Cuban Spy Numbers Station (HM01) On 11635 khz

While doing some shortwave listening on my back porch in Fort Worth,
TX recently (5/10/15), I came upon the well-known HM01 spy numbers
station from Cuba. This time I caught it on 11635 khz, at exactly 1800 UTC.
Signal quality was very good, but you can hear from yourself in the video
below. I listened on a Tecsun PL-380 with a 25-ft wire antenna, with cloudy/
rainy conditions.

Shortwave Logs From Fort Worth, TX for April 2015

Country in brackets is the transmitter site and not  necessarily the 
country of origin, 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 Fort Worth, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire 
antenna, on a first floor, unless otherwise noted.

[SPAIN] 04/19/15, 2028, 17855 khz -- Radio Nacional de Espana
in Spanish. Male announcers call futbol game, teams unknown.
SINPO 33343; first time receiving REE on this frequency since
they "came back".

[USA] 04/19/15, 2030, 17790 -- Male announcer (I believe he said
his name was "Tim Taylor") preaches and prays in English. SINPO
45455, very good signal. Almost certainly RMI from Okechobee,
FL.

[CUBA] 04/19/15, 2031, 17730 -- Radio Habana Cuba in Arabic,
male(?) announcer reading presumably news. Thought at first it
might not be Arabic, as it sounded kind of off compared to what my
ear expected, but it is Arabic per Aoki schedule. SINPO 44344.

[USA] 04/19/15, 2034, 15000 -- WWV time station from Fort
Collins, Colorado. The usual, reception about average. SINPO
33233.

[EGYPT] 04/22/15, 0317, 9965 -- Radio Cairo in Arabic, coming in
very decently all the way from North Africa, for once! Middle-Eastern
sounding music with male vocal (?). Clapping heard at end of song,
which was immediately followed by tune from what seemed like diffe-
rent artist at 0320. SINPO 34333.

[BRAZIL] 04/23/15, 0308, 11780 -- Radio Nacional da Amazonia,
in Portuguese. Acoustic guitar music with male vocal. Really good
signal tonight even for this station, at times it almost sounded like it
could've been local AM radio. SINPO 44454, but sometimes as good
as 45545.

[UK/VIETNAM] 04/24/15, 0235, 12005 -- Voice of Vietnam in
English, transmitted from Woofferton, UK. News headlines by alter-
nating male and female announcers. Heavy accents left me unable to
understand much of what was being said, but picked up mentions of
a Cuba/EU meeting and the Iran nuclear negotiations. SINPO 43344.

Shortwave Logs From Fort Worth, TX for 02/15/15

Country in brackets is the transmitter site and not  necessarily the 
country of origin, 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 Fort Worth, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire 
antenna, on a first floor, unless otherwise noted.

[RWANDA/GERMANY] 02/15/15, 1828, 17800 khz -- Deutsche Welle
from Kigali, Rwanda, in Hausa language. Two males talk on unknown
subject. Decent signal for daytime, considering this is coming from 
East Africa. Listened for about five minutes. SINPO 33233.

[USA] 02/15/15, 1842, 15610 khz -- EWTN (Catholic) Radio transmitting
from Vandiver, Alabama. "Vatican Insider" program with female announ-
cer. Strong, clear signal with a little noise, as typical for this frequency. 
SINPO 44344

[CUBA] 02/15/15, 1845, 11635 -- Atencion Cuba spy station with short
set of numbers being read in Spanish by female ("tres, dos, ocho, 
siete, siete"), followed by data-like sounds for several seconds, then
more numbers, and so on. SINPO 45454, good signal. It seems like
Cuban spy activity hasn't slowed down since the beginning of thawed
relations with the US.

[USA] 02/15/15, 1858, 15825 -- Religious talk by male, then station ID
and new show at top of hour (Dr. James Blank [sp?]). Male prays while
female translates into Spanish. SINPO 44344. 

Shortwave Logs For 1/29-1/30/15

Country in brackets is the transmitter site and not  necessarily the 
country of origin, 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 Fort Worth, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire 
antenna, on a first floor, unless otherwise noted.


[CUBA] 01/29/15, 0410, 5025 -- Radio Rebelde in Spanish, with male
 and female announcer reading personal ads listeners have apparently
sent in from all over Cuba. Some looking for friendship, some looking
for men or women only. Reception was a bit noisy. SINPO 43344.

[CUBA] 01/29/15, 0413, 5040 -- Radio Habana Cuba in Spanish.
Latin music, with male announcer interrupting here and there. Recep-
tion much like Radio Rebelde: not great, not terrible. SINPO 43344.

[USA] 01/29/15, 0415, 5890 -- WWCR from Nashville, TN at 100
kw with good ol' Brother Stair ranting about the British Empire and
its evil (??). He then asks listeners for reception reports. 55455, very
good signal.

[VATICAN] 01/29/15, 0417, 7360 -- Vatican Radio in the Tigrinya
language of Eritrea and Ethiopia,  transmitting from Santa Maria de
Galera at 500 kw. Two males  talking, lots of noise and some inter-
ference. SINPO 43243.

[CUBA/CHINA] 01/29/15, 0420, 9790 -- China Radio International
in Cantonese, transmitted from Havana at 250 kw. Surprisingly bad
signal marred by interference and noise, unlike what I normally
receive on this frequency. Male announcer. SINPO 32233.

[GREECE] 01/30/15, 0100, 9420 -- Helliniki Radiophonia from
Avlis. Male and female talk in Greek. SINPO 33222.

[USA] 01/30/15, 0106, 8420 -- Ship-to-shore communication station
from Mobile, Alabama. Morse code usually heard on here, but
tonight just pulsing and other sounds. SINPO 33222.

[CUBA/CHINA] 01/30/15, 0108, 9580 -- China Radio Int'l from
Havana. Male announcer with news in English, mentions story of
Japanese hostage being held by Islamic State. 44344, good signal.

[BRAZIL] 01/30/15, 0112, 11780 -- Radio Nacional de Amazonia
from Brasilia at 250 kw. Latin music, followed by station ID and
chatter from male announcer in Portuguese. SINPO 43344.

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

SW Logs from February 2013, from Euless, TX

Country in brackets is the transmitter site and not
necessarily the country of origin, 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 a 6 foot wire antenna, on a second floor, unless
otherwise noted.

[ROMANIA] 02-02-13, 0435, 6130 -- Radio
Romania International in English. Female reads
listener mail. Good signal, SINPO 44344. Per
Aoki, 300 kw from Galbeni, Romania.

[INDIA] 02-02-13, 2148, 9445 -- All India Radio
from Bengaluru at 500 kw. Lots of what was
presumably ambient noise, but still very readable.
Indian/South Asian music, SINPO 33222. First
time ever hearing AIR here in Texas! And the last,
for all I know.

[USA] 02-02-13, 2202, 8420 -- WLO, port beacon
in coastal Mobile, Alabama. Heard beeps/data bursts
and could've sworn I heard morse code. A brief
Google search directed me towards some message board
posts, one of them stating that WLO provides "coastal
radio station ship to shore communications", and that
the actual frequency is supposed to be 8421 khz.
SINPO 34233.

[CUBA] 02-03-13, 0943, 9240 -- Cuban numbers
station. YL reads number sequences followed by
data bursts. Abruptly off at 0946, although open
carrier remained. 54455.

[SPAIN] 02-13-13, 0250, 9535 -- Radio Exterior de
Espana, 350 kw from Noblejas. Male talk in Spanish,
then female with literary segment. Started ok, but
deteriorated to SINPO 34222.

[VATICAN] 02-14-13,  0449, 7315 -- Radio Dabanga
in Arabic/Sudanese, directed to Darfur. Transmitted
from Santa Maria di Galera, 250 kw. Two males
talking, then only one male. SINPO 44444, very good
signal.

[TUNISIA] 02-14-13, 0452, 7275 -- RTV Tunisia, 500
kw from Sfax. Another first time DX for me! Arabic per
Aoki. Middle Eastern sounding music, SINPO 34333.
Pretty sure these guys don't QSL, but I might try
anyway.

[ASCENCION ISLAND/UK] 02-14-13, 0455, 7255 --
BBC in English from the Ascension transmitter in
the Atlantic, 250 kw. Weak but readable, SINPO 24112.
Heard male and female announcers.

[FRENCH GUIANA/VIETNAM] 02-14-13, 0457,
6175 -- Voice of Vietnam in Vietnamese from Montsinery,
French Guiana at  500 kw. Male announcer, SINPO
44555.

[USA] 02-14-13, 0500, 6030 -- Radio Marti in Spanish
from Greenville, SC at 250 kw, directed towards Cuba.
Sounded like it may have been subject to jamming. Male
reads US government editorial. SINPO 32222, bad.

[NEW ZEALAND] 02-14-13, 0432, 15720 -- Radio New
Zealand International from Rangitaiki @ 50 kw (?!) per
Aoki. Male reads sports news, SINPO 33333.

[UNIDENTIFIED] 02-21-13, 0305, 21895 -- Male talks
in what sounds like Portuguese, SINPO 32222, deteriorates
to 22111 around 0313z. Brazillian radio? Pirate?

[USA/TAIWAN] 02-25-13, 0105, 11565 -- Radio Taiwan
International, 100 kw from Okechobee, Florida. Male
reads news in Spanish. SINPO 34233.

 

Shortwave Logs for January, 2013

Country in brackets is the transmitter site and not
necessarily the country of origin, 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.

[MOLDOVA] 01-10-13, 0035, 7290 -- Voice of
Russia in English from Kishinev-Grigoriopol  at
500 kw, per Aoki. Male announcer, technology and
business news. SINPO 44233, lots of ambient noise.

[GREEECE] 01-12-13, 2220, 9420 -- Voice of
Greece is sometimes barely audible on this frequency,
but reception was slightly better this night. Music and
greek talk by two males. SINPO 34333. Great station
for music when it comes in decently.

[USA] 01-12-13, 2225, 15440 -- Radio Taiwan Inter-
national in English, from Okechobee, Florida. Female
interviews male (about food?), followed by the segment
"Classic Shorts". SINPO 54555, excellent reception.

[CUBA] 01-27-13, 0730, 9330 -- Cuba's "Atencion"
spy numbers station, this time on a frequency which I
don't recall hearing it on before. Aoki lists nothing here
at this time. Female voice reads strings of numbers,
interspersed with data/modem type sounds. SINPO
32333. Listened until 0738. Would've made a recording,
but I'm laaaaazy.

[BRAZIL] 01-28-13, 0037, 11780 -- Radio Nacional
de Amazonia in Portuguese. Caught the end of the song
"Black Sabbath" by the band of the same name, followed
by male announcer saying "memorias musicales", then more
music, not rock this time. SINPO 33233.


COMMENTS: Not a very active month for logging stations
for me, mostly due to me doing most of my DXing outside
and not being a huge fan of the cold. Nothing new or
terribly interesting this month, no new or weird stations.
I'm still hearing Canada's CHU time station on 3330 khz
regularly, although very weak. Radio Habana Cuba still
strong all over, still listening to them almost daily on
5040, 6165 and 11760 khz.

Radio Habana Cuba QSL card

Way back in July 2012, I sent Radio Habana Cuba a QSL request by
email to radiohc@enet.cu, for shortwave reception on 11750 khz. For
some reason, that doesn't sound quite right at the moment. Buuut, I'm
too lazy to check my logs. And let's face it, what frequency doesn't RHC
broadcast in? Does it even matter?

Several months later (early January  2013) I received a QSL package
from Cuba in the mail. The envelope was badly torn, basically open;
this happens to my correspondence from Iran as well, so no real surprise
there. Free countries (unlike Cuba?)  routinely open and check their
citizens' mail, right? Aaaanyway...Pictures of the QSL (back and front)
are below, along with a postcard and Jose Marti pocket calendar .
Thanks, RHC!

QSL cards from Croatia, Germany and Cuba

Back in July, I heard Voice of Croatia on 9925 khz, and sent
them a reception report by email (several times and to several
addresses over several weeks, as it turned out), but they finally
responded with an e-QSL on September 13th. This was followed
a couple of weeks later by the same QSL letter that I received by
email, but this time by postal mail from Croatia. Wasn't expecting
that! But then, even more unexpectedly, a couple of weeks after
that, I received a Voice of Croatia QSL card by mail! It is
pictured below (top). Damn, VOC, you really came through in
the end. Huzzah!

In other QSL news,  I heard Germany's Deutsche Welle, trans-
mitted from Kigali, Rwanda, in East Africa, on October 21st
(as logged here). I sent them a reception report by email to
info@dw-world.de, and about 3 weeks later I received a QSL
card (pictured below, under the V. of Croatia card), mailed
from DW Customer Service in Bonn, Germany. The back of
the card can be seen in the second picture.

 

Finally, on September 15, I heard Cuba's Radio Rebelde on 5025
khz, and I sent them a reception report to web@radiorebelde.icrt.cu
two days later,  including an mp3 recording of my reception (they
apparently require this for QSL requests). On November 8th, I
received an email from Radio Rebelde with an e-QSL ( :-/ )
attached. It is displayed below. A big thanks to these three
shortwave broadcasters who took the time to acknowledge my
reports!

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

¡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