Gerät 32620: the machine that powered numerous number stations

Post by dunnevens » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 4:44 PM UTC

andai wrote: post #16

dunnevens wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a woman in East Berlin, who needed rescue. I can't remember if she worked with western intelligence, or if her husband did, but at any rate, she was in trouble. West Germany (or the Americans) decided to help her escape. At one point, she was given a pad. Told to turn her radio to a certain channel at a certain time of day. Write the numbers down and decode them with the pad. Long story short, she and her s…

Was it Garbriele Gast? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Gast > After agreeing to help, Gast very soon found herself sent on an intensive spycraft course, including hands-on training with the latest in covert communications equipment. She was given a Stasi code name, "Gisela", which came with a false passport and a new handbag, incorporating a well concealed secret compartment. Back home in Aachen, every Tuesd…

Post by flohofwoe » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 4:54 PM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #20

flohofwoe wrote: post #19

> What I find quite surprising: The keyboard and output of the device mostly uses English words. A bit unexpected for a device developed in eastern Germany for use in the Soviet Union; I would rather have expected Russian there. This isn't all that surprising, the Lingua Franca for electronics and software development in Eastern Germany was also English, not Russian (or rather a mix of German and English, with much m…

A much simpler explanation of the phenomenon is that a lion share of digital electronics made in the union was a direct copypaste down to documentation, and UI Russian language based domestic computing industry existed, but it has stopped developing in early seventies, and by eighties was behind hopelessly, despite being quite well adapted in civilian use. Funnily, it was the union's military that was the biggest use…

Post by 082349872349872 » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 4:59 PM UTC

flohofwoe wrote: post #23

baybal2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A much simpler explanation of the phenomenon is that a lion share of digital electronics made in the union was a direct copypaste down to documentation, and UI Russian language based domestic computing industry existed, but it has stopped developing in early seventies, and by eighties was behind hopelessly, despite being quite well adapted in civilian use. Funnily, it was the union's military that was the biggest use…

Not sure why you're downvoted, as this was a fact. If a country is behind, the best way to catch up is to copy, there's nothing wrong with that (especially since it was illegal for Western companies to sell computer technology into the East, see COCOM [1]). And at least for basic elements like CPUs and other microchips it would have been foolish to create parts that are incompatible with the rest of the world. [1] ht…

Post by CalChris » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

audiometry wrote: post #2

Would love to have a bit of numbers station-related hardware. The weirdness and mystery of These stations has teased me for decades.

Post by pvg » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 5:29 PM UTC

082349872349872 wrote: post #28

pvg wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even largely copied machines were typically adapted and 'localized' so I'm not sure this is really a much simpler or accurate explanation.

I've looked at some old soviet computing papers, and was surprised at how much english they used. I think, just like we all import "programming" keyboards, EN-US rapidly took over from EN-GB after the initial baby steps in computing. http://ershov.iis.nsk.su/files/archive/fold0256/256_125.gif "optimists learn english — pessimists, chinese"