CVNI Pseudo-schedules FAQ

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• Disclaimer
• What is the aim of these pseudo-schedules ?
• Where does data come from ?
• How are frequencies computed ?
• How often are these schedules updated ?
• What do these letters besides the frequencies mean ?
• I cannot hear the station although it is displayed on the schedule. Why ?
• I found a frequency/time/slot that does not appear on the schedule. What should I do ?
• How can I fill up the possible gaps ?
• I would like to have a station added to the list. What to do ?

Disclaimer

Listening to numbers stations might not be legal in your country depending on the legislation ruling the part of the planet you live in. We shall not assume any responsibility if it happened to be a legal offence. This point remains an affair between you and your government.

What is the aim of these pseudo-schedules ?

Since mid-1999, an effort was undertaken to centralize world-wide collected numbers stations logs

However, some shortcomings became quickly apparent like:

• The lack of a truly consistent ENIGMA designation policy,
  This point has two aspects : for instance E05, being input as e-5, e05 or E5. The other case is ENIGMA list alterations not being reflected on already entered logs (XB to S28 for instance). These deviations, although easily human understandable, make any computer analysis problematic.
• Confusion between US-style and EU-style date
  Although the ISO standard is YYYY-MM-DD, some logs were entered as YYYY-DD-MM. This type of error is quite difficult to check for. They may even be impossible to detect unless the reported date is later than the actual date of submission. It is unfortunate ISO standard did not override local uses. An alphabetical sort would be enough to put dates in chronological order.
• Duplicates
  Double (or more folded) submissions of frequency/time/date/reporter/comment records.
• Tests
  Some people entered bogus data to test the way the DB was operating.
• Typos
  like entering USN instead of USB as transmission mode for instance.
• Fields confusion
  The most common example of this type is the E10 call sign being entered in place of the ENIGMA designator. But there are many others... Sometimes it is an inversion in the figures of a frequency. When the correct frequency is a traditional one for the given station, then it is easy to correct provided the frequency remains singular. If the suspectedly wrong frequency was entered more than twice, there is no way to determine its validity.

These shortcomings made impossible to achieve the next step of process, Data->Database->Knowledge. Moreover, however valuable the data was, the lack of synthetic results prevented an efficient use without excessive gyrations.

The aim of these pseudo schedules is to fill up these flaws.

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Where does data come from ?

From various sources :

• The numbers DB at spynumbers.com
• The logs that can be found at WUN
• Inputs from various submitters that wish to remain anonymous.

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How are frequencies computed ?

Since most of numbers stations use either full AM, LSB-deprived AM or USB and may sometimes not use round frequencies, to help people having not necessarily sophisticated (and, perhaps, not even SSB-capable) receivers, it was decided not to equally round frequencies, i.e. not on a 0,5 kHz border but on a 0,8 kHz one. For instance, a frequency of 3999,8 kHz and a one of 4000,79 kHz are considered as equivalent to 4000,00 kHz.

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How often are these schedules updated ?

When time permits ! :D

More seriously, these schedules are updated at most once a week. The update process is scheduled to take place during the night from Thursday to Friday. This choice is not innocent. Even if you live in one of the most Eastern time zones of the planet, you are then able to get fresh data on Friday afternoons, print them out from office or from your home in the evening, and make use of it all over the week-end in your spare time.

However, remember it is not assured. It may happen that data is not updated, either for a technical problem or because no new input was entered on that particular week.

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What do these letters besides the frequencies mean ?

These are the 'reliability rating'. Roughly speaking, they try to give an indication about how reliable the day/time/frequency slot is. They are rated from 'A' to 'D', 'A' being the highest rank. 'X' and 'Z' are special ratings.

• 'A' has been logged at least twice, the last time being in the last 30 days prior to the most recent reported log for the station.
• 'B' has been logged at least twice, the last time being between 31 and 60 days prior to the most recent reported log for the station.
• 'C' has been logged at least twice, the last time being between 61 and 90 days prior to the the most recent reported log for the station.
• 'D' has been logged at least twice, the last time being not earlier than 90 days prior to the most recent reported log for the station.
• 'X' has been logged only once during the study period, the log date being in the last 30 days prior to the most recent reported log for the station.
• 'Z' has been logged only once during the study period, the log date being not earlier than the last 30 days prior to the most recent reported log for the station.

The higher is the ranking, the more likely is the station active in the given day/time/frequency slot. A 'X' rating is more likely a newly found frequency/day/time slot than a bogus one. A 'Z' rating is highly dubious.

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I cannot hear the station although it is displayed on the schedule. Why ?

This can be explained in several ways:

• The frequency is active but you could not hear it due to independent reasons, like propagation or QRM/QRN issues.
• It is the result of a typo.
• It was recently discontinued
  (This may happen even if the slot is given an 'A' rating. In such a case the rating will go down, and in less than 4 months, the frequency will naturally be discarded from the schedules).

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I found a frequency/time/slot that does not appear on the schedule. What should I do ?

Just submit it to one of the sources we get the data from, and it will pop up soon.

If, for some reasons, you do not want to submit it through these channels, then drop us a line in our mailbox.

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How can I fill up the possible gaps ?

Quite simple: spin the dial. In order to help you, we provide for each station whenever applicable a list of deprecated frequencies, a list of frequencies that were in use a year ago but do not seem to be any longer active, notes about the station habits, and an analysis.

The good idea, is to read the notes, then use the frequencies of the previous year, and, if unsuccessful, the deprecated frequencies. If all of these fail, then spin the dial.

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I would like to have a station added to the list. What to do ?

Drop us a line in our mailbox and we shall study your request. If the transmission scheme of the station you are interested follows a regular pattern, then it is possible. If not (like some stations as E06 or E17), then only partial data can be deduced like deprecated frequencies or last year active frequencies.

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