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Pocket-size electronic cipher machine
- wanted item
The PCCM-4000 was an electronic cipher machine in the shape of
an early calculator, developed by Mils Elektronik in Mils (Austria)
in the late 1970s, shortly after the first microprocessors had
become available. It contained a high-end cipher machine, but
could also be used as a calculator.
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The device rougly has the same size of a pocket calculator of the
era and allowed the operator to travel inconspiciously with it.
The unit was powered by three AA-size penlight batteries, allowing
7 hours of uninterrupted use. The image on the right shows a typical
PCCM-4000.
At the front panel are 30 green push-buttons; 26 for the letters of
the Latin alphabet, plus 4 additional buttons for dot, comma, space
and up/down.
At the top of the keyboard are two slide-switches with two positions each.
The leftmost switch selects the mode of operation: decription (D)
or encryption (E). The rightmost switch is used to select between
two memories: M1 and M2.
Above the keyboard is a LCD screen that can show five 16-segment
characters, plus six operator indicators.
At the heart of the PCCM-4000 is a military-grade single-chip
microcontroller made by Harris. The device contains two different
non-linear cipher algorithms that each allow 1030 different
message keys to be used.
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In addition, the device generates random initialization cryptograms
in order to prevent frequently used phrases or opening sentences
from generating identical ciphertext each time.
Furthermore, the PCCM-4000 contains a customer-programmable
system key in EPROM. If a unit is lost, the user only has to chang
the built-in system key using a programming kit supplied by Mils.
In the early 1980s, the PCCM-4000 was succeeded by the
ME-540.
The ME-540 was larger than the PCCM-4000, but was more flexible
and offered better expandibility. Looking like an early Casio
or Sharp pocket computer, the
ME-540 had a printer and a telephone modem.
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At present, we have no further information about the PCCM-4000 available.
You can help us expanding this page, by supplying additional information,
such as the operator's instructions or -better- the actual PCCM-4000 unit.
If you think you can help, please contact us.
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- Crypto Museum, Image of PCCM-4000 cipher machine
2 August 2013. Courtesy Mils Electronic.
- Mils Elektronik, PCCM 4000 Brochure
3-page brochure. Date unknown, but probably early 1980s.
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© Copyright 2009-2013, Paul Reuvers & Marc Simons. Last changed: Tuesday, 06 August 2013 - 19:27 CET
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