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The Fialka takes 10 unique wheels. Each wheel is marked with a letter
of the Russian alphabet, shown below, and a machine should have one of each.
The numbers in brackets are the suggested alternatives that can be
used in correspondence, or in case
your browser doesn't support Russian characters.
A collection of these 10 unique wheels is called a set.
There are two different types of wheel: fixed
and adjustable. The fixed wheels
were issued with the earlier M-125-xx models, whilst the adjustable wheels
were introduced for the M-125-3xx models in 1978. The tables below are
applicable to both wheels, but please note that the adjustable wheels have
to be set to their basic setting.
Different sets of wheels were issued for the different countries of
the Warsaw Pact and their friends. Such different sets are
called series. Each series is identified by a number followed by
the letter 'K'. At present we are only certain about the following
prefixes:
- 3K : Poland
- 4K : DDR (East-Germany)
- 6K : Czechslovakia
Furthermore, we have strong indications about the use of these prefixes:
- 0K : Common wiring for all coutries in case of war
- 1K : Russia
We don't know which other countries were using Fialka and what prefix
was assigned to them. If you have any information to expand this page,
please contact us.
Below is the wiring information for the two series that
are currently known to us.
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Over the past few years, a limited number of Polish Fialka machines
have appeared on the surplus market. The wheels from these machines
all have a 3K prefix and their wiring is given in the table below.
The input contacts are listed on the top row in sequential order.
This is the right side of the disc (spring-loaded contacts).
The contents of the table show the output contact (left side).
The position of the Advance blocking pins are shown in red.
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6K Wheels - Czechslovakia
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Below is the wiring for the wheels that were found in the Czech Fialka
machines. Please note that both the wiring and the position of the
Advance Blocking Pins are different from the other countries.
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The table below shows the mapping of the keyboard to the input
terminals of the card reader.
Although all characters of the Cyrillic alphabet are nicely sorted on
the keyboard's Switch Array, this doesn't mean
that they are connected in the same order to the input terminals
of the card reader.
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The table above defines the mapping from the
keyboard to the card reader. Please note that 20 of these lines
are routed via the NumLock switch, which can re-route them in case
the Numbers Only mode is selected.
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Card Reader -> Entry Disc
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The card reader adds another level of complexity as it allows
a substitution matrix to be defined on a punched card. This can best
be described as a wheel with a user-definable wiring. If a coding
card is not present in the machine, you must have the metal
test triangle present in the drawer of the card reader. This triangle
will force the identity matrix, which means that a 1:1 mapping is
defined.
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The output terminals of the card reader are connected directly to the
entry disc (often called the ETW - Eintrittswalze). Details of this
wiring are given in the table above.
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Below is the wiring of the reflector inside the Fialka (to the left of the
drum) for each setting of the mode switch. The reflector is a rather
complex part of the machine and can not be removed.
It has 30 contact points and the wiring is identical for all known machines.
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First of all, it allows a letter to be encyphered as itself.
This is done by isolating contact number 13 from the reflector
(marked in red). A signal on this line,
will cause the coded letter to be overrided by the original letter.
As a result, we are now left with an odd number of contacts (29), which
means that we can no longer create pairs. To solve this problem, three
wires are connected to the so-called Magic Circuit
which performs some kind of triangular switching (marked in blue).
The remaining 26 wires are nicely connected in pairs as one would
expect from a reflector.
A side-effect of the Magic Circuit is that the Fialka partly loses its
reciprocity (i.e. the process of coding is no longer fully reversable),
and a different table has to be used for coding and decoding mode.
The user therefore has to select the proper mode of operation
when using the Fialka.
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Although each country of the former Warsaw Pact had its own unique
set of 10 wheels, it was sometimes necessary for a country to communicate
with one of its partners, for example in case of war or during international
exercises. For such calamities, each country had a sealed box that contained
the wiring of each of their nearest neighbours. Such a box is shown on the
right.
In the event of war, all countries would be issued a so-called 0K wheelset,
giving all machines of the Warsaw Pact idential wiring.
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