INTRODUCTION Broadcast by Cuban Intelligence (DGI), the V2/M8 'Atencion stations have been monitored as far back as forty years ago. Today, they are very active and can be found on a multitude of frequencies around the clock. There has only been one major format change V2a/M8a) in its history and the original version V2 is still heard several times a week. The transmitter site is believed to be located at Bauta, Cuba.

V2a FORMAT AND ANALYSIS V2a first appeared on January 11 1996. It is transmitted in AM mode, rarely LSB, and starts approximately on the hour. The transmissions last about 45 minutes. Generally speaking, each broadcast is repeated the following hour on a different frequency. A synthesized female voice is used, with all text in five-figure groups. Three groups will be given during the Atencion call-up. These represent the header for each of the 150 group messages to follow. The last digits in these headers are normally 0123 or occasionally 9.The use of a 456 or 8 is extremely rare.

M8a headers also follow this example. It has been suggested that this digit indicates how many times that particular message has been sent. This does not appear to be true This explanation does not account for the regular use of 9 or the fact that 7 has not been heard. No pattern develops to substantiate this one way or the other. My feeling is that this last digit indicates message priority which may change from one day to the next. The broadcast will end with two or three finals. How many there are seems to depend simply on when the operator shuts off the tape. Here is an example of the V2a format.

"Atencion 12341 23452 34563" repeated for three minutes'
'12341 12341..,12341"followed by first 150 group text.
"23452 23452...23452" followed by second 150 group message text.
'34563 34563...34563" followed by third 150 group message text.
"Final Final � Final" (when 3 are sent, there is always a pause between 2nd and 3rd).  

V2 FORMAT AND ANALYSIS With only minor variations in format, V2 has been around since the 196Os. It is currently heard about once a day compared to V2a which has an average of ten daily broadcasts. V2 uses a different female voice which is much lower in tone and sounds like a sedated older woman. This station changes schedules much more often than V2a and will often fluctuate between 2 or 3 frequencies. V2 uses AM mode and always has a distinctive hum on the carrier. Broadcasts start on the hour and seldom last more than 15 minutes. Messages generally contain only 30-50 five figure groups. It appears that the three digit number given during the call-up is the recipient. There is no obvious purpose to the second two digits; again possibly a priority' indicator. Here are two examples of the current V2 format.

"Atencion 959 04" repeated for several minutes. '04 26" repeated a few times, then into 26 group text. "Final...Final
"Atencion 238 01 repeated for several minutes
"01 49' repeated a few times, then into 49 group text.
'Final.. Final" a brief pause, then.
"Atencion 238 01" repeated for several minutes
�01 49" repeated a few times, then into repeat of the original 49 group text
Final....Final"  

M8a FORMAT AND ANALYSIS Currently, M8a averages around fifteen broadcasts a day. Like Y2a, the last letter in the message header is usually an A(1), N(2) or D(3). These transmissions last approximately 36 minutes. A letter/number substitution system (cut-numbers) is used which consists of the following.

A=1 N=2 D=3 U=4 W=5 R--6 1=7 G=8 M=9 T=0

 M8a format is essentially the same as V2a. Mode is CW and the characters are sent about 12 wpm. Standard CW procedural prosigns are used. Here is an example.

DNWRA URIGD NTUIN call-up repeated for three minutes.
DNWRA (x5) BT BT BT followed by first 150 group message.
AR AR AR URIGD (x5) BT BT BT followed by second 150 group message.
AR AR AR NTUIN (x5) BT BT BT followed by third 150 group message.
AR AR AR SK SK SK
M8 broadcasts seem to have stopped when V2a/M8a appeared in 1996.

FREQUENCIES Today, V2/M8 can be found anywhere between 3 and 14 MHz. As of this writing, the lowest frequency being used is 3245 and the highest 13455. There has been a recent move to shift 3-8 MHz broadcasts into the 9-13 MHz range. This is probably due to and is consistent with the improved Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) conditions. There are unconfirmed reports from some years back of operations above 30 MHz. This occurred during the last major sunspot cycle, so may be a place to look with the up and coming one.

V2a will remain on set schedule for months, then abruptly change. No pattern develops from these changes. Often, the move places them on an Amateur band or broadcast station frequency rendering the transmission useless. It is as if they never bothered to check if the frequency is used. For example, V2a appeared on 7755 kHz (this broadcast station is in the fixed service allocation) at 03.00 UTC in mid 1998 right on top of Lord's Ranch/KJES. It was ironic to hear the repetitious religious chanting mixing with a communist numbers broadcast. KJES eventually ceased programming during that time slot.

M8a will generally employ the frequencies used by V2a, plus a few of its own. Accordingly, when V2a changes frequencies M8a will follow. M8a will not appear on frequencies used by V2.

ANOMALlES Ineptitude is the rule for Atencion broadcasts. Although it has improved in recent months, carriers are plagued with noise. Sometimes M8a tapes are played on V2a schedules and vice versa. Radio Havana has been noted mixing with numbers broadcasts. Carriers often come up for a scheduled broadcast, but no audio ever appears. Audio quality is regularly terrible with the numbers sounding distorted or completely unreadable. False starts are common. Tapes frequently skip or break. There are instances where one of the transmitters has (maybe accidentally) been placed into LSB mode.

A few days usually go by before it is noticed and suddenly returns to AM. Also, the sound of a telephone being placed back into the cradle is often heard when broadcasts conclude. Recent examples (all taken from FRI 14.5.99) include the 03.00 transmission on 11566 - the carrier started for the V2a transmission, but M8a tape was broadcast (in AM mode) instead. At 03.06, operator noticed the error and placed the V2a tape on the air, but neglected to cut out the M8 tape which played through the remainder of the transmission. The 04.00 transmission on 4479 of V2a started without the benefit of a call-up. Several minutes into the broadcast the operator re wound the tape and the transmission resumed with the correct Atencion call-up. Meanwhile on 7734 also at 04.00 the regular V2a was expected, a carrier was present, but no audio appeared.

For a period of a week in July 1996, the word 'null" was substituted for "cero� in the text of all V2a messages. Ii remained �cero� in the message headers. This has not happened since. Additionally, V2a has been noted using two parallel frequencies. It is unclear if this is done deliberately or due to a mixing error. This has occurred on consecutive weekly broadcasts. Instances where identical V2 message texts have repeated up to six times during one broadcast have been recorded.

Ed Note: Some additional comments from our own monitoring in Europe.

V2 FORMAT AND ANALYSIS - Latter two digits of 5F call - extensive monitoring in Europe over several years indicates that the 5F headers usually end in 1, 2 or 3, rarely 4, very rarely 5, (almost never over 5 and never 9) This last figure represents the number of times' a message has been sent (excluding scheduled repeat sequence). i.e. 1 is first sending, 2 is 2nd sending . Nearly always messages are sent 3 times (excluding scheduled repeats) and cannot indicate priority as they are always ascending 1-2-3 and can be followed through in this way.

The first 2 figures of the header are non-random also and bear complex relationships to other messages being sent over the same period e.g.70--- may be found to have 69--- and 71--- etc operating over same time period. As far as V2 format is concerned the 2F call up group appears to have the same purpose as the last figure of 5F headers. Again this group is nearly always 01,02 or 03. In Europe, errors hove been noted, but considering the very high activity these are infrequent. Many transmissions, particularly Morse are very strong in Europe - even on the lower frequencies - which tends to indicate a European origin Transmitter quality is usually good

FREQUENCIES - In Europe no activity has ever been noted in broadcast/amateur allocations.

VARIANT - An interesting variant (M86) operated for some time before the use of M8a in which the GC was given - always 150 (sent as AWT).