Encrypted transmissions

sschultz1969 · Sep 26, 2016

Hi all,
I've had a scanner on and off all my life. Recently, I dove all the in by purchasing a 436 and a 536. My question is, can these scanners discover hidden encrypted frequencys? How do I go about finding them. It's primarily p-25 systems around here that I care about. Thanks for any advice or help
Shane

I've never owned programmable scanners before. FYI

kma371 · Sep 26, 2016

What do you mean by hidden encrypted freqs?

JD21960 · Sep 26, 2016

You can't hear encrypted systems even if you find a "hidden" one.

mmckenna · Sep 26, 2016

Yes, it can find them.

No, it wont' decode encryption.

sschultz1969 · Sep 26, 2016

Thank you. Just curious. I really don't know the capability of these scanners, thus the question. Thanks again.

kma371 · Sep 26, 2016

No offense, but I don't understand people's logic that they should be able to decode encryption. Isn't the point of encryption to not allow people to listen? If they allowed people to listen there would be no point in encryption in the first place. Never makes sense to me.

mmckenna · Sep 26, 2016

sschultz1969 said:
Thank you. Just curious. I really don't know the capability of these scanners, thus the question. Thanks again.

That's a valid question. Digital/encryption gets confused even by the guys who use the radios. There's no shortage of public safety agencies who are under the assumption that because they are using a digital system that it is not capable of being monitored.

In reality intercepting and decoding encrypted traffic that is not intended for you is a federal violation. No consumer radio manufacturer is going to sell a radio that will do that.

sschultz1969 · Sep 26, 2016

kma371 said:
No offense, but I don't understand people's logic that they should be able to decode encryption. Isn't the point of encryption to not allow people to listen? If they allowed people to listen there would be no point in encryption in the first place. Never makes sense to me.

Not offended. Just asking. I don't know what you can and can't do, so I asked, with no expectations. Thanks for chiming in tho.

RoninJoliet · Sep 27, 2016

He may have meant he just wanted to see any "ENC" TG's or freqys come up , common sense would tell you what encryption means...My town here is "ENC" but i can see sometimes on my 996P2 some of the "ENC" TG's come up and sit there....On the RS/GRE/ models the "ENC TG's and freqys stop when scanning and give you that awful donald duck that my wife screams at me about.....!!

ofd8001 · Sep 27, 2016

The type of encryption may be a factor. Around my area, a lot of ADP is used. When my scanner "lands" on such a channel (trunked or conventional) I hear an annoying and unintelligible sound. The "ENC" doesn't always show up.

A somewhat similar thing happens if I'm receiving something like NXDN, so its hard to discern whether its an ADP encrypted channel or "other" format.

Encrypted transmissions

sschultz1969

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kma371

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JD21960

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mmckenna

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sschultz1969

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kma371

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mmckenna

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sschultz1969

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RoninJoliet

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