Numbers Stations

Adamcp898

Just curious to know if you can hear many of these in Ireland?

Also are there any cheap short wave radios that can be used to pick these broadcasts up? Ones like this all have the SW bands set and so you can't tune in between them where most numbers stations broadcast

watty

Yes, you can. I've been hearing them since 1966.

They are designed to be received on a cheap ordinary radio with Shortwave. The Tesco €10 Worldband set is good value. The Lidl & Aldi "worldband" sets are just annoying alarm clock radio sets. Very poor.

Roberts is owned by Glen-Dimplex who also own Morphy-Richards. The Roberts sets are x3 to x10 overpriced. The Roberts set in your link looks suspiciously like the cheaper Kaide and Degen models and likely is no different in performance to the €10 Tesco model.

The numbers stations are on the Broadcast bands.

I haven't heard any numbers stations lately but I haven't been looking. You need patience or a schedule.

Daytime for higher bands (19m to 16m), if they are open and night time for lower bands (49m 31m etc). 21m most of the time.

The recent BBC "news" story is a rehash of a very much older BBC report.

Adamcp898

watty wrote: »

Yes, you can. I've been hearing them since 1966.

They are designed to be received on a cheap ordinary radio with Shortwave. The Tesco €10 Worldband set is good value. The Lidl & Aldi "worldband" sets are just annoying alarm clock radio sets. Very poor.

Roberts is owned by Glen-Dimplex who also own Morphy-Richards. The Roberts sets are x3 to x10 overpriced. The Roberts set in your link looks suspiciously like the cheaper Kaide and Degen models and likely is no different in performance to the €10 Tesco model.

The numbers stations are on the Broadcast bands.

I haven't heard any numbers stations lately but I haven't been looking. You need patience or a schedule.

Daytime for higher bands (19m to 16m), if they are open and night time for lower bands (49m 31m etc). 21m most of the time.

The recent BBC "news" story is a rehash of a very much older BBC report.

Thanks very much for the thorough reply. That's great news about the radio, I was under the impression the numbers stations operated between the set shortwave bands.

Yeah I read that story alright and immediately thought it was familiar, I remember reading it the first time around.

dxhound2005

They do mostly operate outside the broadcast bands. I have come across them from time to time but I never went looking for them. This site has up to date loggings with plently of Youtube videos.

http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/board,7.0.html

This is a receiver in the Netherlands which you can control. You could try out some of the frequencies to see if there is any activity.

http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

watty

But close enough for coverage of a domestic radio. The point is the Spy doesn't have a suspicious "special" radio. Just an ordinary one.

Adamcp898

dxhound2005 wrote: »

They do mostly operate outside the broadcast bands. I have come across them from time to time but I never went looking for them. This site has up to date loggings with plently of Youtube videos.

http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/board,7.0.html

This is a receiver in the Netherlands which you can control. You could try out some of the frequencies to see if there is any activity.

http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

Thanks for those links!

...__...

I was hugely into these when i first started radio the exietment when you hear a linconshire poacher or e10 is unbeatable
there was a big group who used to have all the listings of these but a quick google and i cant find them.
I remember my first mossad station and listening to her sexy voice call out those letters!!!! oh happy days all on my old aor ar2800 (with bfo) what i would give for that little beauty of a radio back again

dxhound2005

...__... wrote: »

I was hugely into these when i first started radio the exietment when you hear a linconshire poacher or e10 is unbeatable
there was a big group who used to have all the listings of these but a quick google and i cant find them.
I remember my first mossad station and listening to her sexy voice call out those letters!!!! oh happy days all on my old aor ar2800 (with bfo) what i would give for that little beauty of a radio back again

It might be the Enigma (nice acronym) group you were looking for.

http://www.apul64.dsl.pipex.com/enigma2000/

http://www.spynumbers.com/enigma.html

...__...

enigma that is the one cheers
lidl or aldi are doing the shepo silvercrest sw radios again not bad if you fit an antenna to them

watty

They are terrible sets. The Tesco €10 Worldband is superior.

Don't be fooled by digital display on the Aldi/Lidl ones. They are inferior and only usable really for Preset Memory stations which they "forget" easily.

Dublinflyer

Watching the US cold war show "The Americans" at them moment and was explaining to the other half what number stations are as they feature in it. I played her a bit of the Swedish Rhapsody Numbers Station from you tube and it freaked her out no end.