June 2026
The Superflex
A Publication of the Alabama Historical Radio Society June 2026
NOTE FROM PRESIDENT WAG
Members,
Mark your calendars!
The date for next AHRS Business meeting is 7:00 PM on Monday, July 27th, 2026, in person and via Zoom at the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86330579924?pwd=ckZLWEJMb0V2ajhBUzh0S2liQnlmZz09
Meeting ID: 863 3057 9924 Passcode: 631140
NOTE: The Executive CMTE meeting (by invitation only) will be at 6pm that evening.
Let me again thank a wonderful friend of the Society, John Green (who restored the Hallicrafters SX-88 donated to us last year and subject of an earlier presentation) for giving the second half of his talk on Radio Astronomy this past Monday June 22. Thanks also to Boyd Bailey for hosting on Zoom and to our shop laptop and TV for cooperating.
The shop will be closed Saturday, July 4thin observance of our nation’s 250th anniversary. May we reaffirm and celebrate the things that bind us as citizens to this wonderful country in its pursuit of a more perfect union.
Boyd Bailey’s next class is scheduled for Saturday July 11, 2026, 9:00 AM in person and via Zoom. The following link remains in effect:
https://us02web..us/j/88180351990?pwd=N2lucjB3WVhtR05nTSs5S0xGcURadz09
Topics and details will be sent by Boyd prior to the class.
Boyd has edited and archived his classes to date; to access them, please contact him directly boyd.bailey@charter.netwith your email address and he’ll guide you through the process to access them.
Auction day, Saturday, June 20th, 2026, was a success thanks to attendees and members who organized and facilitated it, including those who evaluated the items for functionality and repaired many beforehand: Maurice Hill, Gene Samples, and James George. Items on offer included novelty radios as well as our usual fare. Special appreciation is extended to our friends at the Alabama Broadcasters Association (ABA) who sent an announcement to their membership.
There are many radios and pieces of related equipment downstairs in storage and on the lower floor at the shop; we encourage members to visit. If you find something of interest you’d like to acquire, talk to an officer or Board member about its availability. For a donation to the Society, you may well get your wish!
Ken Smith has been extracting relevant video files from the late Ed Boutwell’s MAC editing computer here at the Shop. These files will be archived and cataloged as we consolidate our history-related holdings.
The Finance CMTEis now permanent and held its first meeting Tuesday June 16th, 2026. Members include Tom Killian Board liaison, Steven Westbrook VP, John Herndon Board member, Michael Spanos Treasurer, and John Poole non-leadership member. Our long-time accountant advisor Mike Jackson attended as well. Topics included the following:
· AHRS will receive a sizeable bequeath from Mike Woodruff’s estate
· Operational changes to comply with our bylaws and maintain financial best practices
· Adoption of QuickBooks Online
· Transitioning of financial duties to Michael Spanos
· Preparing for our annual non-profit tax filing and preparing for our next fiscal year
Speaking of committees, most are functioning well, but we could still use another member or 2 for Museum & Exhibits.One lingering void has been a chair and members for a group to coordinate public relations, outreach, and member engagement, AKA, a PR CMTE. Anyone interested in serving, especially as chair, please make your intentions know to leadership. It’s not that we don’t do this work, it just spread out amongst the officers and current CMTEs. In a way, it's like our Tech CMTE—which is doing stellar work and very engaged with much of what we’re doing.
At a recent Exec CMTE meeting on May 26th, guest presenter Mark Snow (K4ZYP) of Birmingham Mesh appeared to request permission to mount a solar-powered mesh node on the AHRS tower. It appears that we will be able to proceed with this installation soon.
VP Steven Westbrook and I attend the Local Museum Workshop (sponsored by Alabama Humanities Foundation / Alabama Historical Association / Auburn University) held at Bevill State in Jasper the morning of June 16th, 2026. (That was a busy day indeed!) Topics included advocacy, communications, networking, and grant opportunities as they relate to Alabama museums and historical societies. There was a panel of 3 museums/historical societies, each with a unique mission, management style, and relationship to state and local governmental and non-governmental organizations. Perhaps equally important were the networking opportunities. For example, we met the two attendees from the Gadsden Public Library, its chief librarian and the archivist. They will likely help us archive our reference library and distribute Harry Butler’s book on Alabama broadcast radio history when we reach that stage.
Mark your calendars! Huntsville Hamfest https://hamfest.org/202x-event-flyer will be held August 22nd & 23rd, 2026; AHRS will be there, but only on Saturday the 22nd. We will need volunteers to help bring our items there, man the tables, then break down and reload for the return to Birmingham. Please volunteer whether it’s at the shop in Birmingham or at Huntsville, or both!
This is the same day as the Scouts Advance-O-Rama– an event we’ve hosted at the shop for several years now to help Scouts earn their Radio Merit Badge. We plan to participate in both, of course!
In closing, and on a personal note, July 4th50 years ago was spent in Galveston TX where I’d just moved with my wife and first two sons to begin residency training. I visited this spring with our oldest son and his elder son, the Luxembourg American Cemetery where lie many known, and unknown, soldiers and General George S. Patton, Jr. May we never forget the costs of founding and forging the USA as we celebrate the holiday.
Respectfully submitted
President Wag, AHRS
What is Old is New Again
Cold War-Era Number Broadcast Reappears in Iran Conflict
U.S. employs shortwave radio to contact Iranian spies amid communication blackouts
Published 2026.03.12. 10:49Updated 2026.03.12. 11:35
At 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. (local time in Tehran), a shortwave radio broadcast received across Iran features a male voice, mixed with static, reading out numbers in Persian. The broadcast lasts approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes at a time.
“Tabaajo! (Attention) 6,4,0,9,3,9…”
Since the U.S. and Israel’s first airstrike on Iran on February 28, this ghostly “number broadcast” has been regularly transmitted via long-range shortwave radio from a transmitter located somewhere in Western Europe.
The Financial Times (FT), citing former U.S. intelligence officials, reported, “This broadcast is likely an emergency communication method for the U.S. to maintain contact with its sources inside Iran.”
The “number broadcast,” which began alongside the airstrike on Iran, temporarily fell silent for several days, drowned out by electronic signals and “beeping” noises. Experts said this was likely an attempt by Iranian authorities to jam the broadcast. However, the male voice resumed reading numbers after switching to a different frequency.
This broadcast is a so-called “number station,” a shortwave radio transmission method used by intelligence agencies to deliver encrypted instructions to spies. Shortwave broadcasts reflect off the Earth’s ionosphere and propagate thousands of kilometers. This is the same principle used by KBS World Radio, which targets overseas listeners including North Korean residents, Central Asia, Russia’s Far East, and the Middle East.
John Sipher, former Moscow station chief of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), told the FT, “This is likely a backup communication method for our sources inside Iran. In wartime, it’s the perfect emergency alternative to issue orders to those who must never lose contact.” U.S. sources inside Iran decode the numbers into messages using only a radio and a one-time pad.
Former U.S. intelligence officers estimated that the number broadcast is used to instruct field agents to activate specific operations or to move, escape abroad, etc.
This “number station” was first discovered by civilians tracking shortwave signals and named “V32.” It is reportedly the first time in 25 years that a Persian-language number station has been confirmed.
Members of Priyom, a group that monitors shortwave signals, triangulated the approximate transmission location to Western Europe by calculating the time it took for the signal to reach multiple receivers.
A similar number broadcast briefly appeared when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001. At the time, some analysts suggested the possibility that Russia was transmitting it, based on the pattern of numbers used.
In a situation where the Iranian government has cut off all external communication channels, including phone and internet, this shortwave number broadcast is highly useful. Anyone with a shortwave radio can listen, making it impossible to confirm who is actually tuning in. The channel can be switched immediately before being detected, and unlike modern communication equipment, notebooks and one-time pads are easy to destroy.
Unless the broadcaster makes a mistake or a spy is arrested while writing down the numbers, counterintelligence agencies can only attempt to jam the frequency, experts say.
For the CIA, which faces difficulties maintaining its intelligence network due to the absence of a U.S. embassy in Iran, the number broadcast is an extremely useful means of safely communicating with spies operating in extremely challenging environments.
At the same time, it is very difficult for Iranian intelligence agencies to identify spies listening to this “number broadcast,” whether from government agencies or the public.
The U.S. has previously suffered significant damage due to a single key figure infiltrated into its intelligence agencies who received orders via number broadcasts.
Ana Belén Montes, a key analyst at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) responsible for Cuban military and intelligence analysis, was arrested in September 2001. She had received orders via a Cuban intelligence number station for 17 years and passed on information about U.S. spy networks in Cuba and U.S. methods of monitoring Cuban communications.
Chris Simmons, a former U.S. counterintelligence officer, told the FT, “It is no coincidence that this broadcast began on the very day the war started. If someone is risking their life, they must be provided with the simplest and most concealable tools.” Simmons added that the “number broadcast” is typically used only for the most critical intelligence assets.
The FT stated, “Number stations are one of the rare instances where intelligence activities are exposed to the public,” and noted that while they have decreased since the Cold War, North Korea, Taiwan, Poland, and Russia still operate them regularly.
This number broadcast could also be a high-level psychological operation intended to induce paranoia in Iranian counterintelligence agencies. By creating the impression that high-ranking spies in Tehran are receiving orders from Washington or Tel Aviv, it may be pressuring Iranian counterintelligence.
Robert Gorelick, former CIA station chief in Lima and Rome, told the FT that Iran’s overseas anti-regime armed groups might also be using this broadcast. However, he added that even if anti-regime forces operate such a broadcast, it would be difficult without the tacit approval of Western intelligence agencies.
Iranian cryptography experts are busy analyzing the number patterns, but what is clear is that this old-school communication technology remains useful to this day.
· This article has been translated by Upstage Solar AI.
What is a Mesh Network
A mesh network is a network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e., bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate with one another to efficiently route data to and from hosts.
This lack of dependency on one node allows every node to participate in the relay of information. Mesh networks dynamically self-organize and self-configure, which can reduce installation overhead. The ability to self-configure enables dynamic distribution of workloads, particularly in the event that a few nodes should fail. This, in turn, contributes to fault-tolerance and reduced maintenance costs.[
Mesh topology may be contrasted with conventional star/tree network topologies in which the bridges/switches are directly linked to only a small subset of other bridges/switches, and the links between these infrastructure neighbors are hierarchical. While star-and-tree topologies are very well established, highly standardized and vendor-neutral, vendors of mesh network devices have not yet all agreed on common standards, and interoperability between devices from different vendors is not yet assured.
-Wikepedia
Quotes of the Month
Quotes by Adam Savage with Mythbusters:
1. "I reject your reality and substitute my own." - A famous line reflecting his creative mindset and approach to problem-solving.
2. "The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down." - Emphasizing the importance of documentation in experimentation.
3. "Failure is always an option." - A reminder that failure is a part of the learning process.
Remember our Lending library in the basement is a wonderful asset available to all members.
Occasionally we receive radios and radio related items from donations that are stored in our basement, but do not make it into an auction. If you are interested in any of these items please discuss them with Tom Killian or Ray Giles.
We meet every Saturday (unless a Holiday weekend) at 8:30 A.M. until around 11:30 A.M., at the one-story AHRS Shop at the corner of 8th Avenue North and 18th Street, (1801 8th Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203). Please use the rear (Southeast) entrance.
The Shop is open on Tuesdays at 8:30 A.M. until around 11:30 A.M. Note that parking can be a problem on Tuesdays, so you may have to find street parking occasionally.
Regular monthly members meetings are on the fourth Monday night starting at 7:00 PM with the Executive Meeting starting at 6:30 PM
Please come join us!
The electronics classes are generally on “Zoom” and “in-person” at the AHRS Shop, typically the first Saturday of each month (except when something special is taking place, then we agree on an alternative Saturday)
Check your emails for the schedule and how to participate.
We start from the beginning Ohms Law, inductors, resistor and Capacitors color codes, as well as what each component does within the radio circuits. We also teach how to use test equipment used in the repairing of radios. We teach troubleshooting radio troubles, as well as how to read a radio diagram.
Currently the class is studying advance topics relating to troubleshooting and project radio repair. We are retooling our website in hopes of archiving prior classes for those who may have missed a prior class. Email will provide timely details on date, topics & links.
There are coil winding classes, and one-on-one repair help. Come join these classes!
Membership dues are $25.00 a year, payable beginning in January. If you have questions about your dues, you can contact Treasurer Mike Woodruff at 205-823-7204. Dues can be mailed to AHRS at P.O. Box 131418, Birmingham, Alabama 35213 or paid on-line at https://alhrs.org
Be sure and check out our website at https://alhrs.org, which has copies of all newsletters from 2006 to the present (click on News), videos, photo galleries, museum, Old Time Radio columns, Projects, Reading Rooms, Archives, and Contact Information. Within the next few months we hope to update our website and add additional content and new capabilities
President – Richard “Wag” Waguespack
(205) 531-9528
drminims@aol.com
Vice President – Steven Westbrook
(205) 305-0679
spwestbro@bellsouth.net
Recording Secretary – Grady Shook
(205) 281-3007
gshook@bellsouth.net
Treasurer –
Boyd Bailey, Member and Instructor
(334) 412-6996
boyd.bailey@charter.net
Newsletter Editor/Webmaster – Steven Westbrook
(205) 305-0679
spwestbro@bellsouth.net
Web Address:
https://alhrs.org
E-mail Address:
ahrs2000@gmail.com
Youtube Channel: Alabama Historical Radio Society - YouTube