“Tavajoh! Tavajoh! Tavajoh!” a male voice proclaims, prior to reciting a sequence of numerals without any obvious pattern, delivered slowly and with a steady cadence. After almost a couple of hours, these Persian utterances of “Attention!” halt, only to recommence several hours subsequently.
This transmission has been aired two times each day on a high-frequency band, commencing with the onset of the US-Israel offensive targeting Iran on February 28.
As per Priyom, an entity monitoring and scrutinizing worldwide military and espionage utilization of shortwave radio, employing proven radio-locating methods, this transmission was initially detected when the American aerial assault on Iran commenced. It has subsequently aired via the 7910 kHz shortwave frequency with unwavering regularity—at 02.00 UTC and again at 18.00 UTC.
During the past weekend, Priyom reported having pinpointed the probable source of the transmission. Employing multilateration and triangulation methodologies, the group located the signal’s source at a high-frequency broadcast station situated within an American military installation in Böblingen, to the southwest of Stuttgart, Germany.
This location is situated within a confined exercise zone between Panzer Kaserne and Patch Barracks, with its technical functions potentially connected to the US army’s 52nd Strategic Signal Battalion, whose main office is located in proximity.
While pinpointing this source reduces the possibilities, it fails to disclose the perpetrators of these broadcasts or their intended recipients.
The broadcast spanning two hours is segmented into five to six sections, each extending for a maximum of 20 minutes. Each commences with “Tavajoh!” before transitioning to a sequence of digits in Persian, sometimes interspersed with an English word or two. On the fifth day of the transmission, attempts by radio disruptors to impede the frequency were detected. On the subsequent day, the broadcast relocated to an alternate frequency—7842 kHz.
Specialists in radio communications opine that the broadcast is probably an element of a Cold War-period mechanism referred to as number stations.
The Resurgence of the Numerals
Number stations are high-frequency radio transmissions that emit sequences of digits or coded messages that appear arbitrary—similar to the one currently detected in Iran. “It is an encrypted radio message employed by overseas espionage organizations, frequently as an element of an intricate undertaking by espionage bureaus and armed forces,” states Maris Goldmanis, a Latvian historian and passionate investigator of number stations.
Number stations are primarily linked to covert intelligence gathering. “For intelligence agencies, it is crucial to correspond with their agents to accumulate information,” explains John Sipher, an ex-American intelligence operative who spent nearly three decades within the CIA’s National Covert Service. “This is not consistently feasible face-to-face due to geopolitical limitations or hostilities. Herein lies the utility of number stations.”
While the application of number stations has roots in the First World War, they rose to significance throughout the American-Soviet Cold War. As covert operations became more intricate, administrations employed automated vocal broadcasts of encoded digits to correspond with operatives, Goldmanis states. Referencing unclassified KGB and CIA records, he further notes that number stations were extensively employed throughout this era, frequently as Morse code broadcasts and, in numerous instances, as reciprocal communications, with operatives relaying information via their personal high-frequency transmitters.
“Presently, diverse satellite and coded communication technologies are available,” Sipher remarks. “But during the Cold War and even preceding it, administrations were compelled to devise methods to achieve this unobserved, and transmitting encrypted communications served as a means to correspond with your operatives clandestinely.”
The seeming arbitrariness of the numerals implies comprehension is solely possible with the aid of a codebook, Sipher further states. “Nobody can discern its meaning or comprehend its content without possessing the codebook offering clues for decryption,” he explains, emphasizing the necessity of establishing and synchronizing such systems beforehand.
A Transmission Lacking an Originator
Although the probable source of the transmission may now be more distinct, its objective and designated beneficiary persist as mysteries.
Given that these broadcasts are coded and purposed for secrecy, such specifics might persist in obscurity for an extended period, Goldmanis posits. The systematic character of the transmission—its predetermined timetable and regular utilization of frequencies—additionally indicates it forms part of a premeditated undertaking.
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