NUMBERS STATION SW23 - NeXuS23 Brøderbund

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[..]Numbers stations (or number stations) are shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin. In the 1950s, Time magazine reported that the numbers stations first appeared shortly after World War II and were using a format that had been used to send weather data during that war.

Numbers stations generally broadcast artificially generated voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters (sometimes using a spelling alphabet), tunes or Morse code. They are in a wide variety of languages and the voices are usually female, although sometimes men’s or children’s voices are used.

Evidence supports popular assumptions that the broadcasts are used to send messages to spies. This usage has not been publicly acknowledged by any government that may operate a numbers station, although two QSLs have been received from numbers stations by shortwave listeners who sent reception reports to said stations, which is the expected behaviour of a non-clandestine station. […]

An ingenious method uses a system of encryption that is termed as a ‘one time pad’ and is impossible to break; when messages are sent via shortwave numbers stations to the receiving individual who is undercover within another country, the system shows its remarkable strength and capability as it is also extremely difficult, if achievable at all, to locate the end receiving individual and be able to place any observation onto their movements.

Where and how number stations have their origins is still masked in much uncertainness and debate. Around 60 years ago, in the 1950′s, a written article from the Time magazine stated numbers stations first came into existence a short time following the 2nd World War.