The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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Cybertek Electric: Issue #1 12/24/95 óss es flestra ferdha för; en skálpr es sverdha / |\ /| /|\ |\ |\ /| |-\ \ / / | \ / | / | \ | \ | \ / | | \ \ / / | \ / | / | \ | \ | \ / | | > / \ / / | \/ | / | \ | / | \/ | | / / / / \ | | | | < | | | \ / / \ \ | | | | \ | | | > \ / \ \ | | | | \ | | | / \ \ \ | | | | \ | | |-/ \ \ I know a fifteenth, which Thiodhroerir the dwarf sang before Delling's door. He sang might to the Aesir, power to the elves, and understanding to Odin. Cybertek Electric: Premiere Issue December 24th., 1995 edited by Thomas Icom/IIRG <ticom@l0pht.com> <thomas.icom@iirg.com> Complements of OCL/Magnitude's Project Blackthorn, and The International Information Retrieval Guild (IIRG) Table of Contents ================= - Greetings and Salutations! - Monitoring Russian Communications, by Tom Roach <troach@netcom.com> - Urban Survival (Part I), by Douglas P. Bell - Building a By-Phone - Poetry from Spiral Chambers #8 "State of the Nation", by Janet Kuypers "Shades of Gray", by Liz Dubuisson Greetings and Salutations! A year ago, I started getting an increase in inquiries about an electronic version of _Cybertek: The Cyberpunk Technical Journal_; a print 'zine I started back in the Spring of 1990 (which was the resurrection of an earlier 'zine, _The UTU Journal_, which I worked on in 1986, but I digress). Over the course of the year I looked into the possibility of doing so, and the inquiries started adding up. Doing an e-zine has several advantages. The time required and financial outlay is less than that of a print zine, the distribution is easier, and your potential audience is wider. It also has its disadvantages. Many ignorant, misinformed, and just plain outright malevolent types in the power structure feel that electronic media for some reason has less freedom under the First Amendment than does print media; where there is currently no doubt about the sanctity of the freedom of press and speech. America On-Line, in a recent attempt to maintain the "decency" of their service, prohibited the use of the word "breast" on their service. This caused an untold amount of grief to people who were having discussions about (breast) cancer and certain aspects of infant care (breast feeding). That is just the tip of the iceberg. Current legislation in Congress and the Senate, if passed, would not only impose censorship on the Internet, but also outright gut the First Amendment. They claim all the standard "humanitarian" reasons for their drive to impose censorship, but appears that they fail to realize the truth behind Ben Franklin's immortal words "If you trade a little freedom for a little security, soon you will have neither." My attitude has always been that since man seems incapable of governing himself, then he's even less capable of governing others. At least though, if you give someone the opportunity of choosing their own path, and the capability towards self-sufficiency and self-reliance (in essence self- government); the fault or merit of their actions rests solely on their head. They can either choose to exist as a free spirit, or fall into the trap of complacency and stupidity that a significant portion of society seems to have unfortunately fallen into. Either way, they were given the opportunity to go either way and their resultant situation, good or bad, is attributable to no one but themselves. Cybertek has always, through education, tried to prompt people to not be afraid to think for themselves, do their own research, come to their own conclusions, maintain their self-sufficiency and self-reliance, and seek their own path; wherever it may lead. I hope the encouragement and spread of these memes are properly continued through Cybertek Electric, and that when the time comes, those who have been so touched defend their divine right to do what they shall, as long as it harms none. Anyway, we'll be publishing Cybertek Electric on a sporadic basis (dependent on feedback and submissions) through Usenet, via a mailing list (Email me at either of my addresses at the end of this issue if you're interested in getting it mailed directly to you.), and through RuneStone BBS, IIRG WHQ (860-585-9638, NUP: Cyberdeck). I hope you all enjoy our latest endeavor. -Thomas Icom/IIRG May Odin guide your way. ---/////--- Monitoring Russian Communications by Tom Roach <troach@netcom.com> A fascinating facet but not widely publicized portion of the SWL hobby is the monitoring of Russian radioteletype (RTTY) and continuous wave (CW) i.e. Morse code, transmissions. Why the Russians? Regrettably, because they are about the only ones left who send any amount of meaningful unencrypted traffic on HF. With the terrible financial status that governs most of Russian commerce, the financial resources to update this antiquated system are not yet in place. Still, as Janis Joplin said "Get it while you can!". Many fascinating insights can be gained from pursuing this relatively seldom pursued hobby of monitoring HF radioteletype signals. In the future you once again may gain an insight into the Soviet Space program by monitoring the messages sent to their space program's Space Event Support Ships (SESS). Since the end of the cold war the Russians have been forced to mothball this incredible fleet of collection vessels. Perhaps when things stabilize these interesting ships and their fascinating communications will be heard once again by fascinated hobbyists. Today's hobbyist will have to be satisfied with Russian commerce. This isn't all that grim. You might come across the cargo manifest of a Russian freighter. This may be the first indication to the general public if the Russian bear turns sinister, as they may change from carrying fish meal to weapons. You certainly will be able to find out more about the Russian fishing industry then you ever cared to know! But learning how to analyze these messages is great training in case things liven up. T here is always the adventure of at sea medical emergencies. Here are is an example of that and other "typical" Russian messages you might encounter: RTMS MALAYA ZEMLYA NVR/MRKH 111 94 20/7 0000= Translation: Message is addressed to a Russian vessel named the Malaya Peninsula home ported in Novorossisk. There message is time stamped 20 July at midnight. 2 ADRESA [Two addresses] NOVOROSSIYSK VODZDRAV GBZDRAV USOVSKOMU EZDRAV RAMZANOVU= [Novorossiysk, Usovskiy, Ramzanov] [From ship to two "zdrav"s. A "zdrav" is a medical treatment point, probably similar to a naval hospital is this case.] PRODOLZHENIE NASHEY 135/07 [Continuation of our [message] 135/07] 2/ GARIFULIN EDUARD {LAST NAME DELETED FOR PRIVACY} 1945 G ELEKTRIK OBRATILSYA 070791 G ZHALOBY NA SLABOST' GOLOVNUYU BOL' VYSOKUYU TEMPERATURU 39.7 T4K ZEV 4ISTYY V LEGKIKH ZHESTKOE DYKHANIE KHRIPOV NET PERKUTORNO LEGO4NYY ZVUKH GOLOSOVOE DROZHZHAN IE USILENNO T4K POLU4IL OKSATSILIN 1.0 =50SLOV= 2 RAZA SUTKI V/M GENTOMITSIN 0.08 2 RAZA SUTKI V/M RASTVOR ANAL'GINA 50 PROTSENTNYY 2 .0 V/5. 048 0926SHENII TEMPERATURY DO 39 GRADUSOV POLIVITAMINY T4K 120791 G GOSPITALIZIROVAN GOSPITAL' PORTA MONTE VIDEO DIAGNOZOM PRAVOSTORONNYAYA PNEVMONIYA RENTGENOLOGI4ESKI DIAGNOZ PODTVERZHDEN Translation: 7/7/91, Electrician Eduard XXXX ([born] 1945) complained of weakness, head pain, a high temperature of 39.7 [C]. His mouth was clean, in his lungs breathing was tough, no wheezing, [?] pulmonary sound, vocal trembling increased. He received Oxatcil in 1.0 =50 words= 2 times a day V/M Gentamyacin [?} 0.08 2 times a day v/m a 50% [analgesic?] solution. [Lowered? -looks garbled] his temperature to 39 degrees [with?] poly-vitamins. 7/12/91 Hospitalized in the Montevideo port hospital with a diagnosis of right-side pneumonia. An x-ray diagnosis corroborated. FMED FEDOROV= [FMED (probably an abbreviation of an administrative title like fleet medical officer)] Fedorov 136/07 KMD PUKHAL'SKIY [countersigned by the vessel's master named Pukhal'skiy] NNNN [NNNN is used to indicate the end of a message] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BATM 6124 LNG/MRKH 4 102 2/7 0600= 2 ADRESA= LENINGRAD RYBRADIO PRPG SAMTSOVU KOPIYA PRFL KOVALENKO= DOKOVANIE BATM 6124 BYLO OPREDELENO ADMINISTRATSIEY ABSA 290791 TCHK ODNAKO NA SUDNE POSTAVLENNOM DOK DO 6124 OBNARUZHENY RAZRYVY OBSHIVKI PODVODNOR CHASTI KORPUSA ZPT SVYAZI ETIM POSTANOVKA 6124 DOK BUDET PROIZVEDENA TOL'KO POSLE 150891 TCHK NAMI NA PRAVLENO PIS'MO ADMINISTRA TSII ABSA PREDUPREZHDENIEM O TOM CHTO POTERI PRIBYLI ZA PROSTOY SUDNA 100891 BUDUT OTNESENY ZA SCHET ABSA TCHK SUDNO PO VSEM CHASTYAM ZA ISKLYUCHENIEM PODVODNOY CHASTI BUDET PRED'YAVLENO REGINTRU SSSR 150891 TCHK PROSHU VAS HEGO RAZRESHENIYA NA ZADERZHKU VYLETA NA RODINU DO OKONCHANIYA PRED'YAVLENIYA REGISTRU PODVODNOY CHASTI INZHENERA REGISTRA OMILAEVA V V I MONTAZHNIKA KOZLOVA V V= 37/08 KM CHUMAK ================================== Translation: Docking of BATM 6124 was set for 7/29/91 by the administration of ABSA. However, tears were discovered in the plating of the underwater part of the on the supply ship. In connection with this, docking will be carried out only after 8/15/91. We were sent a letter from the ABSA administration warning about losses. The ships will be [?] on 8/10/91 owing to ABSA. All parts of the ship, with the exception of the underwater part, will be shown to the USSR Register on 8/15/91. We ask your permission to delay flying to the Motherland until the conclusion of showing the underwater part to the register. Register Engineer V.V. Omilayev and Fitter V.V. Kozlov. ----- RTMKS-0901 TLN/MRKH 12 24 2/8 0500= TALLINN NARVA MANTE 2 KV 20 FEDOROVOY= LYUBIMAYA POZVONYU 4 AVGUSTA 07 40 UTRA VYLETAYU MOSKVY 15 AVGUSTA 16 05 REYS 2117 TSELUYU=SLAVA Translation: Tallinn, Narva. Mante 2, Apt. 20. [to Ms.] Federova Beloved, I will call you Aug. 4 at 7:40 in the morning. I'll be flying into Moscow Aug. 15 at 16:05, Flight 2117. Love, Slava. ----- As you can see you can never be sure of what you will come across. The following is based on my personal exposure to this facet of the SWL world. I have tried to provide the names of vendors for specialized books or equipment as necessary. My opinions on equipment are just that. Given the constraints of cost and interest level, whatever works for you is best. I only hope that you will share the fruits of your experience with others, on Compuserve or the Internet. Please read the following in the spirit it is given; a desire to share what knowledge I have picked up since concentrating on this part of the SWL hobby. Soviet CW In theory this will be the least expensive of two paths of the hobby since the receiver requirements are less critical, and therefore less costly. To really keep expenses low you need only to be able to copy Morse code. Technology opens the door for those with the budget who can not copy Morse code. Even if you can copy Morse, you better be able to copy at least 20 WPM and that is at the slow end of the spectrum for most Soviet CW transmissions. Also the Soviets use special Morse characters for some characters peculiar to the Cyrillic alphabet. When you are ripping along at 20 WPM a "new" or unfamiliar character can throw you for a loop. For example "di di dah dah" is the Morse symbol for the Russian "YA". Not especially difficult but it will take you a while to add new characters to those you already know and still copy at 20 WPM. A complete table of Morse code characters for Russian, Japanese, Arabic and other languages can be found on page 19-3 of the 1988 [or later] ARRL Handbook (approximately $20). This book, and I presume the more recent editions, also has a lot of other useful technical information and should be in every serious SWL'rs library. As already noted, the receiver requirements for CW are less stringent than for RTTY. Among relatively low cost alternatives, I find the Sony ICF-2010, an already excellent ISWBC receiver, generally adequate for CW. I recently made a side by side comparison of my NRD-525 and the Sony. I connected them both to the same 100 foot longwire and tuned to a weak CW signal. Using this highly "scientific" comparison <grin> I found that the weak signal was completely audible on both receivers. In a crowded environment the Sony's lower quality "narrow" filter will not perform in the same league as a NRD-525 equipped with a 500 Hz filter. [I have since moved up to a Watkins-Johnson HF- 1000 receiver with a CW bandwidth as narrow as 56 Hz is now possible!]. When I first tried to compare the NRD-525 with the Sony on the same signal (see comments on "COL" in Havana, Cuba which is discussed later), I wrote the Sony off as a total loss. I couldn't hear the signal at all on the Sony while it was loud and clear on the NRD. Then it dawned on me. I tuned the Sony 800 Hz BELOW the actual RF (in this case the NRD was on 15024 kHz and the Sony was retuned to 15023.2 kHz) and my initial disgust turned to satisfaction. So if you are using a Sony ICF-2010 or a receiver which works in a similar manner, don't forget to SUBTRACT the 800 Hz when tuning for CW signals based on "exact" frequencies listed by the Confidential Frequency List (CFL) {also to be discussed further below} or similar publications. For those that have the money you might think you could purchase an M6000 or M7000 and read the CW on a VDT or computer monitor. My attempts at doing this indicate that the signal better be near perfect quality if you expect good results. The best automatic CW demodulator is a poor second to a practiced human working a "typical" CW signal. Assuming you are able to copy Soviet CW, what can you expect to find in this traffic? Soviet CW often sends messages that appear identical to those you will see if you are able to copy Soviet radioteletype. The Soviets also use CW to transmit weather warnings and naval area closures. I recall one message notifying of a closure in the East China Sea. I used the Compuserve "GO NEWSGRID" feature using the keyword MILITARY. A recovered news story revealed the Chinese were holding a simulated nuclear attack war game in this area. From personal experience I can recommend Ferrell's Confidential Frequency List (9th edition) [CFL] as a source of exact frequencies to tune to for either CW or RTTY. In many cases the CFL will tell you the exact UTC time at which Naval weather or Naval warnings will be broadcast. To successfully monitor radioteletype signals you will need a good short wave receiver, a radioteletype "decoder" device, and a computer or video monitor. First, the receiver. The requirement for radioteletype is that your receiver be "stable" and selective. The stability is required because if your receiver drifts in frequency, then the signal you send to the decoder device will eventually be unusable. The Soviets seem to use stable transmitters so any drift you deal with is likely to be due to your receiver. The selectivity requirement is to keep other nearby signals from interfering with you. If you have an HF-1000 you can set the bandwidth to 225 Hz otherwise for most receivers I find the "narrow" 500 Hz bandwidth filter works nicely with "standard" 170 Hz frequency shift signals For ARQ/SI TOR A signals the bandwidth should be at least 325 Hz. Actually a good decoder like the M-7000 seems to tolerate interference from "nearby" signals quite well. In reality you will seldom find two signals which interfere with each other because they a re close to the same frequency. They are usually either the same frequency [no filter will help that!] or on an adjacent channel and thus separated enough in frequency so the pose little threat of interfering with the chosen signal. For RTTY your receiver should ideally be tunable in frequency increments of 10 Hz or better. It also would be nice if the receiver was actually tuned to exactly the frequency it indicates. An error as small as 40 Hz, whether from drift, mistuning, or poor receiver tuning calibration can result in a garbled signal. Receivers of adequate technical means to monitor radioteletype include (but are not limited to) the Kenwood R-5000, JRC NRD-525/535D series, Watkins-Johnson HF-1000, and the ICOM R-71A. Top notch receivers [new] will cost somewhere between $800 to $4000. You should a reasonably good antenna and a relatively noise (RFI) free location. By reasonably good, a "longwire" at least 25 feet, or more, in length is desirable. The next component in the system is the RTTY decoder. I suggest you discuss this purchase with the technical staff of any of the major SWL retail stores [EEB, Gilfer, Universal Radio, Grove are popular in the United States, and Lowe in Great Britain]. If you live in the United States, look for their ads in magazines such as Monitoring Times or Popular Communications. I like to be able to store intercepted radioteletype data in a computer file for subsequent analysis, not just read it off a monitor or print it out. There are PC compatible decoder cards but my personal favorite decoder box remains the Universal M-7000. If you do buy an M-7000, be SURE that the RS-232 is correctly wired. It does NOT use the standard "straight through" connections. Make sure your dealer understands and can supply or tell you how to rewire the RS-232 plug. The Russians still use one of the least complex RTTY transmission schemes to transmit the majority of their radioteletype messages. [Note: This is still true although they are using ARQ/SITOR A as well]. Most of the signals you will want to copy use a 50 baud speed with a 170 Hz, frequency shift to transmit data. I often pick up Soviet ships in the ARQ or SITORA mode as well. For the optimal subsequent analysis of your data you are best served if you have a microcomputer. MONITORING AND ANALYZING SOVIET DATA First you must locate a Russian signal to monitor. I live on the West coast of the United States so I find it particularly easy to monitor transmissions from Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk. Both of these Russian cities are renowned military and civilian maritime hotbeds. Another Russian city close to Vladivostok which also generates maritime traffic of interest is Nakhodka. It is very helpful to have some good reference material. Based on the logs I have seen from listeners in the mid West an d East coast of the United States, Russian signals are even easier to find. A good place to look for frequencies bands to monitor is the CFL or Confidential Frequency List. If you are on the Internet, send me an enmail message and I will tell you how to join a shortwave group which specializes in monitoring these sort and similar transmissions [troach@netcom.com]. The following are some bands where you are likely to encounter Russian radioteletype activity. 6300.5 to 6311.5 kHz 6314.5 to 6501.0 kHz 8396.5 to 8437.0 kHz 12560.0 to 12656.5 kHz 16785 to 16903.0 kHz If you live on the West coast of the United States things are not as active as they are on the East coast. If you live in Europe, well I don't think you will have ANY trouble finding signals to work on. For my location (San Jose, CA) I currently [December 1995] find the 8 and 12 Mhz segments the best during early to mid-evening. Following the instructions which came with your decoder, set your decoder for 170 Hz, 50 baud signals. Tune in 500 Hz increments between the signal RF limits listed above. I have discovered four other frequencies. Typical Russian radioteletype traffic can be heard from Soviet station UKA in Vladivostok. It often consists of the Soviet equivalent of MARSGRAMS. That is to say relatively brief messages from the families and loved ones of Russian men and women working at sea, often on a huge fishing vessel. If you know just a few words of Russian you can tell these messages from the rest. As I noted in my comments on Soviet CW, look for the Russian word TSELEUM. With the knowledge of just a few such words you can usually get the drift of most messages. The PK-232, and probably other RTTY or CW decoders feature a mode which outputs text in what is known as "transliterated Cyrillic" or "code 3". This means you get Russian words that read most like English. For example code 2 "Wladiwostok" is the more familiar "Vladivostok" in code 3. If you are used to manually copying Soviet CW, then you have been using "code 2". Another type of message which abounds is official messages that list the types and amounts of cargo. One I message I saw kept using the word TONNE preceded by some numbers and followed by TRESKA. A Russian dictionary reveals their cargo as cod fish. Another category of message that you may see are the KRIPTOGRAMMA series of messages. These are encrypted messages of a secret or private nature. Here is an example of such a transmission of a KRIPTOGRAMMA message: UPTZH UPTZH DE UKA K ["UPTZH" (code 3) equates to a call sign in English (code 2) of "UPTV" which the ITU listing reveals as belonging to the Severo'uralsk. She is being called by "UKA", a Vladivostok coastal station that sends traffic to Soviet fishing vessels. This might be followed by: SR VLADIVOSTOK 7093/1895 245 9/6 1400= [This header reveals the message as coming from Vladivostok. It is numbered "7093/1895" has 245 groups and was transmitted on "9/6" or the 9th of June at 1400 (Moscow Time). SROCHNAYA KRIPTOGRAMMA [Immediate precedence KRIPTOGRAMMA] 3 PUNKTA PB SUZDAL' PB SEVEROURALSK PB SUKHONA OT MALAKHITA 108 = The above is the address list and goes to three Soviet fishing vessels: Suzdal', Severouralsk, and Sukhona. I don't know what the "OT MALAKHITA 108= " means, except that OT is "from" and MALAKHITA is probably a meaningless name like Sky King in our SAC messages. Then the message which might start something like this: DDDDD AAAAA AAAYAYA YAKKKR RREEE EEESHCHSHCH SHCHSHSHSHTS TSTSDDJ IUTKP LJNKHG FNFASH SHCHSHSHKHY OEKEYU GNNKYA PEVSH4 YUINJK ILIKHY YAKNPT ZHSGMTS BTSRTOIFG4Z etc., which is encrypted. I have noted at least three distinct types of KRIPTOGRAMMA messages. The "NA PERFOLENTE" header always appears to be followed a five letter group (if you are in code 2 mode). My reading of Kahn's The Codebreakers makes me think this may be a rotor setting of the sort used by the Nazi Enigma or Japanese Purple code machines. These are variants of the old Hagelin type machines. Aegean Park Press (Box 2837, Laguna Hills, California 92654) sells software for the IBM PC which can be used to break simple rotor machines. In any event who knows what luck you might have trying to decrypt them. Good luck trying to decipher Soviet Kriptogrammas! What do you do with the messages you intercept? I study them, and find I slowly understand more and more of what they have to say. You might soon become an expert in knowing how many fish the Russians are catching. The names of Soviet ships once associated with the Soviet Academy of Sciences are preceded by "NIS" in the address portion of the message. You also might keep a data base of information related to a specific ship. Who are the crew members who send messages? What is the ship Captain's name (usually prefaced by "KMD")? Is there a sudden increase in KRIPTOGRAMMA messages? As you examine the traffic day after day you will come up with ideas of your own. There are numerous books available that you might find valuable if you are seriously considering monitoring the Russians. I have written an in depth book titled _The Hobbyist's Guide to COMINT Collection and Analysis_. It is available for $26 in the CO NUS and $28 for foreign orders. Send orders to: Tom Roach 1330 Copper Peak Lane San Jose, CA 95120-4271 You also may enjoy "The American Black Chamber" by Herbert Yardley and "The Codebreakers" by Herman Kahn. ///// Urban Survival, Part I by Douglas P. Bell To start with, let's get over the idea that all survivalists are going to get out of "the city" in time to set up a "survival retreat". Not all survivalists are going to have the money, time or inclination to leave the city life and move to the middle of nowhere. First off, leaving your job and having no money will doom you faster than anything you can think of! Also some of us just enjoy the city lifestyle and do not enjoy the bucolic life. So the problem remains, what are the urban survivalists to do? Let's start with shelter. Most of us live in either single family homes or apartments and if you rent your house or apartment that limits what you can and can not do there. After all, it would do little good if you were to set up a fully equipped nuclear bomb shelter in the basement and got thrown out the following week! However, this does not mean you are totally at the mercy of the landlord and the elements. First off, try talking to your landlord about survivalism, or just feel them out about their ideas of the future. This might include nuclear war, depression, gov't control over their life, etc. If done carefully, many people who would otherwise think of you as a fool or nut case will come around very nicely. If not, well you aren't out anything. If you live in one of the impersonal high-rise apartment buildings, and they have nothing to do with you outside of getting your rent check, you might try and find out where the chimney and venting pipes are and if you are near enough you can tap into them for your heat and air without anyone knowing. If the heat supply was cut off for some reason, you could put in a small wood/oil burning stove, vent it right out the chimney, and no one would know it was you. For a water supply, you could use 2 liter pop bottles or plastic gallon milk jugs. If you happen to live in an apartment building with a gravity fed water system, that is the water supply is on the roof, during bad times you could simply go up on the roof, shut the valves off, and tell everyone the water supply ran out. No matter what you do, it would not hurt to have a good supply of water stored just in case. As to food, a years supply of freeze dried, air dried and canned goods can be stored in a closet; so space, if you really want it, should not be a big problem. Normally there is a lot of "dead" space to be found, under tables, beds, dressers, desks, etc., so that you should be able to store a goodly amount of stuff away where it will be out of sight, or at least out of the way. For cooking that food a wood stove will work just fine; although camp stoves, such as the Coleman, are also small, reasonably light weight and easy to use. Remember however that burning anything will use up your Oxygen, so have an outside air supply coming in. This is especially true of charcoal stoves or grills. Used in an enclosed area it will simply put you to sleep, for good! Also beware of treated wood or plastics that will give off toxic fumes, so you don't poison yourself. Now I know you've been waiting for this, so we will now talk about guns. What exactly you need is not easily done from long distance, although there are a few basic things that most people can agree on. In urban fighting, distances are not likely to be long, a few hundred yards at most, so you don't need a full power battle rifle capable of shooting 1000 yards and through several walls. Also depending on where you are, you may not be able to legally own handguns or "assault" style weapons. All is not lost however. A short barreled lever action rifle, such as the Winchester 94 "Trapper" model, Marlin 336, 1894 or Rossie M92 is not likely to send the neighbors into fits of rage as would a H&K 91 or 94. The SKS in 7.62x39 is in about the same power range as the .30-30 and is extremely cheap right now (in the $100-$140 range, although this is always going up), as is the ammo, so you might consider it as well. The Marlin "Camp" guns in either 9mm Luger or .45 ACP would also make good " house" guns, although the range out of the short barrels or in the pistol calibers would be limited. That's not all bad however, as a city in break down is likely to have roving bands of gangs or even National Guard units (remember after Hurricane Hugo when the Guard units joined in the looting?) that are better armed and/or more willing to use their weapons than you. So the less shooting you do, the less attention you will attract to yourself. For close range firepower or "street sweeping" it is hard to beat a shotgun. A discount house here (and many gunshows) often have the Remington 870 Express model with a rifle slug barrel and a vent rib "Rem-Choke" (interchangeable screw in choke) barrel for under $300.00, which has to be one of the great bargains in the firearms field. The only down side of this gun is it is only available in 12 gauge, and many smaller or less experienced shooters might prefer 20 gauge, although regular 870s are available in just about any gauge you could want. Other shotguns you might also want to look at are the Winchester 1200/1300 or Ranger models as well as the Mossberg 500, especially the Bullpup model that moves the action back just in front of the recoil pad and gives the gun an overall length of under 30" with an 18" barrel or just over 30" with a 20" barrel. Get the longer 20" barrel as the added few inches will dampen the recoil and especially the noise or blast when compared to an 18" barrel. For left handed shooters or others who don't want the shells ejected from the side for some reason, the Ithaca 37 (or Model 87 as it is currently called) and Browning BPS ejects the shells out the bottom, so the shells land at your feet instead of flinging past the left handers' face. Remington also makes a left handed 870 if you would want one. As to handguns, the police departments of many cities are turning in their revolvers for 9mm automatics. This has placed a goodly number of revolvers in either .38 Special or .357 Magnum on the market at very reasonable prices. Many of these guns will have holster wear, that is the bluing of the gun will be worn, but this will in no way affect how the gun shoots. If possible, get the .357 Magnum over the same model in .38 Special (such as the S&W Model 10 in .38 Special and the same thing in .357 called the Model 13) and adjustable sights if offered. The .357 Magnum can shoot .38 Specials just fine, and this gives you the choice of two different cartridges (.38 Special and .357 Magnum) rather than just one (.38 Special), as well as being able to sight in for the different loads. Now that you have decided where you are going to weather out the coming bad times, in your house or apartment, what you are going to eat, the years' worth (or more!) of food you have stored, and what you are going to defend yourself with, your urban weapons cache, now what? What else is there? Well how about sanitation and hygiene! What are you going to do when you can't flush your toilet? Do you have any soap or toilet paper stored away? Dish washing soap, laundry detergent, shampoo, hand soap, anything? What about toothbrushes and toothpaste? How about flyswatters, bug repellent or screens and netting? The epidemics that ran over much of Europe in the Middle Ages, and most war zones even today, are because of the improper disposal of human waste and/or the improper handling of food, but how many times do you hear about it? Not often. After all no one wants to read about toilets and guns in the same article. It brings the idea home a little closer than most of us want to admit to. For the urban survivalist this is more pressing than for their rural counterparts, simply because the urban survivalist will (generally) not have the room to build an outhouse or some way to easily dispose of the waste. Sure you can get a chemical toilet, but what happens when you run out of plastic bags and chemicals? You should think about getting a composting toilet or some other form of an alternate disposal unit. For more about sanitation and alternate forms of doing things, I recommend you go down to your local library or magazine rack and get Garbage (435 Ninth St., Brooklyn, NY 11215- 9937, bi-monthly, $21..00 a year), or write the following for catalogs: Bay Conservation Systems, Inc., POB 67, Wicomico Church, VA 22579, and Real Goods Trading Co., 966 Mazzoni St., Ukiah, CA 95482. Another useful idea is the use of camouflage. No I don't mean you should be running around in a set of "cammies", I mean the art of hiding yourself or home so that they would be overlooked by someone looking for someone or something to attack. After "the day", there probably will not be many homes with a fresh coat of paint or that are all neatly kept, so yours shouldn't be either. Also a beaten path to your door just might lead the world to it. The less inviting or lived in a place looks the less likely someone will want to check it out. Also your garden need not be in neat rows or even in normal garden plants, as there are many plants that most people would not even recognize as food plants, that are easily grown. Look into getting an indoor green house or have pots of food plants inside. A source of energy (light or heat) was touched on briefly in the first article, with a wood burning stove or camping stove, but sooner or later you will want or need more than that. But what could you use? How about setting up your own still? No you aren't going to drink the stuff, you are going to use it to run the camp stove, or with slight modification, to run the gas engine on your generator or other power tools. Alcohol can be made from almost any plant matter from grass to pine needles, so as long as vegetation grows you should be able to get some sort of alcohol. Wind power or solar panels would also be possibilities, as would water power; although a full scale water power plant that would provide enough power to be of any great use by itself would be more than most would be able to manage, at least at first. However, this still leaves solar and wind, two items that can be used with a minimum of resources or material. Another item that is often overlooked or not fully explained are medical items and medicines. Some books or articles simply tell you to talk to your doctor and explain what you want and get prescriptions for the needed items. I don't know what kind o f doctors these people have been dealing with, but none that I have talked to were willing to consider it, or even talk about the subject or need. This leaves you with the supermarket and drug store items or buying veterinarian supplies, neither of which is ideal. However if you are able to get to Mexico, you can buy prescription drugs across the counter, and many non-narcotic drugs are readily available. For narcotic drugs, simply see your local drug dealer. The medical "tools of the trade" normally recommended here are either so basic you would be hard pressed to do general first aid, or more than you will ever need or could use, and often are more than most survivalists would know how to use. This is not to say you shouldn't have anything your little heart desires, but don't waste money on an item you have no idea of how to use, at least until you have the other needed survival supplies like food and ammunition stored. For a basic first aid/medical kit it might be wise to get one of the better commercial first aid kits and then one of the more advanced "field medical kits" that includes scissors, hemostats, etc. Do you have a good set of tools needed to rebuild you home? If not you might consider getting a basic set of hand tools, as any power produced may be needed for other than running your power shop tools. The "Craftsman" line of tools from Sears is warranteed for life and many people feel they are among the best, especially in their price range. While I didn't mention it in the first article, you will need a set of gun cleaning kits. First off you should get a set of one piece stainless steel cleaning rods in .22 and .30 caliber about 30" long and a shotgun cleaning kit as well, such as the "universal" cleaning kits offered by many firms such as Outers, Hoppe's, or Klean-Bore. After that get a good supply of bore cleaning solvent, either commercial or military, as well as lubricating oil. One advantage of military bore solvents is that they are designed to be used with corrosive ammunition, and are generally much cheaper than commercial solvents. No matter what type of bore solvent and lubricating oil you get, get plenty! Any you don't use would be snapped up by other survivalists who either didn't get any or get enough. ///// Building a By-Phone by Thomas Icom/IIRG I first saw mention of the by-phone in The Anarchist Cookbook. According to Powell, the by-phone was a phone that was modified so as to be able to be placed undetected on a target phone line for surveillance purposes. In other words, a less portable version of a lineman's test (butt) set in monitor mode. Personally I find this device to be of limited use for serious surveillance, but it's had other useful applications. It can be placed on a phone line and used to monitor the background "noise" on a phone line. You can often pick up crosstalk from the neighborhood with it (depending on the condition of your local outside plant), and it does a good job of detecting someone playing with your line (as in someone "beige boxing"). I used it to monitor the line on my VMB system, and then pick up if a call was received to my box. It's also handy for when someone places you on hold for long periods of time and you don't want to be attached to the phone for said period. All that is required is an old Western Electric K500 rotary desk phone, an SPST switch, and a Radio Shack 43-231 "portable listener". A Western Electric K500 can be had at tag sales and flea markets for $1-$5 if you don't have one in your basement or garage. Open up the K500. With the dial facing you will notice the network box towards the right rear of the phone. Locate the "F" terminal. There should be a legend on the network box which will tell where the terminal is located. On my phone which has a 425B network box (dated 10-56!), the "F" terminal is on the far left, second down. Attached to the "F" terminal should be two wires; one going to the ringer and one going to the dial. Remove the wire going to the dial and install the SPST switch between the wire and the "F" terminal. It should look something like this: / wire F---O O----- to ringer You've now just converted your old Western Electric K500 to a by-phone. When the switch is in the open/"off" position your phone will act like a lineman's test set in "monitor" mode. When the switch is in the closed/"on" position it will be just like a normal phone. Now take your Radio Shack portable listener, and attach the suction cup microphone to the earpiece of the phone. Plug in the phone, take it off hook, and make sure the switch is in the open/"off"/"monitor" position. Turn on the RS portable listener and adjust the volume to a comfortable level. You should hear the background noise of an on-hook phone line and possibly even some crosstalk from your neighbors if the lines are in bad enough shape. When someone picks up a phone on that line you'll hear a dialtone, the dialed digits (pulse or tone), and any conversation. When the phone line rings, the by-phone will ring (assuming your old K500 doesn't have a party line ringer which looks for a frequency other than the standard "B" freq. of 20 hz.), and you'll hear the ringing signal (a 20 hz. tone) and if the line is so equipped the Caller ID data sent between the first and second rings. If you want to record off the line with this setup, unplug the suction cup mic from the amplified speaker and plug it into the mic input of a tape recorder, preferably one with VOX. I'm looking through the Radio Shack Catalog and the cheapest phone I see is $19.95. You can get one for even less from a discount department store, but the quality leaves something to be desired. The last K500 I picked up at a tag sale for $5. It was made in 1956, built like a tank, refurbished by Ma Bell in 1971, is still going strong today, and will probably be used by my grand children when they get into phreaking (assuming local loops still exist by then). For an extra $10 it becomes a piece of telecom test and TSCM equipment that would normally cost three times as much for a device with the same functions. If you're into tech you absolutely must check out your local tag sales and flea markets (not to mention hamfests). You'd be amazed at all the neat stuff you can buy cheap and kit bash for new and different interesting purposes. ///// "State of the Nation" -------- by Janet Kuypers my phone rang earlier today and I picked it up and said "hello" and a man on the other end said, Is this Janet Kuypers? and I said, "Yes, it is, may I ask who is calling?" and he said, Yeah, hi, this is George Washington, and I'm sitting here with Jefferson and we wanted to tell you a few things. And I said "Why me?" And he said excuse me, I believe I said I was the one that wanted to do the talking. God, that's the problem with Americans nowadays. They're so damn rude. And I said, "You know, you really didn't have to use language like that," and he said, Oh, I'm sorry, it's just I've been dead so long, I lose all control of my manners. Well, anyway, we just wanted to tell you some stuff. Now, you know that we really didn't have much of an idea of what we were doing when we started up this country here, we didn't have much experience in creating bodies of power, so I could understand how our Constitution could be misconstrued and then he put in a dramatic pause and said, but when we said people had a right to bear arms we meant to protect themselves from a government gone wrong and not so you could kill an innocent person for twenty dollars cash and when we said freedom of religion we included the separation of church and state because freedom of religion could also mean freedom from religion and when we said freedom of speech we had no idea you'd be burning a flag or painting pictures of Christ doused in urine or photographing people with whips up their respective anatomies but hell, I guess we've got to grin and bear it because if we ban that the next thing they'll ban is books and we can't have that and I said, "But there are schools that have books banned, George." And he said Oh. "Shades of Gray" -------- by Liz Dubuisson Shades of gray and tones of black, Assault my weary eyes. And just when I can stand no more, The darkness comes to rise. O windswept traveler state your name and tell your haggard tale. For when the sun will rise again You'll see it ends in hell. O kindly preacher tell us more we wish a path to choose. Yet whether we go left or right we always seem to lose. O sweet maiden fare thee well! I hope your voyage free. For if the harm should come your way I fear you'll soon join me. O wretched fate, O devil cruel, O deadly force of night! My strength may ebb, My mind may dim, But I still must search for light. Reprinted from Spiral Chambers #8. Poems are Copyright (c) 1995 by their respective authors. Unedited and properly attributed reproduction is encouraged. Original poems may be included in Spiral Chambers by sending the work to: Spiral Chambers P.O. Box 772 Mentor, Ohio 44061 or Repsi SK@AOL.com ---/////--- Unless otherwise noted Cybertek Electric is Copyright (C)1995 by OCL/Magnitude, P.O. Box 64, Brewster, NY 10509. All Rights Reserved. Noncommercial reproduction is encouraged provided this electronic publication is redistributed in its entirety with credits intact. Cybertek Electric is published for educational purposes only; under The First Amendment of The United States Constitution. No illegal use is implied or suggested. If you have a problem with this, too fucking bad. Please send any feedback and/or submissions to either of the email addresses in the signature below. |\ /| /\ / |\ | Thomas Icom/IIRG | >< | < > / | \ |\ <ticom@l0pht.com> |/ \| \/ < | | > <thomas.icom@iirg.com> | | /\ \ \ | |/ International Information Retrieval Guild | | / \ \ \| | "May Odin guide your way!" Madhr er manna gaman, ok moldar auki, ok skipa skreytir. <End of Text>