numbers station en · NOUN
Meanings
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A shortwave radio station characterized by unusual broadcasts, often of artificially generated voices reciting streams of numbers, words, etc., supposedly of coded messages.
Naturally enough, no government has actually admitted to operating a numbers station, but the suspicion is there.
2012, Ripley's Believe It Or Not! (compiler), Ripley's Unbelievable Stories For Guys:The most common numbers station features a young lady reading the numbers in Spanish. Other stations have both male and female voices reading numbers in Spanish, German, English and Chinese. So far, nobody has been able to decode any of the messages!
October 1986, William O'Connell, “Get On The Air”, in Boys' Life, volume 76, number 10, page 35:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| numbers stations | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (8)
ru числовая радиостанция (shortwave radio station) · cmn 數字電台 /数字电台 (shortwave radio station) · ja 暗号放送 (shortwave radio station) · ja ナンバーステーション (shortwave radio station) · ja 乱数放送 (shortwave radio station) · fr station de nombres (shortwave radio station) · ru номерная радиостанция (shortwave radio station) · fi numeroasema (shortwave radio station)