Numbers monitor Chris Smolinski of Maryland has recently finished work on a numbers station CD-ROM. The disk, titled "The Numbers Racket," is a multi-media CD-ROM which includes not only recordings of numbers stations, but also text that describes the stations, formats used by each station, frequencies & schedules, background information and more. The CD-ROM is organized as a website and can be viewed by any web browser, whether you're using Macintosh or Windows. The CD-ROM can be ordered directly from Chris for $20.00 in US funds. Chris's address is:

Chris Smolinski
4708 Trail Court
Westminster, MD 21158 USA

I'll have an in-depth review of the CD-ROM next month.

On 3 September 1998 at 0122 on 11107 I heard a YL/EE E17 station with a 5F message in progress. Once the message was over, I kept listening to the frequency waiting for the carrier to drop. It stayed on the air for about 10 minutes when it sent a tone and a single "398" and went off the air. After about 30 seconds the carrier came back on the air. A few more minutes passed and a couple more "398's" were sent. Finally, at the top of the hour it repeated 398 and went into a message, the same one I had copied at 0122. It's not necessarily odd to hear a station repeat a message an hour later, but it is certainly unusual to hear a message repeated on the same frequency.

P7X has been active again lately. You can catch it on 5431.5 and 5779.5 parallel during the evening hours. During the day it has been found on 10692.5. The usual 120 group CW messages and high-speed data signals are being sent.

I've compiled a list of the Cuban V2 & M8 stations. I have posted the skeds to the Spooks mailing list. If you're not on the Spooks list & would like a copy, send me an e-mail or SASE.

For yet more information on numbers stations, check out Simon Mason's website. Simon is the author of the book Secret Signals - The Euronumbers Mystery. The book is now out of print, so Simon put it on his website. There are also plenty of other items, including full schedules of the Lincolnshire Poacher (E3), Cherry Ripe (E4), and two-letter callup stations E16 and G16. There are some photographs of QSL's from OLX (S16/M6) and KKN44 (M25), as well as pictures of one-time pads, a gigantic log periodic antenna atop an embassy, and various articles and letters. It is well worth checking out for anyone with even the slightest interest in numbers stations. The URL is http://www.btinternet.com/~simon.mason. When you get there, click on the "Secret Signals" icon.

That's about all for this month. Next month, as promised, I'll have an in-depth look at Chris Smolinski's "The Numbers Racket" CD-ROM. If you have an interesting item you would like to share, please send it to me at the address at the top of the page. All contributions to this column are welcome.

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