I just wonder...

[Wave Trekker]

...about the people involved with the operations of these stations, you know? It's a very bizarre world.

There are a few interviews with certain people of interest in regards to these stations online--I'm going to check out some of them in the future and then post about the write-ups later--but unless they're really revealing, in-depth interviews, we may never know what these people are like.

I would think it takes a certain mentality of a person to be able to carry out whatever the orders are that they're given and keep quiet and all...makes me wonder if they fit a certain profile, like with serial killers and all. It's not exactly something you could broadcast around, you know!

Scene: a near-empty bar. A person of a certain *stature* staggers over to one of the few patrons left in the joint...

Staggering guy (slurring words): You know (hic!), I'm a spy. I receive codes from numbers radio stations to carry out orders as I spy on your country.

Guy sitting at table: Say what? Cool! What are 'numbers stati'--urk!

(The sound of a bullet being fired from a silencer is heard, which the guy slumps over dead at his table. The shot comes from a guy in a suit and tie and wearing sunglasses, looking a bit like Agent Smith from The Matrix movies.)

Gunman (picking up drunken agent and throwing him over his shoulder): Ok Number 32, that's enough...

Agent 32: Opths (supposed to be 'oops', but when you're drunk and slurring stuff)...

Gunman (giving barkeep a couple of thousand dollars): You didn't see anything.

[rob]

Very intriguing that these stations still operate pretty much as they have for almost a hundred years, even with all the advances in communication technology.

I have yet to pick one up intentionally, but I recall playing with shortwave when I was a kid and picking up weird numbers-like broadcasts, with people reciting the alphabet or saying the same two words over and over. I distinctly recall one that went "Salt. Pepper. Salt. Pepper. Salt..." and so on for what seemed forever. We called them "Alien stations" when I was a kid, but living directly in the middle of Fort Bragg and Pope AFB, I'm positive they were some kind of military code.

[Wave Trekker]

Jun 9, 2010 14:34:05 GMT -5 rob said:

Very intriguing that these stations still operate pretty much as they have for almost a hundred years, even with all the advances in communication technology.

Yeah. It makes me wonder what the 'next step' will be for them, if they'll use the internet somehow (if they're not already) for codes, or if they'll keep on going indefinitely as is? Because short wave is definitely an endangered species, pretty much like vinyl albums are, but they're still around (although in real limited quantities)...

Jun 9, 2010 14:34:05 GMT -5 rob said:

I have yet to pick one up intentionally, but I recall playing with shortwave when I was a kid and picking up weird numbers-like broadcasts, with people reciting the alphabet or saying the same two words over and over. I distinctly recall one that went "Salt. Pepper. Salt. Pepper. Salt..." and so on for what seemed forever. We called them "Alien stations" when I was a kid,

Ha ha yeah. There's all kinds of oddness still around on the radio...actually all kinds of communication mediums, lotta online weirdness too...

Jun 9, 2010 14:34:05 GMT -5 rob said:

but living directly in the middle of Fort Bragg and Pope AFB, I'm positive they were some kind of military code.

Probably. Again, makes you wonder...