E01 is an English numbers station that had many theories as to who operated it and where it came from. Besides Bulgaria, there have been claims it came from Italy and even the USA. This was due to a concept called the “endings rule”, people assumed since E01 had the same ending.
All transmissions finished when the machine read ‘END’, as the CIA’s numbers stations did, so it could belong to them. Though it also appeared to have been an English sister to the Bulgarian language numbers station S02, and both stations shared the same frequencies.
This station was nicknamed Ready, Ready for it’s unique intro announcement. It used an automated female voice with an English accent. The numbers are spoken quick, and she sounds slightly out of breath. E01 ceased operations around late 1999.
At first, E01 was a difficult station to find since it only operated 3 days of the week during certain weeks. The schedules consisted of 3 identical transmissions that were sent 20 minutes apart. Message groups were typically 20-30 groups long. The first two digits in the five digit ID were a schedule identifier, while the other 3 were another type of ID with an unknown use.
E01 Message Recording
E01 Station Structure
| 15728 | Ready, Ready | 35 35 | 00011 00011 53535 53535 … |
End |
| 5-digit ID | Group count (2x) |
5-digit paired groups |
||
| Repeats for up to 5 minutes |
Numbers Station Summary
Nickname: Ready, Ready!
Activity: Inactive, since 1999
Emission Mode: AM
Voice Summary: Female, Automated woman’s voice with an English accent. Sounds slightly agitated/breathless. The voice tries incredibly hard to pass itself off as a British accented woman. Though it rolls its “R” in four more than typical.
Believed Country of Origin: Bulgaria, Italy, or the USA (see description above)
Related Stations: S02, M17
Station Family: Possibly 7
Sources
ENIGMA Newsletter #4 (January 1993), Page 3
ENIGMA Newsletter #5 (October 1993), Page 2
ENIGMA Newsletter #10 (March 1996), Page 3
ENIGMA Newsletter #18 (January 2000), Page 10
“E1 S2.” Simon Mason’s Website (Archived)
