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Monitoring receivers and related equipment
This section of the website deals with monitoring receivers and related
equipment. Monitoring receivers are different from
surveillance receivers, although there is a 'grey' area.
Some receivers are suitable for monitoring as well as surveillance.
Generally speaking,
a monitoring receiver is used to continuously observe and analyze radio signals,
often for regulatory, interference detection, or spectrum management purposes.
These receivers typically provide stable and accurate measurements of signal
strength, frequency, and modulation characteristics over time.
In a military context, monitoring equipment is used to detect, analyse and
decode enemy signals.
A surveillance receiver,
on the other hand, is designed for intelligence gathering,
security, or law enforcement applications. It is optimized for detecting,
intercepting, and analyzing unknown or elusive signals across a wide frequency range,
often with rapid scanning and demodulation capabilities. There is a certain
overlap with TSCM equipment and covert listening devices (bugs).
➤ Surveillance receivers
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Monitoring equipment on this website
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The National HRO was a valve-based (tube) shortwave
general coverage communications receiver,
manufactured by the National Radio Company
(National) in Malden (Massachusetts, USA) from 1935 onwards.
The receiver was intended for military and amateur use and became
very popular for intercept work during WWII.
Different versions of the radio were in production until the 1950s.
➤ More information
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The AR-88 was a valve-based shortwave general coverage communications receiver,
developed and built by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in the
early 1940s.
Although the receiver was initially intended as the successor
to the AR-77 amateur receiver, the outbreak of WWII made it evolve into
a professional high-end military-grade intercept receiver
for which cost was not an issue.
➤ More information
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The SX-28 and the later SX-28A were AM/CW communication receivers,
developed and built by Hallicrafters Inc. in Chicago (USA) in 1940,
a few years before the US got involved in WWII.
It is one of the most popular receivers every built by Hallicrafters,
and was used heavily for intercept work during the war.
The receiver is also known as Super Skyrider.
➤ More information
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SSR-201 was an aperiodic or non-selective receiver, developed during
WWII for use by the OSS,
the forerunner of the CIA.
It was used for
finding clandestine radio stations, operated by – mainly German –
spies in the US and in the UK.
After the war, the device was also used by the Radio Monitoring Services
of several European countries.
➤ More information
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In the 1980s and 1990s, Schlumberger GmbH developed a series of
high performance digital programmable precision receivers,
under the name Minilock. The receivers were used by many agencies
for intercepting, measuring and fingerprinting radio signals.
➤ More information
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The EB-100 is a small portable surveillance receiver build in the 1980s by
Rohde & Schwarz in Munich (Germany).
It was intended for a variety of jobs, including frequency monitoring,
radio surveillance, radio intercept, EMC measurements and direction finding.
Due to its small size and wide frequency range, it is extremely useful for
bug tracing. EB-100 is also known as MINIPORT.
➤ More information
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The EB-200 is the successor to the EB-100. It is a portable receiver
that covers all frequencies between 10 kHz and 3 GHz, with a wide
variety of modulation types: AM, FM, CW, LSB, USB, Pulse and I/Q.
It is one of the first receivers that has
a fully digital IF-stage with DSP technology.
The radio was intended for monitoring of the frequency spectrum and
for locating sources of transmission, including
covert listening devices.
➤ More information
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During the days of the Cold War, the secret service of the
former DDR (East Germany), also known as the Stasi, used this receiver
to monitor domestic and foreign radio traffic.
➤ More information
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PAN-1000 was a high-end general coverage panoramic receiver, developed by
the Dutch Radar Laboratory (NRP) for the Dutch Radio Monitoring
Service (RCD) in the early 1980s.
The receiver covers a frequency range from 0.1 to 1000 MHz
and could be fitted inside a car. It was intended for locating
clandestine radio stations (pirates).
➤ More information
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TG-44E is a telegraphy demodulator for Frequency
Shift Keying (FSK) signals,
introduced in 1965 by Heinrich Pfitzner in Frankfurt (Germany) and sold
under the Teletron brand.
The device is capable of demodulating single-, double-
and multi-tone FSK signals, and was commonly used in civil and military
radio monitoring and intercept stations.
➤ More information
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GA-082 is an analyzer for FSK telegraphy signals sent over HF, VHF
and UHF radio links, introduced in 1983 by
Rohde & Schwarz in Germany.
The device was used in fixed and mobile radio monitoring stations, by
intelligence services and by military intelligence gathering units.
It can 'fingerprint' the intercepted station and can readily decode
text in a variety of formats.
➤ More information
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Monday 17 February 2025. Last changed: Wednesday, 02 April 2025 - 13:01 CET.
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