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Any lower cost radios capable of encryption?

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human8472

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Having purchased the UV-5R and the UV-B5 I have been impressed with their functionality and durability. They compare well against my VX-7R purchased 10 years ago for $400+.

Are there any similarly priced radios that offer encrypted capabilities? Perhaps something better than simple voice inversion?

Cellular phones sure perform well enough in populated areas where the infrastructure is in place, however, when the economy collapses infrastructure will be gone and cellular phones will be worthless.

It would be nice to have a radio that could be used securely point to point if the need ever arose. I have read about the i355 talk-about feature but the antennae are fixed and range is quite limited.
 

robertmac

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Not really sure why anyone wants to use encryption on two way radios. The best way is to not say anything or do anything as there are people listening, encryption or not. Even with cell phones. Big brother may be listening. And the thing is, you will never know when this happens.
 

human8472

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Not really sure why anyone wants to use encryption on two way radios.

Please notice I did not post this on the HAM forums so I am not asking about amateur radio. There are many reasons radio users would want privacy in their communications, but I was not looking to start an argument on the why or why not. Just looking for people who might know of some encryption capable radios in the lower price ranges.
 
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902

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There are a number of after-market add-on boards that can simply plug into a radio and get it going in a medium security encryption. Look at Midian Electronics. I echo your sentiments about not depending on cellular - even in a good economy.

About robertmac's observation - he's right about even radio not being immune to massive ingest recording and post-processing. Look at this. The only thing that's truly secure is face-to-face, and even then, there's no guarantee that the "third man" isn't there.
 

kv5e

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You can also checkout the ChiCOM dPMR radios:

Zastone-9908
Kirisun-780

and variants. These are in the sub $125 cost and are sold at the Chinese jobbers such as 409shop and others on eBay.

Depending on the manufacturer, they may have a choice of vocoders plus digital encryption on the dPMR waveform.

The security is very basic as it is 32 bit or less, but it offers immunity to eavesdropping with only the most technically adept "adversaries" willing to make the effort to decrypt the conversations.

The dMPR Tier 2 radios offer text messaging and selective calling as Tier 2 dPMR radios, but the control plane and text on most of these are unencrypted.

There are Yahoo groups on these radios so you can join and get more details there. If you are going to need repeater operation, they offer mediocre repeaters for these radios. On simplex or a simplex repeater they work well (for the price).

The Kirisun 780 seems to have some desense in strong and packed RF environments, the Zastone 9908 handles packed RF better, but these radios do not compare to quality DMR and P25 radios at a higher price with higher level encryption options..

One radio that is often overlooked is the Unication U3 which offers DVOA, a digital voice format with encryption that will work over analog repeaters fairly well. It is not cheap , but it is a good RF performer and is type accepted for IC and FCC business/PS use..

Low cost encryption radios are the ChiCOM dPMR radios listed earlier and if they are going to be on licensed business/PS channels I would check for IC or FCC compliance.

Craig KV5E
 

human8472

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ZT-9908 looks nice

Thank you so much Craig. I have just looked at some information (YouTube videos etc ..) on the ZT-9908 and it looks pretty incredible. Analog and Digital with encryption for under $100 definitely fits the bill. Too bad it does not cover the VHF band so MURS could be used but still for the price and the features who can complain. I will be checking out the Kirisun-780 next. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
 

human8472

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Kirisun-780 looks nice also

So I looked at some infor for the Kirisun-780 and it also looks very nice. Reminds me of the TriSquare 900 Mhz radios I used to have, but look like much better quality and more features.

Are there VHF versions of these radios ... something that can use the MURS range?
 

robertmac

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human8472, you do know what assume means? Did I mention amateur radio? No, as encryption is not legal on amateur radio. I WAS talking about all NON ham radio uses. DV under another name? And the reason for encryption?
 
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kv5e

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MURS - digital voice emissions F1E are not permitted under the the Part 95 rules for MURS, tone signaling F1D and G1D types are OK. Additionally, F7W or FXE/FXD emissions are not permitted on MURS.

The EU established dPMR digital in the PMR 446 band for "license by rule" personal radio services.

As soon as the FCC publishes the R & O for Part 95 we will see if "license by rule" digital emission is permitted but it likely will not authorize encryption of digital voice emissions.

Now if you are a "mattress tag ripper", then you know the risks here of skirting the rules! LOL

Craig
 

human8472

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human8472, you do know what assume means? Did I mention amateur radio? No, as encryption is not legal on amateur radio. I WAS talking about all NON ham radio uses. DV under another name? And the reason for encryption?

The reason is none of your concern now is it. Feel free to troll somewhere else.
 

PACNWDude

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Motorola DTR radios are frequency hopping and spread spectrum. Their voice encoder also makes them harder for someone to intercept and demodulate. They cost about $250/ radio for the DTR410's and go up from there. This gets you a mile or so range wise as they are 900MHz ISR band, no license required and can be used by a business.
Another option that would require license fees, would be some of the Icom F43GS units that have popped up on auction sites, they sometimes have the encryption board in them.
 

robertmac

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As I said, if you put it over RF it can be intercepted and decoded, especially the CCR and other cheapies. So don't expect miracles in your quest for cheap encryption. Take that from a troll.
 

RayAir

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Look on eBay. I've bought lots of radios that had some form of scrambling/encryption. Some of my best finds were Vertex VX520s VHF all with Transcrypt rolling code boards with matching keys.

I saw a newer model Kirisun TDMA radio for around $170 ea that said they could do AES128. Their cheaper radios I am pretty sure they are digital FDMA ( not DMR) and those offer basic digital encryption. The literature said around 1,000,000 possible codes.
 
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