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How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

numbers-stations.com

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Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#41

Post by vageli »

sandworm101 wrote: post #38
formerly_proven wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it is lost in translation, but video isn't film. So video surveillance probably means they placed a video camera (probably based on a video tube) and ran cables.

Lol. Kids. Video is certainly not film, but once upon a time was regularly recorded onto magnetic tape running over reels (google "VCR" or "VHS"). Still photography also used moving parts. Things like shutters would make audible clicks when exposing the photographic film, which then had to be moved out of position mechanically. That "click" noise on your iPhone camera is actually designed to mimic this ancient camera…

CCTV has been around since the 40s.

Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#42

Post by 082349872349872 »

082349872349872 wrote: post #7

I've sometimes wondered why the Hershey Fonts have such a nice set of cyrillic vectors. Maybe making things like https://i1.wp.com/www.numbers-stations.com/wp-content/upload... is something one would prefer to do on an in-house plotter, rather than sending it out to an ordinary print shop? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_fonts Edit: the bus stop has been replaced, and the kerbside tree is gone: https://www.goog…

and the dead drop location from: https://www.numbers-stations.com/articles/trigon-numbers-sta...

https://www.google.com/maps/@55.7272732,37.5479753,3a,75y,15...

(unfortunately nowhere near close enough to see if the sign is still there)

Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#43

Post by jacquesm »

saffronique wrote: post #40
pps43 wrote: post #20

I expected to see something along the lines of vans with directional antennas driving around Moscow listening for spurious emissions from local oscillators of superheterodyne receivers 465 kHz away from the number station frequency, as in Operation RAFTER.

Interesting, some I've some googling to do!

Any radio that uses a mixer is also a transmitter.

Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#44

Post by jacquesm »

sandworm101 wrote: post #38
formerly_proven wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it is lost in translation, but video isn't film. So video surveillance probably means they placed a video camera (probably based on a video tube) and ran cables.

Lol. Kids. Video is certainly not film, but once upon a time was regularly recorded onto magnetic tape running over reels (google "VCR" or "VHS"). Still photography also used moving parts. Things like shutters would make audible clicks when exposing the photographic film, which then had to be moved out of position mechanically. That "click" noise on your iPhone camera is actually designed to mimic this ancient camera…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_camera_tube

Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#45

Post by jacquesm »

jojobas wrote: post #17
082349872349872 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outgoing international mail sent by a nonlocal tourist might have been a quick triage signal for the local postmaster? These days, of course, our communications pass through various boxes that can automate inspections, so no need to involve wetware. Keyword search in 1960s US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_7950_Harvest#Usage

Nothing makes a "tourist" letter any more likely to be spy-related than any other letter going out of the eastern bloc, say a pen-friend letter to Sweden. They probably were inspecting all outgoing mail.

And as well for all the satellite states.

Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#46

Post by pilsetnieks »

sandworm101 wrote: post #31

>> When Filatov was at work, the operative workers infiltrated his apartment and installed technical surveillance resources for video surveillance and photography. 1977. Video equipment was VERY different then, especially on that side of the iron curtain. It would have had moving parts, motors, probably requiring a degree of soundproofing. I want to see pictures of where/how they hid this stuff because it wasn't easy…

There was a joke in the Soviet Union:

  - How do you know the KGB is surveilling you?
  - A new wardrobe has just appeared in your apartment.

Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#47

Post by pps43 »

jacquesm wrote: post #43
saffronique wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, some I've some googling to do!

Any radio that uses a mixer is also a transmitter.

Only if it's poorly designed (leaks local oscillator frequency back into antenna) and not shielded.

Modern receivers use quadrature sampling detectors rather than traditional superheterodyne. In that setup any leakage would be on the same frequency and harder to detect.

Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#48

Post by FpUser »

kingkawn wrote: post #19

What stands out for me after reading this is the number of civilian lives disrupted to carry out this operation. Whether mass surveillance or moving neighbors, the system successfully rooted out a single mole but paid little mind to the impact that doing so had on the rest of society. Short-sighted strategic excellence can conceal long term self-sabotage and risk.

You can see it on a smaller scale when 2 cops both in their cars are blocking half the road discussing whatever the fuck they discuss. I think government in general has very little regard for mere mortals.

Re: How to catch a spy that is using a numbers station – The KGB Experience

#49

Post by SpaceRaccoon »

> To compensate this issue a new optic surveillance system “Negus” with 300-400 meter range that was capable of detecting, when objects entered the house, what he did in the stairway and some of the main areas of his apartment.

Seems like the "Negus" device is a photo-camera with a large magnifying attachment, sturdy base, stereo viewfinder, and knobs for focus. I found a description and some pictures here: http://ussrphoto.com/Wiki/default.asp?WikiCatID=46&ParentID=...

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