Ninetieth edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2005 13:16:41 +0000)

Memory lane

Many of you do remember the late Havana Moon. I found a couple of his "Los Numeros" columns from 1990 and 1991. In one of them he mentions his top 10 numbers frequencies. Some of them are still on the air, on the same frequency even.

1.	INTERCEPT	:	6824 kHz, 0500 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	Gypsy violin music followed by a brisk male announcer passing 5-Digit Romanian numbers traffic.
	COMMENT	:	The last known intercept of this infrequently heard station - which very rarely passes traffic -was in 1986. This transmission ended with "Terminat" repeated 3x.
2.	INTERCEPT	:	6785 kHz, 0505 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	5-D Spanish, signal 40 over S-9 with occasional deep sky wave fades - much like a clear channel broadcast band station. Audio was muffled.
	INTERCEPT	:	6824 kHz, 0509 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	5-D Spanish, signal peaking atr S-9. Fading pattern was seemingly identical as the transmission on 6785, but not in parallel. Audio was also muffled. 6785 ended its message at 0514 and went to open carrier. 6824 ended at 0520. Both stations left the air a few seconds later, seemingly simultaneously. (H. Helms, CA)
	COMMENT	:	Curious time management - could these two transmissions have come from the same transmitter site?
3.	INTERCEPT	:	5015 and 7404 kHz, 0000 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	Papa November 3/2 format German Numbers preceded by a musical interval signal, reminiscent of a music box. (G. Zeller, OH)
	COMMENT	:	Papa November stations continue to be heard with great regularity in this country in spite of the radical changes in Eastern Europe.
4.	INTERCEPT	:	31.268 MHz, 1800 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	5-D Spanish, heard in Northeastern Missouri at mid-day on a scanner. (Z. Eaton, MO)
	COMMENT	:	This isn't the first time Numbers transmissions have been reported in this frequency range. Curious. Very curious. Was this skip? Or was it something else?
5.	INTERCEPT	:	4881 kHz, 0300, 0330, 0400, ad infinitum.
	DETAIL	:	This station makes the top ten only because of its persistence. Commonly called "Bulgarian Bette", this YL announcer sits on this frequency night after night reciting numbers.
	COMMENT	:	Although the language used in these transmissions has long been thought to be Slavic in origin, there is ongoing controversy as to whether or not it is a true Slavic language. A recent Radio Netherlands Media Network report suggested that the language is in fact Macedonian. That's right, Macedonian. And to think I thought that went out with Alexander the Great!
6.	INTERCEPT	:	7415 kHz, 0345 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	The regular high speed CW Numbers transmission on this frequency is generally preceded by a long string of CW "E's". On the night in question, the frequency was occupied by a band of Pirate radio broadcasters. The CW operator replaced his usual string of E's with a string of very clearly heard "`..-. ..-`"s.
	COMMENT	:	Guess the Soviet Naval station that occupies that frequency isn't totally lacking in humor, now, is it?
7.	INTERCEPT	:	8063 kHz, USB, 0531 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	Multitone interval signal with station ID as Lima Alpha repeated for five minutes. Followed by "Achtung" and 5-Digit German Numbers. (W. Blight, MD)
	COMMENT	:	The Lima Alpha Stations fall into the Papa November family of Numbers and are extremely rare in this country. Good Catch!
8.	INTERCEPT	:	10125 kHz, 0200 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	Echo Zulu India - usually a full message with text - an English phonetic alphabet station attributed to the Israeli Mossad. On the night in question, it changed its format and passed no message. The header changed to Echo Zulu India Two. (K. Kaye, NY)
	COMMENT	:	A header of this kind is indicative of a "No Traffic" message. A sudden shift in format can be significant in circumstances where repetition and conformity are generally the rule
9.	INTERCEPT	:	22110 kHz, 1400 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	5-D English, repeating groups. YL announcer with a marked accent. Transmission ended with the following 5-D group - 0 0 0 0 0. (A. Tannenbaum, MA)
	COMMENT	:	This got even more interesting. At various times, this transmission has been found on 22220 and 22330. Maybe we'll find it on 22440 one of these days.
10.	INTERCEPT	:	7411 kHz, 1918-1920 UTC.
	DETAIL	:	"Hilarious Numbers Parody" as reported in the May edition of The ACE Bulletin. 5-Digit Spanish Numbers, male announcer, all numbers were replaced with words for Mexican food, eg. Tequila-Guacamole-Frijole-Tortilla-Chili; Nacho-Nacho-Guacamole-Burrito-Tortilla, etc." (The ACE Bulletin)
	COMMENT	:	It takes all kinds, so make mine a Tecate . . .