Remember the weekend 40 meter Enigma message transmitted by DL0HNF? At least one recipient decoded this message:
(Source: Southgate ARC)
40m Enigma Message decrypted at Bletchley Park
On Friday, April 7 the amateur radio station DLØHNF transmitted an Enigma encrypted message on 7036 kHz to Bletchley Park
DLØHNF is the club station at the Heinz Nixdorf Museum in Paderborn, Germany. The encrypted telegraphy message they transmitted was received at the home of the World War Two UK Codebreakers in Bletchley Park. There the message was fed into a replica of the Turing Bombe which enabled the encryption to be cracked.
The message read: “Paderborn greets the Codebreakers at Bletchley Park”
Read the report and pictures of the event down the page at
http://www.hnf.de/en/veranstaltungen/events/cipher-event-wer-knackt-den-enigma-code.htmlBletchley Park
https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/
I would have loved to watch the Touring Bombe in action!
Out of curiosity, did anyone record the Enigma transmission? I’ve had a number of readers inquire about this. Please comment!
Not sure the purpose of you comment Ron, as the original blog entry read: “On Friday, April 7 the amateur radio station DLØHNF transmitted an Enigma encrypted message on 7036 kHz to Bletchley Park. DLØHNF is the club station at the Heinz Nixdorf Museum in Paderborn, Germany.”
US amateur regs do not apply.
—
Mike
Mike Bott – I took Ron’s comment as an observation that the historic nature of message and equipment would not have overcome the plain statement in the US regs about originating a message with its meaning obscured or encrypted. I have no doubt he read the article and understood that US regs did not apply, as did I. Just a recognition that unique opportunities do not sometimes align with regs written for everyday operations. In this case, originating such a message in the US would have had no historic meaning for the event so were not a factor. Even if the circumstances were changed to match history where the US broke the Japanese diplomatic and military codes, the message origination would be in Japan to simulate the history. Again, no US regs are in play or threatened.
I believe this is a message that could not have been legally sent by a ham station in the US, as the purpose of an Enigma machine is surely to obscure the meaning. Although perhaps the purpose here was not to obscure the meaning, but to demonstrate its encryption, so maybe it would have been allowed.
https://rsaxvc.net/blog/2014/2/1/Encryption_and_Amateur_Radio.html
I would sure like to visit Bletchley Park one day. I have an RCA AR-88 LF receiver, and it is my understanding that they used a lot of AR-88’s there to help them accomplish their mission.
I’d like to second Mike’s recommendation. Also convenient by train from Euston Station to Bletchley if visiting London. Trains run hourly and it’s just a short walk to Bletchley Park when you get out at Bletchley. Spent half the day there a couple of years ago and still didn’t have time to visit the co-located but separate National Museum of Computing. For a preview of what the Turing Bombe Rebuild looks like in action, here is a link to some video I took during my visit:
http://www2.unb.ca/gge/test/SWL/Turing_Bombe_Rebuild_at_Bletchley_Park.mp4
The gentleman explaining the operation of the bombe is John Jackson who can also be seen clapping his hands in the video on the Heinz Nixdorf Museum event page mentioned in the post.
Was able to visit Bletchley Park last October. Fascinating place. Was well worth the drive up from Henley-On-Thames. Would recommend anyone in the area visit.