Yes I was gonna say the same thing awesome stock footage it’s a big reason I love your channel . The radio chatter and big antennas all in one place ! I heart ❤️this channel
Oblique is another name for the diagonal slash punctuation, also known as a virgule “/“. I wonder if this isn’t a case where some extraneous formatting made it into the message?
I imagine most of them are just dull, albeit secret, instructions to go to certain locations to pick up supplies. "Agent 7, dead drop at bus shelter on route 3 with graffiti reading rabbit" or "agent 3, contact at airport, wears red hat. Your handshake: excuse me do you have the time. Their handshake: time waits for no man and very few women."
GPS becomes unreliable in the area where E03 last originated . it affects civilian aircraft landing at Larnaca airport but only on one runway direction. Not sure if ‘they’ are pumping stuff out that blocks the GPS signal accidentally.
I was born in 1969 and at age four or five my birthday present that year was a radio so i could discover music and whatever stations i wanted. I absolutely loved it and it gave me a lifelong love for everything that falls under the umbrella of radio communications. After about a year my father realised that MW/LW wasn’t enough so he fixed up a beautiful 1950’s bakelite which also had short wave. That’s where i first heard number stations for the very first time..they spooked the hell out of me at that young age to start with but soon became something i searched out more and more. It’s how radio sounded,just absolutely amazing the washing in and out of stations like Radio Luxembourg back then. Ringway Manchester thank you for the fantastic content..oh and The Conet Project is only £3:99 for over one hundred and seventy different number station recordings,maybe you could do a video on that sometime
Always good to hear 'Gawcott' mentioned spent many hours working up there in the Transmitter Hall working above the TX units and Baluns going out to twin feeders to the various Ariel's in the field or Standby generator house. Quite often Royal Signal's operators were on shift working along side the FCO/HMGCC staff. I also worked at CTS Cresslow and Poundon stations during my 12 years based at FCO Hanslope park. Marc In Bletchley G6XEG
Reminds me of the time on of the amature radio repeaters got struck by lightning which partially fried the voice ID system. After transmitting it's call sign something must of happened as it repeatedly just transmitted "I am God" until the owners went and took it offline to get fixed.
I guess the needle dial radios find these stations quicker than the digital tuning radios. Even the SDRs make it hard to find these number stations. I remember how easy it was to pick up these numbers stations quicker using a analog dial receiver like a SW boombox or portable radio back in the day.
Alright, I have gone down the rabbit hole watching your videos! I've only ever dabbled in listening to SW broadcasts on my old '90s Roberts R101, and I don't pretend to understand all the technicalities yet but these are utterly fascinating! Thank you for making them. Wondering how easy it is to pick up a numbers station?
Do you know about the album The Conet Project. It’s a collection of over one hundred and seventy number station recordings and was released firstly a four CD set and then a five disk set. It’s for sale on eBay but at a ridiculous price of £199 but iTunes are selling it at £3:99. It’s definitely worth the money if you want to hear as many historical stations that are no longer in service
@@randybaumery5090 I’m thinking of getting a new one as number stations and hunting them seems more entertaining and interesting than anything social media nowadays
The Lincolnshire poacher sounds like a basic beeper phone wait device we made in electronics class college. Someone probably forgot to change the batteries 😂
As a musician I find it extremely creepy how the Lincolnshire Poacher music modulated into a completely different key- it seems like the tune is at least a good step down from the real one. Makes me wonder if that was deliberate
I wonder what kind of playback device they were using for the Lincolnshire Poacher? Maybe a drum recorder, like those used for telephone intercept messages, like the Audichron AIS ("We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. This is a recording.") or something similar?
9 is Niner, 5 is Fife. It comes from the early days of aviation communications during WW2. It also helps to distinguish from the the word nein in German.
6:20 why do i find the Lincolnshire poacher transmit tune rather earie must be due to finding your channel not long ago and havent long started watching this interesting lark
I love your channel. Thanks for inspiring me to get into amateur radio. Taking baby steps and just having fun with the SDRs online but I think I am going to get my amateur operator license.
Pronouncing nine as "niner" is intended to differentiate it from the number five. The "oblique" station was using "fiver" for five as well as "niner" for nine. Not real bright...
I recently picked up the hobby of shortwave radio and I've made it a mission of mine to tune in to a number station that's still broadcasts. Been a few months and multiple equipment upgrades, however, i have still yet to pick up one of their signals. I won't stop trying though!
4:05-4:22 I remember hearing some kind of voice like this, just browsing around on TH-cam, because I was wondering what CB radio was. And if I remember correctly, this sounds like single sideband or something like that.
Excellent, please keep up your research, it interests many of us greatly, who know of some of these masts but didn't know they were active and we still don't know the purpose of the transmissions or the source .It seems they are landline fed, not repeaters, so where from I wonder 🤔
Another great episode on number stations. I only suggested the aerial calendar as you seem to have a good eye for photogenic scenery. The female voice for the " Lincolnshire Poacher" sounds like one on the previous "speaking clock" announcers, and even the Tube announcements. Just waiting for a "Mind the Gap" in the transmission. As for oblique, it is known that when a woman is silent, it is not a harbringer of good news. "You're quiet. What is wrong." "Everything." :-)
🤔 It’s an endless game between the code maker and code breaker. I personally suspect that the numbers being read are not in-fact the message. Digitally transmitted information sounds quite a bit like static so it’s possible that the spoken number is meaningless and the static carries the message. Or maybe the number designates the key used on the transmitted number? 🤷 We can’t really be sure and certainly no one is particularly likely to tell.
Numbers stations are generally understood to combine with an One-Time Pad (OTP) possessed by the receiving agent to produce perfect secrecy over the air, so long the actual OTP (physical book or text file) is not compromised or otherwise guessable. The receiving agent needs very minimal equipment to do all this; essentially their OTP, a receiving radio (any off-the-shelf radio that can tune into shortwave) and a notepad to compute the final message. Of which only the OTP is something that cannot simply be purchased from a bookstore. More elaborate digital transmissions are possible, but if you can use standard encrypted communications, you can generally do it over the Internet instead of bothering with custom shortwave radio equipment on either side of the communication.
I appreciate all the work you've done regarding the various antenna arrangements and such. Many thanks as it's been quite interesting. Question, have you done a video on the Svatobor, Czech Republic towers and their multiple arrangements? If so, would you kindly provide a link. I attemped to search and see if you've hit on that, however did not find anything directly relating to that place. Thanks again for all your efforts and I look forward to learning much more. Cheers.
This station is super strong and powerful at my house, often with no background noise, and I find it all over the dial. We call the station (Attention.😎
Starting at about 01:55 in this video: At first I thought those two curved metal bits were _sparking._ Then I realized it was probably just sunlight reflecting off them as they were moved by the wind.
Possible hypothesis on Oblique: the word "attention" denotes that some sort of status code follows, most likely an error code. This is why the numbers don't follow the usual pattern. Obviously we have no way of knowing, but if I were designing the system myself, I would implement some way to transmit status of the system, e.g. "attention 4xx" indicates errors, "attention 6xx" indicates the system believes its been tampered with, in any case spies should disregard the information. Where this falls flat, however, is that we've noticed it as an anomaly, and if I were designing it, I would want to implement a series of codes that mean "everything is working normally" in order to disguise legitimate fault codes from the layman, e.g. "attention 2xx" means "ok".
In the modern world of cyberspace I think these shortwave analogue number stations only exist to keep other spook departments busy. There is no valid reason for any field operator to listen to these antiquated transmissions.
Are there even any devices now that can pick those signals that aren’t super weird to have? Unless the spy actually is also just expected to use a random public web-sdr or something
The poacher transmission at the end wasn't a failure or error. It's a signal to field agents of extreme or imminent danger and they need to move immediately. Source: Trust me, bro.
Obviously the most likely explanation is just a regular failure, but it would be interesting if this was a signal that operatives had been compromised and to get out of wherever they are fast
There was someone...GW4IHN.God Bless. He kindly tried to, Teach me. 1980"s. While, serving a, sentence at, Prescoed Camp. He, taught me the, phonetic alphabet. Fair Dues! Thanks, for your channel.
The stock footage is beautiful.
Thanks for noticing
The only TH-cam channel I watch almost only showing antenna footage!
I’d love more circularly-polarized antennas; they look menacing 😂
Yes I was gonna say the same thing awesome stock footage it’s a big reason I love your channel . The radio chatter and big antennas all in one place ! I heart ❤️this channel
100% I've always found antennas and radio stations to be intriguing to look at. Then I got into the hobby and realized I was NOT alone lol.
Oblique is another name for the diagonal slash punctuation, also known as a virgule “/“.
I wonder if this isn’t a case where some extraneous formatting made it into the message?
I have the feeling that if we ever found out what some of these messages were, we'd be astounded or totally bored with the truth.
Probably bored. Most messages are something like, "Don't forget that Friday is Igor's birthday."
I imagine most of them are just dull, albeit secret, instructions to go to certain locations to pick up supplies. "Agent 7, dead drop at bus shelter on route 3 with graffiti reading rabbit" or "agent 3, contact at airport, wears red hat. Your handshake: excuse me do you have the time. Their handshake: time waits for no man and very few women."
@@dafoex
I actually really like that
really hats off for putting together these excellent informational videos, a pleasure to watch.
GPS becomes unreliable in the area where E03 last originated . it affects civilian aircraft landing at Larnaca airport but only on one runway direction. Not sure if ‘they’ are pumping stuff out that blocks the GPS signal accidentally.
I was born in 1969 and at age four or five my birthday present that year was a radio so i could discover music and whatever stations i wanted. I absolutely loved it and it gave me a lifelong love for everything that falls under the umbrella of radio communications. After about a year my father realised that MW/LW wasn’t enough so he fixed up a beautiful 1950’s bakelite which also had short wave. That’s where i first heard number stations for the very first time..they spooked the hell out of me at that young age to start with but soon became something i searched out more and more. It’s how radio sounded,just absolutely amazing the washing in and out of stations like Radio Luxembourg back then.
Ringway Manchester thank you for the fantastic content..oh and The Conet Project is only £3:99 for over one hundred and seventy different number station recordings,maybe you could do a video on that sometime
Always good to hear 'Gawcott' mentioned spent many hours working up there in the Transmitter Hall working above the TX units and Baluns going out to twin feeders to the various Ariel's in the field or Standby generator house.
Quite often Royal Signal's operators were on shift working along side the FCO/HMGCC staff.
I also worked at CTS Cresslow and Poundon stations during my 12 years based at FCO Hanslope park.
Marc In Bletchley G6XEG
Great to hear from you Marc as always
Reminds me of the time on of the amature radio repeaters got struck by lightning which partially fried the voice ID system. After transmitting it's call sign something must of happened as it repeatedly just transmitted "I am God" until the owners went and took it offline to get fixed.
I guess the needle dial radios find these stations quicker than the digital tuning radios. Even the SDRs make it hard to find these number stations. I remember how easy it was to pick up these numbers stations quicker using a analog dial receiver like a SW boombox or portable radio back in the day.
Alright, I have gone down the rabbit hole watching your videos! I've only ever dabbled in listening to SW broadcasts on my old '90s Roberts R101, and I don't pretend to understand all the technicalities yet but these are utterly fascinating! Thank you for making them. Wondering how easy it is to pick up a numbers station?
Do you know about the album The Conet Project. It’s a collection of over one hundred and seventy number station recordings and was released firstly a four CD set and then a five disk set. It’s for sale on eBay but at a ridiculous price of £199 but iTunes are selling it at £3:99. It’s definitely worth the money if you want to hear as many historical stations that are no longer in service
Before I had the world wide web, I spent untold HOURS listening to shortwave radio.
@@randybaumery5090 I’m thinking of getting a new one as number stations and hunting them seems more entertaining and interesting than anything social media nowadays
@@ThunderWarrior01 Agreed
Havana's number stations are pretty obvious sometimes.
Listening to the last one gave me “I’m at a hockey game and the CD is skipping over the Loud Speaker system” vibes
The Lincolnshire poacher sounds like a basic beeper phone wait device we made in electronics class college. Someone probably forgot to change the batteries 😂
I recognise what's going on at E11: clearly cats were walking over the keyboard. I, for one, welcome our feline overlords.
As a musician I find it extremely creepy how the Lincolnshire Poacher music modulated into a completely different key- it seems like the tune is at least a good step down from the real one. Makes me wonder if that was deliberate
I wonder what kind of playback device they were using for the Lincolnshire Poacher? Maybe a drum recorder, like those used for telephone intercept messages, like the Audichron AIS ("We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. This is a recording.") or something similar?
Maybe the case for other stations, but I note that Oblique uses the NATO pronunciation of numbers (obvious from "Fiver" rather than "Five").
No... 9 is pronounced Niner to distinguish it from Five because they both have the i sound. Fiver is not a correct pronunciation.
9 is Niner, 5 is Fife. It comes from the early days of aviation communications during WW2. It also helps to distinguish from the the word nein in German.
6:20 why do i find the Lincolnshire poacher transmit tune rather earie must be due to finding your channel not long ago and havent long started watching this interesting lark
I never expected you to post this much when I first subscribed but this is the best. Thanks for making the videos. You’re doing a great job.
I love your channel. Thanks for inspiring me to get into amateur radio. Taking baby steps and just having fun with the SDRs online but I think I am going to get my amateur operator license.
It’s kind of weird and spooky but very cool. I’d love a mast in my garden and a transmitter.
Pronouncing nine as "niner" is intended to differentiate it from the number five. The "oblique" station was using "fiver" for five as well as "niner" for nine. Not real bright...
I recently picked up the hobby of shortwave radio and I've made it a mission of mine to tune in to a number station that's still broadcasts. Been a few months and multiple equipment upgrades, however, i have still yet to pick up one of their signals. I won't stop trying though!
Another great one, Lewis! Nothing really new to me this time, but very entertaining to watch/listen. Keep them coming.
4:05-4:22 I remember hearing some kind of voice like this, just browsing around on TH-cam, because I was wondering what CB radio was. And if I remember correctly, this sounds like single sideband or something like that.
Excellent, please keep up your research, it interests many of us greatly, who know of some of these masts but didn't know they were active and we still don't know the purpose of the transmissions or the source .It seems they are landline fed, not repeaters, so where from I wonder 🤔
Can you do a video on the oldest number stations?
Another great episode on number stations. I only suggested the aerial calendar as you seem to have a good eye for photogenic scenery. The female voice for the " Lincolnshire Poacher" sounds like one on the previous "speaking clock" announcers, and even the Tube announcements. Just waiting for a "Mind the Gap" in the transmission.
As for oblique, it is known that when a woman is silent, it is not a harbringer of good news.
"You're quiet. What is wrong."
"Everything." :-)
🤔 It’s an endless game between the code maker and code breaker. I personally suspect that the numbers being read are not in-fact the message. Digitally transmitted information sounds quite a bit like static so it’s possible that the spoken number is meaningless and the static carries the message. Or maybe the number designates the key used on the transmitted number? 🤷 We can’t really be sure and certainly no one is particularly likely to tell.
Numbers stations are generally understood to combine with an One-Time Pad (OTP) possessed by the receiving agent to produce perfect secrecy over the air, so long the actual OTP (physical book or text file) is not compromised or otherwise guessable.
The receiving agent needs very minimal equipment to do all this; essentially their OTP, a receiving radio (any off-the-shelf radio that can tune into shortwave) and a notepad to compute the final message. Of which only the OTP is something that cannot simply be purchased from a bookstore.
More elaborate digital transmissions are possible, but if you can use standard encrypted communications, you can generally do it over the Internet instead of bothering with custom shortwave radio equipment on either side of the communication.
That was the 12” Poacher Remix. Should hav’ put donk on it.
Really interesting video, love your photography!
Thanks so much!
I appreciate all the work you've done regarding the various antenna arrangements and such. Many thanks as it's been quite interesting.
Question, have you done a video on the Svatobor, Czech Republic towers and their multiple arrangements? If so, would you kindly provide a link. I attemped to search and see if you've hit on that, however did not find anything directly relating to that place. Thanks again for all your efforts and I look forward to learning much more. Cheers.
This station is super strong and powerful at my house, often with no background noise, and I find it all over the dial. We call the station (Attention.😎
Love all this numbers station content!
Excellent content my friend. Thumbs up 👍
Ah yes, Faulty Lincolnshire Poacher, my favourite nightmarish entity!
Always a good day with new videos from you! Love the info.
Starting at about 01:55 in this video:
At first I thought those two curved metal bits were _sparking._ Then I realized it was probably just sunlight reflecting off them as they were moved by the wind.
Possible hypothesis on Oblique: the word "attention" denotes that some sort of status code follows, most likely an error code. This is why the numbers don't follow the usual pattern.
Obviously we have no way of knowing, but if I were designing the system myself, I would implement some way to transmit status of the system, e.g. "attention 4xx" indicates errors, "attention 6xx" indicates the system believes its been tampered with, in any case spies should disregard the information. Where this falls flat, however, is that we've noticed it as an anomaly, and if I were designing it, I would want to implement a series of codes that mean "everything is working normally" in order to disguise legitimate fault codes from the layman, e.g. "attention 2xx" means "ok".
It's almost like the robot is going "hold on, that one was off-key. Let me try again." in the last one.
Thanks for another Excellent video Lewis
E10 sounds like eva on Wall-E
When they go wrong it makes them even more weird.
the poacher reminds me of the film threads ... very cold war
4:01 Damn if it isn't the sexiest voice I've ever heard! Wow!
🤖💻💥
Very interesting! Love your vids!
That sounded a lot like deliberate feedback played over the transmission. As if to scramble the station
Love the content.
gotta love the anomalies.
Thanks for sharing, shared.
Oblique we'd call a forward slash these days.
Although, if ATC asks a pilot for wind speed and direction "oop there", the pilots use "diagonal" as the divider.
Also used to be called oblique stroke.
Lincolnshire Poacher's stylophone battery running low
Interesting approach. I suppose even the best spies make a mistake every now and then.
In the modern world of cyberspace I think these shortwave analogue number stations only exist to keep other spook departments busy.
There is no valid reason for any field operator to listen to these antiquated transmissions.
Are there even any devices now that can pick those signals that aren’t super weird to have?
Unless the spy actually is also just expected to use a random public web-sdr or something
I feel like the oblique one is getting information as shes reading it off. Thats what it sounds like at least
It might be that you can literally just hook up a keyboard to the thing and start typing.
Cuban lady ran backward once. It lead listeners to believe a lot of it was on a reel to reel tape.
The poacher transmission at the end wasn't a failure or error. It's a signal to field agents of extreme or imminent danger and they need to move immediately. Source: Trust me, bro.
Obviously the most likely explanation is just a regular failure, but it would be interesting if this was a signal that operatives had been compromised and to get out of wherever they are fast
I guess even automated voices smell the toast once in a while.
Bigger subtitles please Lewis if you can, quite difficult to see them on a phone 👍👍
I love this stuff.
Interesting, that tune doesn't sound like a tape to me. Almost like very low bit rate digital voice, like a 1970s pinball machine.
Honest question... why are so many of these transmissions in English, when they're originating from somewhere else?
Probably because those were targeting local agents located in the USA or the UK who wouldn’t be able to understand the origin language
why "fivea" and not "five"?
Sounds like the Poacher's tape got jammed up.
Beginning of this video:
*MICROSQUAT* 😉
The failures might mean the messages go from _OBLIQUE_ to _OBTUSE._ 😉🤭
Allan are you bingeing my videos? I love it! 😁👍🏻
In the case of the Israeli signals, the messages went to _OY VEY._ 😊
@@RingwayManchester>>> Hey, since ACTUAL STALKING is ILLEGAL...😉🤭
There was someone...GW4IHN.God Bless.
He kindly tried to, Teach me. 1980"s. While,
serving a, sentence at, Prescoed Camp.
He, taught me the, phonetic alphabet. Fair Dues!
Thanks, for your channel.
oops
*love the content*