Shortwave Spy Numbers
Stations Types
It is not meant as a replacement for the "given names" for Numbers Stations. It is by these names that most stations are commonly known. Referring to stations purely by a number/letter combination would completely remove most of the excitement that comes with listening to these stations.
English
E1 Ready Ready
*E2 Arabic Man / The Babbler
E3 Lincolnshire Poacher
E4 Cherry Ripe
E5 The Counting Station
E6 English Man - aka The Russian Man, ends 00000
a. 2 group commencing 11111
b. 3F ID with 5F group in "call"
E7 English Man - ending with 000 000
E9 Magnetic Fields
E10 Phonetic Alphabet - NATO Designators (MOSSAD)
E11 Oblique
E12 NNN
E13 Five Dashes
*E14 The Counting Station 4F "control" transmission
E15 Phonetic Alphabet - pre-NATO Designators (Nancy Adam Susan)
E16 Two Letter
E17 English Lady - aka The Russian Man ends, 00000
E18 Fife Free (Edna Sednitzer)
E19 Irish Man
E20 Two message English Man
E21 The Counting Station old 4F format (replaced by 3/2FG format) English accent
a. American Accent
E22 Arabic Man 2L/F
E23 Swedish Rhapsody, was G2
German
*G1 Tyrolean Music Station
a. Irregular Tunes - 1st section
b. Irregular Tunes and phrase message 1st section
G2 Swedish Rhapsody, now E23
a.Counting variant
*G3 Gongs or Chimes
G4 Three Note Oddity
G5 The Counting Station
a."Zwei" variant
G6 German Lady - aka The Russian Man, ends 00000
G7 German Lady ends 000 000
a. 774 type variant
G8 Four Note Rising Scale
a. Single repeated 5F groups
b. Rapid dots intro
*G9 Saxaphone Piece
a. 3/2 group variant
*G10 Bert Kaempfert
G11 Strich
G12 NNN
G13 Five Dashes
G14 DFC37 and DFD21
G15 Papa November (Two Letter)
a. Papa November read over notes
G16 Two Letter
*G17 German Lady (5420 kHz)
*G18 Eight Note rising and falling scale
G19 German Man, ends 000000
*G20 Spruch
a. one 5F group
*G21 Music and Morse
*G22 Edna Sednitzer
*G23 2M8, Hitler's Birthday
Slavic
*S1 "Aida"
S2 Drums and Trumpets (Last Post)
a. With Bugle
c. 3F Nomer then reversed
d. 5F Nomer
S3 Czech Words
*S4 Edna Sednitzer
*S5 OLX (Old format with null messages)
S6 Russian Man 00000
a. 55555 00000 format
b. Two groups commemcing 11111
c. Single 5F group repeated
d. ID + 111
e. Two message
f. 00000 00000 (possible TX error)
S7 Russian Man 000 000
a. Multiple two group
b. Multiple single group message using same ID
*S8 YT
*S9 Polish Counting
S10 Czech Lady (piano, later five notes)
a. 555 "idler" format
b. 5 note intro, 3 versions
c. 3F ID with "idler"
d. 3F ID
*S11 "Presta"
S12 "Cherta"
S13 Russian Counting and announcements, two minute (UPT76, etc)
S14 Russian Counting and announcements, long duration (Shield 58/South 96, etc)
*S15 Rapid Dots (earlier OLX format)
*S16 OLX
*S17 Czech Lady control 5FG
a. No circuit No,Indexing or group count
b. "01" group count
c. 313-5F, "05" group count
?S18 Czech Man 3FG 5FG
S19 Czech Man control
a. 000 format
*S20 "Aifada"
S21 Russian Lady
S22 DELETED
S23 DELETED
S24 DELETED
S25 Russian Man control
a.11111 22222 format
b. With message
*S26 "Zyt Zyt" ("Hush Hush" in Polish)
S27 Czech Lady II
S28 The Buzzer (formerly XB)
Other Langauges
*V1 The Skylark (aka The Mad Violinist)
a. With additional tune
V2 Spanish Lady
a. 150/150/150 type (three messages, all 150 count)
V3 DELETED
V4 DELETED
V5 The Counting Station
* a. 4F
V6 Spanish Lady 00000
V7 Spanish Man 000 000
V8 Eastern Music - Arabic, 6645, 11292 kHz
V9 Oriental Langauge, 5738, 6280, 8036 kHz
*V10 Schlosst
V12 NNN - French
V13 New Star Broadcasting
*V14 The Counting Station "control" transmission
V15 Radio Pyongyang - North Korean Numbers
V16 Chinese Numbers
V17 Romanian 3FG +000
V18 NNN - Hungarian
*V19 WTR21 - Don't Cry For Me Argentina
V20 The Bored Man
V21 The Babbler
* No longer in existance
Morse Code
M1 2-Tone hand-keyed, ends 000
a. End of Month variant
b. As a. but with message
c. All other variants inc. 3 long dash ending
M2 CW version of NNN, ends AR Long Zero
M3 / Ends ==000
a. With triplet element
M4 LOLO Long Zero
M05- 6 Fig 000000 Long Zero
*M6 OLX
a. Rapid dots tuning sig.
M7 Formerly Rapid Dashes MCW ends 000 + TS
M8 Cut Numbers, Ends AR AR AR SK SK SK (Cuba)
M09-
M10 Formerly Rapid Dashes CW 2 fig DK, End 000
a. Triplet 000
b. Additional groups, ends Triplet 000
c. 5F Headers
d. GC sent 3 times
M11 Variation of M1
M12 Ends 000 000(3 or 4 fig. DK)
M13 Ends 3 long dashes
M14 Ends 00000 or 5 long dashes
M15- DEA 47
M16 8BY
M17 MCW ends VA
M18 4 fig pseudo time signal
M19 MPL
M20 V ends == 000
M21 ????? 14 fig pseudo time signal type.
M22 4XZ
M23 Odd/Even Many Variants (all long zero)
M24 Ends 5 long dashes, see M14
a. 2nd addressee, hand keyed
M25 KKN, KRH, KWS series
M26 98
M27- BTV
M28 HEP
M29 VDE ends AR
a. No preamble
b. Extended preamble
M30
M31- FDC, FDG etc series
M32 (Russian Military Net)
M33 P8K Long Zero
M34 1 12345 2fig IDs, no ending
Alteration "11 12345"
M39 3 fig IDs + 4 elements of 5 figure
M36 Deleted, it was actually P8K
M40- CQ 3 fig
M41- WZD
M42- KUL etc network
M43- 6XM8/C37A group
M44 Continuous Letters
M45 S21 Morse, ends 000
M46 3 fig cumulative
M47 /2/3fig cumulative (JST)
M48- The Skylark, Ciocirlia Morse
M49- G8A morse
M50 Hand Keyed 5431kHz+ 4947kHz Many Variants
M51 100x 5L groups
M52 2fig:6fig, long zero
M53 747.3F, ends "== AR AR VA VA". YT / BVT Family?
a. Hand Keyed variant
M54- V89T,only null message format known
M55 F x 6, 000 000,long zero, null message
M56 1fig:5fig, long zero
M57- UNDER RE-EVALUATION
M58 ===3lt UNDER RE-EVALUATION
M63 A2A
M64- "= 3F 3F = 11111 5F, AR"
M65- Ends "= = QRU QRU SK SK"
M66- UNDER RE-EVALUATION
M67- Ends 0000 (Turkish?)
a. 3F 2F 7777
Miscellaneous
MX SLHFMs
MXC Clusters
MXF FSK Mode
MXL Solitary long-term
MXS Solitary short-term
MXP "P" with message
MXV irregular V
X1 Bugle
X6 Six Tone Station
XC Crackle
XB Buzzer (now S28)
XF Faders
XE Echo
XW Workshop
XP Polytone
XPH Polytone High Pitch
XPL Polytone Low Pitch
XM Backwards Music / Whales
XX Pip
XS Saw/Whine
XXX Fast CW pips, 3595Khz
Copyright 1998 Chris Smolinski. All Rights Reserved.
Last Update: September 1, 1998.
Typical transmission:
Atencion 245 01 (rpt) Message to 245 01 51 (rpt five times) 51 blocks will follow 45892 05157 ... Message final final End of message (sometimes three finals)
V2 Cuban DGI Atencion Station
A variant of this type transmits a five digit preamble "atencion 04499" for example, for a few minutes, followed by recipient and the count, such as "04499 150". Then the actual message is sent. Transmissions with a count of 150 are very common, presumably they are training exercises.
Typical transmission:
Atencion 04499 (rpt) Message to 245 04499 150 (rpt five times) 150 blocks will follow 45892 05157 ... Message final final End of message (sometimes three finals)
Yet another variation has just occured! Starting January 1, 1997, 5 Digit SS/YL Number Stations have started sending three messages in each broadcast! Here's the observed format:
Atencion 72302 51782 41592 (rpt) Messages to 72302, 51782 41592 72302 72302 72302 72302 72302 First message is to 72302 43459 90932 ... Message 51782 51782 51782 51782 51782 Second message is to 51782 83743 24830 ... Message 41592 41592 41592 41592 41592 Third message is to 41592 65382 18439 ... Message final final End of messages (sometimes thee finals)
Only time will tell if this is a permanent change.
AM modulation is sometimes used, although USB is also reported. I have heard many stations which seem to be using reduced carrier sideband, with modulation on one of the sidebands, and a lower power carrier, sufficient for reception on AM receivers.
These transmissions often have technical problems (poor audio, hum, distortion, sometimes big "accidents" like starting to play the Radio Habana opening music! I once heard a very distorted transmission, the distortion was caused by the fact that Radio Habana audio was bleeding into the audio!
V2 with a bird in the background
As you can guess, it is commonly believed that these transmissions come from Cuba.
UTC KHZ M T W T F S S
==== ===== = = = = = = =
0000 12215 X
0100 3389 X
0100 3926 X
0100 6768 X
0100 6778 X
0200 3245 X
0200 3292 X
0200 4029 X
0200 5762 X
0200 7887 X
0200 9024 X
0200 12215 X
0300 4174 X
0300 4479 X
0300 6855 X
0300 7555 ?
0300 10236 X
0300 11566 X
0400 4035 X
0400 4479 X
0400 6768 X
0400 10120 X
1000 4028 X X
1000 10510 X
1100 4028 X
1100 4036 X
1100 4507 X
1100 6933 X
1100 6984 X
1100 8186 X
1100 9095 X
Schedule maintained by Bob Broehrig (broehrig@admin.aurora.edu)
Typical transmission:
015 015 015 1234567890 (rpt) Message to 015 Ten tones Signal that message will begin Grupo 186 Grupo 186 186 blocks will follow 969 70 376 60... Message
E5 American CIA Station The Counting Station
UTC KHZ M T W T F S S LANG NOTES ==== ======= = = = = = = = ==== =================================== 0100 13452.0 X X SS //15651 0100 15651.0 X X SS //13452 0300 10665.0 X X SS //11491 0300 11491.0 X X SS //10665 1200 13906.0 X X EE //15732 1200 15732.0 X X EE //13906 1200 14577.0 X X EE 1300 14739.0 X X X EE //16198 1300 16198.0 X X X EE //14739 1400 5407.0 X EE //7836 1400 7836.0 X EE //5407 1400 13555.0 X X EE //15732 1400 15732.0 X X EE //13555 1400 15895.0 X EE 1500 11072.0 X EE //12175 1500 12175.0 X EE //11072 1700 13450.0 X EE //14448 1700 14448.0 X EE //13450 1700 7585.0 X X EE //9219 1700 9219.0 X X EE //7585 1800 13444.0 X EE 1800 11072.0 X X EE //13465 1800 13465.0 X X EE //11072 1800 8080.0 X EE //9160 1800 9160.0 X EE //8080 1900 11072.0 X EE //13465 1900 13465.0 X EE //11072 1900 14787.0 X EE 1900 6970.0 X EE 1900 8085.0 X EE //9219 1900 9219.0 X EE //8085 2000 7836.0 X EE //9090 2000 9090.0 X EE //7836 2100 7620.0 X X EE 2200 9219.0 X EE 2200 10426.0 X EE //11545 2200 11545.0 X EE //10426 2200 6960.0 X X EE //8152 2200 8152.0 X X EE //6960Schedule maintained by Bob Broehrig (broehrig@admin.aurora.edu)
The formats of these stations are not as well known as the YL stations, due to their limited number of transmissions. Indeed, they may well be operated by another organization, some have suspected drug traffickers, due to the poor technical quality, and the use of live, rather than taped, announcers.
Monitored transmission:
Atencion (rpt three times) 7 2 Biente Nueve 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Count message Atencion 7 2 Noventa final final All done
E3 British MI6 Station The Lincolnshire Poacher
Frequencies: 5422 5746 6485 6900 6959 7337 7755 7887 8464 9251 10225 10426 11545 12603 13375 14487 15682 16084 16413 16457
Schedule SUN - FRI (UTC): 1000Z 20474//23461 1100Z 17499//23461 1200Z 17499//23461 2200Z 17499//24644 2300Z 17499//22108 2400Z 17499//22108 0100Z 19884//21866
Frequencies used in the past: 4768 7484 8320 9263 10245 10452 11570 12056 13440 13866 14496 15616 16104 17499 18684 19844 19884 20474 22108 23411Last updated February 6, 2000 Return to Spy Centre
E6 5 Digit English OM/YL - aka The Russian Man
This is a variation of the five digit English station. First, the voice is best described as unisex, some hear it as male, others as female. The Russian man often puts very good signals into the USA. This station continuously changes frequencies.Typical transmission:
529 (rpt) Message to 529 834 834 167 167 167 blocks, 834 means ??? 96970 96970 37660 37660... Message, each block repeated 834 834 167 167 00000 End of message
4 Digit German YL
Similar to the five digit German stations described below. Rarely heard (at least in North America).
E16/G16 5 Digit English/German YL - aka 2 Letter Phonetic
These transmissions often open with tones or some sort of music. Sometimes, a two letter phoentic phrase is heard, such as "Papa Romeo". The preamble opens with "achtung" and a three digit block, generally presumed to be the recipient. (Perhaps it is really the number of the one time pad to be used to decode the message, and the two letter phonetic sent at the beginning is the recipient. This makes sense to me because the agents would listen at the beginning of the transmission to see if the message is for them.) This is followed by "gruppen" and the number of message blocks to follow. The message closes with "ende".Formerly commonly heard in Europe, and North America. This would tend to indicate a European transmission site. Indeed, several years ago, transmissions were DFed to a then East German location. These stations have been rapidly disappearing, Whiskey Lima may be the last one left.
Whiskey Lima is heard 0400 on 5770 USB (Sundays only?)
E10 3 Letter Phonetic (MOSSAD)
A female voice is used to repeat a three letter phonetic phrase (followed by a number), such as "Papa November Oscar Two". This can go on for hours before a message is sent. The message consists of blocks of phonetic letters.A "One" is sent after the identifier (such as "Papa November Oscar One" if no message follows, a "Two" is sent if a message will follow. Extremely rarely, some other number is sent, presumably this indicates a higher priority message follows?
It is generally believed that MOSSAD (the Israel Intelligence Service) operates these stations, and they are often referred to as MOSSAD transmissions. Transmitter sites include Israel, and Israeli embassies and consulates, due to the extremely high signal strengths reported by listeners close to such facilities. In fact, one can assume that many number station transmissions occur from embassies and consulates, as this allows nations (especially those without the resources or friendly allies to situate transmitters abroad otherwise) to place transmitters close to the target areas. International law allows countries to communicate using radio from their embassies.
Typical transmission:
Echo Zulu India Two (rpt) Message to EZI Message Message Group 22 Group 22 Message of 22 blocks of five letters each Text Text Message follows Kilo Papa Tango Romeo Golf Message Bravo Alpha November Kilo Mike... End Of Message Message finished Repeat Repeat Sometimes the message is repeated Message Message Group 22 Group 22 Message of 22 blocks of five letters each Text Text Message follows Kilo Papa Tango Romeo Golf Message Bravo Alpha November Kilo Mike... End Of Message Message finished End of Transmission That's all folksMOSSAD Frequencies
2270 JSR 2626 FTJ 2743 ULX 2844 YHF 2953 VLB 3090 CIO 3150 PCD 3270 KPA 3417 ART 3640 VLB 3840 YHF 4165 CIO 4270 PCD 4360 CIO 4463 FTJ 4604 ROV 4665 VLB 4780 KPA 4880 ULX 5091 JSR 5170 EZI 5230 SYN 5339 TMS 5437 ART 5530 MIW 5630 SYN 5820 YHF 6370 KPA 6500 PCD 6598 NDP 6658 CIO 6745 MIW 6840 EZI 7445 MIW 7605 SYN 7918 YHF 8464 SYN 8641 KPA 9130 EZI 10352 SYN 10970 MIW 11565 EZI 12950 SYN 13533 EZI 14750 SYN 15980 EZI 17170 SYN 17410 EZI 19715 EZI
New Star Broadcasting Station
Believed to transmit from either Mainland China or Taiwan, using Mandarin. Broadcasts usually begin at the beginning of the hour, opening with flute music. Then the station name and program number are given, followed by the recipient number, date of the messagem and number of characters.
OLX MOI Prague, Czech
OLX transmits in both CW and voice. The CW transmission begins with "VVV DE OLX" repeated before the start of transmission.
This station has not been reported since the flooding in Central Europe in Summer, 1997
Swedish Rhapsody
M8 (Cuban Cut Numbers)
M8 is the CW version of V2. It also suffers from the same technical blunders. M8 uses the "cut numbers" system, where each digit is replaced by a letter as a shorthand abbreviation, as shown in the following table:0 A 1 N 2 D 3 U 4 W 5 R 6 I 7 G 8 M 9 T
M8 Schedule
ZULU KHZ M T W T F S S ==== ===== = = = = = = = 0100 4506 X 0100 6850 X 0200 4016 X 0200 5116 X 0200 5419 X X X 0200 5758 X 0300 4016 X X 0300 4028 X X X 0300 4479 X 0300 4506 X X 0300 5419 X 0300 5758 X 0400 3244 X 0400 4016 X 0400 4034 X 0400 4506 X 0400 9062 X 0500 7630 X 0500 9062 X 0500 10127 X 0700 9064 X 0700 9153 X X X 0700 9238 X X X 0800 8079 X 0800 8089 X 0800 8095 X X X 0800 8136 X 0800 10237 X 0900 9238 X 0900 10127 X X 0900 10448 X 1000 9153 X X 1000 9238 X 1000 10714 X 1100 4173 X X X 1100 4328 X 1100 4478 X X X 1100 6797 X 1100 6854 X 1100 7846 X X 1100 10127 X X X 1100 10345 X X 1100 10446 X X 1100 10714 X 1200 4508 X 1200 6767 X ? 1200 6797 X X X X 1200 6825 X 1200 6854 X 1200 6866 X 1200 6933 X X X 1200 6982 X 1200 7890 X 1200 7997 X 1200 8135 X 1300 6786 X 1300 6854 X 1300 6866 X 1300 6932 X X 1300 6982 X X 1300 7320 X 1300 7890 X X X 1300 10566 X 1400 7890 X X 2300 4506 XSchedule maintained by Bob Broehrig (broehrig@admin.aurora.edu)
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csmolinski@erols.com Chris Smolinski