From: HAVANAMOON@cup.portal.com (Havana - Moon) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.conspiracy Subject: Re: Spanish Five Digit Groups Date: 26 May 91 00:35:27 GMT Organization: The Portal System (TM) In response to a recent question about Numbers Stations, their origin and purpose, the following information should be of interest. This article was initially written about two years ago - with the massive changes in Eastern Europe, one would think the broadcasts would have diminished. No such luck. Certain of the transmissions have ceased, that's true - but many others continue, and new ones continue to appear. An ongoing mystery, to be sure. ---------- "Spy Numbers Transmissions" are a shortwave oddity which have been around for the last 25 years. They are commonly heard in English, German, Spanish and the Slavic languages and take the form of four and five digit groups of numbers which are preceded by a three digit "identifier" and "group count". They are generally broadcast by a mechanical-sounding female voice, although Morse code (CW) "cut number" transmissions are also frequently reported. Several distinctly different transmission formats have been noted. The "who" and "why" aspects of these transmissions are, for the most part, unknown. Their mysterious nature has resulted in their common characterization as 'spy' trans- missions. Information on the "where" aspects below. The spy theory has been enhanced over the years by the FCC's inconsistent position in response to numerous inquiries by the Shortwave Listening community. If you've never heard a numbers transmission, tune your radio to 11468 kHz any Saturday at 4pm EST (2100 UTC). You'll almost certainly hear a 'classic' numbers transmission which will run from 15-30 minutes. The signal from this Saturday transmission is very powerful and can be heard across the United States. In regards the "where" - a number of sites have been identified in recent years, notably in Warrenton and Remington, VA and Miami, FL. In addition, with the aid of sophisticated RDF (radio direction finding) equipment and the invaluable assist- ance of highly authoritative and professional resources, three new transmission sites have been positively identified in recent weeks. They include the following: 1. A five-digit Spanish station on 6577 kHz has been traced to a site near Jinotega, Nicaragua. This station has been creating interference on this frequency which is allocated to air-to-ground communications for international airliners in the busy Caribbean sector. 2. A five-digit Spanish station on 3927 kHz has been located approximately 15 miles SW of Havana near Guineo, Cuba. 3. A five-digit CW station on 3690 kHz has also been traced to Guineo, Cuba. Another government source believes Guineo to be a major trans- mitter site used by DGI (Cuban Intelligence). Finally, there has been wide speculation that these transmissions are messages which are meant to be decoded using a 'one-time- pad' -- If that is the case, it's very curious to note that the same five digit groups are oftentimes seen to repeat over and again in the same crypt -- and that the very same transmissions are seen to repeat from week to week, and from month to month - so often, in fact, that tape breaks are sometimes noted! When spliced back together, the 'sloppy' handling sometimes results in truncated 5-digit groups - the end result being a mixture of 4 and 5-digit groups in the very same transmission! These facts would tend to point one away from the one-time-pad concept and support a couple of other theories - suggesting that the numbers are NOT a cipher, but rather a code unto themselves, and that much of this traffic is 'dummy' in nature - broadcast simply to keep a frequency open over a long period of time. In addition, most five-digit Spanish numbers transmissions are very badly over-modulated, resulting in numerous spurs up and down frequency. When broadcast under such conditions, the numbers (6) seis and (7) siete are almost indistinguishable, making it impossible to copy a crypt without numerous errors. It is worth noting that the four-digit Spanish and English transmissions do not reflect this same technical ineptitude. There are a number of reference materials available which provide detailed information about cryptography and cryptanalysis, in general, and numbers crypts, specifically. I'd be happy to provide anyone interested with a list of books. Only two publications I know of are currently available which provide regular coverage of numbers, clandestine, pirate and other interesting transmissions. The ACE Bulletin (monthly news- letter of the Association of Clandestine Enthusiasts - PO Box 11201, Department KK, Shawnee Mission, KS 66207) and The Numbers Factsheet - PO Box 149, Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510, of which I am the Executive Editor. Sample edition of The ACE is $2.00, annual dues $18.00; sample edition of The Numbers Factsheet is $6.00, annual subscription is $20.00 For those of you with access to shortwave - I'll be doing another live interview on this topic - among others - next Saturday night on Radio Free New York - 7520 kHz at 11pm Eastern. Havana Moon __________________________________________________________________________ | | | HAVANA MOON | HAVANAMOON@cup.portal.com | | The Numbers Factsheet | ...!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!HAVANAMOON | | PO Box 149 | HAVANA.MOON (GEnie) | | Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 | 1:272/39 (FidoNet) | |__________________________________________________________________________|