I've been listening to matcom on and off for a few months now, and noticed odd patterns in encryption. While there are many units on the talkgroup that are encrypted, the dispatch itself appears to be encrypted on and off - sometimes in the clear, sometimes not, for a few weeks at a time. Is this the system itself, or just a matter of the switch being randomly flipped somewhere? Is there anyone else monitoring much digital traffic in AK? It would be nice to share experience and information.
AST Mat-Com Dispatch and Encryption.
- Thread starter aps_ak
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Yeah, I've noticed similar patterns up here in Fairbanks in the past. It has more to do with the dispatcher's console "login personality" and they probably can have the encryption On by default. On the radios is a rotary switch that the user has to select usually to turn on encryption. Then you add many other variables in there like individual radios have lost the encryption key and/or haven't re-keyed recently, etc. and that's when you hear them in the clear.
I see. I get FAI AST down here every once in a while, but almost all of it is encrypted, and Soldotna is almost 99% encrypted. I was up in Fairbanks a few months ago, and was able to listen to quite a lot of things..
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