WEBVTT - TechStuff Counts Some Number Stations 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.880 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:17.760 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello, and 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.799 welcome to tex Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.640 I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:27.680 Sitting across from me, as usual, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.960 The Secret Service holds much that has kept secret, even 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:38.760 from very senior officers in the organization. Creepy for So, 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:43.480 the topic we're covering is a numbers stations, which actually 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:49.199 comes to us courtesy of some feedback we received on Facebook, which, unfortunately, 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.600 due to my computer being silly right now, I cannot 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.880 pull up. However, this is Facebook feedback asking us to 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.880 cover numbers stations, and you may under, oh my, Drew Geese, 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.280 what a number of stations is? Things being so scory 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.000 and people being quick to forget. That's that's like a 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.200 double reference right there, since I throw in some clockwork orange. 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:16.760 So here's what a number station is. It is a 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:22.520 radio station using shortwave radio that blasts out a transmission, 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:27.400 usually at a very regular interval, that normally has some 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:33.280 sort of tone or even music to it. Followed by 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:37.640 a series of numbers spoken in sort of a semi 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.440 monotone voice, sometimes an automated voice, in fact, very often 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.679 an automated voice. And it's just a seemingly random string 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:50.520 of numbers that have no particular context or meaning to them, 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:55.160 and it has created quite a kind of a well 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.440 a hobbyist dream come true really for people who like mysteries, 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:03.400 because there's no official explanation as to what these stations 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.520 are and why why these numbers are being broadcast. Here's 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.960 what we know. No, I'm kidding. Now, let's go to 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:15.360 what we can speculate on. Um. We do know that 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.680 official governments have there there's no official government that has 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:22.560 spoken up and said, oh, yeah, we did that. Yeah. 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:28.680 The closest was a Czechoslovakian official who acknowledge receipt of 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:32.079 a message about numbers stations, but did not It did 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.200 not go so far as to actually say what the 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.080 number station was, what it was for. It essentially was 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:39.640 just that I got your message. That was pretty much it. 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:43.080 The check is in the mail. There you go. But gosh, 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:44.840 I can't believe you were waiting an entire time for 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:49.919 me to shut up. So you can use that however, Uh, 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:54.720 there are fewer now than their word during the Cold War. Yeah, 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.640 and they started the height of they started appearing during 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.519 the World wars. So World War One, Yeah, not not. 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.320 You know, this is the early part of the earlier 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.800 part of the twentieth century. Yeah, the first first couple 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:09.760 of decades of the twentieth century. That's when they start 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.600 popping up. So let's talk a little bit about about 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.120 why a number station is even possible before we get 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.840 into what they were and what they sound like and 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.160 all that kind of stuff. So first, they are short 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.440 wave radio, which we have talked about on a previous 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.240 podcast many many years ago. Yeah, we'll do a quick 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.919 we'll do a quick refresher course. So technically, a short 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.200 wave is a is a radio wave with a wavelength 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:40.120 shorter than two hundred meters. Two meters wavelength would have 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:45.480 a frequency of around hurts uh, and it's typically these 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.360 these radio waves are used to broadcast voice and music, 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.640 but also for a long distance communication. The reason that 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.600 you can have long distance communication is that these wavelengths 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.960 are at sort of a sweet spot when it comes 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.640 to the way the earth works. So the Earth has 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.960 the honest sphere you know that surrounds it, binds it 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:08.600 and penetrates it. No, I hoes sphere just surrounds the Earth. 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.120 And if you were to aim a short wave radio 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.320 frequency at the ionosphere, uh, the ionosphere would refract that 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:20.040 frequency and it would beam back down to Earth. So 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.320 by bouncing it effectively off the ionosphere, you can send 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.800 a radio signal much further than you could if it 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:31.039 were to just broadcast out and radiate out from a towery. 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.520 So with this in mind, with this long distance communication ability, 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:41.280 it has opened up opportunities for lots of different applications. Uh. 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:45.159 And you know you'll hear about amateur radio enthusiasts who 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.880 will just they'll they'll use their their radios to dial 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.320 in and listen to the various broadcasts that go out there. 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.400 And that's really how number stations were discovered. It was 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.479 mainly hobbyists who as they were scanning the different bands 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:01.520 and list thing to what was out there, they were 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:07.640 coming across these very odd sort of transmissions. And um, 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:11.359 before I get too far, I should say the whole 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.920 refraction by the ionosphere. There's a specific name for that 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.200 kind of transmission that I love. I love this term 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:24.520 skywave propagation. It's a cool term, right, So yeah, you've 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.920 got these hobbiests who are listening in and they would 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:33.360 come across a very unusual and frankly pretty creepy kind 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:36.520 of transmission in some cases. And uh, I think we 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.200 even have an example that we can listen to. So 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.240 let's let's take a quick listen to what a typical 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:47.560 number station might sound like if you were to tune 0:05:47.560 --> 0:06:01.880 in on a short wave radio. One h kind of 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:05.960 gets you right here, don if by the by right 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.159 here you mean now I'm looking over my shoulder and 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.520 waiting for someone to break into the room. Yeah, that's 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.520 pretty much what I'm thinking. There is something particularly creepy 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:17.040 about hearing kind of a and almost and almost like 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.719 a harmonic. It sounds like there's been some harmonic supplied 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:22.719 in some cases, like it's an automated voice or whatever, 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.080 but hearing something like that monotone just delivering number after 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.279 number and then they really repetitious music that was used 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.680 to introduce these So what could these be? And there 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.119 have been a lot of people who have suggested what 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:41.000 number stations might be all about, um, you know, everything 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.800 from it could just be uh stuff for people who 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:50.440 are surveying areas for for cartography and that kind of thing. 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.640 But it doesn't seem likely no one is taking credit 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.080 for it, not at all, so that that's our cartography channel. 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.680 That has led to, uh to some not so much 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.000 conspiracy theories. It really does boil down to, well, if 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:07.760 you're just broadcasting numbers with no other context, what could 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.080 you possibly be doing that for. And one of the 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:14.280 explanations is that it's a a way to communicate two 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:19.440 spies to undercover operatives who might be uh invested in 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:24.560 some foreign country, perhaps one that is unfriendly to the 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:30.440 the the country of origin and so there. And when 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.280 we say there's number stations, there are number of stations 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:36.280 all over the world, and they're broadcasting pretty much all 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.480 the languages that you might expect. They would be in 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.600 the major languages of the world. So it's not just that, 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:43.800 you know, it's not just one country that's doing this. 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:46.840 There there's multiple countries that are doing it. And uh 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.480 so the the speculation is that this is these are 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:56.480 messages they're sent to government spies, uh and these you know, 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:02.000 the governments aren't admitting to it for for pretty understandable reasons. 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.280 I would say, well, if you or any of your 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.280 team is captured, the government will disavow any knowledge of 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:13.400 this operations. Message will self destructed fifteen seconds. The So 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.080 these messages, the numbers those that's a code, it's an 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:22.400 it's encoded message. Form of cryptography that is called the 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.960 the the one pad note yeah, or or one time 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:31.240 pad yeah. Um yeah. I'm interested in cryptography, uh and 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.719 have been reading about it for many years. And this 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.240 is not exactly a new thing. It doesn't even require 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:39.640 the use of a computer. I mean, we talked about 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:44.240 cryptography on many podcasts at different levels. Um and we 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.960 even got into quantum cryptography, which is supposedly unbreakable, although 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:53.720 I've seen reports recently that it may not necessarily be unbreakable. Well, 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:58.160 one time pads are technically unbreakable if you follow the 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.880 right procedure right because basically, um and they were called 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.360 pads because at one time they were and probably still 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.320 are a pad. So this pad is generated like a 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:11.520 pad of paper. You uh write down your message and 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.760 encode it on this paper using the tool um And 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.320 it's a one time thing. And there's a part of 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.640 the key is embedded in the message, so that tells 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.800 the recipient use page. Let's just go for a reference here, 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.320 use page sixteen of your pad, and that way, you know, 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.120 you write down the message in the pad that you 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.600 can decode it on that page and and that then 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.439 becomes useless. You can't use it again. Yeah, you then 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:39.760 destroy that page. So here's here's how here's how it works. 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.160 Let's say that I want to send a message to Chris, 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.959 and I want to use this this one time pad method. 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.000 All right, So we would each have a pad that 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:55.760 would have a string of random letters across each line, 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.080 all right, And let's say we group them in in 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.520 groups of five, because that's pretty common, that's four or five. 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:03.560 So we'll say we have groups of five letters. And 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.920 these letters are truly random in that we've had some 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.280 sort of well as close to truly random as we 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.800 can get. We've had some sort of random number generator 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.040 that has picked random letters, and it's just that we 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:19.360 each have a copy of that output. So Chris's string 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.440 of random letters is the same as my string of 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:26.080 random letters. And then I write down my message in 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:30.440 normal text, and I write my normal letters above the 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:35.080 letters of the that's that's in the key. Then I 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.800 convert my letters into numbers. So let's say that an 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.959 A equals zero, and a B equals one, and a 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:46.240 C equals Three's not going to take them very long 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:48.640 to pick this one apart. No, it's going to take 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.240 them a long time because here's the here's the that 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.320 that's just that. All that is is just as just 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.439 a simple substitution cipher. Right, But here's the tricky part. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.120 So then I take my key, all right, and I 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.600 convert all of those letters to numbers. That's when it 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.440 gets harder. And then I add the two numbers together, 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:10.480 all right, So I add the I add the number 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:13.520 from my first letter. So let's say that my first 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.440 letter is H, because I write, hey there, Chris, I 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:20.200 take the number from H. Yeah really, why not? Alright? 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.400 You know, hey there Chris, there's a rusky on your tail. 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:28.040 That's that's my message. So H is because I'm going 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.600 back to the Cold War. So so H. We would 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:33.000 convert H to a number, and then we look at 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:34.720 the first letter in the key. Let's say that the 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:36.679 first letter in the key is an M. Well, that 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:38.640 M is going to have its own number of value. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.400 We add the H and the M values together and 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.880 then we convert that into a new letter. So if 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.800 it's anything up to if we if A is zero, 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:51.400 if it's anything up to twenty five, then that's the 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.320 letter that we would pick. If it's over twenty five, 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.840 then we just use number twenty six counts a zero again, 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.360 so the number twenty would be an A, twenty seven 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:02.959 would be a B, twenty eight would be a C. 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:05.880 So we go up there and we we put in 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:10.360 whatever the substitute letter will be. Well, the only way 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:12.480 to know what the original letter is is if you 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.560 have that one time pad in front of you where 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.480 you take the value of the letter that is uh 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.600 that the represented letter, the ciphered letter. You subtract the 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.880 value of the key from the ciphered letter, and that 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.280 gives you the value of the original letter, and then 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.959 you can convert that into the original letter. So the 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:39.840 process of coding and decoding is pretty painstaking because you 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.680 know you have to you have to convert all the 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.080 letters to values, add and then make new letters. But 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.040 the nice thing is is that because as long as 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.199 you keep that that string of letters that acts as 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.160 your key truly random, and that you don't repeat letters, 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:57.920 so that you don't or you don't repeat strings, like 0:12:57.960 --> 0:12:59.880 you don't go to the end of a page and 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.360 and start at the top again. As long as you 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:06.960 avoid that, it is impossible to crack that without without 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:11.080 getting possession of one of those pads. So that's where 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:13.760 we talk about if you follow this correctly, it is 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.240 unbreakable the correctly. By correctly we mean you you have 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:21.400 truly random string for your key. You do not repeat 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.360 the key, and you do not let the key fall 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.560 into the wrong hands. As long as that happens, it 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.320 is unbreakable. So it's kind of like when we talked 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:36.920 about the the various ways of ciphering. You know, there 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.880 always seems to be some way to crack the code. 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.800 In this case, unless you have physical possession of the 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.079 pad or if someone uses a key that repeats, it's 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:52.120 just not practical. So that's that's the basis for the 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:56.959 secret messages. Um, what those secret messages are we can't say, 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:59.720 because again, unless someone gets hold of one of those 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:04.320 paths adds, then it is it's just meaningless numbers. I mean, 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.839 you could convert those two letters, but all that's going 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.880 to do is give you the product of those those 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.480 two that like the original message and the key. Without 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:17.960 having the key, you can't figure out what the original messages. Now. Um, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:22.360 it is likely too that the uh, well we talked 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.840 about that in the Enigma machine, how the German codes 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.680 during World War Two were broken down into those um 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:35.280 five letter combinations, um as an added layer of security. 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:39.600 These these combinations stand in for other words too, So 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:42.840 it is possible that you know, even if you did 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:44.920 break the code, you would also have to have the 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:51.680 book that explains what these these letter combinations mean. But um, so, well, 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.760 that's what I'm saying. If if you for some reason, 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:57.720 if you may right, or if they use a repeating key, 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.680 because if they use a repeating key, then it would 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:03.000 take a lot of an you would have to analyze 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.560 the heck out of the message, but you could potentially 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.280 start detecting patterns. Well that's what broke the enigmac Yeah, exactly, 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.720 because they were they got lazy, lazy, and they started 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.400 using repeating keys as opposed to using a key that 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.760 just doesn't repeat, which would have been impossible to crack. 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.680 So it's just an added layer of security. That's that 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.120 just makes it much more difficult. So they do these 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:28.080 repetitions over and over again. Um, and it's. Uh. The 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.120 thing is, the the tone and the style of the 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:35.000 broadcasts is really really creepy, especially when you add that 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.880 spy layer in your head to it. You start going, 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.240 this message is not intended for me, and and somebody 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.760 could be doing something. You know, I could be listening, well, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:47.920 this is what I think, you know, I'm you know, 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:49.640 listening to it, going I could be listening to a 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.760 message that tells somebody to kill somebody else, right, this 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.640 could be a message saying to like and then think 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.800 about this. You hear those messages and then maybe a 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:02.360 week later, you hear about some massive political event that 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.880 takes place in the country, and you think, is there 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.320 any connection to what I heard and what just happened? 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:12.440 Is what I heard? Was that? Was that a essentially 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.040 a prediction for what actually unfolded? And yeah, it's it's 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.040 kind of I mean, it is definitely creepy. And um, 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:22.600 there are a lot of really cool names for these 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.200 various broadcasts, some of which are named after the music 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.520 that they use. Yeah, and again, Um, in some cases 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.400 you could kind of some of them the station's sort 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.920 of semi identify themselves and others I think are given 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.800 sort of like kind of stars, you know, or viruses. 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.800 They're given the names of their discoverers want to name them. Yeah, 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.960 so there's um, there's One of the famous ones is 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:51.560 the Lincolnshire Poacher. Yeah, which was was featured not too 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.760 long ago as of the recording of this podcast on 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.480 another podcast called The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, they 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.520 have a little feature where it's called Who's that Noisy? 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.280 And they which which is named after one of the 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:06.520 one of the hosts has a daughter who would say 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.600 who's that noisy? As in what's making that noise? So anyway, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.960 Who's that noisy is the name of the segment where 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:16.360 they'll play a sound file and it's the listener's job 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.359 to try and figure out what that sound file is. 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:23.240 And they played the little musical uh prelude that would 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.320 happen before the numbers broadcast on the number station Lincolnshire 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.160 Poacher Do do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.400 Do Do Do do doo And it's really creepy when 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.160 you hear it over and over again. Um And anyway, 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:42.919 that particular broadcast has been linked to Cyprus, to the 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.400 Royal Air Force Base on Cyprus and is believed, though 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.920 there's no proof because there's no one actually coming out 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.600 and saying this is true, that it was operated by 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:55.680 the British Secret Intelligence Service out of Cyprus. Now that 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:59.840 particular station is no longer active. I think it stopped 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.200 podcasting in neither two thousand or two thousand nine. But 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.919 there are a few others that also were pretty famous. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:10.800 Cherry Ripe. There's the song Cherry Ripe, another British folk song, 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:14.919 which was a station somewhere in Australia or Australia if 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:19.600 you prefer. There's Swedish Rhapsody, which is possibly the creepiest 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.320 thing I have ever heard in my life, which is 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:27.520 a there's a Glockenshfield it's playing and a ace. The 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:31.760 voice is clearly that of a female child reading out 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.840 numbers in Germany, and you just hear this glockenspield play 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.480 and then this little girl reading out numbers in German, 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:41.680 and it is you can't help but feel a deep 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.680 sense of foreboding. But then there's also other ones called 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:51.040 like the Mad Violinist and the Boardman, because apparently it's 0:18:51.119 --> 0:19:03.280 just for two seven eight that that's kind of how 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:05.800 I would be like like day one, I'd be all creepy, 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.480 and day two I'd be you know, less creepy. Day three, 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:16.520 I just be like three six. What am I gonna 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:21.200 have for dinner tonight? For I gotta pick up the 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:25.080 drug leading to read the message you're not getting anything 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.560 for dinner. Um. Yeah, there are There are a number 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.120 of places number um where you can if you don't 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.680 happen to have a short wave radio, where you can 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:39.399 pick up on these. Um. The Internet Archive, of course, 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:45.879 which collects all sorts of strange and esoteric things. Um. 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.080 There are many many recordings that you can listen to 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:52.680 on there. And actually the first place that I encountered 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.600 these was in an article in Wired magazine, which I 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.560 went back and revisited UM for for this, and they 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:05.280 were categorizing this Russian station UVB seventy six, which had 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.399 been broadcasting essentially the same thing for many, many years 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:13.280 until one day it stopped and then started again, and 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:15.919 then stopped again, and then you could hear so it 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.720 sounded like somebody in the room with the microphone, uh, 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:24.320 you know, just you know, too creepy stuffling stuff and 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:28.080 banging around, and then it started broadcasting something else and 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:32.560 and they changed the call numbers at the station to 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:34.760 something entirely different. It makes me wonder if the guy 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.400 was just asking for toilet paper and it finally arrived 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:41.679 and he was like, now blue jeans blue. Well, you 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:45.240 can you can still listen to this at UVB dash 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:48.399 seven six dot net and you can go and visit 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.680 that website and they will tell you. The enthusiasts who 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:55.879 keep track of these things will will share information about 0:20:55.880 --> 0:21:00.600 the station and what it changed to. But very very weird. U. Well. 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.199 I think is funny is that a lot of the 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.679 people who are following numbers stations, who really have a 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.639 passion for listening to them and finding them on on 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:13.880 shortwave radio, they don't want to have the mystery solved 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.400 because it would mean their hobby would be over. Well, 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:20.399 I mean it even um information about this. This is 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:24.040 kind of something that is operated for so many years. Uh, 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:26.760 if you will pardon the radio punt under the radar, 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.560 I mean it's it's not something that the general public 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:33.960 knew anything about up until the last handful of years, 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:35.840 which is kind of ironic considering it was going on 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.200 through the Cold War and before that and and and 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:43.159 now after most of it has stopped anyhow. Uh. It 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:46.080 even made an appearance in an episode of Lost. I understand. 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:48.560 I never was really much of a fan of the show, 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.520 but I think it's cool that they put that into 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:55.480 the the show's UM storyline, that there was a number 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:59.520 station involved with uh, with the plot line UM. And 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.720 of course that was about codes and code breaking and 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:08.119 creepiness and all sorts of stuff, so it fit right in. UM. 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:11.359 So yeah, I mean, it's it's fascinating. But the people 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:15.680 who watched Lost, you know, wanted the mystery to unravel 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.600 over time. They didn't want it solved immediately. And I 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:23.240 think for for the people who followed they these number stations, 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:25.600 it's the same kind of thing. They don't and you 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:29.200 kind of want to know. But then I don't know 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:31.280 if you've ever read a book where you didn't want 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:34.360 the story to end and you just stopped reading because 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:36.440 you just enjoyed the fact that it was still going 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:38.280 on and you didn't really want to know quite what 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:40.160 was going on, although you knew it had an end 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:42.840 and somebody was behind it. I don't want to know. 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:47.679 So I've done that many times, or slowed very very 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:52.400 slow way down, you know. UM, because you don't want 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:55.640 to find out because then you know your fun ends. 0:22:55.800 --> 0:23:02.240 So I don't know very interesting stuff. Jonathan has been 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:05.640 researching something as we're talking, and he's got this mysterious 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:10.520 look on his face. Yeah. Um yeah, No, creepy, that's 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:13.080 all I'm saying. It is creepy. Uh yeah, I mean 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:18.760 these are these are definitely one of those things that 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:23.000 that I hope stick around just for the sake of 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.840 perpetuating this kind of air of mystery, because you think 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:28.879 about it, you're like, Okay, first of all, let me 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:32.080 get this clear. Our world is amazing and the universe 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:35.359 is astounding. But even so, there are days where you 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:38.520 feel like you're living in a pretty mundane kind of existence. 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:42.040 And then you find out about numbers stations and you're like, 0:23:42.119 --> 0:23:45.679 there's a whole level operating just under the surface that 0:23:45.760 --> 0:23:48.760 I've always suspected but never really proven, and now I 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:51.800 know there's something to it. Then you're like, hey, our 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:54.719 world is amazing again. By the way, our world is amazing, 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:57.200 whether there's number stations or not. It's just that occasionally 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.920 we have to be reminded of it. Puppies boomtiata Alright, 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:06.080 so shout out to the parent company. Uh, guys, that 0:24:06.160 --> 0:24:08.240 kind of wraps up our discussion on number stations. I 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:10.639 wish we could tell you more, but frankly, there's just 0:24:10.760 --> 0:24:13.639 nothing official. We can't you know, we we can speculate 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:17.640 all we like, but we can't really, uh say for sure. Now, 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:20.639 I think I think it's fairly safe to say that 0:24:20.760 --> 0:24:24.920