The Mysterious and Fascinating World of ‘Numbers Stations’

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Sources:
Sorrel-Dejerne, Olivia, The Spooky World of the ‘Numbers Stations’, BBC News, April 16, 2014, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-249...
Number Stations, Priyom, priyom.org/number-stations
Numbers Stations Research and Information Center, www.numbers-stations.com/linc...
Gorvett, Zaria, The Ghostly Radio Station That No One Claims to Run, BBC Future, July 15, 2020, www.bbc.com/future/article/20...
Segal, David, The Shortwave and the Calling, Washington Post, August 3, 2004, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...
Goldmanis, Maris, Explaining the ‘Mystery’ of Numbers Stations, War on the Rocks, May 24, 2018

[@TodayIFoundOut]

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[@theofficialconeheadcult8858]

happy Christmas sir! and to your team :) stay safe

[@DavidMHeck]

Simon - you should look into the "Russian Woodpecker" (Duga radar), another Cold War relic of the radio waves

[@fredred8371]

Video starts at 1:13

[@christopherreed2694]

No No No Simon is Santa Claus he just cut out all the carbs seriously 😐 he's got the beard he's got the glasses he gives presents every week all over the world 🌎 come on he's Santa Simon 🎅 ho ho ho hold on to your zeb-ra masks merry Christmas Simon whistler to you buddy and your family 👪 😉 ❤ thanks for all the hard work year round on all the channels 💙 from one of your oldest fan's been with you a while man happy new year 🎉 too man

[@BobbyGeneric145]

Simon, watch Truth Seekers episode 2,a British comedy. It involves a number station.

[@Guru_1092]

That's a fantastic thumbnail Simon. Massive props. Edit: I have been informed that Simon does not make the thumbnails. Still a good thumbnail though.

[@MrEnclave86]

This is the only thing I wanted to comment as well. What a throw back.

[@telecastxwass]

That bo1 yea? Or is it from somthing else?

[@PopeyeBjj86]

@@telecastxwass Black ops 1 yo

[@bobthegoat7090]

I am fairly certain Simon doesn't make the thumbnails. A bit of a shame the hosts always get all the compliments, when I know people like Daven do a lot of the work.

[@damian_cross]

Everytime I make a "the numbers mason" joke, my friends just stare at me. No fair. :(

[@KarlWitsman]

In the 1980s, there was nothing more bone-chilling than scanning through the bands at night to hear the Cuban numbers station reading those numbers in your headphones. Creepy.

[@kensmith5694]

There were others that I could hear back then that were additionally creepy because the same woman's voice would be reading out numbers any time you tuned in. It was only after a while that I realized that it was segments of tape recordings. They had someone speak all the digits zero to nine and then had some means to select sequences of them to play out.

[@KarlWitsman]

@@kensmith5694 I have to wonder if she even knew that they did it. What if they took the numbers out of another broadcast like kidnappers cutting letters out of magazines? That woman lives on through her voice, even if she has since passed on.

[@kensmith5694]

@@KarlWitsman Many years back, I did a product that spoke. I hired a woman to create the vocabulary. She spoke all the digits and words like "battery" and "low". She had no idea what the product was or what it did.

[@crf80fdarkdays]

@@kensmith5694 sus lol

[@harrypadarri6349]

@@kensmith5694 And suddenly a North Korean television presenter threatens merciless revenge on you personally for insulting the glorious leader.

[@LongStripeyScarf]

When Russia invaded the Ukraine, the buzzer was going crazy. Every time there’s an international incident involving Russia, UVB 76 starts sending messages. It’s fascinating.

[@mrfinch]

Bump?

[@D364000]

Has it been screaming as of late?

[@LongStripeyScarf]

@@D364000 interestingly, it’s been jammed by people supporting Ukraine. They’ve managed to modulate a pattern to resemble a Ukrainian crest that scrolls through, so you can see it next to the buzzer when you watch on a waterfall feed. A genius hack.

[@veeaa]

@@mrfinch There has been a lot of activity lately, I don't follow it but I saw a video on Reddit on how the station sounded like. I got creeped out, did research and also ended up here. Google "Russian numbers station Ukraine Reddit" for more.

[@a_MhetOtw.4334]

@@D364000 there's been music. Mostly memes and touhou for some reason

[@JeffreySquires]

I really thought this was about why Simon has 83 different KZbin and Podcast stations.

[@Menaceblue3]

83? It's 96 now!

[@carinhall4508]

We may never know

[@Speedy2222]

it honestly seemed like the channel was in trouble. viewership was way down. im glad to see him everywhere still

[@corbinisms8846]

A note about the end of the video; my grandfather was a paramedic for 25 years. Early on in training, he would often pose a question to newbies on the job, and it went something like this; you get to a scene where three people are harmed. One is screaming for help, one is moaning audibly but softly in pain, and the other is silent. Which person do you check on first? The answer, he would say, was always the one who is silent, because you have no idea what kind of condition they are in and may need the most immediate attention or take the longest to figure out. So, truly, if something goes silent, be concerned about that first.

[@ericb6491]

People die fastest when they can’t breathe. Even faster than if they’re spurting blood. A moaning or screaming person necessarily has the ability to breathe. This is a common decision making question on EMT exams.

[@tdotitan8855]

@@ericb6491So if you are in a room with 2 other people who are also hurt, try to be silent in order to get treatment first?

[@ML-nj8fq]

@@ericb6491 People die faster from not breathing than spurting blood? Where the hell did you get that information? It can take about 2-3 minutes to exsanguinate from an artery and it can take nearly 10 minutes to die from lack of oxygen

[@ericb6491]

@@ML-nj8fq brain death occurs much sooner than 10 minutes without O2. It’s harder to start a heart than plug a hole. I’ll give you that it is possible to bleed out in 2-3 minutes provided there is massive trauma. Wondering if you have any actual experience with either of these situations?

[@ML-nj8fq]

@@ericb6491 Military medicine so its a little bit different than civilian side. But some brain damage can occur at what? Around 5 or 6 minutes? Still not as bad as that bleed in my opinion I guess, considering instances like that boy who got trapped in an icy lake and was pulled out nearly an hour later and not only didnt die, but didnt suffer brain damage. I would just be much more concerned about the survival rate of someone severely bleeding for a few minutes vs someone not breathing. Not to mention a lot easier to ventilate someone than it is to fluid resuscitate. 🤷‍♀

[@epowell4211]

My grandparents had a portable radio that picked up TV and some shortwave stations. I loved to play with it, and my favorite one to fall asleep to was the "train station": it literally sounded like someone placed a transmitter in a subway tunnel, as all you heard was a constant thrumming echo and the occasional approaching and passing train. Now you got me wondering if it was a spy channel lol.

[@myanimethighs73]

Fooken radio channel to the backrooms

[@brawnyjoint]

Modern radar can be picked up and sounds like thumping or drumming

[@randybaumery5090]

Could have been a jammer.

[@David0lyle]

Digital information usually sounds like static or some sort of repetitive noise. It’s really typically hard to analyze if you have no idea what the mode might be. 🤔 so maybe? Of maybe not?

[@edithadyyk556]

My family has an heirloom story about how my great grandfather was approached during the mid 1960's to keep a possible numbers station in the attic. He was a multilingual marine corps veteran from the signal Corp. He never spoke about it but once to a relative. He refused the request of the two plain suited men that came to the house that day.

[@crf80fdarkdays]

I wanna know more haha

[@edithadyyk556]

@@crf80fdarkdays I do too. The circumstances of the meeting at the house were strange yet corroborated. Noone ever got a hard answer from grandpa about what they really wanted exactly. Just 2 guys in suits in a black sedan took a walk with him for about an hour down the end of the back 40 then back to the house.

[@IN-pr3lw]

@@edithadyyk556 I've heard stories on 4chan that have proven to be just fake how can we trust you. We can't

[@edithadyyk556]

@@IN-pr3lw I know. It's difficult to believe.

[@IN-pr3lw]

@@edithadyyk556 I did research and it all makes sense now and it's not as creepy as first though. These number stations were used as a method of communication like cryptography and what not for spies and agents in different countries. So that also explains the men

[@I_THE_ME]

*That's objectively the best thumbnail I have seen.*

[@Petem7668]

Yessir

[@shanepye7078]

The episode about number stations in “Fringe”, was a great one.

[@GrievousReborn]

Didn't cause the people listening to lose their memory

[@eddythefool]

@@GrievousReborn iirc it was intercepted by the people of the other world to prevent the ones who had figured out what the numbers meant from trying to go to those coordinates

[@TonksMoriarty]

Don't think we ever got an explanation for that one xD

[@kirab4146]

Great show

[@jrodriguez4352]

First thing that came to mind

[@dictatorofthecheese]

Wish there was at least one time in the video you'd yell "The numbers mason! What do they mean?!" All jokes aside, cod black ops 1 story is what made me interested in number stations.

[@thecrowcook]

AM I RIGHT PETER!?

[@crf80fdarkdays]

Oi same

[@Thestargazer56]

I used to hear some of the mysterious "number stations" on shortwave when I was a teen in the 1960s. I would synchronize my watch every few days with the signal at WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado (I can not recall the exact frequency.). I also listened to "number and tone stations", which I suspected to be a Cuban station as it was broadcast in Spanish. I always enjoyed hearing the Soviet propaganda stations boasting of the Communist achievements late at night on "skip". Of course, the US would also counter by broadcasting on "Radio Free Europe" the US achievements.

[@khausere7]

WWV broadcasts at 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. I used those often for ensuring my HF radios were receiving properly during my USAF days. Depending on location, atmospheric conditions and time of day, one of the frequencies could be stronger than the others, hence the reason they cover the whole bandwidth.

[@kensmith5694]

@@khausere7 WWV also transmitted exactly on frequency. This was good for calibrating equipment. You could "zero beat" a crystal oscillator's trimming capacitor to put it exactly on frequency to have a good frequency standard.

[@jeffreylebowski2440]

My parents used to listen to Radio Free Europe back in the day in Czechoslovakia listening to it was illegal but they could hear the real news from you I have tears in my eyes when I think about that there was somebody helping us broadcasting for us thank you america cheers from slovakia

[@Thestargazer56]

@@jeffreylebowski2440 My brother I am happy that it brought comfort and hope to you. I am afraid that if things don't change soon here in the US that we will fall. Maybe your people can return the favor and we can all be free.

[@jeffreylebowski2440]

@@Thestargazer56 It is true that America really meant something different back then for you but even for us here it was very respected fearless bastion of democracy the strongest and the best superpower with amazing culcural things like the multiculcuralism, megacities, highways, cars, food, clothes, gps, technology overall, NHL, rock and roll, movies, literature, pop art, all kinds of different movements, the moon landing you guys were showing us that we can coexist together and create all these incredible things... But nowadays the critisism of america, propaganda against america, wars, unwilligness of your country to do reforms is destroying your good name and your country unfortunately and my people got too arrogant, forgot how it was who was willing to fight for us you built europe after the ww2. I wish I could pay you back it would be an honour for me but I am worried we are not capable of doing that as a nation rn but as an individual I stand behind the american people 100%. I will remember your help for our region for the rest of my life.

[@xyzpdq1122]

The Conet Project is an absolutely brilliant album of numbers stations. A weird listen, but a fascinating one.

[@oFFtheWall518]

I was just about to comment about the Conet Project. I happened across it on accident a couple years ago and have a weird fascination with it.

[@taiga1295]

Why Conet, though? The word is konec which is pronounced like "conets", not "conet"

[@jeffreylebowski2440]

@@taiga1295 Exactly, also more accurate translation of Conets, Konec is probably Over and not End.

[@rw2954]

As a licensed radio amateur this was a lovely video. 73, M6LRU.

[@itsjustvincey7309]

I don't know why, but I always have seen Number Stations as creepy. It might be odd to think, but if people can be afraid that ducks are somewhere watching them, I'm allowed to believe they are terrifying

[@toamastar]

dw bro same even just static noise coming through a receiever is just enough to send shivers down my spine and eyes watering etc lol

[@LaylaSpellwind]

I have no idea, but Numbers Stations always spook me out. Give me spine shivers. There's one that plays distorted childrens music and then reads something in swedish, and my brain is just like "NO! GO BACK TO BED!"

[@iliapachulia9012]

Oh you mean the swedish rhapsody? It has a young girl or woman reding numbers in german after a swedish tune plays

[@LaylaSpellwind]

@@iliapachulia9012 She's reading in German? That just makes it even scarier! I didn't know that, woops!

[@iliapachulia9012]

@LaylaSpellwind Tbf, the numbers in both swedish and german are similar but the pronunciation makes me think german. I do believe it was also german operated but it operated out of sweden. Funnily enough this number station sent me here and down this rabbit hole at 5 in the morning.

[@LaylaSpellwind]

@@iliapachulia9012 Yeah, that's unfortunately how it tends to go. 5 in the morning? Right, down the rabbit hole I go. Through all the spooky tunes and creepy voices before the sun comes up. XD

[@aSinisterKiid]

This reminds me of this odd radio signal I found when I was camping in the Sequoia's in California on a vacation. It was back in 1995 and I had just gotten the new Smashing Pumpkins cassette "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness". I was 12 years old at the time visiting my aunt so it was kind of a vacation we were on. But with my cassette player I could also listen to AM/FM radio so when I got tired of listening to the album I would try to find songs on the radio. But being out in the middle of a national park in the forest in the mid 90's you can guess there weren't many radio stations to find. I don't remember if it was on the AM or FM stations, but there was this 1 station that came in crystal clear and it was only playing 1 song and an odd one at that. It was playing "Heard it through the grapevine" by the California Raisins, that goofy commercial band from the Raisinets commercial. Once the song was over there would be static for about 20 seconds and then it would start all over again. For the whole week we were out there camping it was the only thing that played on that station every time we checked in on it. Over and over and over without ever changing or anything else being said. No host or announcements or any kind of information whatsoever except playing that goofy song. Still to this day I cannot figure out what its purpose was or what it meant. We always thought it must have been some kind of coded message or secret signal meant for someone to hear that no one else could decipher. Strange stuff back in those days with the radio hahaha.

[@md_vandenberg]

Most likely nothing sinister. I've encountered similar radio broadcasts and all it ended up being was, the old station had shutdown and the new one wasn't up and running yet. Happened with Y107.1 out of Los Angeles, a Modern Rock/Alternative station. After they went broke (couldn't compete with 106.7 KROQ), 3 days later a Spanish language station took it's place. During those three days, "Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano played non-stop.

[@thedemonnemo]

The constant repeat may have been to keep the channel "open" in case someone needed to break in to transmit. Also, given the location of a national park in California during the 90s the chances are good that this station was used by Marijuana growers within the park needing to keep an eye out for law enforcement.

[@darkjudge8786]

Pretty bold of part trained Czech spy Simon to reveal how he gets his instructions.

[@jimiscott]

He's a double agent, working for mi6.

[@Kaarl_Mills]

Spies have two options if they get caught: sing like a canary, or die. That one clearly chose the first option. That said, it's entirely possible that he's a triple agent: pretending to betray his home country, specifically so he can embed himself within his captors intelligence service

[@LogCap4Jobs]

*I greatly enjoy watching your videos Simon! As a long-haul truck driver back in 1988, I was coming down interstate 77 south off of I-81 south one night, and I began picking up on the FM radio, a computer voice counting down like, two hundred thousand, one hundred and 78...two hundred thousand, one hundred and 77, etc. Pretty weird*

[@ksteak27]

Well, dang it.... did it go all the way to zero? :)

[@LogCap4Jobs]

@@ksteak27 I don't know. I drove out of range of the signal.

[@RottenRogerDM]

@@LogCap4Jobs Could been a station being sold. A few years/decade ago one the local radio stations changed owners. Old owners quit paying the staff on Thursday Night. New owners would not pay same staff until Monday. Thursday the staff created a count down. Started sending it. They then left and locked the building.

[@RCAvhstape]

Where were you near? I don't see I-71 crossing I-81 on a map. That's pretty creepy.

[@crazyeyez1502]

@@RCAvhstape i-77 and i-81. Southern Virginia.

[@torstikinnunen3801]

For an RC hobbyist it is interesting that the number stations operate within the frequency range that includes 27 MHz which is one of the most commonly used RC hobby frequencies.

[@christopherdickinson4291]

WAS one of the most used, it's not 1998 anymore.

[@audiodood]

CB radio operates in that same frequency

[@tempest411]

@@christopherdickinson4291 Yes it is! I still have my old Futaba 2 ch. stick radio around somewhere. I last used it in a boat around 2003.

[@justanotherhuman.3649]

Great tumbnail reference fam. Dragovich... Kravchenko... Steiner... Keep the good work fam.

[@Petem7668]

I watched this video purely based on that fact. I love it. Reminds me when I was younger and could play this game all day and night

[@phillxor]

REZNOV! VORKUTA!

[@rcl8793]

There have also been instances of faint voices heard during the Buzzer, indicating it's a live mic with something making the noise, as opposed to the noise being a radio signal standalone

[@pirobot668beta]

As long as the number stations are on the air, everything is fine. It's when they all go dark on the same day that one may take pause. The numbers, voices, tones and other gibberish is just to let the listener know they the stations they monitor is the real thing. The sequence that stations go dark is the real message. US Navy has a 'pilot signal' for attack submarines. No orders are being transmitted on this signal, but if the signal stops, the missiles are launched. ELF, extreme low frequency, can't be jammed, spoofed or blocked in any way. If the ELF stops, US is under attack.

[@christianterrill3503]

ElF can be jammed, as well as scrambled

[@simonpowell9794]

⁠@@christianterrill3503so why does the US navy use a continuous ELF transmission as a dead mans switch? Given that the consequence of signal interruption is nuclear missile launch, I’m sure they wouldn’t do it that way if they couldn’t guarantee continuous, reliable transmission. This is all assuming that the poster is correct of course

[@Sealbinder]

Number stations always make me think of the podcast Welcome to Nightvale. The town has its own numbers station.

[@eudyptes]

The episode specifically about the numbers station was heartbreaking, as I recall.

[@saged1513]

Numbers was my favorite episode of Nightvale! It was sad, but I thought it was really well done! It's interesting to have some real world context!

[@imthenewguy6470]

That was a good episode

[@ArakkoaChronicles]

Imagine if UVB-76 ever went "execute order 66".

[@igorlukyan206]

I would LOVE to see you cover the insane history of the Soviet Vostok Research Station in the middle of the Antarctic.

[@xoso599]

The best part of the Buzzer is that it's not a recording playing into the radio transmitter. It's a recording playing on a speaker into a microphone that is then transmitted. Quality Russian pragmatism.

[@viewofascene]

Not anymore, it's now a much more boring beep 😥

[@RetroSleeper]

@@viewofasceneWait so if the theory of the buzzing being a place holder is true, then it begging to beep would mean some shit is about to go down maybe with the Ukraine situation?

[@jeffreylebowski2440]

@@automaticninjaassaultcat3703 hell i hope so i live next to ukraine

[@tjnucnuc]

No it’s an analog device that makes the sound. This has been proven previously.

[@iliapachulia9012]

​@retrosemen964 oh well, aint that a kick in the head huh

[@Kahsimiah]

Wow, imagine checking that number station for years, hearing the same things over and over and all of a sudden it says "command 153 issued"... I think I would wee a little. O.o

[@LacasseEric]

I'd watch out for weird broadcasts from the Buzzer station in the next 2 to 3 weeks. With the troops buildup near Ukraine's border, it's likely that a war between Ukraine and Russia will occur.

[@toamastar]

I WAS THINKING THE SAME! Haha shame i cant listen to it myself cos i dont have the equipment also im terrified of radio static for the exact reasons laid out in this video lmao

[@joshlee1799]

this bet paid off.

[@dajdasdq]

about that...

[@RCAvhstape]

I was playing around with my SW radio a couple of years ago and randomly found what I think was the Cuban one, the lady speaking numbers in Spanish. Really creepy, but cool to find after hearing and reading so much about them. The tougher thing these days is finding a decent quality SW receiver that isn't junk right out of the box.

[@kensmith5694]

You may have to resort to building one.

[@SubduedRadical]

@@kensmith5694 Hm...? How difficult is that? I kinda want to internet search to see if I can find some instructions...

[@kensmith5694]

@@SubduedRadical One way to go it to make a short wave converter. Basically it turns higher frequencies into AM radio frequencies. Another is to make one of the many regenerative radio circuits you likely can find. They are in the range of the "advanced beginner" hobbyist.

[@Sergei_kv82]

You must of heard HM01, its a hybrid mode transmission. You wont be able to decode it fully don't bother. Listen for it I've heard it many times. Its for only for specific people to fully decode it.

[@ZeSgtSchultz]

"FREEDOM REZNOV!" "FOR YOU MASON, NOT FOR ME..."

[@Petem7668]

😆

[@humanbread2619]

REZNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOV !

[@thatlonewolfguy2878]

I agree that the most likely explanation for UVB 76 is that its a dead man's hand/switch whichever phrase you prefer, it makes sense, the "command 135" was probably a sychronised update to a new schedule possibly or like a "go to plan B" kinda thing, definitely one to monitor, I find numbers stations fascinating despite how super creepy they are like whenever you listen to one even just a recording on youtube its like you've found something you should not be listening to like its really freaky, its like real life psychological horror

[@WATDAHFLICK]

Sadly the truth is that UVB 76 is more or less a station that broadcasts orders and the like to local troops and the like.

[@LieFieLiFi]

I can’t remember where I heard this but I remember hearing that it was used for training operations for soldiers to sync their radios to for some reason or another.

[@XMan75]

It isn’t a dead man switch at all. UVB has gone silent several dozen times and nothing ever happened.

[@TheBlackob]

"despite how super creepy they are like whenever you listen to one even just a recording on youtube its like you've found something you should not be listening to" finally someone puts into words what I am feeling. Even just watching this video, my gut tells me, I should not. The topic is really interesting, but it creeps me out.

[@J_wsh]

@@XMan75 that we saw or know of.

[@jeffashley5512]

I listened to a podcast on Talking Till Dawn that when into number stations and other frequency interruption incidents. I believe they discussed UVB76 and a voice and woman's scream can be heard. Very interesting.

[@robertschemonia5617]

I am a huge nerd, and love WW2 history, mainly the weapons and radio stuff. Enigma and Bletchley Park and stuff. I have been huge into CB and Shortwave since I was 17, and find the lack of info on numbers stations kinda strange. I have heard some really odd stuff on the 27Mhz CB band also that wasn't atmospheric "skip" they call it. It sounded almost more like information packets sent in burps. Don't know why or what it was, but still neat.

[@crf80fdarkdays]

Like actual human burps or?

[@keevisgoat6394]

@@crf80fdarkdays lol imagine Morse code but just burps😂

[@crf80fdarkdays]

@@keevisgoat6394 ikr hahaha. That's my stoner mind thinking I think

[@ckl9390]

Something I've been thinking on is if one can effectively use shortwave to transmit data like one would have with a modem. It would be a way to transmit complex details/schematics/plans without having to use potentially hostile or secured infrastructure.

[@LaurieAnnCurry]

I’ve listened to Simon talk about things I never would have given a second thought to otherwise. Always learn something new thanks to fact boi

[@maverickbna]

Hey Simon! Greetings from Seattle USA... Can you consider covering the Russian Woodpecker, a defunct over-the-horizon radar system used by the Soviets during the Cold War? It was based near Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, and while the signal did not carry any information, it was pretty unusual. It even is the subject of a documentary called Russian Woodpecker. I'd love to see this. Thanks for everything, and have a happy holidays!

[@dasy2k1]

The woodpecker is dead but there is a similar OTHR radar that often wipes out a good chunk of the 40m amateur band (7-7.2MHz)

[@maverickbna]

@@dasy2k1 Yeah, I know it's no longer around, but I wish you could cover these OTH radars that messed with the radio spectrum. Thanks, Simon!

[@RCAvhstape]

If you look up BioNerd23's channel, she did a video of herself climbing all over the Woodpecker's giant antenna some years ago. Fascinating, if scary; she was known for taking huge risks.

[@rubikmonat6589]

The Australian OTH radar is pretty interestingntoo. It spotted the American B2 bomber during testing.

[@christiananzivino1802]

Pretty sure Simon did a video on it already. The actual radar is called the Duga-2 so just look up mega projects duga 2 and it should come up if it’s there which I think it is

[@jeffreycarman2185]

The show Lost is more than a few years old, but it has so many threads to the story, that every now and then I learn more about the inspiration for the show… any Lost fan would know what I’m talking about.

[@ExpatriatePaul]

"Short wave" (3-30 MHz) is technically designated as the HF (High Frequency) spectrum, and takes a fair amount of knowledge to use effectively and even more to use tactically, especially at night.

[@hokutoulrik7345]

Aren't those radios more effective at night due to the reduced interference from the sun's radiation on the magnetosphere?

[@ExpatriatePaul]

@@hokutoulrik7345 No, those frequencies are more difficult to propagate at night due to the D, E, F1 and F2 ionosphere layers thinning and combining.

[@Real-Ruby-Red]

@@ExpatriatePaul how do you know stuff like this? It sounds like alphabet spaghetti. I'm genuinely interested

[@ExpatriatePaul]

@@Real-Ruby-Red I'm retired military and was a radio comm's for my entire career, my bread and butter was HF comm's for many years.

[@hokutoulrik7345]

@@ExpatriatePaul okay. I didn't know that some frequencies got worse at night, but someone who was commo would know better than I.

[@KoffinKat]

Listening to these number stations always scares the hell out of me. I can't explain it, I find them downright frightening O.o

[@stenkamx5406]

Number stations are my personal nerdy obsession. The idea of this clandestine world still happening the the shadows fascinates me.

[@jameshughes3014]

i love how @7:23 this guy's entire disguise involved shaving off his mustache. 😆

[@bhgtree]

Happy Christmas/Happy Holidays to Simon and his team, Thanks for all your wonderful videos and making 2021 better and less difficult.

[@nmxsanchez]

Happy holidays to you Simon and everyone who works to bring us the content across your many (many) channels. Love you guys for making life more interesting. Thank you!

[@MrBraddles3128]

I love how mysterious and creepy numbers stations are. Made me want to learn about cyphers and cryptography. PS: that beard is looking hella glorious.

[@getsmart3701]

This is still your best channel Simon and episodes like this prove it. Respect to you and the team.

[@tiffanyross9313]

I love how even if your videos topic doesn't seem like something I'm interested in, I'm never disappointed, I learned something interesting. Thank you for your diligence to research!

[@jochenstacker7448]

The Lincolnshire Poacher has been used as the basis for the Netflix series Truth Seekers with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. It's well worth a watch.

[@siobhan-rae]

That’s really cool. The series was awesome!

[@tankacebo9128]

I asked my grandpa about these once, a few years ago. around 2009 when CoD Black Ops came out. he was a researcher for Honeywell in the 60s through the 90s, and worked on projects like Have Blue and Tacit Blue. he and his team designed the avionics system for the F-117 Nighthawk. he told me to never mention them again. really piqued my interest, that. when you ask him about Aliens and such he'll say "I can't tell you, I'd have to kill you." with a devious smirk on his face. never told us not to ever talk about it. but the mention of the numbers stations spooked him. told us not to mention that again in his presence.

[@raypitts4880]

yes some information obtained at work has to die with the person this how secrets are kept also NEED TO KNOW that is you only do your bit you do and dont see or know the next move. during the war special equipment was made in 50 10 places again need to know.

[@QueerCripple]

When stuff like this is real, can we TRULY blame people for getting caught up in conspiracy theories?

[@TonksMoriarty]

Yes. Things like this more or less prove why most conspiracy theories are bunk. Number stations have a limited amount of people involved & we know about them. The popular conspiracy theories would have orders of magnitude more people involved.

[@QueerCripple]

@@TonksMoriarty idk man. Some conspiracy theories are actually conspiracies. Doesn't mean all of them are, and I personally think the most recent Qanon stuff is way wilder than theories that were more popular 10+ years ago (and the Qanon ones are in their own category IMO), but it still makes sense to me that the existence of actual conspiracies makes it easier for people to get caught up in theories.

[@briancherry8088]

Like the saying goes... Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

[@QueerCripple]

@@briancherry8088 exactly. Most likely they aren't, but the possibility doesn't change based on your belief in it.

[@caodesignworks2407]

@@QueerCripple You're not important enough for anyone to be after you aside form maybe someone you insulted on the internet.

[@reggiep75]

Danny's short wave radio doesn't work from deep in the basement.. no matter what he does. It could be the Faraday cage installed by Fact Boi to ensure Danny never communicates with the outside world ever again!

[@TheBuckteeth100]

I thought this was a brain blaze from the thumbnail. Still great!

[@stephjovi]

So sorry! That must have been very disappointing. No offense to TIFO but Brain Blaze is the best

[@fr2ncm9]

I've been a fan of international broadcasting via shortwave for years. Listening to Radio Bejing during the Tienaman Square uprising was particularly disturbing and exciting. Most international broadcasters like DV, RFI International and BBC have either stopped using shortwave or stopped broadcasting entirely

[@causti9744]

Did you understand anything from the Chinese radio channel?

[@nBasedAce]

I used to love searching around the dial on my shortwave listening to world news and foreign radio and would always get so creeped out when I would happen across a numbers station. That dead robotic voice just repeating numbers and strange audio of songs was deeply disturbing to me.

[@fr2ncm9]

@@causti9744 They were broadcasting in English. All the western bloc and eastern bloc countries broadcasted in English. The 80's and early 90's were the golden age for shortwave broadcasting.

[@fr2ncm9]

@@causti9744 I was able to listen to Radio Berlin (East Germany's world service) around the time that Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe. It was a fascinating time.

[@fr2ncm9]

@@nBasedAce I had a Sony ICF 2010 with a wire antenna. I lived on the upper floor of a 12 story building in the Northern part of NYC so I got pretty good reception. I would occasionally get the Voice of Vietnam.

[@johnstevenson9956]

I found one of those broadcasts back in the 70s. It made no sense, mostly gibberish and various sounds, and not having any idea what was going on, it was just a momentary curiosity. It was years later before I found out what was going on.

[@sidneysun5217]

thx for doing this episode. when i first heard the buzzer, it was so eerie i had nightmares for days lol im sure they chose that audio frequency on purpose. i think it's pretty fun these mysteries still exist

[@wallrider73]

This is one of the best pieces on Number Stations I’ve seen. Great work. Subscribed!

[@shwetaketutyagi3083]

Keep up the good work Simon!

[@Kangamoos]

When Simon said "when the OGBU...." I totally translated that in my head to OGBB :D

[@JediDachshund]

I learned about these after listening to the Porcupine Tree album. They also show up in some Chroma Key songs by Kevin Moore

[@cloudtowerphotography815]

And a Stereolab song: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6awmpmEgL6nq8k

[@pizmeyre5055]

Great album!

[@axelprino]

The level of trolling that someone could achieve by setting up multiple fake number stations communicating with each other about totally mundane stuff

[@DPImageCapturing]

I have always been intrigued by this, love researching this subject! Thx Simon!

[@ZhatFatScav]

I've always been very interested in the Number Station phenomena, I hope there's some I can catch on my old AN/GRC 9 radio set that I still use

[@SweGrlMom]

Woah, coming here from Brain Blaze I didn't know Simon could read ads this fast with no meandering...🤯

[@EF-69]

I've heard numbers stations many times over the years. They're much more rare now, largely replaced with encrypted digital transmissions. But they're still out there. Cuba operates, sending the same message. Seemingly they still have a budget, somebody is being paid to broadcast even though there's no new message.

[@yellowpowr8455]

This video has a great flow that looped back to the start!

[@kindaslyguy4092]

As someone who's name is Mason, its nice to finally know what the numbers mean

[@sleepyancient6655]

Oh, this is one of those topics I've forgotten so much about. Time to see what I can re-learn. Lots of fun. The buzzer station has only broadcast a recognizable voice like twice, if I recall correctly.

[@StevenEverett7]

Thank you Simon. This one was really, really cool!

[@Martin2112]

Huge Porcupine Tree fan, always wondered where that sample was from, thanks Simon!

[@eaf888]

It said mysterious world of simon!! I thought we were going into your story!! Youre amazing host! Good job!

[@giodawg45]

Love the thumbnail. Black Ops 1 is my favorite CoD

[@Petem7668]

Same here

[@xTerminatorAndy]

I never thought it was going to be this... Today I truly found out about number stations. Well done Simon.

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Numbers Stations one of my favorite topics!! Thank you Simon for this video, that I came across on christmas day :D

[@brianarbenz1329]

Last night I heard a number station broadcast, _"Bearded bald brit now ordered to overthrow the world."_ I'm sure it wasn't anyone we know. :)

[@tremorsfan]

I'm actually reading a Star Wars novel right now where Lando has to communicate using Radio waves.

[@NeilCWCampbell]

Space whales??

[@dishanknayal6118]

First watch a video about number stations by curious Droid...was waiting for you guys to come up with one!!

[@MythicMagus]

I've always wondered about these. Thanks for enlightening me.

[@anonymeister123]

Couldn't an adversary just broadcast over the frequencies with a greater output, washing it out?

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Yes radio jamming was a thing that also attempted. Keep in mind some of these stations were crazy powerful though

[@OldJerzyDevil]

Wow! Great video! Weirded me out. Worse yet, this could very well still be useful today. Agents could could be using old school means to send internet addresses passkey information.

[@PeterCombs]

PS got a 2 year Magellan subscription for Christmas from my wife....its very good.

[@stevenwallace773]

Thanks Simon, something I was absolutely unaware of to make me terrified!

[@stevejester5658]

Here to represent BrainBlaze...alledgedly

[@andreyprince9851]

Lets be honest, these numbers broadcasts are probably one of Simon's many other projects he has going on!

[@thunderwarrior1759]

I was born in 1969 and for my fifth or sixth birthday i received a radio and took to it right away. My father noticed i would listen to it every evening and listen to it to fall asleep and decided to give me a 1950’s Bakelite with new frequencies including short wave and that’s where i first heard a number station and it freaked me out at first but the intrigued me to the point I’d spend my weekends when we didn’t go out scanning the airwaves for different stations and found many. Growing up,getting married and having a family i forgot all about them until a few years ago after coming across a video on number stations and found myself back and this time it wasn’t just me it was hundreds on her and on forums from many different countries around the world and it took two words to have me diving deeper than ever before “Conet Project”

[@daniellenelsen4641]

9:20 I thought Simon said "OGBB" at first, I was like, secret BB code!!! 😂

[@Swoop187OG187]

These numbers stations are a good example of something that appears mysterious on face value but aren't mysterious at all - they're just misunderstood.. The best part is that if you wanted to you could triangulate and locate any of these broadcasts and just ask the operators what they're doing and most broadcasters would just tell you over a cup of coffee or a beer, lol.. Look, my dad is a "ham radio geek", lol.. He was a communications engineer in the US military during the 70's, he also an engineer for Northrup Grunman for a decade and has been a ham radio junkie his entire life - he's a licensed high power operator and has been involved in the ham radio culture/community for over 60 years so given his expertise about a decade ago I asked him about "numbers stations" - he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, so I played him some examples of "numbers stations" and he started laughing - he said they're nothing more than "repeaters".. So I dug a bit deeper into the subject just out of curiosity and 99% of these "Numbers Stations" are just that - "repeaters" which are used to calibrate radios but they serve other technical purposes.. Obviously there are plenty of weird er mysterious stations out there, and no doubt these stations could and many presumably have been used for nefarious intent such as spying, however the reality is that there are weird people in this world that do weird, but benevolent things so I don't know why ham radio is any different - I mean the world and culture of ham radio IS WEIRD to begin with so, lol.. I mean ham radio culture really is a community within their own and the type of people involved in this community are "special" to say the least, lol.. So yea, like I pointed out - 99% of these "numbers stations" really are just benevolent repeaters that help ham radio operators calibrate their radios. They operate 24/7/365 and they use numbers, because why not? these repeaters are no different from a "mic check" so they need to broadcast something.... Now obviously as I stated - that doesn't mean there aren't spies out there using ham radio - because there almost certainly are - however if spies were going to use ham radio to pass messages it wouldn't be via numbers stations or repeaters -- I mean it's extremely easy to triangulate and locate these "numbers stations" - so their locations are not secret by any means...

[@burtbackattack]

Thanks for your clarity on this. I was thinking "I bet there's a slightly boring reason behind it" and your explanation makes perfect sense. Thank you 🙂

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodNitpicker]

Wow, mystery solved. Strange that the vast majority of ham Radio operators don’t know about this. You would think it would be on the test or something.

[@Swoop187OG187]

@@FriendlyNeighborhoodNitpicker The vast majority of ham radio operators don't know what the heck a "numbers station" is, lol... Of course when you show them an example they're like "that's a repeater" lol.. Obviously spies do use ham radios but 99.9% of these "numbers stations" are sadly just repeaters, that or amateur broadcasts.. I wish it was more mysterious than that but unfortunately it's not.

[@MusicalRaichu]

My dad's radio could pick up short-wave frequencies. In the early 70s there were lots of stations, although they declined over the decade. Even then there were these frequencies that would send a continuous buzz where sometimes a voice could also be heard. My dad's theory was that the voice was a broadcast and the buzz was a foreign authority deliberately blocking the broadcast by rendering it inaudible.

[@CatOcatastrophe]

That could be very viable; very plausable

[@daneast]

Great video! A couple other bits of information. A lot of number stations transmit continuously, and it is likely that the majority of what they transmit is simply random numbers. That makes it impossible for eavesdroppers to know when the message recipients need to listen in. If it only broadcast when there were actual messages at predetermined times, then that would be the time you start correlating the behavior of potential spies with the broadcasts. It also makes the pads even more effective, because even if the enemy gets a pad, they don't know which broadcast numbers are the actual message to apply to the pad. One-time-pads can be reused to some very small degree, without risking the breaking of the encryption. Especially if the pad is very large, and they are only reusing small portions of it, and they only reuse it a few times at most. This is compounded by the random numbers, again making it hard to correlate what numbers to apply to the pad. One-time-pads require absolutely secure, pre-arranged delivery of the pad data (usually a piece of paper, but there's no reason it can't be on an air-gapped digital device). So the spy has to somehow bring the pad data with them, or receive it once in the country, and that must be done with total security. That is one of the weaknesses is that physical data must be securely moved around. It is possible there could be short sets of numbers that are code-words that the spy memorizes. Like a simple command such as to go into hiding, or to begin their return home, etc. In fact, it is extremely likely this is the case. Thus the number stations are a combination of totally random numbers, one-time-pad encrypted messages, and simple direct commands.

[@Melody_Raventress]

As an electronic music and history lover, I've been a fan of "The Conet Project" since I discovered it in 2015 or so, there really is nothing else like it. The numbers stations and their continuous broadcasting tells the story of the tensions between nations better than any news report. They keep going, and more come on.

[@marcmcfarland1153]

Now you gotta do an episode on EAMs and Flashtraffic messages. Skyking Skyking do not answer, mainsail out

[@CAP198462]

Didn’t Rockstar games put numbers stations in GTA:V? If I’m right, I think that says something about their place in society.

[@AidanMillward]

There’s a creepypasta of a numbers station in Fallout 3.

[@colombianguy8194]

This is a super interesting topic for me, some years ago, i managed to get a small Sony compact radio with 11 SW bands, so at my bed at midnight I started to hear for numbers stations, When suddenly I catched in perfect clear the Cuban Lady, the HM01 hybrid mixed number station. I'm in Colombia, so the signal was strong, I jumped from my bed in a mixing feeling of joy and fear LOL!

[@johnjesberger5676]

Those recordings from The Conet Project are some of the creepiest things I ever heard. They really blew the dust off my dormant Cold War paranoia.

[@DUARTE99]

I'm starting to think that Simon is either the anti-Christ or a time-travelling know it all. Both personalitites would be interesting at parties.

[@MrShanester117]

How about a guy with a script

[@thedarkonestaint6105]

Loving the black ops background. Black ops and bop2 are the best cod, change my mind. I'm a huge zombies player

[@Petem7668]

Ahh the good ol dayz

[@markeppley1287]

Couldn't agree more my friend

[@Tommis288]

This story is so great, and Simon makes it better :) Need more information about it, ahem :)

[@jackhyatt7739]

Loved this video

[@Immortalized4evr]

Simon, if I could make a suggestion, you should try recording your audio with a condenser microphone. There are some instances where the sibilance is overpowering and makes your video unwatchable. The harsh 'S' sound can become very distracting at times when listening on headphones. Thanks.

[@s13zenki]

Lmao what

[@FirstToken]

Simon, you were on such a good roll until you got near the end and presented the Buzzer information. Prior to that the video was well done and informative, containing relatively few and minor errors that was very well done for a generalist video. But then the Buzzer information started leaning towards the more grandiose beliefs about the Buzzer. The Buzzer, and similar stations (Squeaky Wheel, Pip, Goose, etc), are not spy numbers stations, they are military oriented. The frequencies used by those stations are particularly bad for communicating with external assets, but work quite well domestically or regionally. The messages on the Buzzer can sometimes come at a rate of several to many a day. Other times there may be a week or two between messages. And the ending of that segment, "should that drone ever stop, it might be a sign that something very very bad is about to happen", pure hyperbole. The Buzzer has stopped many times in the past, and sometimes for days or even weeks at a time. And nothing bad has happened that can be tied to it.

[@Cherry-bq4oh]

Oh Simon, I can always trust you've long since made a video on whatever I happen to be interested in on any day.

[@Kadeo-ms6qw]

I have no clue why but UVB76’s buzzer always gives me the willies