I would pick up these number stations on my 'walkie talkie' as a kid. I would stand outside and tune into anything that wasn't static. I would spend most of the time listening to truckies on their c.b radios. Some times I would pick up a lady's voice repeating numbers, like a recording. I had no idea what it was, so I just ignored it. It was like "1...3...6...4....8...3...2...end" repeated. She had an Australia accent (I live in Australia) and I could only pick the signal up sometimes. This was all about 15 years ago. Could there be government spies in Australia too?

I had more fun with 1 walkie talkie than 2 of them

Wow, this is very interesting. I might have to go and have a look for a cheap SW radio reciever. I have to admit, this creeps me and intrigues me.

Sounds a lot like what the OSS and other WWII agencies did to send codes out to thier agents. I bet that is a good guess as to what it it, all we have to do now is to break the code ... and the get 'disappeared'

anybody know what frequencies I should use to try and pick these things up? Ive got a handheld scanner that picks up HAM frequencies. Can I pick these transmissions up?

The two biggest factors for those wanting to hear the various number stations are:

1 a SW receiver that has continuous coverage across the SW bands - most cheaper models have large gaps between the bands and that is where most number stations are located

2 a SW receiver that can pick up single sideband (SSB) transmissions. Not only can you listen to number stations but also many other strange broadcasts like morse code beacons

Originally posted by Toasty
I would pick up these number stations on my 'walkie talkie' as a kid. I would stand outside and tune into anything that wasn't static. I would spend most of the time listening to truckies on their c.b radios. Some times I would pick up a lady's voice repeating numbers, like a recording. I had no idea what it was, so I just ignored it. It was like "1...3...6...4....8...3...2...end" repeated. She had an Australia accent (I live in Australia) and I could only pick the signal up sometimes. This was all about 15 years ago. Could there be government spies in Australia too?

I had more fun with 1 walkie talkie than 2 of them

Sounds like the tv show Lost!

exactly - the writers of that show have said that they got the idea from the real number stations out there.

excecpt that on the show its the same sequence over and over again whereas the real stations are broadcasting coded messages that change every day - which in many ways is way cooler.

Just think what kind of top secret espionage could be going on...

"Honey dog had puppies Timmy got B in math pick up mik and smokes at store"

We'd hear the "numbers" stations when we'd get into the South China Sea, on into the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Always a female voice reading off 5 digit groups. It was reported as Israeli Illicit.

I have a transcript of the in-depth report on numbered stations that NPR broadcast several years ago and as soon as I find it I will post more information. I tried just now to locate it again on NPR.org but could not find it. To summarize what I remember:
- they had no explanation on what the hundreds of stations really are
- someone tracked one of them to a military base in Florida so some appear to be run by US govt
- some have transmitted the exact same code continuously for decades

it would have been the first one. the second one could be related but I am not familiar with it

You know, I completely forgot about hearing these stations until I stumbled upon this thread today. I'm 38 now, but when I was around 5yo, my father used to deliver single travel trailers (Aljo, Streamline, etc.) to dealers around the Western US. I remember going with him sometimes and I would be mesmorized/intrigued by finding these stations while playing with the "CB." Thanks for the trip down memory lane guys and I'll come back for updates.

Number stations .... a possible explination
I'd bet a good few quid that if you did direction finding on these broadcasts that they would lie in the flight paths of planes mainly due to maybe them being those automated height finding things for aircraft or something along those lines?

that's something completly new for me, thx for making this topic!!WOW

This thread has been pretty long dead but I am hoping someone can answer me or I am just going to make a new thread about this.

Has anyone tried messing with the recordings and playing the numbers backwards at different speeds? I remember listening to a recorded Bill Clinton speech when played backwards you could clearly make out numbers being spoken. So, one could assume that if you play these numbers backwards at different speed you could get the real message.

IT WOULD BE SUPER COOL if someone new a website with the type of program that was free to download to do this since I don't have the program and I always wanted to hear if that Obama "Yes we can!" is actually saying "Thank the Devil!" or something like that.

Hope someone answers! Later.