The Enigma machine is one of the icons of WW2. The machine was invented in the 1920s and adopted by the German military in the mid 30s to give a means of secure communication for their armed forces.

To use the machine, an operator types in the message, letter by letter, and notes the encoded version. This is then passed to the radio operator who transmits the message in morse code. At the other end the process is repeated to produce the plain language text. The security of the machine comes from the fact that there are 150,000,000,000,000 different ways of setting up the machine, making it very unlikely to stumble on the correct one by accident.

Throughout WW2 the Germans remained convinced that the machine was invulnerable whereas, in truth, much of their traffic was being read within hours of it being sent. While the army and air force continued to use the same machine in much the same way as at the start of the war, the navy continually sought to improve the security and made both the machine and its operation more complex. This resulted in periods when the U boat traffic could not be read until a means was found to overcome the changes.

In his talk, Alan will give a brief history of the development of the machine and of those used by other countries which followed a similar principle. He will then go on to cover how the machine was used by the German armed forces and some insight into the way in which it was cracked.

“It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.” WINSTON CHURCHILL.

The Dan Gilbert Event – Enigma Explained

Date & Time: 18 May 2010, 6.30 p.m. for 7.00 p.m. A finger buffet / refreshments will be available at 6.30 pm.
Venue: BBC Broadcasting House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast.
Price: Free – Event open to non members.
Registration: Please contact: Clair Baguley. Numbers are limited for the event and please register on or before 11th May 2010.

Various machines / rotors / documents will be on display at the event.

Event organised by John Mitchell, RTS Northern Ireland Centre, and is a joint event with The Radio Academy Northern Ireland Branch.

With special thanks to BBC Northern Ireland.

Further information

Alan’s early career was as a radio officer in the merchant navy. One of his responsibilities was the cipher system that was used to send and receive messages to the admiralty. Apart from having to use the system, Alan was interested in how secure it was and this started an interest in codes and ciphers. It was a fairly short path to the Enigma story which was then only just becoming public knowledge.

A second career took him into the world of broadcasting with the IBA where he worked on the rollout of Channel 4, Channel 5, and re-engineering the ITC transmission system. Later he became involved in the development of digital systems and worked for News Digital Systems (NDS) before joining NTL for the rollout of the present DTT system. He left NTL in 2002 and set up his own company, Trinity Start, doing consultancy on Digital Switchover both in the UK and ROI as well as setting up a sea training school specialising in radar and communications.

The interest in codes and ciphers persisted and he has carried out a lot of research over the years and has built up a collection of cipher machines from WW2 and the Cold War era. He is also chairman of the Medusa Trust, a charity which has restored and operates a small warship from WW2 (www.hmsmedusa.org.uk).