[Spooks] Jonestown Code

[spooks@mailman.qth.net]

I think I'll respond off-list as I do not want to start a 
 flame war about OT or not.  And off-list I can be a bit 
more prolific, perhaps, without someone complaining about 
bandwidth.  

My guess is that at the time of the Jonestown incident, 
few hams were much interested in codes, and if they tuned 
across such a contact, they probably just tuned on.  I 
would have.  

As for any government interest, there was no criminal 
activity, with the possible exception of the use of 
"codes and ciphers" on ham radio, which is a violation of 
FCC rules.  It would be interesting to learn if the 
government agencies ever patrolled the ham bands during 
that era, but my guess is they did not.  The bottom line 
of guesses by me is that no one was interested enough.  
At least not until it was too late.  Even then, ham radio 
did not come into play publicly, at least.  

These are just opinions, of course.  I think today if 
there was an obvious code being used on the air, 
especially in voice operations, hams would note it, but 
that is due to the 9-11 Event.  Also, today, the 
proliferation of small, digital transceivers that can 
operate anywhere in the HF spectrum, with less 
interference than would be on the ham bands, makes it 
likely any such operation would be removed from near 
amateur frequencies.  

It may be possible to research FBI archives and find 
references to the Jonestown-SF communications.  As you 
say,it was probably a very simple code.  

Jones, and those who have followed him, like the 
HeavensGate folks of a few years ago, was certainly 
insane, but even the insane frequently have narrow areas 
of very sane focus.  By using such a simple code, rather 
than switching to something far more complex, they 
actually avoided scrutiny.  Probably!  

Have fun

Walt

> Hi everyone--
> 
> I am reading an interesting book by a defector
> from the Jonestown commune in Guyana. It's called
> Seductive Poison by Debbie Layton.
> 
> She describes how Jim Jones and a few trusted
> associates, herself among them, would keep in
> contact with the remaing members of the People's
> Temple in San Francisco via ham radio. They would
> talk in code. For example, tea party meant
> blackmail and Rex meant USA, etc.
> 
> I am not a cryptographer by any means but two
> things occured to me. 1) The code should have
> been easy to break since it didn't seem very
> mathematical and 2) Jones was insane enough to
> probably not put much logic into a code anyway.
> At least this is my thinking.
> 
> So, did anyone every break this code? Did any
> hams or DXers ever get a whiff of what was going
> on? 
> 
> This may be slightly OT, but it does involve a
> code. My apologies if OT.
> 
> 73/Liz
> 
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