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Shortwave Ham Radio Number Stations explanations?

2013 Views 8 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  MI.oldguy
Weird numbers over shortwave and ham radio heard for years with no explanation. My father said he used to listen to them back 40+ years ago and it would creep him out. Some say its secret codes used for spies. Has anyone heard these?

Here is a video with some more info:

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That's wild pretty interesting stuf!
It is in violation of international law to broadcast a coded message on the amateur radio bands.
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It would be simple to track them.

At times sometimes you want to have something to determine spoken transmission clarity. During an emergency they can be taken live with communications. Although yes numbers stations have been stated as such.

The stations can be tracked though.
I think it is an excellent way to communicate privately over the radio. Someone would have to put togethet a book with the cypher codes and then mail it to each person they wanted to be able to understand the code. Each individual could have a different prefix to the code so you could get a different message to individuals or the same message to all of them. Set a time to broadcast and then each person could get instructions in a few seconds and you could be off the air.

They could triangulate to any fixed antenna but it would not have to be fixed - it could be mobile.
I actually heard one of these stations tonight over my HAM. I thought it was Morse code being broadcast. I'm a total newbie so most stuff on this subject goes over my head right now. LOL.
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Could be comm chatter between UFO settlers in different parts of the country.
It's neat stuff but older than dirt. Been hearing this stuff in the ham bands and outside since I first got a ham license in 1972. BTW International law says lots of stuff as far as who transmits where and its all controlled by the ITU (International Telecomminications Union) and several other lesser agencies. They have no police force except the UN and without the USA wasting their time on this crap....they dont have a police force to go after anyone. They simply beg and wimper and hope someone has pity on them!

Amateur radio bands are only enforced strictly in certain countries....Not everyone plays the game and the numbers stations are set up by GOVERNMENTS....Good luck on getting them to shut down! Keep in mind that MOST ham bands are set up world wide on a SHARED basis! The 80 Meter Band / 60 Meter Band / 40 Meter band / 30 meter band / 17 Meter Band / 15 Meter band are all shared bands worldwide and contain many utility/shortwave stations. The 160 Meter band was shared but when Radio navigation stations were done away with in favor of GPS systems it was handed over to Amateur Radio Ops. (BTW that's just the bands I can recall being shared off the top of my head...there are more LOL!)

Coded messages are only illegal on the ham bands if they are transmitted by amateur radio operators...Numbers stations set up by governments can do what they want and ANYWHERE they want to do it!
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It's neat stuff but older than dirt. Been hearing this stuff in the ham bands and outside since I first got a ham license in 1972. BTW International law says lots of stuff as far as who transmits where and its all controlled by the ITU (International Telecomminications Union) and several other lesser agencies. They have no police force except the UN and without the USA wasting their time on this crap....they dont have a police force to go after anyone. They simply beg and wimper and hope someone has pity on them!

Amateur radio bands are only enforced strictly in certain countries....Not everyone plays the game and the numbers stations are set up by GOVERNMENTS....Good luck on getting them to shut down! Keep in mind that MOST ham bands are set up world wide on a SHARED basis! The 80 Meter Band / 60 Meter Band / 40 Meter band / 30 meter band / 17 Meter Band / 15 Meter band are all shared bands worldwide and contain many utility/shortwave stations. The 160 Meter band was shared but when Radio navigation stations were done away with in favor of GPS systems it was handed over to Amateur Radio Ops. (BTW that's just the bands I can recall being shared off the top of my head...there are more LOL!)

Coded messages are only illegal on the ham bands if they are transmitted by amateur radio operators...Numbers stations set up by governments can do what they want and ANYWHERE they want to do it!
^^^^^totally agree,heard this on ham and hf radio for years,I wonder what the gas can is doing behind the ham op?.burn and run if the "radio cops" come lol.
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