More Cuban Spy Numbers...Now With Data!

One recent afternoon (April 2nd, around 2330 UTC), I was
sitting on my second floor patio, and scanning the shortwave
bands on my Tecsun PL-380, with a 15 foot wire attached to
the whip antenna. I came upon what sounded like the usual
Cuban spy numbers, but this time on 17540 khz, where I don't
normally hear them, certainly not at this hour. No big deal,
as I hear presumed cuban numbers stations all the time, but
this time there were less numbers being read, and the sets of
numbers were interrupted by data bursts/modem sounds. This
was actually not the first time I've come across these voice/
data spy transmissions, but I'll admit I only started hearing
these particular ones within the last 3-4 weeks. This time, I
decided to finally get off my ass and make a recording. Click
below to listen and/or download.

https://www.box.com/s/ueptz8b3gx9ov1p9dxze

Voice of Croatia To End SW Transmissions On Jan. 1

Per Horacio Nigro, posting in Glenn Hauser's DXLD Yahoo! group,
the Voice of Croatia will terminate its shortwave broadcasts on
January 1st, 2013, just a few days from now. So, another SW broad-
caster bites the dust :(  Apparently, they will continue to broadcast on
midwave for Europe, and on the internet.

Per Mr. Nigro, you can hear the final VOC broadcasts in Spanish
on 7375 khz, at 2330 and 0330 UTC. No specifics on broadcasts
in other languages. Mr. Nigro's source, in Spanish:

Shortwave logs for 9/6 to 9/15/12 from Euless, TX

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
transmission, and not necessarily the transmitter site,
unless specified. If two countries are in brackets, first
one is transmitter site. After that, the date, time and
frequency in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all
stations heard on TECSUN PL-380 portable in
Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire antenna,
on a second floor, unless otherwise noted. Recordings
made with Olympus VN-120PC digital recorder,
with line input from SW receiver.


[MADAGASCAR / VATICAN] 090612, 0342, 7360 --
Vatican Radio in Swahili, trasmitted from Talata-
Volondry, Madagascar. Talk from OM and YL, SINPO
34233.

[ASCENSION/UK] 090912, 1605, 17640 -- BBC
World Service, from Ascension Island, SINPO
34222. Lots of noise, but I could tell it was in
English. YL & OM seem to talk sports news.

[GREECE] 091312, 0115, 9420 -- Per Aoki, this
comes from Avlis, at 170kw. Best reception I've
had for Voice of Greece so far, 44344! Listened
for a few minutes and heard some great Greek
music. Sweeeet.

[BRAZIL] 091312, 0120, 6180 -- Radio Nacional
de Amazonia in  Portuguese. SINPO 44344, very
strong, as is common with Radio Nacional on this
and 11780. Txmitter is in Brasilia per Aoki. Male
and fem. talk over futbol game.

[CUBA] 091512, 0030, 5025 -- Radio Rebelde, much
more geared towards domestic consumption than
RHC is, and it shows in the non-controversial nature
of what I regularly hear on here, which is usually
sports-related. No exception tonight, as I hear the
sports show "Deportiva", where two guys discuss
the latest in Cuban baseball. You can call in at
838-4562. Not sure if you can call from abroad.
Recording made and available at the URL below:

https://www.box.com/s/o0uyw7xtjxyyf7xxov1b

[CYPRUS/UK] 091512, 0326, 12035 -- BBC from
Limassol, 250 kw per Aoki. Very weak, could barely
hear OM talk, faded out a couple of times. SINPO
23111.

[KUWAIT] 091512, 1400, 21540 -- I'm finally awake
and free at the right time of day to hear Radio Kuwait.
YL talks in Arabic, then middle eastern-sounding
music bumpers, then male talks with female chanting
and music in background. Made out "Kuwait", "Koran".
SINPO 44344. Recording at the link below:

https://www.box.com/s/i4i1hkl0utgwb918yjdt

[SAUDI ARABIA] 091512, 1416, 21505 -- Radio
Riyahd, from Saudi A. at 500kw. Definitely not
coming in as well as Kuwait, 23222. Another first
time reception for me. Brief, awful recording made,
link below:

https://www.box.com/s/s4cw6wdtwma5bjciibyv

[USA] 091512, 1426, 11715 -- KJES, Catholic
religious station from Vado, New Mexico, 717
miles west of me. Male recites Bible verses, children
repeat with robotic delivery. Choral music, then a
child reads the station ID at 1430. Noooot creepy
sounding at all. Very strong, 55455. Recording
made, and available at the link:

https://www.box.com/s/xn1fxiber9cep58ksxjb

Observations of shortwave broadcast listening from August 14 to 16, 2012.

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
trasmission, and not necessarilly the transmitter site,
unless specified. After that, the date, time and frequency
in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all stations heard
on TECSUN PL-380 in Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot
reel wire antenna, on a second floor, unless otherwise
noted.

[CUBA] 081412, 0128, 5040 -- Great signal again from
RHC's Spanish service. Music, then news at 0130. I
scanned the shortwave bands a few minutes later, and I
could hear the exact same broadcast on 15230, 11760,
9810, 6120 and 11680. Overkill much, RHC?

[USA] 081412, 0139, 11530 -- Family Radio, religious
programming in Portuguese, directed at Brazil, no
doubt. OM preaching in non-insane way. SINPO 55455.
Txmitter is supposed to be in Okechobee, FL, 100kw.

[SPAIN] 081412, 0325, 9535 -- Radio Exterior de Espana,
in Spanish. Show ID "Espanoles en la Mar" ("Spaniards
at Sea"), station ID by YL. SINPO 54444. From Noblejas
txmitter site, per AOKI A12 schedule. Excellent signal
tonight with good modulation.

[NEW ZEALAND] 081412, 0338, 15720 -- The usual on
here, Radio New Zealand Intl. Some sort of audio
documentary, in which some guys were thatching
something. A hut, maybe? 43344.

[TAIWAN] 081412, 2350, 17725 -- I seldom get to listen
to R. Taiwan's Spanish service, so I'm glad I ran into this.
Sounded good, 54444. Economics news, then talk about
renewable energy in Taiwan, including a solar plant that
would power 1,000 homes.

[AUSTRALIA] 081512, 0000, 21740 -- Once again, R.
Australia's English service comes in very handsomely
on this frequency, but not as good as I've heard it, 44344.
Directed towards Asia-Pac., per announcement before
ID at 2359. Headlines at top of hour read by Ashley
McGee [sp?], including contoversy over Australian
plans to process boat refugees in PNG or places other
than Australia itself.

[CHINA] 081512, 0259, 21600 -- Carrier signal, listened
for a few minutes, but just silence. Per the Shortwave
schedule app on my Android tablet, this is a jammer vs
R. Free Asia, originating from commie China. Sure,
I'll buy that. 19dbu signal strength. No wire antenna,
just the Tecsun's telescoping one.

[CUBA] 081512, 0300, 17705 -- IS, then news headlines
in Spanish, YL & OM. First couple of minutes marred by
technical problems. First, the opening news theme played
for too long (maybe 1 minute+). Then , it sounded like
people talking over each other for several seconds.
WTF? Anyway, something about Paraguay, and how
Simon Bolivar's face is being seen in Cuba for the first
time. No wire antenna.

[BRAZIL] 0815, 0309, 11780 -- R. Nacional Amazonia,
agitated male talking in rapid Portiguese over stock back-
ground music. 44334.  No wire antenna.

[SPAIN] 081612, 2328, 9535 -- R. Exterior Espana in
Spanish at first, hard to understand due to bad QRM,
22322. Improved a bit after 2330 to 32323. Time pips
at 2329, then YL reading headlines in Catalan. Good
times.

¡Atención! A Cuban spy station

For decades, shortwave radio has been used to transmit coded
messages to spies or other covert operatives. Stations that are
dedicated to this are usually referred to as "numbers stations".
The station will broadcast a voice, sometimes automated, some-
times live, that will read a sequence of numbers. The voices can
be female, male or even children, and the transmissions are
often capped by a distinctive tune, tone, word(s) or song.

The idea is that the person receiving the broadcast will write down
the numbers, and decode the message using a one-time pad.
These days, one of the few entities still operating numbers stations
is the communist government of Cuba. Their station at 5898 kHz is
usually referred to by listeners and dx'ers as "¡Atención!". I
was recently able to hear it and record it, late on a Saturday night.
Well, more like Sunday morning. It was past 2AM central time.
(July 22nd, 2012)

Click below to listen to a couple of recordings from that night.
CREEPY!

Click on the links below to hear or download the mp3 files.


https://www.box.com/s/48d55ab6c74eb663cf1f

https://www.box.com/s/d5fabdf98bad41e405a1