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The Minfon Special was a miniature wire recorder built by
Protona GmbH in Germany.
It was introduced in 1961, at the height of the Cold War,
and was intended for use by the secret services.
The design is a combination of both its predecessors:
the P-55 and the earlier
Attaché.
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Like the first two Protona recorders, the Mi-51
and the P-55, the Special uses a very thin wire
to record its audio, which is rather strange, considering the fact that with the
introduction of the earlier Minifon Attaché
Protona had already made the move to tape-based systems.
The reason for this is simple: although tape-based systems were increasingly
becoming popular, they were limited by their recording capacity.
The 2-speed Minifon Special promises 2.5 or 5 hours
of uninterrupted recording,
which is something a tape-based device can't.
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Although the Special uses magnetic wire and is largely based on the
design of the P-55, it is an
all-transistor device
just like the new Minifon Attaché.
With its dimensions of 17 x 10 x 4 cm, its a tiny little bit smaller than
the P55. It weight a bit more though: 800g instead of 790g for the P55.
The image above, shows the Special in a typical Protona leather carrying
case. The case also has a small pocket to store some accessories, such as
the microphone or an ear piece.
It was powered by a single battery and allowed a voltage range of 6-12V.
Like the other Minifon recorders, it could also be powered by an external
power supply unit.
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For the Minifon Special, a wide range of add-ons was available,
just like for the other Minifon models. The connections at the front of
the machine are different though, so that accessories had to be ordered
specifically for the Special.
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As the Special was intended for use by the secret services,
the most interesting accessories are the cloth holster, that allowed the
recorder to be hidden under a suit,
and the famous wrist-watch microphone.
The holster was a simple cloth bag that could be carried under a person's
arm, like the holster of a weapon. It was then strapped against the body
and a disguised microphone would be used to record a conversation
inconspiciously.
As a microphone, one would use the standard one, the fountain pen,
or the wrist-watch.
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The 5th image below shows the wrist-watch microphone that was available for
the Minifon Special. Note that the connector has changed since the
Mi-51
and the P-55.
Instead of the 4 mm jack, the Special has a 9-way accessory socket
at the front right. This connector was used for many of the add-ons,
including headphones and a variety of different microphones.
The connector is similar (but not identical) to the later DIN-style
connectors.
Most of the accessories of the Minifon Attaché
are suitable for the Special.
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- Roland Schellin, Spion in der Tasche
Detailed history of Protona and the Minifon recorders
ISBN: 3-936012-00-8 (German)
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