4 ms·

DDR Type 2 – Short-wave spy transmitter

91 points by scapecast 4y ago

xvector 4y ago
I'm probably on a list just for visiting this website
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Hacker News? Or Crypto Museum?
Sebguer 4y ago
I was expecting this to be some kind of doctored RAM, based on the name!
- BeefWellington 4y ago
  The RAM doesn't even need to be doctored: https://www.zdnet.com/article/academics-turn-ram-into-wifi-cards-to-steal-data-from-air-gapped-systems/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/academics-turn-ram-into-wifi-c...
  - bbbbb5 4y ago
    If your goal is to transmit something to a device within the same room, sure.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    Very interesting, I missed that at the time so thank you for posting the link.
Simon_O_Rourke 4y ago
I read somewhere on this excellent website before they (the DDR) had an IR line of sight Morse code transmitter in active use too, albeit slightly more recently. https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/opto/jo4/index.htm https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/opto/jo4/index.htm
bobowzki 4y ago
I love cryptomuseum.com. It's such a gold mine.
- hnthrowaway0315 4y ago
  A pity that we won't be able to play with most of the stuffs it lists.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    Quite a bit of it can be replicated with the available information.
  - bobowzki 4y ago
    Yes. At least some of it can be emulated! https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/12/13/mame-now-emulates-a-stasi-numbers-station-speech-synthesizer/ https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/12/13/mame-now-emulates-a-sta...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - Johnythree 4y ago
    Most of the components are readily available on ebay today. It would be easy to build an exact duplicate and fire it up on one of the HF Amateur bands. In fact a number of groups specialise in recreating "Spy Radios" and getting them working. https://www.amazon.com.au/Paraset-Radio-Spy-Radio-Working-Replica-ebook/dp/B08L6R9NT6 https://www.amazon.com.au/Paraset-Radio-Spy-Radio-Working-Re... https://hackaday.com/2013/11/26/retrotechtacular-wwii-paraset-spy-radio-used-by-french-resistance/ https://hackaday.com/2013/11/26/retrotechtacular-wwii-parase...
noipv4 4y ago
These days an Adalm Pluto with a custom firmware would do ;) or maybe a Flipper zero.
yborg 4y ago
Curious how they determined this was a DDR made transmitter, and not Soviet (or Czech, etc.)
- Hackbraten 4y ago
  It comes with a tuning table attached to it written in German.
- TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago
  The page cites “Louis Meulstee, Wireless for the Warrior” as its reference for a nickname of the device, and also links to an excerpt of it that notes that a similar transmitter was actually Czech. I suppose this Louis Meulstee may have been who figured out it was DDR, but without buying that book I guess I won't know how.
eternalban 4y ago
Fun scene in Deutschland 83 has a HVA geek trying to use a 5.25" floppy they snatched from NATO into a Robotron A 5210's 8" drives. After hacking around a bit, he managed to read the floppy and it spits out a bunch of numbers in sequence. "It is encrypted" he says as the screen shows columns of numbers scroll by. Shortly after, this flashes on the screen briefly [/g]: OK 10 CLS 20 FOR I = 1 to 64 30 FOR P = 1 to 6 40 FOR Q = 1 to 5 50 A=48+RND(1)*9 60 A$=A$+CHR$(A) 70 NEXT Q 80 A$=A$+" " 90 NEXT P 100 PRINT " ";A$:A$="" 110 NEXT I OK https://starringthecomputer.com/snapshots/deutchland_83_s1e3_robotron_a5120_1.jpg https://starringthecomputer.com/snapshots/deutchland_83_s1e3... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_5120 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_5120 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4445154 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4445154

91 points by scapecast 4y ago

xvector 4y ago

I'm probably on a list just for visiting this website

jacquesm 4y ago
Hacker News? Or Crypto Museum?

Sebguer 4y ago

I was expecting this to be some kind of doctored RAM, based on the name!

BeefWellington 4y ago
The RAM doesn't even need to be doctored: https://www.zdnet.com/article/academics-turn-ram-into-wifi-cards-to-steal-data-from-air-gapped-systems/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/academics-turn-ram-into-wifi-c...
- bbbbb5 4y ago
  If your goal is to transmit something to a device within the same room, sure.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Very interesting, I missed that at the time so thank you for posting the link.

Simon_O_Rourke 4y ago

I read somewhere on this excellent website before they (the DDR) had an IR line of sight Morse code transmitter in active use too, albeit slightly more recently. https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/opto/jo4/index.htm https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/opto/jo4/index.htm

bobowzki 4y ago

I love cryptomuseum.com. It's such a gold mine.

hnthrowaway0315 4y ago
A pity that we won't be able to play with most of the stuffs it lists.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Quite a bit of it can be replicated with the available information.
- bobowzki 4y ago
  Yes. At least some of it can be emulated! https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/12/13/mame-now-emulates-a-stasi-numbers-station-speech-synthesizer/ https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/12/13/mame-now-emulates-a-sta...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Johnythree 4y ago
  Most of the components are readily available on ebay today. It would be easy to build an exact duplicate and fire it up on one of the HF Amateur bands. In fact a number of groups specialise in recreating "Spy Radios" and getting them working. https://www.amazon.com.au/Paraset-Radio-Spy-Radio-Working-Replica-ebook/dp/B08L6R9NT6 https://www.amazon.com.au/Paraset-Radio-Spy-Radio-Working-Re... https://hackaday.com/2013/11/26/retrotechtacular-wwii-paraset-spy-radio-used-by-french-resistance/ https://hackaday.com/2013/11/26/retrotechtacular-wwii-parase...

noipv4 4y ago

These days an Adalm Pluto with a custom firmware would do ;) or maybe a Flipper zero.

yborg 4y ago

Curious how they determined this was a DDR made transmitter, and not Soviet (or Czech, etc.)

Hackbraten 4y ago
It comes with a tuning table attached to it written in German.
TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago
The page cites “Louis Meulstee, Wireless for the Warrior” as its reference for a nickname of the device, and also links to an excerpt of it that notes that a similar transmitter was actually Czech. I suppose this Louis Meulstee may have been who figured out it was DDR, but without buying that book I guess I won't know how.

eternalban 4y ago

Fun scene in Deutschland 83 has a HVA geek trying to use a 5.25" floppy they snatched from NATO into a Robotron A 5210's 8" drives. After hacking around a bit, he managed to read the floppy and it spits out a bunch of numbers in sequence. "It is encrypted" he says as the screen shows columns of numbers scroll by. Shortly after, this flashes on the screen briefly [/g]: OK 10 CLS 20 FOR I = 1 to 64 30 FOR P = 1 to 6 40 FOR Q = 1 to 5 50 A=48+RND(1)*9 60 A$=A$+CHR$(A) 70 NEXT Q 80 A$=A$+" " 90 NEXT P 100 PRINT " ";A$:A$="" 110 NEXT I OK https://starringthecomputer.com/snapshots/deutchland_83_s1e3_robotron_a5120_1.jpg https://starringthecomputer.com/snapshots/deutchland_83_s1e3... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_5120 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_5120 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4445154 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4445154