Um, and it's Uh.

0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.680
<v Speaker 1>The thing is, the tone and the style of the

0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.560
<v Speaker 1>broadcasts is really really creepy, especially when you add that

0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.400
<v Speaker 1>spy layer in your head to it. You start going,

0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.760
<v Speaker 1>this message is not intended for me, and and somebody

0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.320
<v Speaker 1>could be doing something. You know, I could be listening, well,

0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.440
<v Speaker 1>this is what I think, you know, I'm you know,

0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:54.200
<v Speaker 1>listening to it, going I could be listening to a

0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:57.280
<v Speaker 1>message that tells somebody to kill somebody else. Yeah, this

0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.240
<v Speaker 1>could be a message saying to like And then think

0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.400
<v Speaker 1>about this. You hear those messages and then maybe a

0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.880
<v Speaker 1>week later, you hear about some massive political event that

0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.440
<v Speaker 1>takes place in the country, and you think, is there

0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.840
<v Speaker 1>any connection to what I heard and what just happened?

0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:16.920
<v Speaker 1>Is what I heard? Was that? Was that? Ah? Essentially

0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.560
<v Speaker 1>a prediction for what actually unfolded? And yeah, it's it's

0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:24.040
<v Speaker 1>kind of I mean, it is definitely creepy. And um,

0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.120
<v Speaker 1>there are a lot of really cool names for these

0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.760
<v Speaker 1>various broadcasts, some of which are named after the music

0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.080
<v Speaker 1>that they use. Yeah, and again, Um, in some cases,

0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:37.920
<v Speaker 1>you could kind of some of them. The station's sort

0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.480
<v Speaker 1>of semi identify themselves, and others I think are given

0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.040
<v Speaker 1>sort of like stars, you know, or viruses. They're given

0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.360
<v Speaker 1>the names of their discoverers want to name them. Yeah,

0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.520
<v Speaker 1>so there's um, there's One of the famous ones is

0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:56.120
<v Speaker 1>the Lincolnshire Poacher. Yeah, which was was featured not too

0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.280
<v Speaker 1>long ago as of the recording of this podcast on

0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:02.040
<v Speaker 1>another podcast called The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. They

0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.959
<v Speaker 1>have a little feature where it's called Who's that Noisy?

0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:08.840
<v Speaker 1>And they which which is named after one of the

0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:11.040
<v Speaker 1>one of the hosts has a daughter who would say,

0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:15.080
<v Speaker 1>who's that noisy? As in what's making that noise? So anyway,

0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:17.520
<v Speaker 1>Who's that Noisy is the name of the segment where

0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.920
<v Speaker 1>they'll play a sound file and it's the listener's job

0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:22.879
<v Speaker 1>to try and figure out what that sound file is.

0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:27.840
<v Speaker 1>And they played the little musical uh prelude that would

0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:31.679
<v Speaker 1>happen before the numbers broadcast on the number station Lincoln

0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.520
<v Speaker 1>Sure poacher do do do Do Do Do Do Do

0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.920
<v Speaker 1>Do Do Do do doo, And it's really creepy when

0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:41.640
<v Speaker 1>you hear it over and over again. Um And anyway,

0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:47.440
<v Speaker 1>that particular broadcast has been linked to Cyprus to the

0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:50.920
<v Speaker 1>Royal Air Force base on Cyprus, and is believed, though

0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:53.439
<v Speaker 1>there's no proof because there's no one actually coming out

0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.159
<v Speaker 1>and saying this is true, that it was operated by

0:17:56.240 --> 0:18:00.119
<v Speaker 1>the British Secret Intelligence Service out of Cyprus. Now that

0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:04.359
<v Speaker 1>particular station is no longer active. I think it stopped

0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.720
<v Speaker 1>broadcasting in neither two thousand or two thousand nine. But

0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:11.399
<v Speaker 1>there are a few others that also were pretty famous.

0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.040
<v Speaker 1>Cherry Ripe, there's the song Cherry Write, another British folk

0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:19.240
<v Speaker 1>song which was a station somewhere in Australia or Australia

0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.399
<v Speaker 1>if you prefer. There's Swedish Rhapsody, which is possibly the

0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.720
<v Speaker 1>creepiest thing I have ever heard in my life, which

0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:30.800
<v Speaker 1>is a there's a glockenspield that's playing and a ace.

0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:36.080
<v Speaker 1>The voice is clearly that of a female child reading

0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:40.080
<v Speaker 1>out numbers in Germany, and you just hear this glockenspield

0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.000
<v Speaker 1>play and then this little girl reading out numbers in German,

0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.200
<v Speaker 1>and it is you can't help but feel a deep

0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.200
<v Speaker 1>sense of foreboding. But then there's also other ones called

0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:55.520
<v Speaker 1>like the Mad Violinist and the Boardman, because apparently it's

0:18:55.640 --> 0:19:07.800
<v Speaker 1>just for two seven eight that that's kind of how

0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.320
<v Speaker 1>I would be like, like day one, I'd be all creepy,

0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.000
<v Speaker 1>and day two I'd be you know, less creepy. Day three,

0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:21.000
<v Speaker 1>I just be like three six. What am I gonna

0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:25.760
<v Speaker 1>have for dinner tonight? For I gotta pick up the

0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:29.600
<v Speaker 1>dry cleaning to read the message you're not getting anything

0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.120
<v Speaker 1>for dinner. Um. Yeah, there are there are a number

0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.640
<v Speaker 1>of places number um where you can if you don't

0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.080
<v Speaker 1>happen to have a short wave radio, where you can

0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.879
<v Speaker 1>pick up on these. Um. The Internet Archive, of course,

0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:49.800
<v Speaker 1>which collects all sorts of strange and esoteric things. Um.

0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.560
<v Speaker 1>There are many many recordings that you can listen to

0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:57.160
<v Speaker 1>on there. And actually the first place that I encountered

0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.119
<v Speaker 1>these was in an article in Wired magazine. Would I

0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:04.080
<v Speaker 1>went back and revisited UM for for this, and they

0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:09.840
<v Speaker 1>were categorizing this Russian station UVB seventy six, which had

0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.880
<v Speaker 1>been broadcasting essentially the same thing for many, many years

0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:17.760
<v Speaker 1>until one day it stopped and then started again, and

0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:20.440
<v Speaker 1>then stopped again, and then you could hear so it

0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:24.120
<v Speaker 1>sounded like somebody in the room with the microphone, uh,

0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:28.680
<v Speaker 1>you know, just you know, too creepy stuffling stuff and

0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.399
<v Speaker 1>banging around, and then it started broadcasting something else, and

0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:37.040
<v Speaker 1>and they changed the call numbers at the station to

0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:39.280
<v Speaker 1>something entirely different. So it maasically wonder if the guy

0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:41.880
<v Speaker 1>was just asking for toilet paper and it finally arrived,

0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:45.439
<v Speaker 1>he was like, now blue jeans and the blue ge

0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.040
<v Speaker 1>Well you can you can still listen to this at

0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:52.119
<v Speaker 1>UVB dash seven six dot net and you can go

0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.399
<v Speaker 1>and visit that website and they will tell you. The

0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:59.520
<v Speaker 1>enthusiasts who keep track of these things will will share

0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.240
<v Speaker 1>information about the station and what it changed to, but

0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:05.920
<v Speaker 1>very very weird stuff. Well, I think it is funny

0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:08.000
<v Speaker 1>is that a lot of the people who are following

0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:12.440
<v Speaker 1>numbers stations, who really have a passion for listening to

0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:16.240
<v Speaker 1>them and finding them on on shortwave radio, they don't

0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.320
<v Speaker 1>want to have the mystery solved because it would mean

0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.000
<v Speaker 1>their hobby would be over. Well, I mean it even

0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.600
<v Speaker 1>um information about this. This is kind of something that

0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:29.080
<v Speaker 1>is operated for so many years. Uh, if you will

0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.280
<v Speaker 1>pardon the radio punt under the radar, I mean it's

0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.320
<v Speaker 1>it's not something that the general public knew anything about

0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:39.000
<v Speaker 1>up until the last handful of years, which is kind

0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:41.200
<v Speaker 1>of ironic considering it was going on through the cold war,

0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.800
<v Speaker 1>and before that, and and and now after most of

0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:48.600
<v Speaker 1>it has stopped anyhow. Uh. It even made an appearance

0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.720
<v Speaker 1>in an episode of Lost. I understand. I never was

0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:53.600
<v Speaker 1>really much of a fan of the show, but I

0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.399
<v Speaker 1>think it's cool that they put that into the the

0:21:56.480 --> 0:22:01.040
<v Speaker 1>show's um storyline, that there was a number station involved

0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:04.480
<v Speaker 1>with uh, with the plot line UM. And of course

0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:08.040
<v Speaker 1>that was about codes and code breaking and creepiness and

0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.440
<v Speaker 1>all sorts of stuff, so it fit right in. UM.

0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:15.880
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I mean, it's it's fascinating. But the people

0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:20.200
<v Speaker 1>who watched Lost, you know, wanted the mystery to unravel

0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:24.080
<v Speaker 1>over time. They didn't want it solved immediately. And I

0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.720
<v Speaker 1>think for for the people who followed the these number stations,

0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:30.119
<v Speaker 1>it's the same kind of thing. They don't and you

0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:33.720
<v Speaker 1>kind of want to know, But then I don't know

0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:35.800
<v Speaker 1>if you've ever read a book where you didn't want

0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:38.800
<v Speaker 1>the story to end and you just stopped reading because

0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:41.040
<v Speaker 1>you just enjoyed the fact that it was still going on,

0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:42.960
<v Speaker 1>and you didn't really want to know quite what was

0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:44.879
<v Speaker 1>going on, although you knew it had an end and

0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:48.399
<v Speaker 1>somebody was behind it. I don't want to know, So

0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:52.560
<v Speaker 1>I've done that many times. Or slowed very very slow

0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:57.000
<v Speaker 1>way down. You know, um, because you don't want to

0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:00.879
<v Speaker 1>find out because then you know you're fun and so UM.

0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:11.680
<v Speaker 1>I don't know very interesting stuff everything. I hope you

0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:14.240
<v Speaker 1>guys like that classic episode. I still get creeped out

0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.520
<v Speaker 1>by number station recordings. So what tech gives you? Guys?

0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:20.560
<v Speaker 1>The heb gbs right, and let me know. My address

0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:23.359
<v Speaker 1>is tech stuff at how stuff works dot com or

0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:26.320
<v Speaker 1>give me a shout out on Tumbler, Twitter, or Facebook.

0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:29.399
<v Speaker 1>You can find me at tech stuff hs w S.

0:23:29.760 --> 0:23:36.920
<v Speaker 1>I'll talk to you again. Release it, put more on

0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.480
<v Speaker 1>this and thousands of other topics. Is it half stuff

0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:40.200
<v Speaker 1>works dot com