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During WWII and during the Cold War, wireless communication over long
distances was often done on HF (short wave) using morse code signals.
As the enemy was continuously trying to intercept and trace such
messages, using direction finding equipment,
it was necessary to be 'on the air' as little and as short as possible.
After all: the longer a transmitter is on the air, the easier it will
be to locate it.
Many different methods have been devised to keep the length of a message
to a bare minimum. One method that was often used, was to replace long
sentences and often-used expressions by single codes. Examples of this
are the international Q-codes
and the use of dedicated code books, that were even used well before WWII.
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As the Cold War progressed, the need to send more and longer messages
increased drastically and new methods had to be found to avoid detection.
Hence the birth of the Burst Encoder,
or Burst Transmitter.
A Burst Encoder is a device that allows a message to be pre-recorded
on a recording medium, and then to be sent over the air at very high
speed. Many solutions were developed, using a variety of media, such
as paper tape, audio tape, metal tape, mechanical drums and even
photographic film.
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This part of the website describes some of the solutions that were
developed for high-speed transmission of messages.
Use the buttons on the left or click any of the thumbnails below
for more information on a particular device.
 Index of burst encoders
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