# The Radio Hacker's Codebook

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{{Short description|Book by George Sassoon}}
{{Infobox book
| name = The Radio Hacker's Codebook
| image = theradiohackerscodebookcover.jpg
| caption = front cover
| author = [George Sassoon](/source/George_Sassoon)
| illustrator =
| cover_artist = 
| country = England
| language = English
| genre = 
| dewey = 621.384/2/0285416
| publisher = [Duckworth](/source/Gerald_Duckworth_and_Company)
| series = Duckworth Home Computing
| release_date = 6 March 1986
| media_type = paperback
| pages = 239
| isbn =  0715620681
| oclc= 
}}
'''''The Radio Hacker's Codebook''''' is a book for computer enthusiasts written by [George Sassoon](/source/George_Sassoon).  The book explains how to receive international [radioteletype](/source/radioteletype) signals, convert them with a circuit and then decode them on a [microcomputer](/source/microcomputer).  In the case of this book the computer is the superseded [Research Machines 380Z](/source/Research_Machines_380Z). Programs to do these functions are given, written in [machine code](/source/machine_code) and [BASIC](/source/BASIC).  However legal and moral issues relating to intercepting messages are not included.<ref name="Thomas">{{cite journal|last=Thomas|first=Andy|date=20 March 1986|title=Whistles and Bumps|journal=New Scientist|page=57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZjobjexWkcC&pg=PA57}}</ref> Other radioteletype subject included are the [FEC](/source/SITOR-B) and [automatic repeat request](/source/automatic_repeat_request) used in [maritime radiocommunications](/source/maritime_radiocommunications).

The book also include an exposition of encryption, including the public key [RSA cipher](/source/RSA_cipher) and presciently expounds on the lack of [privacy](/source/privacy) in the [cashless society](/source/cashless_society). Code examples are also given using the [Sharp PC-320I](/source/Sharp_PC-320I) to encode and decode the German [Enigma machine](/source/Enigma_machine).  The books claims that the Enigma was kept secret for long periods because understanding it could compromise the American [M-209](/source/M-209) cipher machine, and that it was still being sold to other countries.<ref name="Thomas"/> Other encryption topics covered include [Data Encryption Standard](/source/Data_Encryption_Standard), [Vernam cipher](/source/Vernam_cipher) ([one-time pad](/source/one-time_pad)), [pseudo random number generator](/source/pseudo_random_number_generator)s, [transposition cipher](/source/transposition_cipher)s, and [substitution cipher](/source/substitution_cipher)s

''The Radio Hacker's Codebook'' is idiosyncratic revealing a personal quest by Sassoon to decrypt military signals on the radio spectrum. However he would have had no chance to decode modern encryption as described in the book.<ref name="Thomas"/>

''The Radio Hacker's Codebook'' broke ground in having a low price for a technical computing book being sold for £6.95 well below the typical £10+ price for computing books at the time.<ref name="Harwood">{{cite journal|last=Harwood|first=David|date=May 1986|title=Read Only|journal=ZX Computing Monthly|page=48|url=http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=ZXComputing/Issue8605/Pages/ZXComputing860500048.jpg}}</ref>  It was published by [Duckworth](/source/Gerald_Duckworth_and_Company) and had 239 pages.<ref name="Thomas"/>

==References==
<references />

Category:Cryptanalytic software

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Radio Hacker's Codebook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Radio_Hacker's_Codebook) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Radio_Hacker's_Codebook?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.