Russian number station UVB-76 went active last night.

The server is too busy now. Grr. Of course I clicked off to go do something else and when I came back it was busy. I am gonna keep trying. Maybe another web sdr is not as busy that can hear it.

Atlantican
Yup tone is shifted down a couple steps. Something about to come through I imagine.
Edit to add: Yup... Seems random tones (data?) came through the lower tones.

edit on 19-3-2014 by Atlantican because: (no reason given)

Skip ahead to 1:35 here. Did what you heard sound like a data burst, or something else?

my only guess for the stations use would be the old kgb sleeper agents placed in foreign territories to carry out guerrilla warfare on the country and when a certain string of numbers are said it activates the agent
(not much to back up this apart from the story from call of duty black ops2)

reply to post by Cuervo


Nice avatar. Goya, right? I don't think afrequency paper shredder would be necessary, theyve got their 1-time pads.

reply to post by Nyiah


That video gave me the eee's. heeeb jeebs. WHERE what when is it from?

Cool find! S&F to the OP.

For many years I have been fascinated by Numbers Stations and have done a considerable amount of research into them, and the philosophies behind them as well. Even without knowing what they're saying, it's still a quite interesting area of research.

Here are ten interesting facts for those interested...

1. As another poster noted, the reason you can receive the signal one hour and not the next is because of the way High Frequency, or "HF", broadcast signals propagate through the atmosphere. It is for this same reason these stations are difficult if not impossible to accurately locate. The signals from these HF stations bounce ("skip") off different portions of the atmosphere so reception is not a matter of line of sight. An HF signal can be heard anywhere in the world. Sometimes, a signal originating on the other side of Earth can be heard better than one originating just 50 miles away.

2. Through the use of a 'One Time Pad' on the remote end, the same numbers can be broadcast over and over again for years, but mean something completely different each time they are broadcast. There are slight variations in the number sequences on some stations which just heighten the intrigue. If implemented correctly, the code associated with a true One Time Pad cannot be deciphered, not even by the multi-billion dollar code cracking computers of the NSA and MI-6. Each pad is different, and is never repeated (ever).

3. Numbers Stations are as much 'mind games' as they are official communications mediums, and this is part of the strategy using them. The listener has no idea how many people the number sequences are being broadcast to. It could be thousands, or none at all, but the numbers just keep on going...forever. Today the numbers could be being broadcast to 200 people, tonight just 5 people, tomorrow morning none at all and that afternoon to 3,000 people. You can't tell from just listening.

4. Numbers stations can be used to play mind games on an adversary. Let's say I start broadcasting sequences of numbers which can be heard in your country, does that mean I now have spies deployed there...or is it that I just want you to think I do?

5. Consequently, I can make my adversary spend time, resources and money on trying to figure out what I'm up to, when I might be up to nothing at all other than trying to distract my adversary...and make him spend time, resources and money. However, because I keep doing broadcasting, relentlessly, day after day, month after month and year after year I might equally be saying something really important. I might be setting up an elaborate underground network for an uprising, an attack, an assassination or a coup d'etat...and because you don't know, you can't ignore it.

6. As Numbers Stations evolved most countries employing them moved to automated voice generators. These remove any potential for unintended give aways like having a sense of urgency in your voice, etc. The numbers are just an endless string of monotone sequences of usually (5) numbers, but sometimes (4) or (3). Generally never more than (5) numbers at a time though.

7. Numbers Stations don't turn on when there's a message and then turn off when there isn't a message because this would be a dead giveaway.

8. Numbers Stations many times do broadcast other things like music and sounds (the buzzer in the OP's example etc.). More recently there are also squeeks and squawks which are clearly bursts of digital data (but for what?).

9. Strangley, most Numbers Stations are broadcast in English. There are some in other languages like Spanish and Chinese, but the vast majority are in English.

10. There are other mysterious radio stations out there which broadcast all sorts of other weird stuff like odd sounds over and over again. They have some purpose, but no one really knows for sure what that purpose is...only the originator knows the purpose and the audience. The rest of us just have to sit and wonder.

edit...BTW, there are lots of resources out there on the Interwebz where you can find out more about these mysterious radio stations. It's a very fun and intriguing thing to look into.

I call total psy-ops/disinfo on this one.

The ruskies knows the iconic status of the UVB-76 and that it remained unbroken during much of the cold war (as far as we know). Now, when they THINK they have some sort of "upper hand" in this, they fire it up (or an equvivalent transmitter) just to send us the signal that "we are back on track you guys!".
Vlad and his merry gang are masters of psychology, never to be underestimated. This is a terror campaign in its true meaning: it is all about spreading fear and uncertainty, I am willing to bet on it.
Keep listening, for the sake of it, but don't fall for the possible decoy that it probably is...

"The Chair is Against the Wall. The Chair is Against the Wall"

"John has a Long Mustache. John has a Long Mustache."

It's not always numbers either.

this is scary stuff

Cuervo
reply to post by SkepticOverlord

 

Would it be possible to broadcast a broken message on more than one frequency that would then require a person tuning into those frequencies simultaneously in order to hear the actual message?

What you are describing is called "Broadband"

After spending too much time scanning (again) I recorded what appears to be morse code. Does anyone have a program recommendation for converting audio code to text? I think that would be most helpful.
If not here, I guess I can start searching for one.

At one point I had to just walk away. It really sucks me in. I managed to work on my motorcycle for a couple of hours to balance out the day though.

kako187

Cuervo
reply to post by SkepticOverlord

 

Would it be possible to broadcast a broken message on more than one frequency that would then require a person tuning into those frequencies simultaneously in order to hear the actual message?

What you are describing is called "Broadband"

Yeah but a manual broadband. Like you would broadcast several sequential bits of audio on different frequencies and I would listen to all of them, collecting the information. Meanwhile, maybe you would also flood about 100 other frequencies with noise during that broadcast so I would have to know exactly which combinations of frequencies to listen to in order to even understand the message.

Just a thought. This has been going on since the 70's so I'm just trying to think of ways a pioneer in the field may have been clever. That one piece of word I got while listening is what made me think of it in the first place.

Oh great...the woodpecker signal again. Remember the last time this happened ? No of course not you're too young. It was the summer of 1977 and after the signal cut off N.Y.C. had a blackout and then San Antonio went dark. If u have to ask why San Antonio think 7 military bases in one town . Lackland. Kelly. Medina ( 30 sec flight from previous two) Randolph . Brooks. Ft.Sam and Camp Bullis.When bases around the world are closing S.A. remains relatively un scathed. And dont forget the Bell Island Incident in Canada with the use of electro magnetic warfare. DO NOT STICK YOUR NOSE WHERE IT DOESN'T BELONG. IF CRIMEA WANTS TO JOIN RUSSIA AND THEY DO ! LET THEM.

At this point, nothing can be taken as a coincidence. This is meant to be part of everything happening with Crimea being annexed. The U.S. and NATO have been encircling Russia since the collapse of the soviet union, and they are drawing ever closer to Putin's doorstep.

If an all-out war takes place between Russia & The West, you can guarantee that both sides are being played. War is the most profitable machine known to man and the banking cartel will stop at nothing to ensure it happens.

reply to post by Flyingclaydisk


Interesting stuff, I hadn't come across this until yesterday. I think I will do some research into it : )

Ok lets try this again. So the woodpecker signal has gone active again ? Remember the last time this happened? It was the summer of 77 and after the signal died New York went dark and then to make sure we got the message San Antonio went dark. If u have to ask why San Antonio think 7 military bases. Im including Medina given its proximity to Lackland and Kelly AFB's and Camp Bullis. Not to forget Brooks and Randolph and Ft. Sam. And in case u forgot the Bell Island Incident in Canada be reminded the Russian Bear still has all its claws and fangs.

Cuervo

kako187

Cuervo
reply to post by SkepticOverlord

 

Would it be possible to broadcast a broken message on more than one frequency that would then require a person tuning into those frequencies simultaneously in order to hear the actual message?

What you are describing is called "Broadband"

Yeah but a manual broadband. Like you would broadcast several sequential bits of audio on different frequencies and I would listen to all of them, collecting the information. Meanwhile, maybe you would also flood about 100 other frequencies with noise during that broadcast so I would have to know exactly which combinations of frequencies to listen to in order to even understand the message.

Just a thought. This has been going on since the 70's so I'm just trying to think of ways a pioneer in the field may have been clever. That one piece of word I got while listening is what made me think of it in the first place.

Mrs Lamar got there way ahead of you. What your talking about actually is what is called Spread-spectrum or Frequency hopping. Although you are describing a manual version of it. Most modern military radios and many civilian radios task a processor with the jumping from one frequency to another following a complex pattern to prevent simple evesdropping on a signal. Combined with encryption it's very diffcult to break. Even civilian radios using a digital signal but non-encrypted are difficult for civilians to pick up and monitor.

The site's server is currently too busy to load any data.

Apparently we're not the only ones with "ears" on.

SUPER interesting thread/info... I never heard of numbers stations or the like.


To those yelling "psy-ops:" Russia owns several internationally syndicated media outlets... why would they use such an obscure and nearly unintelligible means as a numbers station simply to "spook" people? The use of the numbers stations is not quite nailed down, but there is good evidence provided in this thread that shows they are actually used for military/intelligence message sending... so... given the timing, it seems likely that these signals may actually of great importance.

The comment on Russian TV about "turning the US to radioactive ash..." that is propaganda, to be sure... but paired with this news about their numbers station lighting up... I'm sorta starting to think about a trip up north real quick for a couple of years...

mbkennel
These days, though, stegeanography in any of the billions of images and videos available on the internet could transmit much more useful information to anybody who has access.

Access might be the problem here. If you are a spy and try to enter highly sensitive areas it would be complicated to get a laptop and internet access inside. A $5 shortwave receiver can be found nearly everywhere and there will be no evidence that can be undeleted from a harddisk... It's alsmo much harder to determine if you listen to such a station with you iPod headphones plugged in than watching at your internet traffic in a hotel.

It's working for me currently, 4625 is the creepy buzzing.