I Rang A Secret Numbers Station... And Got A Response!

First part! I Rang A Secret Government Numbers Station! https://youtu.be/FObo3-Q6FEA

In the late 80's I worked in the central alarm station/control room of a US based multinational corporation. I was basically a glorified telephone receptionist and radio operator. The company had its own security director who was a retired military intelligence officer. What is interesting is that at a point in time everyone in my position was given an envelope with a piece of paper inside. The paper had a person's name on it and instructions stating that if someone called our international help line and identified themselves as that person we were to only ask them where they were and nothing else. We were to them immediately contact a list of people at their office or home no matter the time of day or day of week. It seemed very bizarre to me and my coworkers that a regular business would do this. It also felt that we were being used as a last resort. Years later I now have to wonder if it was a similar situation to what was explained in this video.

Time to register an 0845, make a weird recorded message and rake in the profit!

it seems counterintuitive to make your top-secret intelligence phone line blast the (essentially) theme song of a very well known number station down the line at you for all your enemies to hear.

If shortwave radio fuzz and artefacts can be heard on the telephone line version, its most likely a hoax. A legit source is likely to have access to and use a direct recording of the original sound source / hardware generator used. Added to that, yes, calling strange numbers on foreign networks is totally going to get noticed, particularly if under investigation; so that would be very strange.

As always, i love the radio conyent, but you taking deep dives into things like numbers stations are always really intriguing to watch and listen to. Thanks for the work you put in your videos Lewis. Youre awesome! Youve also got a good following across the pond here in the states.

Not gonna lie. I knew next to nothing about Ringway's core content, radio communications and the like. I hitched my wagon after the incredible Duga and number stations series of videos. But I'm a huge fan of learning about things I never even knew existed. Especially when presented in such a way that makes seriously technical subject matter easily digestible and so very interesting .

For someone even to spend the time setting up a fake number, and response on the line with music and numbers etc, is actually Brilliant 😂😂😂😂. Government stuff though.. MI5, MI6, SNEEKY BEAKIES etc etc. We will never know exactly what goes on within these organisations.. class video. Keep them coming

The tune it plays sounds like it was recorded from shortwave radio, and then the rest of the audio sounds clean. So I think that's a clue that it was a mock-up rather than authentic.

As I said on the other video, using a number station as a auto playing recording on public accessible number is dumb idea because every phone line on every network in every country is attached to a Dialled Number Recorder for one very basic reason, Billing.

I might try those Lincolnshire Poacher numbers on The National Lottery this weekend.

So nice to have someone who has seen my favourite TV series of all time The Americans! Yeah I love that element of it, I recall even them tuning in onto the BBC on shortwave so that they could get information. Certainly gave a "Damn this is certainly set a long time ago" vibe to it.

I remember hearing about this at the time and immediately dismissing it as a hoax. I don't understand why it would have the call-up signal (the lincolnshire poacher tune), surely the whole point of that part of the broadcast was to ensure that the receiver was tuned to the correct frequency, and to serve as an indicator that the channel was active and a message would follow shortly, neither of which are issues with what basically amounts to an answerphone

A much better covert dial in would be a weather number and the report would have subtle messages mixed into the report.

A finger of fudge is just enough to give the kids a treat!

Nice update! I think that the number must have been a hoax, as afterwards they changed the recorded message to say 'this number is not available'. Whereas dialling a number which is truly not available would prompt a response from the telecom operator, as they couldn't connect your call in the first place... Sounds like the person who sent you details of the precautions they take has more reliable information - we just hope they're still alive and watching your videos from wherever they're hiding in plain sight!

John Le Car-ray btw, Carré has an accent :). And you should totally read some, great stories!

Within Royal Mail there were/are? certain addresses with a special instruction to hand any received mail unopened directly to the office manager for, as I was told, special branch!😂. Much weird sh1t goes on right under our noses.

The cease text message came from Aldershot, home of the British military as I'm sure you know (and my home also). Just something I noticed.

Never had a remote interest, but do now. Much appreciated Lewis, the Brian Cox of radio 📻. Great vids n info.