[maxinux at bigfoot.com: Re: Numbers Stations]

[Alex Shiels]

> From: maxinux <maxinux at bigfoot.com>
> To: cypherpunks at lne.com
>
> if they broadcast over the us, they have to follow air guidlines aswell...
> neat how things work...
>
> All countries license the airwaves.. atleast in this area..

Most numbers stations use shortwave broadcast or amateur bands - roughly
1-30 MHz.  Licenses are required in the country where the transmitter is
located, not elsewhere.  Shortwave stations are almost always intended for
international broadcasting.

Here's the FCC's application form for a shortwave transmitter:

http://www.fcc.gov/ib/pnd/neg/hf_web/appinfo.html

"Any qualified US citizen, company, or group may apply to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) for authority to construct and operate a
high frequency (HF) (shortwave) international broadcasting station. [...]
It should be noted that an international broadcasting station is intended
for broadcasting to a foreign country and is not intended for broadcasting
solely to the United States."

More on numbers stations here, including loggings and presumed locations
of some transmitters:

http://spynumbers.com/


As an aside, this showed up on the spooks list a week or so back, I don't
think it made it to cypherpunks:

http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/dade/digdocs/053821.htm

(Sep 22 2001)

"WASHINGTON -- FBI agents on Friday detained a 44-year-old senior analyst
with the Defense Intelligence Agency, a vital part of the U.S. national
security establishment, and charged her with providing U.S. national
secrets to Cuba.

[...]

Among the contents, it added, were instructions on how to erase material
from the computer, tips for radio reception, and references to ``the
numbers that you receive via radio.'' A short-wave radio was also found.
The complaint said that the FBI identified text consisting of 150 sets of
numerical groups.

``The text begins, `30107 24624,' and continues until 150 such groups are
listed. The FBI has determined that the precise same numbers, in the
precise same order, were broadcast on February 6, 1999, at AM frequency
7887 kHz, by a woman speaking Spanish, who introduced the broadcast with
the words `Atencisn! Atencisn!' '' the complaint said."


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