Footsteps Station - A Shortwave Radio Mystery

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Recently, a viewer emailed me with a shortwave mystery which I thought I’d investigate and try to get to the bottom of.
John sent me an email of some great recollections from heyday of shortwave monitoring. He says, there was also the “footsteps” station which was always very strong here in the Washington D.C. area.
It wasn’t as loud in South Carolina however. The sound of the signal was like that of a man on a flight of stairs. He said a man because the sound had a different “cadence” than that of a woman.
He said he never heard the transmissions start but did hear it end occasionally. He also said there was a very military sounding male voice giving numbers and phonetic letters in four letter and number groups.
John heard this signal in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
There isn’t a lot to work with here but after some research and speaking to a friend of mine Simon Mason who’s a well known name in numbers stations circles, I might just have the answer.
The USA's Numbers Station Was Traced To This Secret Facility
• The USA's Numbers Stat...

[@marlomontanaro3233]

I've heard similar "thumping" sounds in broadcasts using actual records. The turntable is mounted in a whole cut in the table. The tone arm for the turntable is also mounted directly to the table - making the table into the actual turntable base. The thumping sound comes from the belt drive of the turntable as the belt comes around to the splice in the rubber and it crosses the gear that drives the turntable. The little "thump" is picked up by the tonearm. In music broadcasting, you wouldn't really hear it because the music would drown out the thump. But in spoken recordings it became obvious. In tape decks, I've also heard a similar "thump" when the capstan rollers get dirty and little lumps of material build up on the rollers. So I don't believe it is actually footsteps you are hearing, but something similar in the audio chain.

[@jani140]

I agree. This really sounds like switches, actuated by a rotating cam like old telephone equipment.

[@bobsoldrecords1503]

Belt drive turntables historically, have little to no use in legit radio stations. Idler driven or direct drive have been industry standard for the last 80 years, or a bit longer.

[@andylinton2798]

There's no splice in a drive belt. And belt drive is seldom if ever used in broadcast. However some BC turntables used idler drive; If they were left 'in gear' which switched off, i.e. the idler is still held against the drive spindle and the rim, the rubber idler can develop a flat spot, which can be picked up by the cartridge as 'thumps'.

[@rumeunner3245]

All quite creepy when you think about it..

[@stormshadow_6477]

Shortwave really is a gift that keeps on giving.

[@calt03]

My oh my

[@stormshadow_6477]

@@oscarleijontoft Very true...

[@richard7crowley]

Back in the analog era (before voice synthesizers) they would use things like magnetic drums (or discs or tape loops?) with separate tracks for each digit or letter. That thump sounds a lot like the artifact from the splice in the loop or the seam in the drum going past the playback head. And there would be a track on the drum for "silence" (between "words") So leaving it running on the "silence" track would sound like footsteps(?) A WWV tour video here on KZbin a few years ago revealed that they were using a magnetic drum (or disc?) for the voice announcements even into the digital/synthesizer era.

[@BenHelweg]

Phone systems would use them.

[@tfm55x]

@@BenHelwegI was thinking of the Automatic Number Identification systems used by AT&T from the early 70s until digital systems replaced them. They used a strip of photographic film with the digits recorded as optical soundtracks. The optical sound pickup could then be sequentially positioned over the required track for the digit to be spoken. In some cases, there were a series of fixed pickups for each track, and the appropriate output digit could the. Be selected. The “footstep” sound would be where the film strip was spliced into a loop. Cognitronics made the systems for AT&T.

[@RickPMandel]

It's nice seeing someone with shortwave and number stations. Once I get an antenna back in the air, I think this will be a fine hobby for winter listening. Keep up the great work!

[@Wa3ypx]

Even a random wire strung around your ceiling. At my office, I have a 40 meter dipole with one leg broken off and I can hear enough.

[@nathanlawrence2484]

Ive finally gotten over my "shortwave is creepy" phase and now think this is pretty cool. Glad i subbed!

[@johnwalton5576]

Wow! I'm not sure how you are able to produce so many interesting videos in such a short amount of time, but however you are doing it, please keep it up and thank you!

[@RingwayManchester]

Wow, thank you!

[@stratojet94]

not sure if you ever would like to do a video on gong station or swedish rhapsody but I have some info on it including the female voice operator

[@expert8997]

SPILL THE BEANS MAN

[@RingwayManchester]

Drop me an email

[@tuc-dh4df]

I live in Bristol, around the summers of 1968/9 I lived in the Hartcliffe area of the city, around 7 o'clock on some evenings the tv would get static then someone playing what I think was a harpsichord for about ten minutes! very odd!!

[@stratojet94]

I love this channel so much

[@AdamEbelgccengineering]

I wish that short wave radio would return back to it's hey days. Shortwave will always be here forever, but not always the Internet. People need to stop taking the Internet for granted and make short wave radio a back up system.

[@BigDaddy-yp4mi]

Wow....super insightful thought you have there. Makes me wonder why they don't also have p2p mesh systems that can back-haul shortwave. Be even better if it was a portable all in one kind of deal. Oh wait, they already do all that and even more. There's people all over the world that coordinate in no official capacity whatsoever that setup all these doomsday communications networks set to run if civilization were to 'stop.' Some of the setups are actually REALLY cool stuff and mind you, I'm no HAM enthusiast. I know what it does, how the radio waves propagate and maybe 4 or 5 phrases of their weird lingo. But even I find what people have slapped together really, really neat.

[@Daniel-S1]

6:55 It is not the 'Ascension Islands' but Ascension Island. There are a lot of masts there and it was the first place that first heard Neil Armstrong's voice and message as he landed on the moon, before the signal was sent on to the USA. There was a space shuttle tracking site and a missile range tracking facility and other 'stuff'. Some of the aerial 'farms' were erected in about in 1985 or 86. It also has the transmission site for the BBC World service - perhaps the biggest set of transmitter aerials you will ever see.

[@thormusique]

Truly brilliant, Lewis, cheers!

[@davidsradioroom9678]

I don't know how you get all the information for your videos, but I'm glad you do! Thanks!

[@Wenlocktvdx]

I remember tuning around shortwave in Melbourne in the late 70s and finding several transmissions that sounded like rapturous applause that never stopped. Wonder if it was some form of jamming?

[@nillchen]

could be Radio North Korea after the Great Leader gave a speech. No seriously, I think that could indeed have been jamming. Sometimes it was interrupted by a two letter morse code over here in Europe.

[@burgesj7]

Your content really gives me the willies. Freaks me out

[@blaubarbier]

My youtube algorithm is a wonderful wonderland of weirdness. My interests are vast and ever expanding. But I celebrate the moment your channel came into my orbit. I love your content. You are my current favorite creator on here. Keep on keeping on, my friend.

[@RingwayManchester]

Ah! I appreciate that so much. Thank you

[@Strange_Club]

I think the KZbin algorithm must think that my account is shared by 20 people.😅

[@matteng2332]

I truly enjoy your videos, keep up the great work.

[@RingwayManchester]

And I truly appreciate you man. Thanks for the kind words!

[@ka4dqe606]

I've always thought those sounds were tapedeck warble ... perhaps why it continues sometimes during the counting. Great channel ... really enjoy it. Cheers

[@user-zt8ri7pw6j]

Excellent work, my dear boy!

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

There's always something to listen to on shortwave! Great video again Lewis!

[@RingwayManchester]

Thanks Clint!

[@boilerroombob]

I miss Cynthia and her extended family ....so active in the 90s due to u.s foreign policy poking its nose into most corners of the earth this coupled with its motto " the worlds buisness is our buisness"..... against the backdrop of the 1st gulf war and the build up to the 2nd its was always around somewhere.....she must be a grandmother by now even a great grandmother possibly......I can clearly remember the weekday evening transmissions overloading my ssb communications reciever in South Essex u.k after swapping signal data and an average fix and triangulation by enigma listeners we felt its transmission was from us facilities at raf Barford St Oxfordshire Great video Lewis

[@thebegrsshow]

Thanks once again Lewis, I regret not recording some of the "anomalies" I used to tune into so you could ferret out the logical answer for their intended purpose. Things that made me go Hmmm, for years. 🤣

[@wisteela]

Very weird. And of course, interesting.

[@gir489returns2]

Thank you for making this video. I never heard of the Workshop before, it sounds like an avantgarde band playing over a number station, I think they had something here.

[@simonmason8582]

Great video, Lewis. 🙂

[@RingwayManchester]

Thanks for your help Simon!

[@Bluelagoonstudios]

The footsteps could be ours, in the 70s we made a record with footsteps in it, naming "Footsteps" it was a New Wave tune. But I don't think they could have it from us :) we recorded it in an abandoned coal mine site. And was being heard through the entire song. It had some airplay on radio Caroline back then. But that number station was probably terrifying. When we heard our recording, it had already something sinister.

[@Darryl_Frost]

the 'footsteps' sound like a slower woodpecker more than footsteps, I bet the actual timing of them is very precise.

[@JaykPuten]

I love these numbers stations n spy related videos.... makes me wanna just take some gig cash and buy a SDR, or a SW radio with a good antenna and join the radio community Thanks for videos like these, as it's just cool to hear old radio stories n mysteries, and makes me wonder what's out there currently

[@Strykenine]

I can't wait to talk to my FBI agent about this.

[@caseysmith544]

I have heard in 2007--2008 or so the Russian station when my Grandpa on dads side had given my dad and I his old Radio (as a Joint Birthday present) that could pick up Short Wave, Long Wave, AM and FM as well as an odd thing for all emergency weather station bands getting some from Canada as I am in South Dakota. That Russian one was creepy at the time. I also was on the local Airport Signal where they kept saying somebody is interfering with the signal but I can still hear you okay just not 100%, then I noticed that was me and left that part. I used to use it to tune into BBC Radio 1 at the right time AM Long Wave, getting more the boring part of BBC that kept telling you this was the BBC Radio on repeat, the Station I think was off air?

[@anthonyfranz8317]

I didnt know this one....wow what a find!

[@SteveInScotland]

The footsteps follow the same timing as the numbers. Consider them to be blank segments, imagine eleven tracks maybe on a magnetic drum with numbers 0 through 9 and one blank track.. you then rotate the drum and switch what head is output….so we go Uno (switch) Dos (switch) Tres (switch) blank (switch) blank (switch) blank (switch) uno (switch) dos (switch, etc. the footsteps are just the head remaining on the blank track and there being a “click” between each recording/word. It could equally be a multi track loop tape.

[@petermainwaringsx]

The more we learn about this sort of stuff the less we know. Really mysterious stuff, some of which I remember hearing as a short wave listener from way,way back. I wonder if the background sounds have some info in what appears to be noise/clutter. Thanks for the stuff you do, and the way it is delivered.

[@rambo1152]

I think the intended audience (Agents) for these transmissions would be typically listening on ordinary domestic radios with no accurate frequency readout, so the more bizarre and distinctive the signal, the more likely it will be found.

[@RevMikeBlack]

This is probably not the case, but the "stepping" sound is very much similar to that of a pulsar neutron star.

[@bobsoldrecords1503]

Fascinating! I'd never heard of this before. Now, if we can find out why HM01 had cuckoo clocks, Westminster chimes and S&M p**n playing along with the messages, I might be able to get a good night's sleep 😅

[@luminousfractal420]

Have you heard the song "high voltage - electric six". I think it may be whats going on there 🤣

[@glennquagmire1747]

It was Maxwell Smart walking to see the chief

[@sondrayork6317]

The sounds you’re describing are akin to that of a room bug that was left turned on.

[@LillieCats]

It sounds so creepy 😱 Idk why just something about the static or the glitchyness of the automated voice

[@praveenb9048]

Remember the "tac... tac... tac..." footsteps in the Spy vs Spy comic in MAD magazine?

[@PaulSteMarie]

Hmm. I wonder if the footsteps and other background sounds are the actual transmission. It would be interesting to get a large sample and identify any patterns or variations in the sounds. It would also be useful to analyze the signal for any subsonic or ultrasonic components.

[@mattjackson9859]

3:46 Immediately recognised this as being sampled by Porcupine Tree on the end of the track "Even Less"

[@DavidEsp1]

I think Marlon got it (drive belt), but I just woke up with "return-track" (groove, wider/deeper than a crack, hence more of a thump?, cutting back across the main tracks) - were any records ever made with those?

[@normanhill535]

Today that site is the Washington Terminal Radar Approach Control ATC center, which controls several DC area airports. TRACON facilities serve major metropolitan areas with several airports.

[@raybokor2]

mr ringway you should document all of your stuff in a book

[@edumacat3d]

i love weird radio stations

[@danisgay100]

Just curious question, what about carrier modulation mis-match being responsible for the clicking aka "footsteps"

[@davidbrass2562]

I think I know what signal is being discussed here and it did not sound like any of the ones you discussed here. I was very young when I started shortwave listening. This was in the late 80’s early 90’s and it was clearly the sound of footsteps walking across a solid floor. Think dress shoe sound. You would here footsteps they would stop and then start again. And it was as if the microphone was right there next to the footsteps. They weren’t quiet as they are in the signals you played here. I also remember the signal being very strong here in Western PA on a telescoping antenna

[@brianstuntman4368]

You mentioned you can't play any clips from the Conet Project CDs due to copyright. The audio is available for download under Irdial's "Free Music Philosophy" so clips could be used, unless they consider your videos to be for commercial use (perhaps ask them).

[@RingwayManchester]

That’s true but KZbin flags it up

[@Liammcgowan]

could be an accidental effect where there is a theramin type field effect volting an unused transmission gate..

[@paulg0170]

Nope

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

*_"Who do they belong to?"_* Uh, someone wearing shoes? 😉

[@CaptainDonut0]

The second number station had numbers sayd in lithuanian. Vienas, Du, trys, x4 it repeats then affter 3 it counting in spanish.

[@winstonchurchill6506]

Do i hear footsteps no but i talk to the trees.don't tell lewis

[@craft-o-matic399]

Uno dos tres quatro cinco seis siete ocho nueve dies. Spanish counting number 1 -10 with footsteps. Strange. This stuff creeps me out. But it is also fascinating!

[@ulexite-tv]

The "footsteps" are an audio artifact. I have heard similar sounds on cracked or heavily scratched records at the outer edge of a 33 13 rpm 16" transcription disk of the type used for US Armed Forces radio broadcasts. If this is the source of the noise, the thumps start off slowly because of the extra-large diameter of the 16" disk, and they gradually pick up speed as the needle approaches the center of the disk and the diameter of the needle's path decreases.

[@rodcooper763]

Hi Lewis, Thanks for all your work. I would like to add my 50 cents worth about the footstep sounds. The turntable belt theory is great. However, the comment of magnetic tape is what I think it is. I have been experimenting with magnets on tape as a type of asmr for over 20 years. Magnets can create very unusual artefacts on tape. It happens when reels or cassettes are placed near speakers, when tapes are touched directly with magnets or when, similar to another person in the comments above mentioning the fact how dirty capstan shafts transfer magnetic particles onto the tape surface. Usually, these sounds are very quiet and can be heard near the noise floor, no pun intended. I crank the volume right up to hear these sounds in the amplifier. The sounds appear as pops, pips, crackle and squeaks. But also other sounds can be louder such as thumps, bumps, whistles and whining. Bumps from turning levers or buttons during operation can cause repetitive bumps also, even when the original operation of the tape machine's function only happened once, yet repeats on the tape. I have even created a pre-echo that appears before the recorded audio. Some sounds that I create with the magnets I have no idea why they occur. Some artifacts like steam train whistles only occur on the darker coloured tape stock. I don't know why because these sounds take me years of listening to work out how I have made them Magnets applied to a tape are DC. Also magnetic tape heads are microphonic like a turntable needle and cartridge. The echoes of the footsteps are the most mysterious aspect of this whole sound mystery. I had to listen to the video many times. They give the footsteps some colour, but it's not room echo it's on the tape. The turntable belt join theory nearly convinced me, great thinking by that fellow, but turntable belts are several inches long and the footsteps repeat too quickly, even on 78 rpm the bump in a belt join would have a longer gap between repeated thumps. Magnetic click sounds can be very repetitive throughout a whole tape, like a scratched record or rotating belt. Tape crackle can sound almost identical to surface dust on record grooves. I hear this after a few footsteps on your fabulous video. The changes in volume, ie proximity to the left on microphone, is classic tape dropout created by wear and tear ot tape stretching. Yes, My comment is very stretched out. More like 50 dollars worth, but your worth it mate and so is your work.... priceless. Thanks Lewis your an absolute legend.

[@numberstation]

John heard something that from his description sounded a lot like The Noisy Workshop. One reason you ruled it out was because XW was never heard sending strings of numbers. But if XW was a jammer then it would by definition be operating on the same time and frequency as an actual numbers station, which was its target. Perhaps John was hearing the two stations simultaneously?

[@RingwayManchester]

The dates don’t add up

[@КГБКолДжорджКостанца]

what was the background noise that sounded like wind

[@mikekokomomike]

Anyone remember the marker signal that sounded like a bagpipes playing the same 11 note sequence with a small pause between...? Late 60s early 70s.

[@David0lyle]

Interesting, I was thinking, if you were interested in placing a bug or covert listing device one of the first things to recognize is that the “intelligent” part of the signal is probably not going to be at a much greater strength than the background. (Understandable, they aren’t exactly talking to you.) as such there’s a great deal of esoteric signal processing or fiddling around with the signal once it’s been recorded. Now I’ve never heard of a shortwave bug. 🤔 But I can see the potential utility. A listening device could be planted and then monitored from half a world away. Could they have been testing the capability of such a device?

[@MrLunithy]

All this led to the sort of signal JDFPG use.

[@stewarttyler6445]

Are there any number stations still active today.

[@RingwayManchester]

Yes quite a few

[@TVADSNOW799]

What is the purpose of a counting stations?

[@KanishQQuotes]

I recall once catching a station that played Chinese music for like 2 hours non stop

[@sulyokpeter3941]

Can you do a video about the RAF Fylingdales, and the similar ones located in the US?

[@CapStar362]

you mean the BMEWS Pave PAWS Ballistic Early Warning?

[@CapStar362]

Or are you referencing the Listening Stations , like the Echelon Program?

[@sulyokpeter3941]

@@CapStar362 BMEWS Pave PAWS

[@cdes68]

Observe the changes.

[@NgolazoKante]

Hi Lewis. I have an important question. :) United or City? Cheers from the US

[@TelfordO]

Has to be United 😊

[@RingwayManchester]

Neither 🤓

[@rambo1152]

I've got a MUFC radio related anecdote! In the '90s they had a match-day radio station at Old Trafford on 1413 kHz Rather than turn off the TX at the end of the days broadcast, it seemed to me that they simply switched off the mixing desk leaving the input to the TX effectively unterminated. If you listened carefully you could hear talkSPORT weakly modulating the carrier along with a lot of buzz/hum. It was obviously being picked up by the connecting cable from Moorside Edge about 30km away.

[@neilsheppard6673]

Really creepy.

[@DavidEsp1]

scratched record? (or press)

[@g1egz]

I wasn’t aware that microphones were that sensitive, in those dayd? Maybe l,m wring, lol

[@Nico93]

surprisingly early!

[@tibblescat2918]

How can a company copyright a recording of someone else s broadcast. Does this mean if i record Kylie off the radio i now am the copyright holder ?

[@RingwayManchester]

Exactly, I don’t know how. Many weren’t recorded by them either

[@michaelcobb1024]

KZbin’s copyright system has been abused by fraudulent copyright claims for years now. The system is broken. Many fake companies have been claiming copyright over random pieces of audio/video, even public domain works, en masse. and even if you appeal, KZbin will always side with the company that claimed the work

[@johnmacleod4481]

I could never receive shortwave stations on my tecson 660 radio

[@g1egz]

I know l might regret asking this, but why??

[@Billy_Bad_Ass]

Investigating the CIA? Ringway, we hardly knew ye...

[@robertbruce7686]

True goomba intel stuff....

[@captainwin6333]

Dark Side of the Moon.

[@Samariapain]

Yellow daisy?

[@КГБКолДжорджКостанца]

KKN50 and Cynthia

[@captainscarlett1]

I think it's just some bored shift-workers f'ing around.

[@forthedisenfranchised4366]

I was surprised at the conclusion as there was no reference to numbers being spoken in Spanish.

[@rambo1152]

What's there to say? I would say it's no more than a a channel marking preamble. 123 123 123 1234567890

[@BaloonLlama6056]

The numbers mason what do they mean

[@simonmason8582]

Not a lot. 🙂

[@TheSillyshyguy]

Anyone ever copy the Graveyard boys back in the 70's?

[@DavidEsp1]

Radio Check

[@rambo1152]

Graveyard boys, no. Cemetery Nets, certainly!

[@TheSillyshyguy]

@@DavidEsp1 exactly

[@normanhill535]

Could be from the transmitters in Warrenton Virginia, if it was strong enough to be heard in Washington.

[@sondrayork6317]

1 2 3. 1 2 3. 1 2 3 in Spanish lol

[@g1egz]

Whilst it is interesting, it would be better , if you had clips of said noises, and we could give our opinion, ?

[@RingwayManchester]

I gave you clips of each station???

[@swallowxx]

Uno. Dos. Tres. Cuatro. Cinco. Seis. Siete. Ocho. Nueve. Cero.