Numbers on the Air

The days of the radio are dying. Television and the internet have become the main source of entertainment and communication today. Seemingly forgotten is the world of shortwave radio, and one of the biggest mysteries in it.

You’re driving down a country road; your radio is on a low AM frequency just picking up static, when all of a sudden you hear a tone, a few beeps, and then a female voice saying 1-2-3-4-5-6. The sequence repeats, and then stops. You just heard the mystery many call a Numbers Station broadcast; named such because mostly all broadcasts contain a number sequence. (CLICK READ MORE TO CONTINUE READING!)


Numbers Stations can be traced all the way back to near the start of shortwave radio during World War I. They normally start at very specific times, and go by a strict schedule. They can be found all over the world, in many languages. So, what’s the purpose of them?
Although there is no sure explanation for any one broadcast, most of them are believed to be a coded message sent from a government, for spies to decode using a one-time pad, on undercover missions. It may sound made up but there is some compelling evidence that this is the truth.

Perhaps the biggest reason to believe that this is true was the case of the Cuban Five. The Cuban Five were a group of 5 Cuban intelligence officials, who came to the United States to infiltrate anti-Cuban organization, and government offices in the Miami Area. They were charged, and convicted of many crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder. During the trial it was revealed that they were receiving information from the Cuban government through the Atención Numbers Station. A well known Number Station based out of Cuba, which broadcasts throughout the Caribbean. They are said to have had written down the number codes, received using Sony hand-held shortwave receivers, and decrypted them using a computer program on a laptop. The FBI testified that in 1995 they had entered the accused spy’s apartment, and copied the decryption program. Which they later used to decrypt the Altención messages. Here are a few messages translated from Spanish.

"prioritize and continue to strengthen friendship with Joe and Dennis"

"Under no circumstances should [agents] German nor Castor fly with BTTR or another organization on days 24, 25, 26, and 27." (BTTR is the anti-Castro airborne group Brothers to the Rescue)

"Congratulate all the female comrades for International Day of the Woman."

Numbers Stations are also mentioned in Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton's book Spycraft.

A Numbers Station has also been tracked to the British military’s Royal Air Force base on the island of Cyprus. The station has gotten the nickname” Lincolnshire Poacher” since it plays two bars from the popular British folk song. You can find a schedule for the Lincolnshire Poacher station here.

Some would think that they would have died down after the Cold War ended, but that isn’t the case. In fact, in a world where anything on a computer can be hacked into. It seems that the simplicity of a shortwave signal and a one-time pad are gaining more favor. Some also believe that drug smugglers are now using their own Numbers Stations to communicate across borders.

Anyone interested in Numbers Stations should see the Conet Project. The Conet Project is a four CD set of recordings from Number Stations from around the world. The Conet Project was done by Akin Fernandez, and published by England's Irdial-Discs record label in 1997. Irdial-Discs released the CDs .mp3 files for free online for anyone interested in listen to them. Some of the records have also been used in various films and music, such as the movie Vanilla Sky.






For more information on this fascinating subject, check out the links below.

Wikipedia Page
Damn Interesting Article
Conet Project wiki page (Links to everything about it in there)
CBS story about Numbers Stations