The Conet Project
The 1997 4-CD archive of numbers stations
The Conet Project in the timeline
Fernandez begins systematically recording numbers-station transmissions off the air, a hobby that grows into a five-year archival project as he tapes the voices, tones and tunes crossing the shortwave bands.
Fernandez compiles his recordings into 'The Conet Project', a four-CD set with a thick booklet of station lore. It becomes the single most influential public documentation of numbers stations, cited by researchers, artists and journalists ever since.
The band Wilco releases 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot', whose title and the closing distortion of 'Poor Places' come from a Conet Project recording of a woman reading the NATO phonetic alphabet. Irdial-Discs sues for the uncleared sample; the case settles with a share of royalties.
This object is named in 8 verified source entries across 1 dossier of this book. The entries sit with the people who built or used it, which is where the research recorded them.