Re: [HCDX]: Korean random numbers stations

["Bill Harms" <wharms@xxxxxxxxx>]

Willi,

	I agree with Sonny; this is most likely a Korean random numbers 
station.  Although it is easier to hear these stations on the 
west coast of North America, they have been heard on the East Coast.  
In Korea, I heard these stations frequently at 1500 UT even on the 
PBS MW frequencies and at other times on random frequencies.

	The diction of the announcers calling off the numbers can sound like 
a southeast Asian language to the uninitiated ear.

	Most often, the numbers are in five digit groups and there is a 
definite pattern to the numbers. The number groups are nine syllables 
long.  The second syllable is "man" (the "a" sound equals "ah") for 
ten thousand, the fourth syllable is "chon" for thousand, the sixth 
syllable is "beck", and the eighth syllable is "ship" or "shim".  
EXAMPLE: The number nine is "ku" in Korean, then if the announcer 
were calling out 99,999 it would sound like "ku man, ku chon, ku 
beck, ku ship, ku." Or literally "nine ten thousand, nine thousand, 
nine hundred, ninety, nine."

Bill Harms
Elkridge, Maryland

> At 1:22 +0900 4/13/98, Willi Passmann wrote:
> >>Date: 5 April 1998
> >>RF; 4769.987 kHz
> >>TOI: 1407Z
> >A feeder of R. Pyongyang is listed on this frequency with irregular
> >operation, last mentioned in DX-Window 87 in 11/97.
> >Schedule: irr ?-1o24, 12oo-13oo, 14oo-15oo, r 22oo Kor., // 587o
> >
> >This info is taken from the Tropical Band List TBL.
> 
> I didn't know there was a mention of this frequency in DX-Window,
> but it is NOT a Radio Pyongyang feeder. It is North Korea's random
> number transmission for its spies in South Korea and Japan, //5870
> at all times. Random number transmissions are heard irregularly at
> the above and other times. The station has no name, but
> transmissions begin with the same IS as Radio Pyongyang.
> 
> In any case, random numbers in Korean do not sound like normal
> speech in any language. It is highly unlikely that Pyongyang was
> mistaken for Malaysia.
> 
> North Korean random number transmissions are also part of regular
> programing on Pyongyang Broadcasting Station, typically from 1500
> almost daily.
> 
> Sonny
> 
> _____________________________________________________
> Sonny M. Ashimori   <sonny@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Yaesu FRG-7700 + 40m Dipole   QTH Kobe Japan 43.34N/135.20E
> DXing North Korea http://www.serve.com/ashimori/dxnk.html
> 
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