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Old 23rd Apr 2014, 7:58 pm   #1
dragonser
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Default 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
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Old 23rd Apr 2014, 8:22 pm   #2
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Default 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
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Old 23rd Apr 2014, 8:52 pm   #3
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Default 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.
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Old 24th Apr 2014, 10:07 am   #4
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Default 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
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Old 24th Apr 2014, 11:28 am   #5
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Default 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
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Old 25th Apr 2014, 6:57 pm   #6
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Default Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show

Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonser View Post
just to let you know there was a quick mention of numbers stations and short waves on the one show BBC1 this evening
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

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Old 25th Apr 2014, 7:35 pm   #7
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Default 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.
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Old 25th Apr 2014, 7:44 pm   #8
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Default 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

Last edited by Chaparal; 25th Apr 2014 at 7:46 pm. Reason: corr
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Old 28th Apr 2014, 10:24 am   #9
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Default 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.
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Old 28th Apr 2014, 10:30 am   #10
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Default Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show

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I'm sure I've heard 'zwo' in use in Austria. I think this can be an accent variation too. (No pun intended.)
It's very common in everyday speech in southern Germany, especially Bavaria, and Austria.

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Old 28th Apr 2014, 11:13 am   #11
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Default Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show

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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). .
Could the first one have been "Funnuf" [the recommended phonetic pronounciation of 'funf'].
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Old 28th Apr 2014, 6:10 pm   #12
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Default 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.
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Old 28th Apr 2014, 9:46 pm   #13
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Default Re: Numbers stations and short wave mentioned on the One show

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When they weren't transmitting numbers they transmitted the same four note rising tone.
Yes, I recall that. It was annoyingly out of tune, on a musical scale roughly equivalent to "C, E, A flat, D"
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Old 29th Apr 2014, 1:23 am   #14
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Default 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.

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Old 9th May 2014, 2:03 am   #15
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Default 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.
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Old 12th May 2014, 5:51 pm   #16
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Default 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
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Old 12th May 2014, 6:49 pm   #17
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Default 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.
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Old 12th May 2014, 9:25 pm   #18
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Default 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.

Last edited by Station X; 14th May 2014 at 9:22 am. Reason: Thread split.
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Old 14th May 2014, 9:22 am   #19
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Default 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
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Old 28th May 2014, 6:12 pm   #20
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Default 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).
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