Numbers stations, as they’re known, have been used by intelligence services since World War I to communicate with agents in the field, but have become increasingly rare in the digital age. With the Internet shut down by authorities in Iran, this Cold War relic has found new life. According to one group of aficionados that tracks these age-old spy tools, it’s the first new numbers station in years.



A lot of space launch news followers also use it, in reference to the average time between launches of a specific rocket model.