Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

Hi,
just to let you know there was a quick mention of numbers stations and short waves on the one show BBC1 this evening.
I will be watching the clip again, as I was half way though doing something else.
regards Peter B

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

I suspect this is a follow-up suggested by this earlier article in the 'Magazine' portion of the BBC website here...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24910397

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

I actually caught this, though I rarely watch the programme. It was a decent enough item for a general audience presented by queen of the dressing-up box Ruth Goodman.

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

This is one of the best programmes that I have seen....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvr6o7fBcTY

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

This is the one I was really looking for....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwJdGWcNAqk

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

Just a Numbers Station trivia item but the late Alan Sillitoe wrote a novel entitled "The German Numbers Woman" featuring a ex RAF W/op, blinded in action, who spends his time listening to the numbers transmissions. Sillitoe was himself an RAF radio operator, post WWII, and he wrote a number of short stories and books with a radio aspect.

73

Roger/G3VKM

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

I remember back in the very-early-1990s I was speaking [in German] to someone in Berlin and used 'Zwo' "Nul" and 'Noyun' when reading out a phone-number.

There was a palpable period of terrifying frigidity from my German correspondent: further discussion revealed that she was from the East and my speech-style brought back horrid memories of her parents' victimisation by the Stasi. Once she understood I was British she relaxed and trusted me.

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

'Zwo' is for better understanding between "zwei" and "drei" (2, 3)
'Null' - Zero nothing special
'neun' (neu-en) (9) - 'nein' (no) also for better understanding
'ein-hundert' not only "hundert" (hundred 100) same
- if you have noise or distortion on the line
Peter

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

I'm sure I've heard 'zwo' in use in Austria. I think this can be an accent variation too. (No pun intended.)

I remember two other 'words' from back in my youth when I encountered these stations: "Frinith" or "Frinif" and "Newee" (like Louis pronounced as in French).

I had a friend who was learning German at school and was also into electronics. He explained the obvious numbers but had no idea about the rest.

There was a station that was just beyond the limit of the 80m amateur band and another in somewhere the 5MHz range. When they weren't transmitting numbers they transmitted the same four note rising tone.

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

It's very common in everyday speech in southern Germany, especially Bavaria, and Austria.

Chris

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

Could the first one have been "Funnuf" [the recommended phonetic pronounciation of 'funf'].

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

I used to listen to the numbers myself [around 6 megs?]. There is a CD out there with examples of transmissions etc. I was interested in Rogers reference to Alan Sillitoe [p6*] and I've read a number of his books but not the one mentioned. I knew that he had been in Radio Ops. In the eighties, the Observer mag had a series called "A Room of my Own" which was often the workspace of creative individuals. In the case of Mr Sillitoe, an AR88 was prominent on his desk and described as being in regular use.
Dave W

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

Yes, I recall that. It was annoyingly out of tune, on a musical scale roughly equivalent to "C, E, A flat, D"

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

It was probably a piece of minimalist modern music using an adventurous avant-garde 13-note scale, Phil.

We've got to be careful about modern music. If we accidentally keep silent for the wrong amount of time, we could wind up being sued.

David

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

The TV programme implied that the weird tones were from a geriatric tape recorder with chronic wow problems, Bulgaria perhaps. Not Uncle Bulgaria - he was a Womble.

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

Any one know of any frequencies used "today" or do they come and go?
regards S-W

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

I think the "gong" station was located in the former East Germany. I don't think any
of the numbers stations offered QSL cards.

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

They're certainly still dotted about on HF but I've never logged the frequencies.

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

Several off topic posts moved to a new thread here:-

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=106174

Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show
 

Thanks for the links! Interesting stuff, I have always found the numbers stations facinating snd recently found out that one of them, Cynthia, was located just down the road from me. The site still has a large number of HF antennas and various radomes but is reputed to be disused (although, one has to say there is a lot of activity for a disused site!)

On the use of "Zwo". This is often used in spoken German (usually over the telephone or airwaves) to differentiate and avoid confusion between "Zwei" (2) and "Drei" (3).