This is a copy of The Numbers Racket CD-ROM, which I prepared back in 1998. I am presenting it here, unedited, for historical purposes. Obviously most if not all of the information is 'out of date' today, but think of it as a snapshot of what the Spy Numbers scene was like in the late 1990s.

Like what you see here? Help support my work by taking a look at my software , and buy something of interest :) It's all available for download before purchase, so you can try it out.

Enjoy!


The Russian Man

The Russian Man

The Russian Man is the generic name given to several Numbers Stations that appear to all be operated by Russia. Several langauges have been noted, including English, German, Russian, and Spanish. The transmission format in each langauge is identical. Both male and female voices are used.

Here's a typical transmission...

529                                Message to 529, this is repeated 
834 834 167 167                    167 blocks, 834 means ???
96970 96970    37660 37660...      Message, each block repeated
834 834 167 167 0 0 0 0 0          End of message

If no message is to be transmitted, then the identifier is sent three times, followed by 00000, the same five zeros that are sent at the end of a message. Many Numbers Stations still transmit even if there is no message to be sent that broadcast, presumably so that the agent knows that there is no traffic, and he hasn't missed the transmission.

All Russian Numbers Stations appear to use five zeros as the end of message indicator, which makes it much easier to identify these stations.

The frequencies used by The Russian Man continuously change from week to week, making it much harder to track the station. Each broadcast appears to be sent twice each week, on two consecutive days, on the same frequency.

Reception quality in North America is usually quite execellent. This could indicate either very powerful transmitters and good antennas, or a close location, such as the Russian communications facility in Bauta, Cuba.

This station has been DFed to locations outside of Moscow, and just south of Havana, Cuba (a presumed Russian site). No doubt there are other sites, especially in Europe.

It is believed that the station(s) are operated by the SVR/FAPSI, the successor to the KGB.


Sometimes patterns are visible in transmissions. Look at this recent schedule for transmissions from The Spanish Man, V7:
0600	11149 
0620	12149
0640	13149
The frequency ends in '149', the first two digits (MHz) increment.


The Russian Man operations broadcasts Control Transmissions (S25) as follows:

Monday  0800  14895
Monday  0820  11270

These transmissions always appear to be directed to "615".

The format is:
0800	"615 xxxxx" (one five figure group is sent)
0810	"615 yyyyy" (another five figure group is sent)
0820	"615 zzzzz" (another five figure group is sent)
0830	"615 wwwww" (another five figure group is sent)

ie:
0800 to 0810 615 03448
0810 to 0820 615 09178

In September, 1998, the following transmissions were noted (this time with two 5fg):
 0800:  "615 93915 99955"
 0820:  "615 95995 96785"



Listen to the station The Russian Man in English (ENIGMA E6, also called English Man, unisex voice)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in English (ENIGMA E6, also called English Man, unisex voice)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in English (ENIGMA E6, also called English Man)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in German (ENIGMA G19, also called German Man)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in Russian (ENIGMA S6)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in Spanish, YL voice (ENIGMA V7)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in Spanish, YL voice (ENIGMA V7)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in Spanish, YL voice (ENIGMA V7)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in Spanish, OM voice (ENIGMA V7) Recorded June 23, 1998 at 0600z on 11167 kHz
Listen to the station The Irish Man in English, OM voice (ENIGMA E19)
Listen to the station The Russian Lady (ENIGMA S21) Recorded June 19, 1998 at 1945z on 5290 kHz
Listen to the station The Russian Man Control Transmission (ENIGMA S25)
Listen to the station The Russian Man in Russian
Listen to the station The Russian Man in Russian? (Unknown)


The following message was copied from E17 on November 16, 1997 on 6780 kHz at 0300Z:

378 378 378 378 378 378 378 378 378 378 378 378 378 378 378
175 175 84 84
69524 69524 14555 14555 23479 23479 58972 58972 81603 81603
77532 77532 28808 28808 65098 65098 53367 53367 72310 72310
19052 19052 31124 31124 95306 95306 46213 46213 54460 54460
17224 17224 71992 71992 93562 93562 38029 38029 36335 36335
37412 37412 11896 11896 32372 32372 38475 38475 59144 59144
43742 43742 42382 42382 51901 51901 81803 81803 94246 94246
93556 93556 96068 96068 54924 54924 54784 54784 30013 30013
76139 76139 81054 81054 72297 72297 91853 91853 17328 17328
15040 15040 82975 82975 89787 89787 50686 50686 56169 56169
23679 23679 93938 93938 98549 98549 75567 75567 67727 67727
34854 34854 88222 88222 74908 74908 47102 47102 28545 28545
30137 30137 63015 63015 09593 09593 63230 63230 59021 59021
03982 03982 26552 26552 51464 51464 49650 49650 39913 39913
68570 68570 11438 11438 18090 18090 59693 59693 88610 88610
24470 24470 89593 89593 20530 20530 95031 95031 93925 93925
76321 76321 39433 39433 32419 32419 87955 87955 52659 52659
39640 39640 54388 54388 29763 29763 77494 77494 
175 175 84 84 00000

Copyright 1998 Chris Smolinski. All Rights Reserved.
Last Update: June 22, 1998.

This is a copy of The Numbers Racket CD-ROM, which I prepared back in 1998. I am presenting it here, unedited, for historical purposes. Obviously most if not all of the information is 'out of date' today, but think of it as a snapshot of what the Spy Numbers scene was like in the late 1990s.

Like what you see here? Help support my work by taking a look at my software , and buy something of interest :) It's all available for download before purchase, so you can try it out.