ATTENTION ALL INTERCEPT OPERATORS!

Crypto Transmission from KPH!

The MHRS in cooperation with our good friends at the Cipher History Museum will send a coded message in 5-letter groups via the facilities of coast station KPH on Saturday July 22, 2023. The message will be encrypted using the famous Enigma code machine and is an authentic message sent by a U-boat in the North Atlantic in 1942.

All KPH listeners are invited to try their hand at receiving and decrypting the message. Certificates will be awarded for proof of successful decode, first to decode and use of original hardware.

You say your Enigma machine is a bit rusty? Perhaps it has slipped a cog? No problem, MRHS has you covered! Software simulations exist for the Enigma code machine. Click Here for an easy-to-use Enigma simulator. It is web-based, no download necessary.

➢Enigma

The Enigma was the Germans' most sophisticated coding machine for securely transmitting command and control messages via radio communications in WWII. It was considered so secure that it was used to encipher the most top-secret of messages.

The arrangement of Enigma's rotors and plugboard connections provided a unique series of letter substitutions which changed with each keystroke. The daily rotor order and the ring and plugboard settings to be used were specified in a codebook distributed monthly to all users of a network.

For additional information on the Enigma please see Ralph Simpsons' Cipher Museum

➢Crypto broadcast date, time and formats.

The crypto broadcast will commence at 2000 GMT (1300 Pacific) on 22 July on all KPH CW frequencies. The broadcast will consist of a 'call up' (in plain text) announcing the broadcast, followed by the cipher message. The call up and cipher messages will be sent at 15 WPM. The cipher message will be sent in 5 letter groups and the message will be sent twice to ensure proper reception.

The usual KPH channel marker or 'wheel' running at 20 WPM will precede the announcement for the crypto broadcast to give listeners a chance to tune to the strongest signal in their area.

The KPH CW frequencies are (in kc):

426 (after an announcement on 500)

6477.5

8642.0

12808.5

17016.8

22477.5

Upon completion of the CW transmissions, the broadcast will be repeated at 2015 GMT (1315 Pacific) on all KPH RTTY frequencies.

The RTTY transmission will be 170cps shift Baudot, 45 baud.

The KPH RTTY frequencies are (in kc):

6324.5

8427.0

12585.5

More info available here: https://www.radiomarine.org/