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Crypto Museum
Welcome at the Crypto Museum website. At present we are a virtual museum in The Netherlands, that can only be visited on the internet. We do, however, regularly organize exhibitions in co-operation with other museums. Examples of such exhibitions are Secret Messages, held in Museum Jan Corver in the Netherlands between October 2008 and February 2009, the Enigma Reunion 2009 at Bletchley Park, Super TU/esday in February 2010 at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Tijdrekken in 2010 and 2011, Secret Communications in Duivendrecht (near Amsterdam) in 2013 and currently the open-end mini-exhibition at Radboud University.

Artistic image of a commercial Enigma machine by Mark Kohn (2013)

The main purpose of the Crypto Museum is to preserve history. This is done by collecting, restoring and describing historical cipher machines such as the well-known Enigma machine, spy equipment and the likes. For a detailed explanation of why we do this, please read our Mission Statement. Some of the items described on this website are part of the collection of the Crypto Museum, and some have only crossed our path at one moment or another. Whenever possible, we will describe the equipment to the best of our abilities.

We are always interested in acquiring new equipment for the museum. If you have any questions or if you have something to offer, please do not hestitate to contact us. And if you want to make a donation, financial or otherwise, please click here.

The information on this website is spread over several categories. Click any of the images below or use the yellow navigation buttons in the left margin for further information.
 
Crypto and cipher machines Crypto Spy sets, Agent radios and Special Forces transceivers Spy Burst Encoders and Short Burst message transmitters Burst Intercept receivers, Direction Finders, etc. Intercept Covert equipment like cameras, bugs, recorders, radios, dead drops, concealment devices, lock pick tools, etc. Covert Various radio sets and military integrated radio networks Radio Secure military and TEMPEST PCs PC Teleprinter and telex machines (under construction) Telex
Index of intelligence agencies (under construction) Agencies Self-build electronic kits Kits Items or information wanted for our collection Wanted Latest news from Crypto Museum News Events related to Crypto Museum or to information on the Crypto Museum website Events Manufacturers of equipment featured on this website Factory

Donations
Crypto Museum is a non-subsidised privately-owned virtual museum. The curators work very hard to bring an interesting and diverse collection together, to describe the various items in great detail, and to share this information with the rest of the world. If you like the information presented here, why not make a donation?
 
Latest news

New items
Hagelin HC-550 cipher machine HC-550 Yugoslav RTP8-SSB and RTP8-SSB/3 RTP-8 Code International Lugagne (1914) Lugagne Manual cipher device 'Le Sphinx' with alphabet transposition cipher (1930) Sphinx CIA VHF intercept receiver SRR-4 SRR-4 Barbie Typewriter with built-in substitution cipher Barbie Siemens Schlüsselgerät D, one-time tape (OTT) D Secraphone voice terminal (part of British scrambler phone) Secraphone
SPIDER military tactical manpack VHF/FM radio SPIDER Spare parts and accessories box (ZIP) for Fialka cipher machine ZIP Datotek Inc (Texas, USA) DH-26 Robot Star 50 clockwork camera Star 50 Miniature electronic covert surveillance camera Zakhod Portable stand-alone message encryptor KzU-42 Hagelin Hand-held message terninal with encryption HC-5205 Dead drop container Container
The News Boe Code (1937) - Commercial Traffic and Shipping Codes Boe code Czechoslovakian VHF or UHF bug receiver Bodrog Red and blue OTP booklets used by Czechoslovakia during the Cold War OTP - CS Czechoslovakian UHER-based Electronic Dead Letter Box (EDLB) EDLB

 
Just released or updated   wanted items
Mason A-2 portable bug finder (1964) A-2 Enhanced Omni-Spectral Correlator (bug finder) OSCOR The Thing, also known as The Great Seal Bug, planted by the USSR in the office of the American Ambassador. The Thing British equivalent of The Thing, a covert listening device SATYR Secret CIA project to develop covert listening devices based on the technology of The Thing Easy Chair Russian countermeasures receiver for the 100 MHz to 12 GHz frequency range Osobnjak OMI Cryptograph Alpha cipher machine (1939) OMI Alpha OMI Criptograph cipher machine (1954) Criptograph
OMI Cryptograph-CR (1958) OMI CR OMI Cryptograph-CR Mk II (1960) OMI CR-2

 
Please help
Please help us identifying this clandestine Warsaw Pact radio set ???

 
Recent changes

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Social Media
If you want to know what is new on this website, where you can see parts of our collection, what lectures we will be giving and which special events we help organizing, you might want to follow us on Twitter and receive real-time news. Note that we do not generate unnecessary traffic. You may access our Twitter account at any time by clicking the Twitter-icon at the top of each page.
 

All videos featured on the Crypto Museum website, can be viewed directly on our YouTube channel. Click the YouTube icon on top of each page to open our YouTube channel in a new window of your browser. If you are a regular viewer, you may want to subscribe to the channel.
 
Mission statement
People often ask us why we spend so much time with our cipher machines and with the Crypto Museum website. We have, of course, asked ourselves that question numerous times. If you want to know the answer, please read our Mission Statement. It's a long story, but we would be grateful if you took the time to read it. If you're in a hurry, please read at least the abstract.

 Read our mission statement
 
Copyright
All images on this website are owned and copyrighted by Crypto Museum, unless stated otherwise. If you want to use any of them, please ask first. Under normal circumstances permission will be granted, provided that full credit is given to Crypto Museum and that they are used for non-commercial purposes. Commercial users may also contact us to arrange a suitable donation. If an image is not owned by us, you will need to ask the original owner for permission.
 
Disclaimer
Although every effort is made to ensure that the information presented on this website is correct, such can not be guaranteed. Please note that Crypto Museum can not be held responsible for any damage arising from the use or misuse of the information presented on this site. Crypto Museum can not guarantee the suitability of the information for any purpose whatsoever. If you find any mistakes or omissions, please contact us and we will do our best to fix them.
 
Classified information
To the best of our knowledge, this site only contains information that is either available in the public domain or that is unclassified or that has been officially declassified. Whenever possible, the source of the information will be credited in the References section at the bottom of each page. In some cases the classification status of an object is not entirely clear because there is no list of classified objects available in the public domain. In these cases we will simply try to follow the rules of common sense. If you come across any information that you think is still classified, please contact us.

Please note that we are neither cryptologists nor mathematicians. We don't want to develop new cryptographical methods and we are no cryptanalists either. We are not involved or interested in breaking any classified codes. Also note that some of the objects shown on this website are still restricted items. We are not in the position to release classified information about such items.
 
Any links shown in red are currently unavailable. If you like the information on this website, why not make a donation?
© Crypto Museum. Created: Tuesday 19 August 2008. Last changed: Friday, 22 April 2016 - 14:59 CET.
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