THE HAMCALL. President's Report

Transcription

1 THE HAMCALL The Official Newsletter of The Kentucky Colonel Amateur Radio Club, Inc., Kentucky Call: KY4BG page: Volume 57 Number 11 Nov Dec 2013 President's Report Hello to everyone, hope you are working a lot of stations, there is some good dx that has been on, and some still on t33a, k9w 5j0r; 10 meters has been open also. Saturday is the KY QSO party Nov z Nov z, I will be mobile using ky4dxa on the bands so get on and work me, and it would be a good time to call cq and work some states as people will be looking for KY. Thanks to everyone that helped make the hamfest a success, and also the ones that worked the bridge watch. I will not be at awards dinner, will be in TN again, hope everyone has a good time and meal. See some of you at coffee and at the Dec. breakfast. Ed N4HID Interesting article from Dan NB6NU Uno, Dos, Tres... If you have done any amount of listening to shortwave radio outside of the ham bands, you have undoubtedly run across "numbers stations." The broadcasts from these stations consist streams of numbers or letters, often in a computer-generated female voice speaking in Spanish. Every now and then, a numbers station pops up on 30m, sending five-character groups in Morse code. According to the Conet Project ( "Shortwave Numbers Stations are a perfect method of anonymous, one way communication. Spies located anywhere in the world can be communicated to by their masters via small, locally available, and unmodified Shortwave receivers. The encryption system used by Numbers Stations, known as a 'one time pad' is unbreakable. Combine this with the fact that it is almost impossible to track down the message recipients once they are inserted into the enemy country, it becomes clear just how powerful the Numbers Station system is."

2 The Conet Project sells a CD with a number of recordings for $55, but you can find a bunch of mp3 files at for free. Recently there was a thread on the Glowbugs Google Group about numbers stations. One fellow mentioned "The Numbers Station," a movie released earlier this year starring John Cusack. IMDB ( says that The Numbers Station is about "a disgraced black ops agent dispatched to a remote CIA broadcast station to protect a code operator. Soon, they find themselves in a life-or-death struggle to stop a deadly plot before it s too late." It s currently available for streaming on Netflix, and I watched it recently. It s kind of violent (lots of people get shot), but it s a decent thriller. Jim, K6FWT mentioned ENIGMA 2000 ( The group s website describes ENIGMA 2000 as "a UK based online group, whose aims are to bring together listeners and enthusiasts who monitor and gather information on 'Number Stations' and other related radio transmissions. Through our Yahoo Group monitors can share their logs, discuss frequencies, thoughts and opinions on this most emotive subject." Jim says, "These folks are SERIOUS enthusiasts. I have heard that they surpass many intelligence services with their thoroughness. You can get in up to your eyeballs if you don t watch it." These stations have been around since World War II. I remember as a kid in the 1960s and 1970s, reading articles about numbers stations in Popular Electronics and Electronics Illustrated. They're as much of a mystery today as they were back then. Picturess from Vette City HF October 5th 2013 Chris and John managing the prize drawings

3 Bill Brown WB8ELK lecture on balloon launch UP UP AND AWAY (never to be recovered) Larry WK0U scans the flea marker

4 Repeter Name Local Repeaters Frequency Offset Tone Glasgow Glasgow Tompkinsville Russellville Franklin Campbellsville Short Mountian Morgantown Grayson Co. Grayson Co. Ohio Co. Muhlenburg Co. Bonnieville Country Cousins Sunbelt Service I Bank Tenn Phone Net Ky Phone Net Time 8:00 PM CT 7:00 PM CT 6:00 PM CT 7:00 PM CT 6:00 PM CT ATTENTION CLUB MEMBERS BatteriesPlus is offering 5% Discount to KCARC members Just present your membership card when you make a purchase

5 Up Coming Events AWARDS DINNER- Nov. 12th Raffertys Restaurant CHRISTMAS Potluck Breakfast (no meeting meeting) Dec. 14 BGPD Community Room Hamfest Nov. 16th & 17th Fort Wayne Hamfest. Traders Net Each Monday 1900 cst rpt. Tone KCARC Net Each Tuesday 1900 cst rptr (Tone 107.2) 4th ARES NET MEETS 7 NIGHTS A WEEK AT 9 PM LOCAL TIME. Frequency: MHz. W4WSM Repeater. Secondary Frequency: MHz. PL Tone KY4BG - KCARC Repeater 10 Meter Net Sunday Night 8:30 p cdt mhz KY3B net control 2011 KCARC OFFICERS President: Ed Gann N4HID Vice President: Tim Meyer KJ4ARE Sec-Treas: Greg Lake KY3B John Renfro K4FRO Hank Cantrell W4HTB Dottie Lake KJ4PKN Ben Runner W4WSM Gary Hext K4UU HAMCALL EDITOR: W4HTB Web Master: Chris Scott W4NEQ