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.

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

¡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