E03

Enigma2000 ID: E03

Nickname: Lincolnshire Poacher

Frequencies: 5422, 5746, 6485, 6900, 6959, 7337, 7755, 8464, 9251, 10426, 11545, 12603, 13375, 14487, 15682, 16084, 16475 kHz

Status: Inactive

Voice: Female, automated, with British accent, the last digit in the groups was inflected

Emission: USB

Location: Operated by the UK from Akrotiri, Cyprus

Known counterparts: E03a

Sound sample by SimonMason:

————————————————————————-

E03 was last reported on the 2nd of July 2008.

Below is the format, as given by Priyom.org:

Preamble Message Outro
First two bars of “The Lincolnshire Poacher”, rendered electronically 87383 6 chimes 69410 69410 03932 03932 42175 42175 … 46367 46367 6 chimes First two bars of “The Lincolnshire Poacher”, rendered electronically
5-figure message header Fixed-length message of 200 5-figure paired groups
Repeated 12 times Repeated 10 times Repeated 6 times
Repeated for 10 minutes

 

The transmission started by broadcasting an electronically recorded version of the first two bars of “the lincolnshire poacher” 12 times, followed by a 5-figure message header, which was repeated 10 times. Information about what the meanings of the numbers in the message header were are not available. Right before the message, you would receive 6 chimes.

The message consisted of (always!) 200 5-figure groups, each of which was sent twice.

Right after the transmission, there were 6 chimes again, followed again by the electronic version of the first two bars of “the Lincolnshire poacher”, however this time only sent 6 times (instead of 12).

There was no null message format, and the messages always consisted of 200 paired 5-figure groups. A full transmission took 3/4 of an hour and was always broadcast on three frequencies at the same time. Messages were sent daily for 12 hours a day, following the schedule below (by Priyom.org):

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
12:00 14487 15682 16084 12:00 14487 15682 16084 12:00 14487 15682 16084 12:00 14487 15682 16084 12:00 14487 15682 16084
13:00 14487 15682 16084 13:00 14487 15682 16084 13:00 14487 15682 16084 13:00 14487 15682 16084 13:00 14487 15682 16084
14:00 10426 12603 14487 14:00 16314 14487 12603 14:00 14487 15682 16084 14:00 14487 15682 16084 14:00 14487 15682 16084
15:00 11545 13375 15682 15:00 7755 8464 10426 15:00 11545 14487 16084 15:00 11545 12603 13375 15:00 11545 12603 13375
16:00 11545 12603 13375 16:00 11545 13375 15682 16:00 6485 7755 10425 16:00 8464 12603 14487 16:00 11545 12603 13375
17:00 6959 8486 11545 17:00 11545 12603 13375 17:00 12603 14487 16475 17:00 5422 6465 8464 17:00 11545 13375 16084
18:00 7337 9251 12603 18:00 5746 6959 9251 18:00 6959 9251 11545 18:00 12603 14487 16475 18:00 5422 6485 8464
19:00 7337 9251 12603 19:00 6959 9251 11545 19:00 5746 6485 8464 19:00 6959 9251 11545 19:00 11545 13375 16084
20:00 6959 9251 11545 20:00 7337 9251 12603 20:00 6959 9251 11545 20:00 6959 9251 11545 20:00 6959 9251 11545
21:00 6959 9251 11545 21:00 7337 9251 12603 21:00 7337 9251 12603 21:00 5746 6959 9251 21:00 6959 9251 11545
22:00 6959 10426 11545 22:00 6959 9251 12603 22:00 7337 9251 12603 22:00 7337 9251 12603 22:00 5746 6959 9251
Saturday Sunday
12:00 14487 15682 16084 12:00 14487 15682 16084
13:00 14487 15682 16084 13:00 14487 15682 16084
14:00 10426 11545 14487 14:00 11545 14487 16084
15:00 11545 12603 13375 15:00 11545 12603 13375
16:00 11545 12603 13375 16:00 8464 10426 11545
17:00 11545 12603 13375 17:00 11545 12603 13375
18:00 11545 13375 8464 18:00 7337 9251 12603
19:00 5422 6485 8464 19:00 6959 9251 11545
20:00 6900 10462 11545 20:00 6959 9251 11545
21:00 6959 9251 11545 21:00 5746 6959 9251
22:00 5746 6959 9251 22:00 5422 6485 8464

Note: Above the times are UTC and the frequencies are kHz.

 

Even though there were many transmissions, there were only 18 messages each month. They followed a certain pattern, as given by Priyom.org in the table below:

UTC Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun UTC
12:00 A A A A A A A 12:00
13:00 B B B B B B B 13:00
14:00 C D E F A G H 14:00
15:00 H C D E F A I 15:00
16:00 I H C D E F G 16:00
17:00 G I H C D E A 17:00
18:00 A G I H C D E 18:00
19:00 E B G B H C B 19:00
20:00 B A B I B H E 20:00
21:00 E F A G I B D 21:00
22:00 D E F A G I C 22:00

 

In each month, a first set of messages was broadcast during the first 14 days of the month, followed by a second set of messages for the remaining days.

First reports of E03 date back to the 70s, when the voice was still male and the intro tune was not yet recorded electrically. Back then, E03 also transmitted in AM instead of USB. The format that lasted until 2008 started in 1988. In the 70s, the transmitter was located at Her Majesty’s Government Communications Centre, in Gawcott near Buckinghamshire, but it moved to the British military base of Akrotiri on Cyprus with the new format.

E03 seems to have had a very good computer system and well-trained operators, since there were only few mistakes during the “lifetime” of the number station. However, E03 was once the target of jammers from Iran.

Originally there were 12 transmissions daily, every hour from 10:00 to 22:00 UTC – however, in 1998 the 10:00 and 11:00 UTC transmissions were stopped. The 10:00 and 11:00 UTC transmissions had used the same frequencies as the later 12:00 and 13:00 UTC transmissions.

In 2000, Cypriot radio enthusiasts started location the staion. The result was that it was located to the 12th Signals Unit of the Royal Air Force base near Akrotiri.

 

Below are photos of the transmitter site. They were sent to SimonMason by Russian shortwave listeners – we will referr to them as “B and D”.

 

BBC transmitter site at Zyggi. There are many rumors that E03 came from here, instead of the close military facilities. – copyright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

The four antennas to the left are Radio France International (RFI), while the three to the right are IBB/Radio Sawa installations originally built by RFI. This photo shows Cape Greco. – copyright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

The same RFI, IBB/Radio Sawa site at Cape Greco already shown above – just this time closer.  – copyright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

Cape Greco with a part of the IBB/Radio Sawa installations. – copright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

This site might be a Cypriot military installation near Cape Greco. – copyright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

This is a real multi-purpose site: Cypriot TV and FM, as well as military and radar (and even BBC) are on this site. It is located NE of Larnaca. – copyright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

The same site as already mentioned above. – copyright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

copyright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

These are the two 1/2 by 1/4 wave box parallelogram BBC medium wave arrays at Ladies Mile, south of Limassol, one radiating east, the other south. – copyright (c): B and D / SimnonMason

The last 4 pictures were possibly taken on the W side of the Zyggi peninsula, which is severeign British territory. There are strong rumors that the E03 site was located in this area. – copyright (c): B and D / SimonMason

 

copyright (c) – B and D / SimonMason

 

copyright (c) – B and D / SimonMason

 

copyright (c) – B and D / SimonMason

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