Lincolnshire Poacher (numbers station)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lincolnshire Poacher was the nickname of a mysterious, powerful shortwave numbers station that used two bars from the English folk song "The Lincolnshire Poacher" as an interval signal. The radio station was believed to be operated by the British Secret Intelligence Service and emanated from the island of Cyprus.[1] Amateur direction finding had linked it with the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, where several curtain antennas had been identified as being its transmitter.[2] It consisted of an electronically-synthesised English-accented female voice reading groups of 5 numbers: e.g. '3-9-7-1-5'. The final number in each group was spoken with a lifted voice. It is likely that the station was used to communicate to undercover agents operating in other countries (known as illegals), to be decoded using a one-time pad.[3]
An Asian numbers station of identical format is believed to be broadcast from Guam, and nicknamed "Cherry Ripe". It uses several bars from the English folk song of the same name as its interval signal.[3][4]
As of July 2008 the Lincolnshire Poacher seems to be inactive, although its sister station Cherry Ripe has continued to be as of September 9, 2008.[3]
[edit] Schedule
This schedule was accurate as of January 2006. All times are UTC, frequencies MHz. [3]
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | 14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
| 13:00 | 14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
| 14:00 | 10.426 12.603 14.487 |
12.603 14.487 16.314 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
14.487 15.682 16.084 |
10.426 11.545 14.487 |
11.545 14.487 15.682 |
| 15:00 | 11.545 13.375 15.682 |
7.755 8.464 10.426 |
11.545 14.487 16.084 |
11.545 12.603 13.375 |
11.545 12.603 13.375 |
11.545 12.603 13.375 |
11.545 12.603 13.375 |
| 16:00 | 11.545 12.603 13.375 |
11.545 13.375 15.682 |
6.485 7.755 10.425 |
8.464 12.603 14.487 |
11.545 12.603 13.375 |
11.545 12.603 13.375 |
8.464 10.426 11.545 |
| 20:00 | 11.545 |
[edit] References
- ^ "Profile of The Lincolnshire Poacher". Spynumbers. http://www.spynumbers.com/profiles/index.html?ENIGMA=E3. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
- ^ "Lincolnshire Poacher". Numbers and Oddities. http://home.luna.nl/~ary/lp.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
- ^ a b c d Simon Mason. "The Lincolnshire Poacher". http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page14.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
- ^ "Profile of Cherry Ripe". Spynumbers. http://www.spynumbers.com/profiles/index.html?ENIGMA=E4. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
