Numbers Stations: A Bad Day to be a Cuban Spy
By Thomas, The SWLing Post
While band scanning last Sunday (September 8, 2014) I stumbled upon the Cuban numbers station HM01 on 11,530 kHz at 17:30 UTC.
It’s always intriguing to hear shortwave numbers stations, but I prefer those that stick to pure vocal number strings;
HM01 has numbers with digital bursts between number sets, which is a
more fatiguing listening experience. Nonetheless, I kept it playing in
the background as I tooled around the radio room Sunday afternoon,
putting away supplies from my recent three week road trip.
"The lack of any accent in the voice of the Atención station was
explained in December by Jorge García Vázquez, a Cuban in Berlin who has
been researching the links between Havana and the STASI, the former
East Germany’ intelligence service. A Jan. 10 1977 letter in the
STASI archives shows Cuban intelligence Maj. Eddy Herrera had requested
the equipment for a numbers station, preloaded with the Spanish words
for one through zero, Attention, Goodbye and Final, Garcia Vasquez
reported.."
