HFU HF Underground
Loggings => Spy Numbers => Topic started by: Dag on July 20, 2016, 2333 UTC
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Return to cold war tactics?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3697192/Mystery-numbers-N-Korea-broadcasts-carry-Cold-War-echoes.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3697192/Mystery-numbers-N-Korea-broadcasts-carry-Cold-War-echoes.html)
Dag
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That or a similar article popped up in Yahoo and what I noticed about all of them I found was that none gave a frequency.
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That or a similar article popped up in Yahoo and what I noticed about all of them I found was that none gave a frequency.
From what I can tell, they meant that the numbers went out right on KCBS Pyongyang. I don't know if all frequencies transmit the same thing at the same time, but that would be compatible with how they send the same VOK transmissions simultaneously on several different frequencies.
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From what I can tell, they meant that the numbers went out right on KCBS Pyongyang. I don't know if all frequencies transmit the same thing at the same time, but that would be compatible with how they send the same VOK transmissions simultaneously on several different frequencies.
Fascinating stuff!! I just reread the linked article and it seems that the South Korean TV station played a recording of the original broadcast on a NK radio station
Text from the article below:
"North Korea's state radio has recently broadcast strings of indecipherable numbers in a possible move echoing a Cold War-era method of sending coded messages to spies operating in South Korea."
"The messages, a recording of which was broadcast by South Korean TV channel KBS,...."
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While many numbers stations of the past used state run shortwave broadcast transmitter facilities, typically they did so with separate programming from the normal shortwave broadcast transmissions. For example the Cubans, and V02/M08/SK01/HM01, they are known to use Radio Habana resources, probably both the transmitter facilities and the audio facilities. Radio Habana uses them for their broadcast programming, and the Intel users use them at different times, and different frequencies, for their numbers operations. But North Korea did not bother to separate them. They simply sent the the messages in the middle of scheduled PBS programming. However they stopped doing this in 2000. ENIGMA assigned it the designation V15, but as ENIGMA was mostly European based they never monitored the NK transmissions with regularity, and there may have been more than one format used. Japanese listeners probably had a better understanding of the NK transmissions, but there was not as much interaction between most of the European / American based listeners and the Japanese as there could have been, I think the language barrier was a big part of it.
It appears they may have restarted this practice. So far only one transmission has been noted, or at least generally reported, however that does not mean there have not been more that went unnoticed. If this is actually a process they are reinitiating time will tell, and we can probably work out some kind of schedule.
T!
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I would like to see a schedule for it, so time will tell indeed.
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That or a similar article popped up in Yahoo and what I noticed about all of them I found was that none gave a frequency.
the frrq was 3320 kHz on 14-7 at 1545 utc
Ary
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That or a similar article popped up in Yahoo and what I noticed about all of them I found was that none gave a frequency.
the frrq was 3320 kHz on 14-7 at 1545 utc
Ary
Thank you Ary!
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http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/asia-pacific/2016/07/22/north-korea-spy-numbers-radio-message/87429280/
A retired US National Security Agency source said the fact it was a 10-11 meter frequency band in the middle of the night, considering that North Korea does not have relay stations like many other shortwave stations, would make the target local to South Korea, Japan or northern China.
The station is using old Soviet transmitters that give it a distinctive humming sound when broadcasting, said Keith Perron, an expert on spy number stations who runs the international shortwave and FM station, PCJ Radio, which broadcasts news, entertainment and serves as a relay for other content.
The hum is created due to the poor quality of transmitters and the fact that North Korea does not use microwaves to relay the message to the antennas but rather old telephone wires.
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http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/asia-pacific/2016/07/22/north-korea-spy-numbers-radio-message/87429280/
A retired US National Security Agency source said the fact it was a 10-11 meter frequency band in the middle of the night, considering that North Korea does not have relay stations like many other shortwave stations, would make the target local to South Korea, Japan or northern China.
The station is using old Soviet transmitters that give it a distinctive humming sound when broadcasting, said Keith Perron, an expert on spy number stations who runs the international shortwave and FM station, PCJ Radio, which broadcasts news, entertainment and serves as a relay for other content.
The hum is created due to the poor quality of transmitters and the fact that North Korea does not use microwaves to relay the message to the antennas but rather old telephone wires.
10-11 meters? I read it was on 3320 AM in the 90m band. They don't give the frequency in that article.
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http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/asia-pacific/2016/07/22/north-korea-spy-numbers-radio-message/87429280/
A retired US National Security Agency source said the fact it was a 10-11 meter frequency band in the middle of the night, considering that North Korea does not have relay stations like many other shortwave stations, would make the target local to South Korea, Japan or northern China.
The station is using old Soviet transmitters that give it a distinctive humming sound when broadcasting, said Keith Perron, an expert on spy number stations who runs the international shortwave and FM station, PCJ Radio, which broadcasts news, entertainment and serves as a relay for other content.
The hum is created due to the poor quality of transmitters and the fact that North Korea does not use microwaves to relay the message to the antennas but rather old telephone wires.
10-11 meters? I read it was on 3320 AM in the 90m band. They don't give the frequency in that article.
Errors, speculation, sensationalize, all abound in such matters. And then there is the accuracy of the reporting even when given good information.
The frequency that was noticed was 3320 kHz. However that programming is typically simulcast on multiple freqs, so it was also likely sent on at least 6400 kHz, and quite possibly a few more freqs in the MW band.
Regardless, it was not in the 10 or 11 meter band, for sure. Also, the transmitter has no specific hum when I listen to it (and I am tuned to the 6400 kHz outlet right now). Of course, I have heard hum on the signal, but most radio stations make errors from time to time. And I pretty often hear hum on the VoK transmitters up in the 13 and 15 MHz areas.
T!