Only in very few outlying Embassies are there any over the air type communications. Everything is or was on line encrypted. Basically any outside wiring or antennas not allowed.
I have seen log periodics on buildings in Europe. I notice those kinds
of things. Most times, when I have investigated to see what is in the
building on which the antenna is mounted, it has been a foreign embassy.
(foreign to the country I was in) I would expect them to use encryption
whether by wire or by wireless, and to use wire most of the time. I
would think they might want to have a backup to wire. Wires after all
can be cut. Many of the installations I have seen may well be left over
from the days when satellite comm links were not commonly available.
Even so, I think it would be wise to maintain an HF backup to the
satellite system. Additionally, some scheduled transmissions, perhaps
sending null messages, would be a good idea to make sure the system
works when it is really needed, and so that the sudden resumption of
transmission after none at all, would not reveal anything. Much
intelligence can be gleaned from traffic analysis, without decryption of
the traffic.
DE N6KB
|