ARTICLE OVERVIEW

The "thing"

This is a crazy gift from the Russians to the American ambassy. It is a spy transmitter, but inside is nothing which looks like electronics. Only very little mechanical things. Inside is a metal bar. This bar will resonate electrically, if a radio frequency was beamed on it from a distance. The bar is a tuned antenna, so its efficiency is high. Then, there was a membrane near by, which acted as microphone, to modulate the transmitted frequency. And there you have, a nicely working spy bug. This Trojan horse was in action for many years, until it was discovered by a normal radio listener, but could not be found it at first. The Russians would operate and observe the Ambassy from their spy car, and would see and hear any alerted athmosphere, stop transmitting, and the unit became only a piece of wood on the wall.

Look at this all tubes wire recorder, on battery, of the size of a package of cigarettes. It is like electronic art.

The Crypto museum can be visited in the Netherlands.