Nineteenth edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999 00:07:49 +0100)

Korean & Chinese stations | Morse stations | Voice stations
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Voice stations

The NNN station [E12, G12, V12, V18, M02]

The former NNN station was possibly the first multilingual station. Its marker consisted solely of the letter "N" sent in Morse Code, repeated slowly for five minutes. The station was on the air for sometime and is now inactive. Over the years it has appeared on many different frequencies at many different times. The station used four languages: English, Hungarian, French and either Yiddish or German - probably Yiddish, as the numbers used resemble Yiddish more than any other station. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0 in Yiddish is:
"eins zwei drei vier funf sechs siben acht neun null"

There is some doubt about whether some German numbers stations are in fact in Yiddish. It is difficult to say, one way or the other, just by listening to the numbers themselves. Similarly, certain Slavic language stations are difficult to identify positively as the numbers are so similar. One thing is certain: no German or Yiddish station uses the official pronunciation for number "2". The "zwei" sounds toomuch like the number "3" (drie) to be readily differentiated over shortwave so every station uses the word "zvo" or "svo" instead. In addition, many stations change certain numbers to improve the chances of being correctly received. For example, the number "5" (funf) is often said as "funnef'. This makes it sound like the Yiddish number "5", so one has to be careful.

In the mid-80's the woman's voice used on the station was high-pitched, with a staccato delivery. The same woman was used for all three languages. It seems strange that the operators of this set-up couldn't do better. It was hard not to laugh at her delivery, it was that bad. Around December, 1988, she was replaced but the change was barely an improvement. They went to the other extreme - a slow, lazy, laid-back sound, as though the woman was on powerful tranquillisers. This woman's voice was used till the end of NNN's transmissions. One other minor change occurred with the changeover: at the end of the French messages the old voice would say "fin". Now the word "finis" was used. The formats of the three different languages are identical. On the hour the CW "dah-dits" are sent until five minutes past when the woman announces the group count ("Groups 21, Groups 21") and then goes straight into the five figure text. The termination is either "end", "ende" or "finis". The mode used was mostly AM, although the upper sideband was usually enhanced.

<source: Simon Mason>

Drums and trumpets family [S01, S02, X01, E01, M17]

Aida [S01]

No info on this one. If you have some, please send me a copy for the column.

Drums and trumpets [S02] & the bugle [X01]

Another historic station with a remarkable interval signal was the 'Drums and Trumpet' station, most probably transmitting from former Yugoslavia.

Imagine a scene at a military funeral when the lone trumpeter sounds "The Last Post" and you will have some idea of the musical signal sent by this Serbo Croat language number station. This plaintive bugle sounds about an hour before the transmission of the spy messages begins. Just before the actual message starts a different signal is sent. This is played with drums and trumpets and is a very up-tempo military marching tune similar to those played before the beginning of a battle. The woman then announces (in Serbo-Croat) "Noma 12671, Gruppi 44; Noma 12671, Gruppi 44", and then goes into the five figure text, ending with the word "Krai". The Serbo-Croat figures are: "Jedno, Dva, Tri, Ctyri, Pet, Sest, Osm, Devet, Nula." The woman pronounces the numbers like this: Edno, Dva, Dree, Seti, Pet, Ses, Seden, Octen, Deda, Nula.

The station used three main frequencies: 4740, 5500 and 6675 kHz. Although it has also appeared on 8070 and 5600 kHz.

Ready, ready [E01]

This English language station would appear to be part of the same set-up as the "drums and trumpet" station in that the main frequencies used are exactly the same: 4740 and 6675. The woman announcer tries very hard to sound British but unfortunately the letter "R" in "four" is rolled far too much to sound convincing. The broadcasts start with the woman repeating a five figure identifier. Identifiers noted:
10491 36511 35702 62794 43101 43473 69421 62467 10361 62683 62453 62378 17682 70100 17462 45690 17399 45260 43381 15181 04397 15521 43470 15371 40690 32684 43181 32831 15431

After the five figure identifier has been repeated for five minutes, the woman says the group count ("22, 22") then, "Ready, Ready" and goes into the five figure groups. Times and frequencies noted so far:

[Note: the station hasn't been logged for quite a while]

M17

Mode MCW Constant carrier. Each message sent 3 times each on a different frequency. They do use the same triplets of frequencies for each time slot. Transmissions are Monthly 2 weekly or weekly, on week of each month basis. Either on the Hour, Hour+20 Hour+40 or Hour+30 Hour+50 Hour+70. Mainly on during the evening but have been heard at other times of the day.

First 2 figures of header are schedule numbers.

Frequencies used 3410 3910 4270 4460 4740 5235 5695 5865 6290 6675 6935 7425 7790 8070 9050 9245 10470 kHz

Only known sked: Wednesday 2000 UTC, 3410/3910/4740 kHz

<sources: Simon Mason, Guy Denman>

Cherry ripe [E04/E03A]

Simon Denneen supplied Cherry Ripe's complete broadcast schedule.

MON - FRI (Southern Pacific Local)
SUN - FRI (UTC)

Three note oddity [G04]

Hans-Friedrich's monthly analysis

Message

62125 78545 33025 98545 75125 44125 95458 33014 77458 95214 33258 12014 75458 96258 33654 45212 85452 33222 85412 33014 11258 95458 00145 32125
= 24 groups

Analysis

History

Check for pre-1999 schedules older N&O's

Russian military and E10

On 24 August at 0100 UTC, a Russian military station interfered with E10 EZI's transmission at 9130 kHz. The Russian transmission resembles the ones heard on the 'Pip' station. Here is some of the text:
Liniya-43 ya Liniya-44 priyom (Line-43 here is Line-44 over)
Liniya-49 ya Liniya-44 Priyom (Line-49 here is Line-44 over)

Liniya-44 tried to call Liniya-43 and Liniya-49. There was probably a response from the latter because Liniya-44 asked "I receive you ..... [unreadable], how do you receive me?". Then "I don't receive you, repeat". After this, 44 continued sending calls to Liniya-49.

Czech station 2136

Still going strong on 2136 kHz, every Saturday and Sunday.

I am still looking for schedules and a good recording. Anyone???

Czech station 1122

2136's sister station is a daily guest on 1122 kHz. Apart from the interval signal, the transmission is identical.

Spruch [G20]

Andreas Erbe writes "Though I never heard the station myself I know from recordings that these musical pieces used were not always used for the same Spruchnummer."

Andreas also heard that the time group (Zeit) was actually the time when the message was prepared and not the broadcasting time. If anyone has more details, please drop me a line.

English man [E06]

Hans-Friedrich Dumrese took another look at Mike's Russian Man freq list and covers the English Man (E06) transmissions. The floor is yours, Hans-Friedrich!

What can we see:

• No change of time slots with beginning of Summer time.
• Longest sked observed was 947 with 22 months.
• Most SNs have a 1h repeat.
• Many SNs have also a repeat on the following day (or the following days) = 4 or 6 transmission times:

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