3 ms·

regular AM/FM stations are not broadcasting on shortwave bands

lxgr 6mo ago
There are still quite a few shortwave radio stations broadcasting.
NitpickLawyer 6mo ago
Sure, but that would be a benefit, I would think. Most old cars come with an AM/FM radio, most cheap phones now have FM (? I don't know about AM, don't think so) and so on. So it would be more inconspicuous to listen to a regular radio than to a special station on special hardware. You don't even have to broadcast from EU, you could probably purchase some Radio Quatar Classical Rock or something :)
- JohnFen 6mo ago
  Radios capable of receiving shortwave bands aren't exactly rare among normal people. They're not really "special hardware". Just owning one would not be inherently suspicious. What would be suspicious is being in possession of the one-time pad needed to decode the messages, regardless of which media those messages are transmitted through. For the record, "numbers stations" can be found in nearly every communication medium, including the web. The advantage of using shortwave (range, primarily) are large enough that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
  - ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
    > What would be suspicious is being in possession of the one-time pad needed to decode the messages Would it though? All you need is something with sufficient entropy. I reckon you could do a "good enough" job with any plausible-looking data you have lying around on your hard disk right now. Say for example if you took a couple of sha256s of any random image you might post on social media, you'd have quite a lot of key right there.
    - ted_dunning 6mo ago
      That is a book cipher, not a one-time pad.
      - ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
        I guess, although you don't use the same jpeg every time.
- GJim 6mo ago
  Good lord! It was once common knowledge that VHF radio ("FM") typically doesn't travel over the horizon, LW and MW radio ("AM") travel by ground wave and are regional, but that you need shortwave kit for international and global communications. Quite how a reader on a modern technical news site is unaware of this (no, you can't send direct messages to spies half way around the planet to be received on an "AM/M" car radio) shows just how common public knowledge of radio communications has faded over the last few years.

lxgr 6mo ago

There are still quite a few shortwave radio stations broadcasting.

Sure, but that would be a benefit, I would think. Most old cars come with an AM/FM radio, most cheap phones now have FM (? I don't know about AM, don't think so) and so on. So it would be more inconspicuous to listen to a regular radio than to a special station on special hardware. You don't even have to broadcast from EU, you could probably purchase some Radio Quatar Classical Rock or something :)

JohnFen 6mo ago
Radios capable of receiving shortwave bands aren't exactly rare among normal people. They're not really "special hardware". Just owning one would not be inherently suspicious. What would be suspicious is being in possession of the one-time pad needed to decode the messages, regardless of which media those messages are transmitted through. For the record, "numbers stations" can be found in nearly every communication medium, including the web. The advantage of using shortwave (range, primarily) are large enough that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
- ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
  > What would be suspicious is being in possession of the one-time pad needed to decode the messages Would it though? All you need is something with sufficient entropy. I reckon you could do a "good enough" job with any plausible-looking data you have lying around on your hard disk right now. Say for example if you took a couple of sha256s of any random image you might post on social media, you'd have quite a lot of key right there.
  - ted_dunning 6mo ago
    That is a book cipher, not a one-time pad.
    - ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
      I guess, although you don't use the same jpeg every time.
GJim 6mo ago
Good lord! It was once common knowledge that VHF radio ("FM") typically doesn't travel over the horizon, LW and MW radio ("AM") travel by ground wave and are regional, but that you need shortwave kit for international and global communications. Quite how a reader on a modern technical news site is unaware of this (no, you can't send direct messages to spies half way around the planet to be received on an "AM/M" car radio) shows just how common public knowledge of radio communications has faded over the last few years.