Posted by thinkingemote 10 hours ago
I always hear this in discussions about number stations, but I don't think this is true in the US. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a general consumer "shortwave radio". Unless the regular AM band counts, which seems to be medium wave.
The younger people I know tend to own such a radio in the form of the Baofeng UV-5R or the like.
However, carrying one of these is probably highly suspicious compared to a world band radio receiver.
I don't buy it.
Satellite downlinks are broadcast to everyone under a potentially massive footprint. Take a look at the footprint for QO-100 which you could use with very inexpensive equipment that looks pretty much like a normal satellite TV dish.
https://jeremyclark.ca/wp/telecom/sdr-for-qo-100-satellite-r...
For intelligence agencies,
it is important to
communicate with their
spies to gather intelligence,”
says John Sipher, a former
US intelligence officer
Sifr is also a valid word both in Farsi, I think. An Ironic and cruel pun.
That is the root of 'cipher'; meaning zero/empty/nothingness.
I knew 'sifr' was an Arabic word and only today I came to know that it works in Farsi too.
The double pun/irony is that the John Sipher's surname is related to the topic of cryptography and that the etymological roots is Middle-Eastern.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/cipher
(Al Jabr, the translator of Indian Mathematical texts was a Persian IIRC)
Al-Khwarizmi authored the book Al-Jabr.