Langley Pierce
Interproducts, Perth, Scotland, 1994, £9.95
Strange little book, 90 pages listing and, it claims, identifying the shortwave radio stations used by the world’s intelligence services to broadcast coded messages – groups of numbers – to field agents and stations. Want to eavesdrop on Mossad’s numbers? SIS’s? The KGB’s? etc etc. Is any of it true? No idea. Would it matter it if was? Presumably not: (a) because the intelligence agencies listed know each other’s frequencies already; and (b) the codes can’t be broken by the likes of me and thee. So, fascinating at one level (for about 30 seconds) – and utterly pointless. I would call it a bit anoraky and trainspotterish, but hey, I used to own an anorak and go trainspotting, back when we still had steam trains.
The publishers, Interproducts, have a catalogue containing the details of this and other books for short-wave scanner freaks. Interproducts, 8 Abbot St. Perth, PH2 OEB, Scotland; phone, fax 01738-441199.