The First Annual
Friedrichshafen
Crypto-Conference, Sale and Forum.


The 2013 "HamRadio-2013" meet at Friedrichshafen Germany was the site of the first annual Crypto-Conference, Sale and Forum.

Report on the Fourth Annual (2016) Friedrichshafen Conference, Sale and Enigma Forum
Report on the 2011 Friedrichshafen Conference and Sale

The meet was held from June 27-30 in the huge "Messe" (Convention Center) adjacent to the airport in Friedrichshafen which is on the bank of the lovely Bodensee (Lake Constance).

I had reserved six tables in the flea market for the display and sale of crypto-related apparatus. A huge "ENIGMA" banner flew over the tables so you could see them from across the large hall. There were two huge halls with about 1000 tables of equipment for sale so the big "ENIGMA" sign helped people locate our tables. A wide variety of exotic crypto gear was on display and on offer. During the first 3 days of the conference well over $ 120,000 USD worth of Crypto gear changed hands and both sellers and buyers came away very happy.

The buyers were almost exclusively members of the Cryptocollectors Email reflector so they all knew exactly what they were buying and the appropriate values. Many of the sellers were also on the reflector but some spectacular items were also brought to the show by other sellers such as crypto-expert Professor Dr. Franz Pichler of the University of Linz, Austria who brought some very fine relatively modern crypto-gear.

In addition to the buying, selling and networking in the flea market, the First Annual Enigma Forum was held on Friday afternoon at 1600. It was extremely well attended with a standing-room-only crowd of over 200 people who watched lectures on the Enigma, the Enigma Replica and Small Cipher Machines.

I hope that this report will encourage you to consider attending next year. I do not believe that there has ever been such a broad selection of fine and unusual crypto- gear for sale in one place along with such a gathering of crypto- experts and historians. In my opinion, this conference is a lot more fun than Ebay, the food is better, and you can bargain face-to-face with the sellers. Don't even think of coming without a shopping bag full of Euros or you will be kicking yourself about the things you wanted but could not buy.

Below you will find some photographs of the items that were offered for sale as well as pictures of the sellers and buyers and the Forum.


This is our line of tables of crypto-related goodies.

Many of the 18,000 attendees stopped by to learn about and operate my original Enigma.

Even the kids enjoyed watching the operating Telex machines in action.

Klaus Kopacz explained the construction of his Enigma Replica to literally thousands of people during the show.

The replica Wehrmacht Enigma made by Klaus Kopacz was a beautiful example of his workmanship and it was exact copy in every detail.

In addition to his replica Enigma, Klaus Kopacz brought a number of war-worn rotors and Enigma parts that had been dug up from battlefields after the war.

Above the rotors you can see the extraordinary original 'Enigma Test Set' consisting of a special reflector and a single pass-through rotor that replaces the usual three rotors. This test set allows repair personnel to test each circuit of the Enigma directly.


Klaus Kopacz also brought this extremely rare SG-41 Cipher Machine that had remained undiscovered in a German lake until it was found by divers a few years ago.

I don't know whether it was sold or not.


Klaus Kopacz also brought more dug-up Enigma parts and some linear cipher strips used for teaching cryptoraphy.

Paul Reuvers and Marc Simons representing their CryptoMuseum.com attracted a great deal of interest in their Enigma-e kits. They were even offering appropriate wooden boxes to use with the kit.

Their extraordinarily detailed FIALKA technical manuals and other publications also attracted a great deal of interest.


The Enigma-e kit boxes were very nicely made and the kits were very popular.

Here we see Marc Simons explaining a technical point to a visitor.

Klaus Schmeh sold his two books and answered questions about them.

John Alexander explained the operation of various small cipher devices.

Here we see John Alexander (left) and Tom Perera standing behind Tom's Enigma table.

John is smiling because he has just become the proud owner of the beautiful OMI cipher machine on the left.

This was one of the most important cipher machines that changed owners at the conference.


This picture shows the very fine condition of the OMI and its size in compariston to my Wehrmacht Enigma.

Here is a much more modern cipher machine. It looks like a typical Radio Shack Model 102 but the CPU has been replaced with an elaborate cipher board making it a real treasure for a crypto-collector/historian.

It is a TST-3550, made by TeleSecurity Timmann (TST) in Germany between 1982 and 1988. It was based on a Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 and later on the Model 102 (shown here). It came with a thermal printer and an acoustic coupler to allow any ordinary telephone set to be used for secure communications.

A web page about this set is under construction by Paul Reuvers and Marc Simons and can be found here: http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/tst/3550/index.htm


Here is another rather modern cipher machine that changed hands at the conference. It is the military TST-3010, also made by TST.

As soon as the page for this item is available, cryptomuseum.com will post it.


Here is a very recent encrypted telephone that was for sale at our tables. It is the so-called STE (Secure Terminal Equipment), which is currently used by the US Government.

A link to a description can be found at: http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/usa/ste/

If you look closely you may be able to recognize a famous American president using exactly the same model.


Here is a more detailed description of the STE Equipment.

In this picture Professor Dr. Franz Pichler is discussing a modern cipher machine that has been purchased at the conference.

It is one of the later TST devices, but it was cryptographically more or less identical to their earlier and smaller devices.


Here is one of the great bargains on our tables. It is a genuine encripted message punched in baudot code into a 5-level paper tape.

It was for sale for 250 Euros or about $350 US dollars.


There were some interesting items at some of the thousands of other tables.

Here we see a "Handyman Special" FIALKA in need of a great deal of TLC but being offerecd at a ?bargain? price.


This is a heater used for heating the T-219 (Yachta) a Russian speech encryption device that was used during the cold war.

Paul Reuvers and Marc Simons told me that the Yachta was one of three secret devices that would be added to the R-142 radio set (mounted in a GAZ-66 truck) in case of war.

The other two secret devices were the Fialka (M-125) cipher machine and the Datchik (R-014D) burst encoder.

It was for sale for only 20 Euros =~$30 US Dollars.


...and speaking of the Datchik (R-014D), Professor Dr. Franz Pichler brought one that was identical to the one in this picture to sell at his table.

If you are interested in original WW-2 German radio equipment there was a wide assortment on offer at reasonable prices.

Here is a typical stack of them in nice condition:


Here are some more WW-2 German radios on offer:

And if you like spy radios from WW-2, here is a rather unusual clandestine radio set waiting for a buyer:

As you can see, it is partly hidden between two larger items so you need a sharp eye to find it.


And if you like telegraph keys, there were over 200 keys for sale on different tables at any given time during the meet.

Here is a very nice German Hannes-Bauer Bug and a miniature German Novaplex for sale at reasonable prices:


Here is an unknown German semi-automatic key.

Behind it you can see an electronic paddle and over to the right, two of the tiny German WW-2 Maus keys used primarily by paratroopers with their small portable radios.


Here is a report on the Enigma Forum:


THE First Annual ENIGMA FORUM:


This is a list of the speakers for the forum and their topics.


This is a photograph of the 2009 Bletchley Park Reunion with arrows pointing to all 5 of the the Friedrichshafen conference speakers.

From Left-to-Right they are:
Marc Simons (hidden behind another person)
Paul Reuvers
John Alexander
Tom Perera
and Klaus Kopacz


Tom Perera started off with an introduction to the history of the Enigma using the beautiful Enigma Family Tree created by Paul Reuvers and Frode Weierud.


Tom Perera then demonstrated the extremely delicate tools that must be used whenever disassembling an Enigma.

He continued his talk with a detailed time-lapse video of the actual disassembly of an Enigma, pictures of odd variations in Enigma design and he wound up his talk by showing actual examples of ways in which Enigmas may have been sabotaged during their manufacture perhaps by foreign workers brought into the plants late in the war.


Klaus Kopacz described in detail the construction of his Enigma Replica.

Starting with pictures of recovered Enigma parts he discussed the complexities of duplicating every detail and then described how he had developed techniques to produce identical replicas of the parts.


After he finished speaking, Klaus demonstrated his Enigma replica to a very interested and appreciative audience.

He also showed some of the Enigma parts that he had made and explained their construction.


After the talk Klaus showed his replica alongside my original Enigma.

Which one is the replica ?

You may want to visit: http://EnigmaMuseum.com/replica for more pictures and details of his replica.

(hint: the replica is on the left.. I think... ;-) )


John Alexander presented a talk on small cipher machines and made the much appreciated point that you do not have to spend thousands of dollars to buy historic cipher machines.

He gave many examples of historically important and yet inexpensive cipher machines like the Tom Mix code wheels. He said that Ebay was an ideal source of such artifacts.


Paul Reuvers and Marc Simons came prepared to describe the Russian Fialka and to share new details and information that they are about to include in the latest edition of their technical manual for this machine.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time and they decided that it was more appropriate for the audience to have a few minutes to ask questions and explore the Enigma and Fialka displays so they will give their talk next year at the Second Annual ENIGMA Forum.


END of FRIEDRICHSHAFEN 2013 REPORT



CONTACT INFORMATION


Thomas B. Perera Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus: Montclair State University

Internet On-Line ENIGMA Museum: http://EnigmaMuseum.com
or
http://w1tp.com/enigma
Internet On-Line Telegraph & Scientific Instrument Cyber-Museum: http://w1tp.com


COPYRIGHT NOTICE: (Copyright (c) 2016: Prof. Tom Perera Ph. D.)
Although all the pictures and text are copyrighted, you may use any of them for your own personal applications including public lectures and demonstrations, publications and websites as long as you mention the www.EnigmaMuseum.com. If you plan to offer them for sale to the public in any form, you must email me for permission which I will generally grant as long as you mention http://EnigmaMuseum.com. My email address is given above. Some of the material may require contacting other copyright owners for commercial use and I will inform you by email if this is the case. Please also see the disclaimer of warranty.