Lincolnshire Poacher (numbers station)

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The Lincolnshire Poacher is the nickname of a mysterious, powerful shortwave numbers station that uses two bars from the English folk song "The Lincolnshire Poacher" as an interval signal. The radio station is believed to be operated by the British Secret Intelligence Service and emanates from the island of Cyprus.[1] Amateur direction finding has linked it with the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, where several curtain antennas have been identified as being the its transmitter.[2] It consists 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 is spoken with a lifted voice. It is likely that the station is 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 is nicknamed "Cherry Ripe". It uses several bars from the English folk song of the same name as its interval signal.[3][4]

[edit] Schedule

This schedule is 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

  1. ^ Profile of The Lincolnshire Poacher. Spynumbers. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  2. ^ Lincolnshire Poacher. Numbers and Oddities. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  3. ^ a b c Simon Mason. The Lincolnshire Poacher. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  4. ^ Profile of Cherry Ripe. Spynumbers. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
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