The Lincolnshire Poacher was a powerful British shortwave numbers station that transmitted from HM Government Communications Centre near Gawcott in Buckinghamshire, England,^[1] 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.^[2] Amateur direction finding linked it with the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, where several curtain antennas were identified as being its transmitter.^[3] 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.^[4]

Quick Facts Broadcast area, Frequency ...

"Lincolnshire Poacher"

Lincolnshire Poacher Interval signal and number sequence, 2007 Problems playing this file? See media help.
Broadcast area	RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus
Frequency	Several shortwave frequencies between 5.422 and 16.084 MHz
Programming
Language(s)	English
Format	Numbers station
Affiliations	Royal Air Force (speculated)
Ownership
Owner	MI6 (speculated)
Sister stations	Cherry Ripe (speculated)

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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.^[4][5] Cherry Ripe ceased broadcasting in December 2009.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8] However, after the Cold War, the number of numbers stations greatly decreased.^[8] The Lincolnshire Poacher remained operating after the end of the Cold War, and continued to be broadcast into the next two decades.^[4]

The Lincolnshire Poacher ceased broadcasting in July 2008; the final station transmission to be recorded occurred on 29 June 2008.^[7] It is believed that the station's sister station, Cherry Ripe, began to send broadcasts that used to be intended to be sent over the Lincolnshire Poacher station.^[7] This is believed to be true because the "Cherry Ripe" station used a very similar call signal, and broadcast its messages in 200 sets of five-number IDs.^[7]

The Lincolnshire Poacher was broadcast several times throughout the day, and was transmitted seven days a week, at various times and on various shortwave frequencies. This schedule was accurate as of January 2006, which is the most recent update to the broadcast schedule. All times are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and all radio frequencies in megahertz (MHz).^[4]

The station features prominently in The Whisperer in Darkness, the second season of the BBC podcast The Lovecraft Investigations,^[9] and in the Prime Video series Truth Seekers.^[10] It is also the basis for the Torchwood audio drama "The Lincolnshire Poacher", which supposes it is run by a literal hunter from Lincolnshire.^[11]

• "Tracking the Lincolnshire Poacher". BBC Radio 4. 23 April 2005. Retrieved 2 May 2010.