CID610 was the Canadian equivalent
of Alvis (BID610) and was used by Canada's Foreign Service communicators.
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| This CID-610 machine is on display at the
Communications and Electronics Museum in Kingston, Ontario. (Photo by
Jerry Proc) |
Jim Fewer of St. John's, Newfoundland recalls the CID610. "In 1979
and 1980 I worked as an operator at CFS Debert in the tape relay centre.
The CID 610 had a metal block with letters on one side and numbers on the
top. There were (for lack of a better term) raised sliders on the block
which you set to a key every day. At HJ time, you would change over keys.
All I can remember is the drawer that opened and you slid the block in
all the way and out and this changed over the key at HJ time. The drawer
itself had a tempest seal around its edges.
One other thing I remember about these machines - they would go into
alarm mode quite frequently and particularly on nights with lots of lightning
activity or power outages. We (operators) used to constantly run in and
out of the "back room" to reset them".
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Above and below: Closeup views of the top front panel. (Photos
by Jerry Proc)
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CID610/3 module underside.
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