V30, formerly VTN, the Vietnamese Numbers Station
10255 kHz, USB, about 1600 UTC most days.
Times and dates are UTC, frequencies are in kHz.
Last updated July 5, 2011, far from complete at this time. V 0.92
Affective July 1, 2011, the Enigma 2000 group has assigned the ID "V30" to this station, before that time it was most generally known as "VTN".
A little after 1600 UTC on February 21, 2010, in the #wunclub IRC channel, a user (LDO, a European region monitor) threw out the question "Vietnamese numbers? 10255" I had been paying fairly close attention to the Asian numbers stations for the past year or so, and immediately tuned to the indicated frequency of 10255 kHz.
Sure enough, there was a previously unreported Vietnamese language numbers station on that frequency. S6 or stronger here in Southern California. What made this signal fairly interesting is that as far as I know no Vietnamese numbers station of any kind had been reported in recent years.
The transmission consisted of a female voice, in Vietnamese, announcing groups of numbers. Each group consisted of 5 numbers between 0 and 9. The frequency was 10255 kHz and the mode was USB.
Unfortunately I did not catch the beginning of the transmission. I caught about 20 seconds of groups before there was a non-numeric announcement that was repeated several times.
After a short pause a new message started, with several lines of announcement and again into 5 figure groups.
That first recording is about 4 minutes and 41 seconds long total. I have since learned that this recording probably contains the tail end of one message body and the entirety of another.
As mentioned above, the first format received on 02/21/2010 was a female voice (YL), in Vietnamese language (VT), and consisted of 5 figure number groups (5f).
I did not attempt to receive the station again until a couple of weeks later, on March 7, 2010, and a little after 1600 UTC. The station was present, but this time a male (OM) voice. Again Vietnamese language and 5 figure number groups. The recording I made again did not include the entire transmission as I tuned to it right at the end. Every transmission received since then has been a male voice (OM), the female (YL) voice has not been heard again.
Starting March 8 I scheduled longer recordings, trying to capture the entire transmission format. I did capture one entire message body consisting of 30 of the five figure number groups.
Starting March 9 I began recording the 10255 kHz region 24 hours a day using an SDR. The goal was two-fold, record complete cycles of messages and find other schedule times for this station if other times were indeed in use.
No other time slots have been received at my location, every transmission has started at about 1600 UTC, +/-. Start times for the first message of the day have varied from 1556 to after 1615 UTC. On most days there are three identical messages between about 1600 and about 1630, but as few as one and as many as four messages have been seen in the same time period. Some days there are no transmissions at all received at my location, this could be because of poor propagation or there might actually be no transmissions made on those days.
Messages consisting of 63, 30, 71, 55, 42 and 50 code groups have been received. So far all messages of a specific number of groups have been identical, ie, all 71 group messages are identical regardless of the date they were sent, as are all 55 and 42 group messages. Comparisons of recordings indicate that while the original message might be read by a human it is recorded, probably on PC, and replayed as needed. Several times Windows OS sounds have been heard in the transmissions, these are not repeatable and appear to be random in nature. This is the strongest indication I have found that the messages are recorded on a PC once, and played back as needed. Identical messages are run for many days in a row.
To confirm that messages of a specific number of code groups are indeed the same I played recordings from multiple days simultaniously, editing them to start on the same sound. Playing one day in the right channel and one in the left reveals any differences between the two. An example can be found here . In this example audio from the first message sent on March 11 is in the left channel, while audio from the second message of the day is for March 30 is in the right channel. I have intentionally left them very slightly out of sync so that any differences between the two would be more pronounced. You should also be able to hear different atmospheric noise and fades in each channel.
There has been some discussion as to the nature or source of these transmissions on various newsgroups and forums on the web. Because the frequency has been associated with Vietnamese commercial use it has been suggested the signal is commercial in nature and should not be considered a "numbers" station. The fact that translations of the signal have included the term "Lighthouse" or similar possible real place names have been used to support such claims.
At times two way traffic has been heard on the same 10255 kHz frequency, often in Vietnamese, but other Oriental languages have also been heard. So far no two-way traffic has been heard that can in any way be directly associated with the numbers transmissions.
It is not unheard of for numbers stations to be on frequencies that support other traffic, there are only so many HF freqs to choose from. For example Korean language numbers station V24 on 6215 kHz, this frequency is often used by shipping in multiple languages. I have heard Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, Chinese, English, and French all on that frequency. I have even heard the other users pause around the numbers transmissions. Yet there is little doubt that V24 is a traditional Spy Numbers station.
The Vietnamese numbers station will broadcast the same message multiple times a day and for many days in a row. It is not known how many days the 63 message group and the 30 message group signals were sent, but the 71 message group signal was sent for 30 days in a row, and the 55 message group signal was sent for 13 days in a row. The 42 group signal was first sent on April 22, and as of the time of this writing it is still being sent, 63 days later. The message itself has been sent more than 150 times, all of them identical and replays of the very first in the series. I can think of no commercial reason to send a message for such a long time or so many times.
In my opinion this is definitely a numbers station, possibly one that is just starting operations, and possibly still establishing its eventual format.
So far 7 distinct message bodies have been observed, generally each with a different number of groups, although two messages have contained 30 groups:
The original receipt on 21 February, 2010, consisted of 63 message groups. The single message length is about 4 minutes and 20 seconds long.
The signals observed on March 7 and 8 consisted of 30 message groups. The single message length is about 3 minutes and 52 seconds long, but I believe the single complete message body I recorded may have some errors included, so I have no idea what a representative message length would be.
From March 9 to April 7 the signal sent messages consisting of 71 message groups. Each message body was 6 minutes and 32 seconds in length.
From April 8 until April 20 each signal consisted of 55 message groups. Each message body was 4 minutes and 5 seconds in length.
Starting April 22 (nothing was received at my location on April 21) to September 14, 2010, each signal consisted of 42 message groups. Each message body has been 3 minutes and 29 seconds long when there are no errors. For several days in a row the message had feedback and echoing, these messages were unpredictable in length even though they contained the same code groups as the standard 42 group message.
From September 15, 2010, to March 6, 2011, no messages were heard or reported that I am aware of. There were occasional tones on the frequency that might, or might not, have been associated with the VTN transmitter.
Starting March 7, 2011 until May 10, 2011, each signal consisted of 30 message groups. Of minor interest is the fact that part way through the message (about 38 seconds into the recording) multiple car horns can be heard in the background. It is fairly obviouse that the recording was done with an open mic and there is a traffic jam near the building the recording was made in. 2011, 30 message groups (there was also a 30 group message sent in 2010, but not the same message). Each message body was 6 minutes and 16 seconds in length.
Starting May 12, 2011 until today (May 29, 2011), a new message is being sent. Each signal consist of 50 message groups.. Each message body is 3 minutes and 36 seconds long although the recording is longer, you can hear the recording start several seconds before the first word is said.
To date I am aware of at least three different translations that have been done on this signal. All three have been based on one or another of the 71 message transmissions. All of the translations agree on the basic content but with some variations in details.
The 71 message group transmission on March 30, 2010, is roughly translated as below, items in RED and in quotes ( " " ) are translations of Vietnamese to English, at times the translation is approximate. This translation was done piece meal, with a Vietnamese speaker helping on two lines and machine translators used for the rest, note that I am not a Vietnamese speaker, this is just my best uninformed effort to figure it out:
"Lighthouse Cay call 5253". (This is repeated 10 times, another translation of this might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5253")
"Call number 05822". (This is repeated 3 times)
"Number of groups 71". (This is repeated 3 times)
"Day 9, 3, 2010" (this is intriguing as the 71 group message was first heard on March 9, 2010)
"Contents of" (This s repeated 3 times, other possible translations are "Body of" or "message contains", Google translates as "the contents of the")
71 groups of 5 digits are sent.
"Lighthouse Cay call, Lighthouse Cay call 5558". (This combination is said one time, an alternate translation might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse, Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5558")
"Lighthouse Cay call 5558". (This is repeated 3 times, alternate translation might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5558")
MT Utility World has a translation of the 71 message group transmission sent on March 18, 2010, done by a native Vietnamese speaker who has worked as a translator before. Some of the above does not agree with her translation, and when there is a question the MT Utility World translation should probably be given more credibility than mine above.
Below is my again rough translation of the 55 message group transmission I received on April 14, 2010. Note that the format is roughly the same as the 71 message group format, with some differences.
"Lighthouse Cay call 5253". (This is repeated 4 times, another translation of this might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5253")
"Call number 05822". (This is repeated 2 times)
"Number of groups 55". (This is repeated 2 times)
"Lighthouse Cay call 5253". (This is repeated 4 times, another translation of this might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5253")
"Call number 05822". (This is repeated 2 times)
"Number of groups 55". (This is repeated 2 times)
"Contents of" (This is repeated 2 times, other possible translations are "Body of" or "message contains", Google translates as "the contents of the")
55 groups of 5 digits are sent.
"Lighthouse Cay call 5558". (This is repeated 4 times, alternate translation might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5558")
And the message is complete. Note the lead in is shorter and quicker, but done twice and there is no date sent before the message content starts. All numbers except for the group count and groups themselves are the same. The delivery of these transmissions are faster paced than the 71 message transmissions were.
Below is my again rough translation of the 42 message group transmission I received on April 25, 2010.
"Lighthouse Cay call 5253". (This is repeated 8 times, another translation of this might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5253")
"Call number 06011". (This is repeated 2 times)
"Number of groups 42". (This is repeated 2 times)
"Lighthouse Cay call 5253". (This is repeated 2 times, another translation of this might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5253")
"Call number 06011". (This is said 1 time)
"Number of groups 42". (This is said 1 time)
"Contents of" (This is repeated 2 times, other possible translations are "Body of" or "message contains", Google translates as "the contents of the")
42 groups of 5 digits are sent.
A previously unheard Vietnamese term is said twice, so far I have no firm translation of this term. The closest I can come up with is "d?m xong" or "Count Finished"
"Lighthouse Cay call 5558". (This is repeated 4 times, alternate translation might be "Son Ca calling Lighthouse 5558")
Note that this message format was more like the 55 group transmissions than like the 71 group signals. Also note that the call number has changed from 05822 on the previous two messages to 06011 in this one.