Apparently the British government takes a dim view of its subjects discussing such matters in print. Newspaper articles about shortwave espionage have been pulled by the UK's "D" notice system. It is so-called because it was set up to silence discussion of any subject that might jeopardize the defense of the UK. Apparently the British government believes that talk of numbers stations falls into this category.

This particular "D" notice went into effect on 24 May 2000, and states:

1. It is requested that no details be published, without prior consultation, of the British Government's highly classified codes and ciphers, related data protection measures and communication facilities, or those of NATO or other allies.
2. It is also requested that advice be sought before disclosing, or elaboration on, information published at home or overseas about UK official codes and ciphers or their potential vulnerability.
3. Rationale. Disclosures that could compromise codes and ciphers put at risk the classified information protected by them and, indirectly, people�s lives. Revealing details of associated data protection measures and communications facilities, whether obtained, for example, from documents or by techniques such as computer hacking, could assist potential enemies to penetrate these elements of national security.

I can certainly understand and appreciate their reasoning, nor would I want to compromise the security of US allies. However, I would have to think that if the British government's codes or cipher systems are so weak as to be in danger from SWL's discussing numbers stations, then they should look for other means of encryption. I suspect that the CIA or NSA may be reading this column or the ENIGMA newsletter, and probably laughing at our lack of inside knowledge. I hope they feel that their encryption methods are secure enough to not need censorship on our part. Even if we discuss the one-time-pad system, it's virtually impossible to break the code without the pad itself. After all, we're not talking about A=1, B=2, C=3 children's codes.

Speaking of breaking codes, is anyone else having as much fun decoding the messages at the beginning of each chapter of Body of Secrets? I had a little trouble at first, thinking each block of text was encoded the same way. Actually, each line is encoded separately. Hmm... I wonder if I could persuade my local newspaper to carry "Cryptoquip?" Anyway, as soon as I'm finished reading the book, I'll give a review of it here. I can say that so far it is extremely interesting.

Strange signals department: John Sedlacek forwarded some information about an odd signal he heard. John was checking 21500 for pirates, but found Radio Voz Cristiana from Chile on the frequency. They went QRT at 2300 UTC, but on the frequency was a ticking signal similar to a time signal pip. This signal went on for several hours, never changing or doing anything different at the top or half of the hour. John states that he hasn't heard anything like this outside of a time signal station. I have to admit that it doesn't sound familiar to me. If anyone knows what this signal was or has heard something similar, I'd like to hear from you.

I would like to take this time to offer my condolences to Bob Madorin of Lenexa, KS. Bob just recently lost his wife Judy to cancer. Bob, KB0MZE, is an active ham & utility DX'er, and was stationed at RAF Chicksands as an Air Force RTTY intercept operator during the 1960's.

Have a happy holiday season, and may there be a new HF receiver under your tree and lots of DX in your stocking this year.