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← KY-9 ← USA Phone NSA KY-3 →
Narrow-band voice coder
- this page is a stub
The HY-2 was a fully transistorised voice coder or vocoder,
developed in the USA in 1961. It was intended for use
in combination with an external key generator, such as the
KG-13, to send
and receive encrypted voice traffic
via telephone or narrowband radio channels.
Due to the application of the so-called
FLYBALL integrated circuit modules,
its weight was reduced to 'just' over 45 kg.
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The HY-2 is the successor to the KY-9,
which was also fully transistorized, but did not yet feature the
service-friendly FLYBALL technology.
The device is based on a 16-channel vocoder and can send its data at
2400 baud, which is slightly more than the
KY-9
that could only handle 1650 baud. This probably resulted in a
(slight) improvement of the audio voice quality.
During the 1960s, the HY-2 was widely used in the US Government's
AUTOSEVOCOM I secure voice network.
It was also deployed in Vietnam for use on
narrowband VHF and UHF FM radio.
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Due to the limited voice quality, that resulted in a 'Donald Duck'
style voice, former US President Johnson refused to use the HY-2.
And he wasn't the first one: President John F. Kennedy before him
disliked its predecessor, the KY-9,
for the same reason and had it replaced by the
KY-3 on subscriber lines in the area.
Nevertheless, the datasheet describes the device as a high quality CIPHONY
system, with a unit price of US$ 22,100, which exludes the
KY-13 and the MODEM.
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Note that the HY-2 is 'just' a vocoder or speech digitizer. In order to
use it as a stand-alone voice encryption/decryption device, an external key
generator/mixer is needed, such as the large KG-13
that is shown in the image on the right.
The KG-13, codenamed PONTUS, measures 89 x 59 x 48 cm and weights
well over 110 kg. It consists of three identical punch-card driven
key generators, two synchronizers and ancillaries.
The key generators produce a pseudo random data stream that is mixed
with the clear data produced by the HY-2, by means of the
binary XOR-operation. This operation is also known as the Vernam Cipher.
➤ More about the KG-13
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The diagram below shows how the HY-2 was used. At the left is the audio
input/output, which could either be a handset or an external telephone or
audio line. The HY-2 converts the analogue voice into digital information
which is then passed on to the KG-13 for encryption.
The encrypted data is then passed to an external 2400 baud modem for
transmission via radio or telephone.
At the receiving end, the data received by the MODEM is first decrypted
in the KG-13 and then passed onto the HY-2,
which then reconstructs or synthesizes the human speech,
based on the data in the 16 vocoder channels.
This results in a typical 'Donald Duck' style voice.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Thursday 12 May 2016. Last changed: Thursday, 26 November 2020 - 17:21 CET.
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