Beeps, Blips, and German Schoolgirls: A Numbers Station Primer
by Cody Go Karts

SOURCE: H. OFFICE – I. BRANCH

STATUS: INVESTIGATIVE PRIORITY, ARCHIVAL, CONFIDENTIAL

SUBJECT: MISSION B-652 DEBRIEFS

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TRANSMISSION START

AGENT: 8-ORION

REGION: WEST COUNTRY – KENNETT

SUBJECT: MISSION B-652

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THURSDAY 11.5.98

I ARRIVED AT MY LOCATION SHORTLY BEFORE NOON ON THURSDAY. IDENTITY AS MATHS GRADUATE STUDENT CONFIRMED. AFTERNOON WAS SPENT SETTING UP ACCOMODATION AT THE FARMHOUSE NEAR SILBURY HILL AND SURVEYING OUTLYING AREAS. IT HAD BEEN RUMORED THAT MI6 (BRITISH INTELLIGENCE) WAS AROUND EARLIER IN THE WEEK ASKING QUESTIONS OF THE LOCAL SHOPKEEPER. OUR OPERATIVE IN THE AREA SUPPORTED THIS CLAIM. APPARENTLY THE COOK ON BOARD THE STEAMER I HAD TRAVELLED STEERAGE ON WAS A SLEEPER FOR ONE OF THE PORT-BASED INFORMATION RINGS THAT HAD SET UP SHOP IN THE DOCKLANDS, EAST LONDON. NEARLY GOT CAUGHT BEFORE I HAD EVEN ARRIVED SO THAT THE GREASY SPOON COULD GET AN EXTRA FIFTY QUID. NO ACTION REQUIRED ON PART OF THE COOK AS IT WAS ESTABLISHED THAT MI6 WAS OUT OF THE AREA. RENDEVUOS WITH REGIONAL OPERATIVE AT WEST KENNET LONGBARROW SUCCESSFUL. RECEIVED NEW SCHEDULE AND OTHER DATA REGARDING CYNTHIA IN ADDITION TO TRANSFORMER FOR SHORTWAVE UNIT. ESTABLISHED FIRST DISPATCH FROM CYNTHIA’S SHORTWAVE BAND AT 21OO HOURS GMT. END.

FRIDAY 11.6.98

VIA DISPATCHED INSTRUCTIONS, I TRAVELLED TO LONDON EARLY IN THE MORNING TO RENDEVOUS WITH ALLIED SLEEPER AT KING’S COLLEGE. RENDEVOUS SUCCESSFUL AND PROCURED FIRST SET OF TWO COMPENENT DOCUMENTS FOR MISSION COMPLETION. NO FURTHER SIGN OF MI6 ACTIVITY IN REGARDS TO THIS MISSION. TRANSMISSION RECEIVED FROM CYNTHIA AT 1500 HOURS GMT. MADE RESERVATIONS FOR FOLLOWING NIGHTS STAY AT LONDON’S PLAZA HOTEL REGARDING ROYAL LINEAR ALGEBRA DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY (R.L.A.D.S.) RECEPTION. RETURNED TO FARMHOUSE AND RECEIVED NEXT DISPATCH AT 2100 HOURS GMT. END.

SATURDAY 11.7.98

SPENT MORNING PREPARING ARGUMENTAIVE POINTS FOR R.L.A.D.S. RECEPTION. TRAVELLED TO GLASTONBURY AND RETURNED TO FIND THAT FARMHOUSE HAD BEEN VIOLATED. OPERATIVE INFORMED THAT MI6 HAD BEEN IN THE AREA. MISSION SECURITY IN JEOPARDY AS I HEADED TO LONDON. NO CONTACT WITH CYNTHIA DUE MISSION DYNAMIC CHANGE. R.L.A.D.S. RECEPTION ATTENDED AT 2000 HOURS GMT. END.

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NO FURTHER MISSION DEBRIEFS WERE RECEIVED FROM AGENT 8-ORION. HIS BODY WAS FOUND IN THE THAMES NEAR CHISWICK, LONDON OPPOSITE THE STAG BREWERY ON WEDNESDAY 11.11.98. NO TRACE OF THE FIRST SET OF MISSION DOCUMENTS HAS BEEN FOUND. SLEEPERS WITHIN KING’S COLLEGE AND IN THE KENNETT REGION REPORT THAT MI6 WAS ALERTED TO 8-ORION THROUGH A CRACK IN THE CYNTHIA DISPATCH DATED 2100 HOURS GMT, 11.6.98. CENTRAL LONDON MI6 CRACKED THE DISPATCH AND MOVED ON THE FARMHOUSE. 8-ORION FAILED TO RECEIVE THE STAND-OFF MESSAGE FROM CYNTHIA AND, CONSEQUENTLY, NO TRACE OF HIM WAS SEEN AFTER HIS ATTENDACE AT THE R.L.A.D.S. RECEPTION. INVESTIGATION INTO BOTH THE POST-RECEPTION PROCEEDINGS AND THE LOCATION OF MISSION DOCUMENTS SET ONE IS ON-GOING.

END OF TRANSMISSION

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Your scribe has procured the preceding document from sources deep inside the Central Intelligence Agency. The circumstances surrounding the disappearance and subsequent discovery of Agent 8-Orion’s body are not new. Since the advent of espionage there have been numerous situations similar to this and countless stories born from them. A few facts remain true: espionage is dangerous, don’t trust the cook, and shortwave numbers stations provide a vital medium for communication to agents in the field.

Shortwave numbers stations have been around since the early 1960's and they're still in abundance today. Initially, theorists posed the solutions that these stations, which reside in the high-range, shortwave band, were used for weather forecasting or shipping information. However, monitors of the shortwave band and agent testimonials soon revealed the true nature of the quirky, seemingly inane broadcasts – they are the messages sent from the intelligence organizations of the world to their agents in the field. Skeptics still abound, but the evidence is overwhelming. Hundreds of these stations exist throughout the world, transmitting blocks of numbers in a set pattern at regular intervals. A female voice is usually employed and often the transmissions are in the form of familiar tunes such as the Old English folk song "The Lincolnshire Poacher", which sounds like "Pop Goes The Weasel" before Brooklyn-based rappers 3rd Base got a hold of it a few years back. A German numbers station even utilizes a female child’s voice to beam a dispatch known as "The Swedish Rhapsody" to its recipients. Anyone seen the Olsen twins lately? Among the organizations who employ numbers stations in their activities are the CIA, British MI6 (British Intelligence), Israeli MOSSAD, Cuban Intelligence, Cuban Rebels, and Czech Intelligence. Rumor also exists that drug organizations utilize the shortwave band and the numbers station system in their trafficking efforts.

Until recently, the archiving of shortwave numbers stations had been the realm of shortwave enthusiasts and government agencies and their counterparts who broadcast these messages. We in the private sector hardly knew of their existence. Luckily for us there are new compilations of these silly little things that make it easy to transform your stereo into a living, breathing espionage machine!

Have a gander at the multimedia CD-ROM known as The Numbers Racket. This compilation features over 10 hours of recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations, along with text describing stations, their format, schedules, frequencies used, background information, and more. The whole shebang retails for around 25 dollars and can be sized up at http://www.blackcatsystems.com/ for those with access to an internet-linked computer unit.

A more comprehensive and professionally done package known as the Conet Project is available from Irdial-Discs. The four CDs that compromise this package contain 150 recordings spanning the last twenty years which have been taken from the private archives of listeners from around the world. The 80-page included booklet, once read, will virtually guarantee you will not look at anyone wearing headphones the same again. The Conet Project retails for around 70 dollars and can be found at most shops that employ people who look like spies.

If you own a shortwave unit or have access to one, chances are you can find a numbers station by simply scanning the different sections of the shortwave band. For the computer-equipped, several internet sites have comprehensive schedules of various stations around the world. These schedules, used in conjunction with a shortwave radio, will give you an excuse to stay inside virtually around the clock. If you don’t have a lot of time to dilly-dally around, you can almost certainly hear a 'classic' numbers transmission which will run from 15-30 minutes by tuning your radio to 11468 kHz any Saturday at 4pm EST (2100 UTC). The signal from this Saturday transmission is very powerful and can be heard across the United States.

To hear the transmission that Agent 8-Orion received his information from, tune to The CIA Counting Stations at 1900 hours (7:00 p.m.), any day of the week at frequencies 5153 kHz or 7473 kHz. You will need a shortwave radio to do this. This station precedes each transmissions with the digits 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 for about ten minutes. A female voice is always employed. The announcer has been nicknamed CynthIA by monitors of this station. She sounds lovely. Some CIA Counting Station transmissions are known to originate from a group of sites in rural Virgina, southwest of Washington DC, collectively referred to as The Warrenton Training Center.

Shortwave Numbers Stations are at once both fascinating and frightening. To hear them is to peek into a world that, like Seigfried and Roy’s, we know very little about. So grab a friend who has a shortwave radio or check out the aforementioned compilations to get a glimpse of what all the gossip is about. After listening, maybe you will, like me, begin to feel the paranoia slowly creep over your body until you walk down the street in a zig-zag motion.

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• Cody Go Karts is the deep cover alias of one Chad Brown,