YOUNG PARTISANS!  (17 and younger) GET READY!

8th Annual Christmas One Time Pad Contest

GROWN-UPS CAN PARTICIPATE THIS YEAR TOO! 

When you decode the secret message and enter the password-protected contest page, you’ll find instructions for grown-ups to enter for a chance to win a AmRRON Bravo-65 Memorial Official Red Ryder BB Gun!

WIN AN OFFICIAL 200-Shot, lever-action, repeater air rifle, custom engraved, from the Daisy Museum!

Including custom Radio Free Redoubt laser engraving!

We are gearing up for the annual Young Partisan Red Ryder BB Gun Giveaway! (17 yrs old & under) Be sure to listen to the John Jacob Schmidt Show this coming Sunday evening, Dec, 10th, at 8pm Pacific (or the uploaded podcast the following morning) for your chance to enter the drawing!

 

PLUS, PRIZES for 2nd and 3rd Place Runner ups!

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INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. PRACTICE USING OTPs (instructions and resources linked below in this posting)
  2. Listen to the weekly RFR podcast live, Sunday evening, December 10th, or the RFR Podcast on Podbean uploaded on Monday.   Write down the numbers read by Lady Liberty during the show.
  3. Use the ‘MYRRH‘ One Time Pad to decrypt the numbers read by Lady Liberty in the radio show.
  4. Use the Conversion Chart (below) to convert the decrypted numbers into letters, revealing the secret message.
  5. The secret message that you will decode IS the password to open the 2023 OTP Christmas Red Ryder Contest Page.  Follow the instructions!  You’ll have SIX WHOLE DAYS to work on decrypting the secret message and getting your entry submitted.  Entries must be received by Saturday, December 16th, midnight (Pacific Time).
  6.  Tune in to the John Jacob Schmidt show (Sunday, December 17th) on Radio Free Redoubt to see if you’re one of the winners!

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This year’s Christmas One Time Pad (OTP) Contest involves letters and at least one special character.

(Scroll down in this posting for practice exercises and One Time Pad encryption resources.)

 

 

 

 

The 2023 One Time Pad, titled ‘MYRRH‘, is required to decrypt this year’s secret message.  Save it in a secret place!

 

Remember, you have to ADD to decode the message.

CONVERSION TABLE YOU WILL NEED FOR THIS YEAR’S CONTEST

Once you correctly add the secret message numbers to the MYRRH One Time Pad, you will have a set of numbers that you will then need to convert into a message that you can read.  You will need the Conversion Table below to convert those numbers to readable characters.

(the conversion table is always the same)

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PRACTICE!  PRACTICE!  PRACTICE!

===== GREAT PRACTICE RESOURCES BELOW =====

The resources below are for practice only, and are separate from the specific 2021 contest instructions at the top of this posting.

Besides the practice exercise below, here is a link to the excellent 2019 practice page, so you can learn how to decode One Time Pad (OTP) encrypted messages:  https://radiofreeredoubt.com/2019/11/21/2019-young-partisan-otp-contest-primer/

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Here’s another practice exercise that should help you to get ready!

NOTE:  Numbers will not be used in this year’s decoded message, but this practice exercise shows how numbers have been included in previous contests.

Up until this point we have converted letters into numbers and then converted the numbers back to letters using the one time pads and conversion tables. There are times when you will need to send or receive numbers also. Exact numbers are important parts of the message. Times, weights, telephone numbers need to be exact. You can’t guess what the sender probably meant when it comes to numbers. Our conversion table doesn’t even have numbers on it. How do we send numbers accurately?

Numbers are sent by repeating them three times. For example if you wanted to send “123” you would send your message as “111222333” If you were to receive a message of “111222333” you would know that it was meant to be “123”.

In order to prevent confusion and errors, number strings are preceded and ended with the “figure” character which is the number 90 on the conversion table. If you wanted to encode “123” you would use the following: “9011122233390” The “90” alerts you to the fact that numbers/figures are next and when you see the other “90” you know that the numbers/figures are ending.

Let’s practice a short message by using the below One Time Pad Census and the Conversion Table. You receive the following encoded message:

93786 00207 57770 04719 08239 92214

Remember that you add to decode and you don’t carry to the next place. (6+7=3 not 13)

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