[Spooks] OLX

[Ary Boender]

Hi John,

Check for the description and tasks of the ITU monitoring stations the following
document. They publish the results on a regular basis.
http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/conferences/seminars/mexico-2001/docs/05-monitoring.doc

The Klagenfurt monitoring station in Austria reported a voice transmission from
OLX. This was a well known and very active (23h a day) numbers station (both
morse and voice) that stopped in 1996. The report does not say what has been
transmitted in March.

> I have never heard of a QSL acknowledging an actual numbers broadcast. I realize they don't actually acknowledge that the broadcast heard was their own numbers broadcast, just that they had broadcast at the same time and frequency.

OLX was the only "numbers" station that sent out QSL cards. The card was signed
by the Ministry of Interior. The station identified itself on SW with the
callsign OLX and this callsign was also mentioned on the cards. In those days
many embassies and ministries were on the air with encrypted traffic. Some
confirmed reports with a QSL card. But none of them were so active and had so
many messages as OLX. It would have been a sensation if they stated on their QSL
"you have heard our spy transmission". That would be hilarious :-))) It will
however always be a mystery whether or not OLX was broadcasting routine messages
to embassies or to their agents. Maybe both, who knows. The card that I received
is on my website http://home.luna.nl/~ary/olx.htm

73, Ary