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USSR Rotor Fialka M-125-3 ← HU
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M-125-3MR3
Czechoslovakia
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Czech variant of the M-125-3 Fialka
The M-125-3MR3 (Russian: М-125-3МР3)
was the version of the M-125-3 Fialka
that was used in Czechoslovakia during the
Cold War.
The machines were
given on a lend/lease contract with the USSR (Russia) from the early 1960s
onwards, until the collapse of the
Soviet Union
in 1992.
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Destruction took place between the late 1990s and
the early 2000s. Most of the machines were damaged by smashing them
with a hammer and some were even burned.
Like in Poland however, some machine miraculously survived demolition
and in some cases collectors were able to rebuild complete Fialkas
from the demolished remains.
The image on the right shows an M-125-3MR3, which is the Czech variant
of the M-125-3M.
It is electrically identical to the Polish variant, but
has a different keyboard layout, a different print head
and differently wired cipher wheels (6K).
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The few machines that had survived demolition, first appeared on the
European surplus market in 2005. Most of the Fialka machines that are
in the hands of collectors today, are of this type. The quality of
the surviving machines varies. Some are in excellent condition, whilst
other are beyond repair. The cipher wheels do not have
matching numbers as they had to be recovered seperately.
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The image on the right shows the standard PSU, of which two manufacturing
variants exist. It is housed in a grey 'hammerite' metal case with rounded
corners and consists of a transformer, a simple rectifier and some basic
filtering.
It allowed the Fialka machine to be powered from a wide range of mains AC
voltages as well as from the 24V DC network of a truck.
➤ More information
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The drawing below shows the layout of the keyboard of the Czech variant
of the Fialka. When used for communication in Russian, the Cryrillic
characters at the bottom left of each key are used. The position of the
Cyrillic characters is identical on all country-specific Fialka variants.
At the bottom right is the Czech layout of the Latin alphabet.
These letters are used in Latin-only Mode or in Mixed Mode (i.e. letter
and numbers). The characters at the top left are used in Letter-Shift
mode (i.e. after pressing A... in Mixed Mode) when typing Russian,
whilst the characters at the top right are used in Czech Letter-Shift
mode. When using the machine in Numerical Mode (i.e. the 30 ↔ 10
swtich set to '10') only the darker grey keys can be used.
In this mode the characters at the top left of the keys are used,
which implies the use of the Cyrillic print head.
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In 2005, the first Czech Fialka machines started appearing at the
surplus market. Quite often these machines were in pretty bad condition,
as they had officially been destroyed. Nevertheless, many collectors
have meanwhile been able to get their hands on a working machine.
When we got our first Czech Fialka machine up and running in 2005,
we immediately traced the wheel wiring:
In this table, each row represents a wheel, whilst each column
represents a single contact on a wheel. At the top of the table are
the entry contacts which are at the right side of the wheel
(i.e. the side with the spring-loaded contacts). The table itself
shows the output contacts (i.e. the left side of the wheel).
The positions of the Advance Blocking Pins are marked in red.
At the far right is the total number of Advance Blocking Pins for
each wheel.
➤ More wiring details
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The Russian M-125-3M was supplied with the same accessories as
the other M-125-3 variants, except for the spare print heads.
As the M-125-3M was a Russian-only machine, the only print head that was
used was the Mixed Mode Russian version which was present inside the machine.
As a result, the axle that holds the test reflector inside the metal dust
cover, has no room for additional print heads.
Click any of the thumbnails below for additional information.
➤ Overview of the accessories
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When testing a Czech Fialka, either as a real machine or as a simulation,
the following table might be useful when checking the wheel stepping mechanism.
Put all wheels in their default setting (i.e. ring set to 'A', matching
core with side '1' up with the mark set to 'A') and place them in the machine
in the default order: АБВГДЕЖЗИК. Now lower the ruler and set the wheels
to AAAAAAAAAA (just above the ruler).
Next, type 20 random characters on the keyboard and compare the position
of the wheels after each step with the following table:
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Wheel
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А
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Б
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В
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Г
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Д
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Е
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Ж
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З
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И
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К
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Step
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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10
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0
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А
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А
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А
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А
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А
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А
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А
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А
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А
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А
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1
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А
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Й
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А
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А
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А
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А
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Б
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А
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Б
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А
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2
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А
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Я
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А
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Й
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А
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А
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Б
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А
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В
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А
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3
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А
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Ю
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А
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Й
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А
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А
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В
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А
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Г
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А
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4
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А
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Ь
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А
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Я
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А
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Й
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Г
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А
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Д
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А
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5
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А
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Ы
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А
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Ю
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А
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Я
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Г
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Й
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Е
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Й
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6
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А
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Щ
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А
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Ю
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А
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Я
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Д
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Й
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Ж
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Й
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7
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А
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Ш
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А
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Ь
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А
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Ю
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Е
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Я
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З
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Я
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8
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А
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Ч
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А
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Ы
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А
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Ю
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Ж
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Я
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И
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Я
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9
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А
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Ц
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Б
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Щ
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Б
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Ю
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З
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Я
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К
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Я
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10
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А
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Х
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Б
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Ш
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В
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Ю
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И
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Я
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Л
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Я
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11
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А
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Ф
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Б
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Ш
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В
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Ю
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К
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Я
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М
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Я
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12
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А
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У
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Б
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Ч
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В
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Ю
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К
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Я
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Н
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Я
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13
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Б
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Т
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В
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Ч
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Г
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Ю
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Л
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Я
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О
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Я
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14
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Б
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С
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В
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Ц
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Г
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Ю
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М
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Я
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П
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Я
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15
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Б
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Р
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В
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Х
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Г
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Ь
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М
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Ю
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Р
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Ю
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16
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Б
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П
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В
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Ф
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Г
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Ь
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М
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Ю
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С
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Ю
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17
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Б
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О
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В
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У
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Г
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Ь
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Н
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Ю
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Т
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Ю
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18
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Б
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Н
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В
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Т
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Г
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Ь
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О
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Ю
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У
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Ю
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19
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Б
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М
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В
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С
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Д
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Ы
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П
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Ю
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Ф
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Ю
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20
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В
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Л
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Г
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С
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Е
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Ы
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Р
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Ю
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Х
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Ю
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Before the M-125-3 was introduced in the late 1960s, its predecessor,
the M-125 was used. It can easily be distinguished from the M-125-3
as its keyboard has rounded key tops whereas the key on the later machine
are square. Furthermore it only has two letters on each key: a Cryllic
one (in black) and a Latin one (in red). Furthermore these machines were
issued with the standard (non-adjustable) cipher wheels.
➤ More information about the older M-125.
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Any links shown in red are currently unavailable.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Sunday 06 July 2014. Last changed: Friday, 08 January 2021 - 08:54 CET.
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