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Surveillance and intelligence gathering receivers
This section of the website deals with surveillance receivers.
Generally speaking, a surveillance receiver is designed for intelligence
gathering, security, or law enforcement applications.
It is optimized for detecting, intercepting, and analyzing unknown or elusive
signals across a wide frequency range, often with rapid scanning and
demodulation capabilities. There is a certain overlap with TSCM equipment, covert listening devices (bugs) and
with monitoring receivers.
➤ Monitoring receivers
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Surveillance receivers on this website
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Telemetry receivers on this website
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SSR-201 was an aperiodic or non-selective receiver, developed during
WWII for use by the OSS,
the forerunner of the CIA.
It was used for
finding clandestine radio stations, operated by – mainly German –
spies in the US and in the UK.
After the war, the device was also used by the Radio Monitoring Services
of several European countries.
➤ More information
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This valve-based surveillance receiver was developed by the CIA
in 1958 and covers 50 - 200 MHz. It was used for monitoring and
for the reception of covert listening devices (bugs).
The receiver is based on the military R-744,
which as a similar front panel.
➤ More information
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The SRR-5 was a solid-state VHF surveillance receiver, developed in the
early 1960s. It covers 50 to 400 MHz and is suitable for AM, FM, CW
and modulated CW signals.
➤ More information
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The SRR-8 was a countermeasures receiver, developed by the
CIA between 1961 and 1963. It covers 30-1000 MHz in FM/AM and PM,
and was suitable for stationary as well as mobile use.
➤ More information
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The SR-209 (CIA designator: SRR-23) was a high-end surveillance
receiver, developed in the mid-1960s by ACL in Gaithersburg (Maryland, USA).
It is suitable for frequencies between 2 MHz and 12 GHZ, divided over several
bands, each of which required a separate plug-in tuner.
The receiver is suitable for AM, FM, CW and Pulse, and has three IF
bandwidths, selectable from a wide range of IF-plug-ins.
➤ More information
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Modular receiver for the 260-400 MHz VHF/UHF frequency range, introduced
in 1974 by the NRP for use by the American CIA. Intended for the
reception of pulse-based transmitters (bugs).
Modular construction, designed for transport and operation in a
standard Samsonite briefcase. Succeeded by the
SRR-90.
➤ More information
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Improved successor to the SRR-91, intended for the reception of a
wide variety of transmitters (bugs) with various audio masking
techniques. Developed by the NRP for the American CIA and introduced
in 1975.
The SRR-90A is intended for desktop use and in the vertical version
of the SRR-90B (below).
➤ More information
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Horizontal variant of the SRR-90A receiver shown above.
Highly modular design, developed by the NRP and introduced with
the CIA in 1975. Intended for installation inside a regular
executive style Samsonite briefcase.
Suitable for the reception of a wide variety of transmitters (bugs)
with different audio masking schemes, including pulse-based
transmissions, and subcarrier modulated signals.
➤ More information
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The SRR-100 is a covert intercept receiver, sometimes referred to as a
scanner, that was used by CIA operatives to check whether they were
under Soviet surveillance, by intercepting the KGB's communication channels.
The receiver was body-worn and was usually hidden under the operative's
clothing. It was complemented by a Phonak wireless earpiece.
➤ More information
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The SRR-145 is a so-called down-converter that is used to
make existing UHF intercept receivers, such as the
SRR-52
and SRR-90,
suitable for the reception of bugs that operate in the 1500 MHz band,
such as the SRT-107.
➤ More information
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Special receiver for the 260 to 320 MHz band, suitable for the
reception of transmitters (bugs) with subcarrier (SC) audio masking.
Developed around 1981 as part of the
SRS-153 surveillance system,
that was (partly) a 'chinese copy' of a bug that had been found
in the desk of a US Ambassador.
➤ More information
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Kolibrie (hummingbird) was an intercept receiver
for car phones (cell phones)
developed by the Police Signals Service in The Netherlands
in the early 1990s. It was intended for intercepting
criminal conversations on the analogue ATF-3 (NMT-900) car phone networks.
➤ More information
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The EB-100 is a small portable surveillance receiver build in the 1980s by
Rohde & Schwarz in Munich (Germany).
It was intended for a variety of jobs, including frequency monitoring,
radio surveillance, radio intercept, EMC measurements and direction finding.
Due to its small size and wide frequency range, it is extremely useful for
bug tracing. EB-100 is also known as MINIPORT.
➤ More information
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The EB-200 is the successor to the EB-100. It is a portable receiver
that covers all frequencies between 10 kHz and 3 GHz, with a wide
variety of modulation types: AM, FM, CW, LSB, USB, Pulse and I/Q.
It is one of the first receivers that has
a fully digital IF-stage with DSP technology.
The radio was intended for monitoring of the frequency spectrum and
for locating sources of transmission, including
covert listening devices.
➤ More information
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Bodrog was a series of wideband VHF and UHF receivers, developed and built
in Czechoslovakia,
especially for the reception of FM radio bugs.
The version shown here is the A-variant that was used for the VHF-H band.
It was supplied with a mains PSU and a removable battery pack.
➤ More information
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During the Cold War, the USSR (Russia) developed a series of highly portable
intercept receivers that were deployed in most Warsaw Pact countries.
Such receivers where generally carried around the operator's waist, hidden
under his clothing.
They also developed stationary and mobile intercept radios and other
direction finding equipment.
➤ More information
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Unitel 225 is a complete portable listening post in a Halliburton
briefcase, comprising a digital VHF surveillance receiver, a cassette recorder
and a body transmitter. It can be quickly be deployed and was used by
law-enforcement and intelligence services, for evidence gathering in
covert operations.
➤ More information
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1100-AR is a telemetry receiver for aerospace applications,
made by Microdyne in the USA.
Although it was produced in the l1960s and 1970s,
many of them were still in use in 2019.
Because of the modular design of the receiver, it was also used
as a surveillance and intercept receiver, by
intelligence agencies
like the CIA.
➤ More information
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E-1800 is a high-end VLF-HF receiver, introduced around
1985 by AEG Telefunken. For many years it belonged to the
best receivers ever produced.
Due to the modular design, many different versions and configurations
were available.
The radio is directly suitable for the reception of
telegraphy signals (telex), CW, SSB and AM.
➤ More information
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E-2000 is a high-end remote-controlled VLF-HF monitoring receiver with
DSP technology, introduced around 1995 by AEG Telefunken.
It is the black-box successor to the E-1800/A.
We are currently looking for additional infomation about this receiver.
➤ More information
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Saturday 24 December 2016. Last changed: Saturday, 09 August 2025 - 20:27 CET.
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