I have become interested in numbers stations just over a week ago and it's gone so far that I already know a fair amount about them. I even discovered how the one-time pad stuff works and how to encrypt and decrypt words via one-time pad. I still can't decrypt numbers station messages though because a vital piece of information required isn't in their broadcasts. Only the encrypted message is sent over the airwaves. For those who don't know what a numbers station is, basically it's a very unusual radio station (most likely owned and operated by the governments) that broadcasts on shortwave radio frequencies. They're distinctive and odd because they often have some kind of "distinction" to them such as a few musical bars, sounds or notes. They have voice messages as well that transmit series of numbers and letters, secret messages that are intended to be decrypted by those who the message is intended for. One such example of a numbers station is UVB-76, nicknamed "The Buzzer" and also known as MDZhB. UVB-76 is a Russian numbers station that broadcasts buzzing noises in a beeping like pattern 24/7 and is interrupted by voice messages on rare occasions. It probably started around 1982 around the Cold War time. It can be heard on the frequency 4625 kHz or 4.625 MHz on either USB setting or AM setting. You must use a shortwave radio if you want to hear it. What makes it even more unusual is the buzzing noise is probably some kind of device placed in front of a microphone, meaning it's a constant live transmission. You can sometimes hear voices or music in the background. It's old location was located close to Povarovo, Russia (About 40 km north of Moscow) and was abandoned in 2010 when the station moved to a different place. It was inside an isolated building and it was abandoned due to "consuming too much energy". Some things were left behind however, including a journal or radio log that confirmed broadcasts had been transmitted on 4625 kHz. We don't know where the new location of UVB-76 is as of now. Here is a clip of the UVB-76 station (before you ask, yes, it's fine. I asked if this video would be fine and it is)(This is NOT my video!): UVB-76 The Buzzer - Voice Message 23/August/2010 Prior to 2010, the buzzing was interrupted only three times. Once in 1997, once in 2003 and once in 2006. After the fourth one in 2010, the station became much more lively, sending voice messages a lot more frequently. If enough people ask me to, I will show you how to use a one-time pad format to encode and decode messages. Discuss other numbers stations and/or your thoughts below!
I have heard of these, I used to be in the UK RAF at college and they appear in our training stuff as "clandestine transmissions". The UVB-76 one is rumoured to be dead man's switch, it could be there to check whatever command structures are functioning, if its silent they go to some preset training. But we don't know what is. The UK Royal Navy actually uses Radio 4 to see if the government is functioning, if it goes down then they open an envelope from the Prime Minister and follow his orders, could be retaliate with nukes, join an ally like the US or Canada etc. this is actually true, Blair and others admit to writing them. The UK have had them in Cyprus, we had one called the "Lincolnshire Poacher" which played the folk tune its named after. MI6 are rumoured to be behind it, I think its not active anymore. It then says in a posh British Womens accent random numbers that are probably match to a one time pad (decryption algorithm) there is a LGBT link since Alan Turing's team was behind the algorithms for them, they haven't changed in years since they work and are secure as anything if they are used properly. Hey I did Avionics (Aviation Electrical systems) radios I know alot about and my college had a huge radio tower and could pick up these things they freak people out so we use them as pranks , and I love all this type of stuff, its actually interesting, its not just small countries, the UK, US, Canada, Israel, Russia, China etc. all run them. They have become kinda popular thanks to Call Of Duty Black Ops
As a ham radio operator, I come across these stations regularly when using my HF radio to listen to shortwave outside the ham bands. My favorite bands are 10 meters, 12 meters, 17 meters, 20 meters, and 80 meters. Very handy to use the 10 meg weather broadcast to check for ionosphere condition. I love listening to the weather beacon at different times of day. I also play on the chicken band. That's for when the local group of hams wants to chat haphazardly in a group while not having to ID and not watching our language. I stay away from 19 though. I monitor 9 when I'm near the radio.
I don't do small-time cryptography stuff like this, but I do love cryptography. You should become a cryptographer or a security analyst. For my crypto toys, I just use the regular stuff like GPG, and I have a key pair and everything (of course, I can't tell you what my key is without disclosing my identity, which I'm not allowed to do).
