Lincolnshire Poacher (numbers station)

Shortwave radio station

The Lincolnshire Poacher was a powerful British shortwave numbers station that transmitted from HM Government Communications Centre near Gawcott in Buckinghamshire, England, and later from Cyprus, from the mid 1960s to June 2008. The station gained its commonly known name as it uses bars from the English folk song "The Lincolnshire Poacher" as an interval signal. The radio station was believed to be operated by the British Secret Intelligence Service. Amateur direction finding linked it with the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, where several curtain antennas were identified as being its transmitter. It consisted of a pre recorded English accented female voice reading groups of five numbers: e. g., '0 2 5 8 8'. The final number in each group was spoken at a higher pitch. It is likely that the station was used to communicate to undercover agents operating in other countries, to be decoded using a one time pad. Cherry Ripe, a numbers station of identical format, is believed to have been broadcast from Guam, and later Australia, for agents working in Asia. Like the Lincolnshire Poacher, it used several bars from its namesake folk song as its interval signal. Cherry Ripe ceased broadcasting in December 2009.

The precise date that the Lincolnshire Poacher began broadcasting is not known for certain; however, it is believed that the broadcasts started around the early to mid 1970s. While numbers stations have existed since World War I, numbers stations such as Lincolnshire Poacher began appearing during the Cold War era, when nations such as the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom needed to send messages discreetly to their operatives in other countries. However, after the Cold War, the number of numbers stations greatly decreased. and in the Prime Video series Truth Seekers. It is also the basis for the Torchwood audio drama "The Lincolnshire Poacher", which supposes it is run by a literal hunter from Lincolnshire.