Enigma
on Amateur Radio |
The primary purpose of this website is to
enable anyone who has copied an Enigma encrypted CW transmission from amateur radio station ZL3TK,
to quickly and easily decrypt that message. Be advised there
is no intention, and has never been any intention
that transmissions be encoded for the purpose of obscuring its
meaning, which is
acknowledged as a
prohibited activity on amateur radio in most jurisdictions.
On the contrary, using the accepted
definitions, nothing has been encoded into a data stream
and transmitted.
Accordingly this website does not provide decoding
facilities. Instead parts of the messages were encrypted
using a complex letter-substitution algorithm through the use of a
Virtual Enigma Machine. The
mechanical Enigma concept was invented by Arthur Scherbius in 1918. This website provides both instructions and
hyperlinks to the resources necessary to easily decrypt any
of the messages unique to ZL3TK and correspondents. By
deduction, Enigma messages not associated with ZL3TK may also be
decrypted using keys provided by other sources. It is easily
demonstrated that Enigma encryption, as a security or obscuring
protocol, is well past its use-by date and can no longer be
considered a secure cypher in
any sense of the word. |
An obvious secondary purpose of this website is to encourage
interest in all technical and historic aspects of the German Enigma machine
used during World War II, and while making
use of the [misnamed] Morse code, foster a continuing
interest in using CW mode on the amateur bands.
For accuracy, it is suggested that speed be limited to < 15 wpm.
Re-transmits are quite acceptable but inevitably waste good
air-time.
Currently all machine type-references are to the 3-rotor Wehrmacht
and
Luftwaffe machine fitted with B reflector. |
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1 |
The Daily
Keys arranged by month pages, provide the unique
initial settings for all inbound and outbound traffic until the end of the
current year. |
2 |
The
Key Page Archive
provides initial machine settings which may
have been used in the
previous 12 months. |
3 |
The
Basic Principles
page explains only superficially the concept of encryption and Enigma.
Recommend digging
deeper with Mr Google. |
4 |
Download the best
Virtual Enigma Machine Many thanks to its
creator, Dirk Rijmenants |
5 |
Join the
Enigma World Code
Group A fine practical site
established by Bruce Culp, N7CLH. |
6 |
The
Message Configuration
page describes the purpose of each part of
ZL3TK's Enigma encrypted messages. Format the same for
incoming. |
7 |
Schematic for an
Audio Oscillator.
Sinewave output and click-free, specially for
sending MCW on FM transmitters. |
8 |
New Zealand's
Radiocommunication (sic) Regulations.
How the only relevant clause has been
interpreted. |
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All Copyrights and Trademarks
remain the property of their respective owners.
Anyone is free to use material from this website, however text
must be accurately transcribed, please do not misquote it. |
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Disclaimer:
This is a deliberately simple website and does not claim to be
definitive or complete in any way.
There are numerous better resources presented by really clever
people available for information, training and research purposes.
Every partly-encrypted transmission from ZL3TK and respondents refers
listeners to this website www.ZL3TK.TK for recovering the
daily key and decryption resources. |