• secret

    From LU9DCE@21:5/101 to BBSRT on Wed Jul 3 17:40:08 2019
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    - Ijhimpse & uif Topnbo - -------------------------------------------------------------
    - Secret Radio Frequencies - -------------------------------------------------------------




    Sandwiched into the gap between the AM and FM dials are
    hundreds of secret communications frequencies - some so
    secret that no one owns up to them. The usual consumer gear -
    AM/FM radios, TVs, CB radios - brings in only a small
    portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. To pick up the
    secret signals, you need a shortwave receiver - and you need
    to know the unlisted frequencies.
    Allocation of radio frequencies is quirky. When you flip
    the TV dial from channel 6 to channel 7, you unknowingly jump
    over the entire FM radio band as well as such exotia as
    secret service communications and a special frequency
    designated for emergency use during prison riots. The U.S.
    government will provide information on unclassified
    allocations (those for the Coast Guard, Forestry Service,
    weather reports, etc.). But it is quiet about secret
    government frequencies and those of mysterious illegal
    broadcasters here and abroad.
    Many shortwave-radio hobbyists keep track of the secret
    frequiences, however. Their findings appear in such
    publications as the "Confidential Frequency List" by Oliver
    P. Ferrell (Park Ridge, N.J.: Gilfer Associates, 1982
    [periodically updated]), "How to Tune in the Secret Shortwave
    Spectrum" by Harry L. Helms (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: TAB
    Books, 1981), and "The 'Top Secret' Registry of U.S.
    Government Radio Frequencies" by Tom Kneitel (Commack, N.Y.:
    CRB Research, 1981 [periodically updated]). These and similar
    publications should be consulted for the most up-to-date
    listings. The selection below includes only the most
    noteworthy or inexplicable broadcasts.

    Air Force One

    Many of the in-flight phone calls from Air Force One are
    not scrambled and can be picked up by anyone with a shortwave
    radio. You just have to watch the newspapers for information
    on the presidents travels and listen to the right frequencies
    shortly before landing or after takeoff at Andrews Air Force
    Base (when calls are less likely to be scrambled
    electronically). A presidential phone call is usually
    prefaced by a request for "Crown", the White House
    communications center.








    Air Force One uses several frequencies including those
    assigned to Andrews Air Force Base. Transmissions are on
    single, usually upper, sideband. These transmissions are
    usually secret, but the frequency numbers have long since
    leaked out or have been discovered independently. It is
    suspected that wire services and TV news operations monitor
    them for leads. The reported frequencies (in kilohertz) are:


    6731 13201
    6756 13215
    8967 13247
    9018 15048
    11180 18027


    In addition, 162.685 MHz and 171.235 MHz are secret service
    frequencies used for Air Force One communications. The White
    House staff uses 162.850 MHz and 167.825 MHz. Secret Service
    channel "Oscar", 164.885 MHz, is used for the Presidents
    limousine. Air Force Two uses the same Frequencies as Air
    Force One.
    Although everyone concerned must know that outsiders may
    be eavesdropping, conversations are often surprisingly
    candid. (shortwave listeners heard the White House staff
    urging Air Force Two back to Washington after the 1981
    attempt on President Regan's life, complete with reports that
    then-secretary of state Alexander Haig was confusing
    everybody with his claim of being "in control.") No law seems
    to forbid such eavesdropping. Ironically, it is illegal
    (section 605 of the communications act of 1934) to reveal
    itercepted conversations to anyone else - that being regarded
    as the wireless equivalent to wiretapping. Even so, The New
    York Times has run snippets of Air Force One conversations.

    The Central Intelligence Agency

    The CIA and Other Government agencies with clandestine
    operations are believed to have dozens of authorized
    frequencies, which may be rotated as needed to throw off
    eavesdroppers off the track. Call letters are rarely used and
    several government agencies may share the same frequencies. A
    further, rather thin veneer of security comes from the use of
    code words. Government surveillance opperations use a common
    code: "Our friend" or "Our boy" is, of course, the person
    being followed. "O" is his office. "R" is his residence. A
    "Boat" is his car. Once apprehended a suspect is a "Package"
    and may be taken away to the "Kennel", the agents'
    headquarters. Does this fool anyone? Probably not. Some are
    so obvious that it's questionable if they're code words at
    all.
    Not all U.S. government broadcasts can be identified as
    to agency. Conversations are cryptic; letters to the Federal
    Communications Commission and Commerce Department bring form








    replys. These frequencies (in megahertz) have been identified
    with the CIA:

    163.81
    165.01
    165.11
    165.385
    408.60


    DEA - Drug Enforcement Administration (MHz)
    FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation (MHz)
    SS - Secret Service (MHz)

    DEA FBI SS
    --- --- --
    163.185 120.425 162.375 (note that
    163.535 149.375 162.685 the frequencys are
    165.235 163.835 164.885 usually in bands.
    172.00 163.875 165.025 Search each band
    172.20 163.985 165.085 for more.)
    418.625 167.675 166.405
    418.675 168.885 169.625
    418.725 406.275 168.45
    418.825 408.925 169.925
    418.975 419.525 171.235


    Morse Code Letter Beacons

    Dozens of low-power stations transmit only a letter of
    Morse code endlessly. No one, including government agencies
    and the International Telecommunications Union, admits to
    knowing where the signals are coming from, who is sending
    them, or why.
    "K" (dash-dot-dash) is the most common letter. Letters
    are repeated every two to five seconds, depending on the
    station. The stations never identify themselves. The
    frequency used for the broadcast shifts slowly with time, so
    this list is only an approximate guide:

    Frequency (KHz) Letter
    --------------- ------

    4,005 K
    4,466 U
    5,306 D and W
    5,307 F
    5,795 K








    5,890 K
    5,920 K
    6,203 P
    6,770 A and N
    6,800 F and K
    6,806 Q
    7,590 W
    7,656 W
    7,954 K
    8,137 U
    8,144 K
    8,647 F
    8,703 E
    8,752 K
    9,043 K
    9,058 U
    10,211 U
    10,442 E
    10,570 K
    10,614 F
    10,638 K
    10,644 D
    10,645 F
    10,646 R and K
    11,156 K
    12,151 K
    12,185 U
    12,329 U
    13,328 U
    13,637 F
    14,478 K
    14,587 K
    14,967 K
    15,656 U
    15,700 U
    15,705 U
    17,015 D
    17,016 C
    17,017 F
    17,018 UE and TA
    18,343 K
    20,456 E
    20,992 O and C


    These stations broadcast mostly during the night hours of
    North America. They are most often picked up in North
    America, Australia, and the Orient. But because of the easy
    propagation of shortwave signals, no one is sure where they
    are coming from.
    An analysis in the Confidential Frequency List holds
    that the signals are coming from 25- to 100-watt unattended
    transmitters somewhere in the South Pacific. An alternate
    theory places the Morse code "beacons" in Cuba. It is known








    that there used to be a "W" station operating at 3,584 KHz, a
    frequency supposedly reserved for amateur use. When the
    American amateurs protested to the Federal Communications
    Commission about the interference, the FCC complained to the
    Cuban government. The staion disappeared shortly thereafter.
    Actually, all of the beacons must be presumed to be
    illegal. Shortwave stations are supposed to be registered
    with the International Telecommuncations Union; none of those
    listed above are. The purpose of the stations is as unclear
    as their location. A single letter conveys no information.
    There are legitimate navigational beacon stations, which
    broadcast their call letters. But such stations are
    registered and operate on fixed frequencies from known
    locations. Keeping location and frequency information secret
    would defeat their purpose.
    Maybe, then, the letter beacons are navigational
    stations operated for the benefit of a select few. Some think
    they are operated by the Soviet Union, in Cuba, for some
    military purpose. Still, the globe is crosshatched with
    legitimate navigational beacons. It is hard to see what
    further navigational aid the Soviets could expect to derive
    from their own secret network of beacons.
    It has also been suggested that the beacon stations are
    really teletype or other data transmission stations and that
    the Morse code letters are just a way of keeping the channel
    free between transmissions. A few of the stations started
    transmitting some sort of data - audible as a characteristic
    high-speed typewriterlike sound - in 1980. There are other
    ways of keeping a data channel open, though. Most
    radioteletype stations transmit the code for space between
    transmissions. (The radioteletype code is different from
    Morse code.)
    Finally, still others think the letter transmissions are
    themselves some sort of code. Granted, the letter can't mean
    anything, but some wonder if the precise length of the
    interval between the letters means somthing. Or the frequency
    shifts may hold the message.
    The number of Morse code letter stations seems to be
    increasing.

    Numbers Stations

    Well over a hundred "numbers" or "spy" stations have
    been reported, all rather closely following a pattern. On the
    typical numbers station, the announcer is - or seems to be -
    a woman. No one knows who the woman is or where she is
    broadcasting from. She speaks Spanish, German, or Korean.
    Save for a few words at the begining and the end of the
    transmission, the message consists of reandom numbers,
    announced in groups of five, four, or, rarely, three digits.
    As with the Morse code stations, the numbers stations are all
    on unauthorized frequencies. No government or organization
    owns up to the broadcasts; offically, at least, the FCC
    claims no knowledge of them.








    Many of those who have listened to the broadcasts
    carefully are convinced that the woman is in fact a robot.
    The voice has a mechanical ring, somtimes a click between
    each digit. It seems to be the same type of device used by
    the telephone company to give the time or to forward phone
    numbers.
    The exact format of the messages varies with the
    language and number of digits per group. With Spanish, five
    digit groups, for example, a typical transmission might be:

    Atencion 290 22...Atencion 290 22...Atencion 290 22
    ...65438...34742...23453...23454...29584...24836...
    22334...34635...10202...19375...34653...23457...
    12345...94532...24643...27543...14795...24568...
    75744...74755...87194...63549...Final,final.

    Broadcasts are during the night hours of North America
    and seem to start shortly after the hour. After the
    "Final,final," the transmission stops. It is claimed that a
    given transmission is repeated a few minutes later on a
    slightly different frequency.
    There seems to be no escaping the conclusion that the
    messages are numerical code. The second number (22 in the
    example) - is the number of digit groups in the message.
    There dosen't seem to be any demonstrable significance to the
    first number although it probably has some signifigance. Some
    think it is an identifying number for the sender or the
    receiver. It may also indentify the code used if there is
    more than one. Note that the numbers above are only random
    (except for 22) and were never really broadcast.
    The four-digit transmissions in Spanish are different. A
    three-digit number (perhaps that of the sender or receiver)
    is repeated several times, followed by the digits 1 through
    10. ("uno, dos, tres...") and a string of Morse code dashes.
    the word "grupo" is followed by the number of four-digit
    groups to come and repeated once - for example, "Grupo 22,
    grupo 22." The message - groups of four Spanish numbers -
    follows. At the end the voice says, "Repito grupo 22," and
    the message repeats. The station goes off the air after the
    repeat.
    Any attempt to explain these broadcasts is complicated
    by numbers broadcasts in other languages. There are also
    broadcasts in German, Korean, and English. Occasional
    transmissions in Russian, French, Portuguese, and even
    Serbo-Croatian are reported. Somtimes a male (mechanical?)
    voice reads the numbers. The female robot voice doing English
    language broadcasts is often described as having an Oriental
    or German accent. Typical of the uncertainty surrounding
    numbers stations are the reported English messages prefaced
    with a female voice saying "Groups disinformation" and ending
    with "End of disinformation." Perhaps the voice machine has a
    bad rendering of "This information."
    Still other stations transmit messages consisting of
    letters from the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo,








    Charlie...). Some spice their broadcasts with music, which
    ranges from ethnic tunes to wierd tones that may or may not
    conceal a message. Reported frequencies for numbers and
    phonetic-alphabet stations include:
    F/M = Female/Male
    S = Spanish R = Russian
    F = French E = English
    P = Portuguese C = Czech
    SC= Serbo-Croatian G = German


    Frequency Male language
    (KHz) Female
    --------- ------ --------

    3060 F S (All are numbers stations
    3090 F S unless otherwise noted)
    3365 M SC
    4640 M S
    4642 F F
    4670 F S&E Numbers & phonetic
    4740 M S&P Interlude from Aida
    4770 F G
    5020 F S
    5075 F S
    5110 M C Slavic musical interlude
    5812 F S
    6770 F S
    6790 F S
    8875 F S
    9040 F S&E
    9345 F S
    9450 F E + Musical tones
    9463 F S
    9950 F S
    10450 F K
    10500 F G
    10532 F S
    11545 F G
    11618 F G
    11635 F S
    13320 M R
    14947 F G
    14970 F E + Beep tones
    23120 F G
    30050 E
    30250 E
    30420 E
    30470 E


    Whatever is going on, it's a big operation. Harry L.
    Helms' "How to tune in the shortwave spectrum" has a list of
    sixty-two stations that includes only those with a female








    voice reading five digit codes in Spanish. Much time and
    effort are going into the broadcasts. Some numbers stations
    transmit on the upper sideband rather than using amplitude
    modulation (AM). Signals are usually strong. Because of
    ionospheric reflection, they can be picked up over most of
    the globe. This makes direction finding difficult.
    Two explanations are offered for the numbers stations.
    It is rumored that some of the stations are communications
    links in the drug traffic between the United States and
    Latin America. If so, Spanish is the logical language. The
    numerically coded messages could tell where drops are to be
    made, how much to expect, and other minutiae that would
    change from day to day. Weak support for this comes from some
    amateur direction finding, which seems to place many of the
    Spanish broadcasts Somewhere south of the United States.
    But even those who subscribe to this explanation agree
    that other numbers stations, probably most of them worldwide,
    are engaged in espionage - governmental or organizational
    communication with agents in the field.
    Which government? The Spanish stations are usually heard
    between 7:00 PM and 6:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. The night
    hours are best for clandestine broadcasting as weak signals
    propagate farther. So the spanish language broadcasts are
    probably coming from a time zone not far removed from Eastern
    Standard Time (the EST time zone includes the central
    Caribbean, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru.)
    On the basis of signal strengths and broadcast times, it
    can be similarly be postulated that the German Stations are
    coming from Europe, or maybe Africa, and the Korean stations
    are coming from the Orient - oddly enough.
    As far as the Spanish stations are concerned, suspision
    points to Cuba. In 1975 U.S. listeners reported muffled radio
    Havana broadcasts in the background of the Spanish stations.
    A station at 9920KHz is said to have used the same theme
    music as radio Havana.
    But then there are American ham radio operators who
    swear that the spanish stations must be in the United States.
    "How to Tune the Secret Shortwave Spectrum" tells of
    listeners in Ohio who reported four digit numbers stations
    coming in stronger than anything else on the dial execpt for
    a 50 kilowatt broadcast band station a few miles distant.
    Similar reports come from the Washingtom, D.C., area.
    Probably the simplest of all the many possible
    explanitions is that the Spanish stations are opperated by
    Cuba for the benefit of Cuban agents in the United States.
    The Radio Havana Broadcasts in the background would have been
    a mistake. The engineer was listening to radio Havana and
    forgot the mike was on, or maybe radio Havana and some of the
    numbers stations share facilities and the signals got mixed.
    The local quality broadcasts heard in the U.S. could be Cuban
    agents reporting back to Havana. Each agent would have his
    own mechanical voice setup. Not that you can carry around a
    50000 watt transmitter in your pocket.
    The actual explanation may not be the simplest, though.








    According to Helms, some shortwave listeners believe that the
    four and five digit number transmissions are totally differnt
    opperations. The four digit transmissions, at least some of
    which seem to originate in the United States, may be the work
    of the U.S. government. Only the five-digit transmissions may
    come from Latin America - and may be associated with local
    governments or U.S. foreign agents. Harry L. Helms
    speculates that the United States may have faked the radio
    Havana background just to divert suspission from an American
    espionage operation.
    Any glib explanation of the numbers stations is further
    challenged by another incident Helms cites. An unnamed
    listener was receiving a five digit numbers broadcast in
    Spanish. At the end of the broadcast, the station
    accidentally (?) stayed on the air, and faint female voices
    were heard reading numbers in German and English. If the
    report was accurate, then the numbers stations could be the
    work of one worldwide operation. Choice of language could be
    arbitrary. Whatever his or her native tounge, an agent need
    only need learn ten words of, say, Korean in order to receive
    a numerical broadcast in Korean.
    No one willing to talk has broken the code or codes used
    for the transmissions. If the codes are sophisticated enough
    it may be pointless to even try. A random four or five digit
    number added to each number in the group will scramble the
    code. The numbers would have to be agreed upon before
    transmission. If a different number is used for each number
    block and if they are not repeated it is mathematically
    impossible for outsiders to break the code.
    At 3820KHz there is a four-note electronic tune. At
    12700KHz there is a plaintive, twenty-one-note, flutelike
    melody. At 15507 KHz there are beeps.

    Special thanks to William Poundstone












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