BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Open Sky?

[Ensnared]

Here goes nothing. What is the likelihood of Uniden offering an upgrade to Open Sky? I never ever expected Uniden to offer DMR, PV or NXDN, but they did.

 

[tvengr]

From what I have seen, most agencies using Open Sky have switched to P25. It appears to me that Open Sky is on its way out.

 

[n1chu]

Open Sky is/was a proprietary form of encryption. Manufacturers are not allowed to defeat encryption by law.

 

[KevinC]

Open Sky is/was a proprietary form of encryption.

Are you sure about that?

 

[fxdscon]

Open Sky is/was a proprietary form of encryption. Manufacturers are not allowed to defeat encryption by law.

Open Sky can be encrypted, but it is not encrypted by default.

 

[n1chu]

I believe Pa bought a statewide Open Sky system that never met their needs so they went to a P25 system after years of spending more money. It’s in the courts as we speak. Asking me if I’m sure is not the question. The question is Why haven’t you googled Open Sky and researched it first?

 

[n1chu]

Here is a direct quote from Radio Reference;

OpenSky
From The RadioReference Wiki
OpenSky is L3Harris implementation of AMBE digital modulation over a TDMA channel format.
AMBE is another vocoder developed by DVSI Inc. OpenSky systems do not use a control channel. Open Sky cannot be monitored by any scanner, past or future.

It is encrypted by design.

 

[fxdscon]

Here is a direct quote from Radio Reference;

OpenSky
From The RadioReference Wiki
OpenSky is L3Harris implementation of AMBE digital modulation over a TDMA channel format.
AMBE is another vocoder developed by DVSI Inc. OpenSky systems do not use a control channel. Open Sky cannot be monitored by any scanner, past or future.

It is encrypted by design.

Is this the Wiki article you are quoting from?

OpenSky - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

If so, I don't see anywhere in there the phrase "It is encrypted by design." If you added that phrase based on the statement of "Open Sky cannot be monitored by any scanner, past or future.".... that's because of the way the protocols for Provoice are structured, not because of encryption.

 

[KevinC]

Here is a direct quote from Radio Reference;

OpenSky
From The RadioReference Wiki
OpenSky is L3Harris implementation of AMBE digital modulation over a TDMA channel format.
AMBE is another vocoder developed by DVSI Inc. OpenSky systems do not use a control channel. Open Sky cannot be monitored by any scanner, past or future.

It is encrypted by design.

No, it's encoded in such a way that no scanner can decode it. As was posted, it CAN be encrypted, but isn't by design.

I seem to remember years ago the whatever L3\Harris was called at that time indicated they would license OS to scanner manufacturers, that never happened (probably due to exorbitant licensing fees).

 

[n1chu]

I’m not debating the issue. Fact remains, Open Sky was sold with the expectation it include a solid encryption technique. It did.

 

[KevinC]

I’m not debating the issue. Fact remains, Open Sky was sold with the expectation it include a solid encryption technique as an option. It did.

Fixed it.

 

[fxdscon]

I’m not debating the issue. Fact remains, Open Sky was sold with the expectation it include a solid encryption technique. It did.

In all fairness..... The fact also remains that it was not encrypted by default.

 

[mikewazowski]

Calling a system encrypted because scanners can’t monitor it is a huge leap. If you’re going to use that sort of flawed logic, then basically anything other than analog is encrypted until the scanner manufacturers come up with a way to decode it.

Those of us with the proper equipment to monitor such systems would tend to disagree.

 

[fredva]

Open Sky is/was a proprietary form of encryption. Manufacturers are not allowed to defeat encryption by law.

I think you are mixing proprietary and encryption together. They are two different things. As others have said, the fact that a scanner can't monitor a particular format doesn't make it encrypted - it may mean the scanner manufacturers aren't licensed to decode that format. Even if an organization bought Open Sky in part because it couldn't be monitored by scanners, that also doesn't mean the format is encrypted.

Encryption means that people outside your organization having identical radios from the same manufacturer using the same format can't listen to your organization because you've added a security feature.

 

[GTR8000]

It is encrypted by design.

Wrong. Try not to be so certain about things that you're not well versed in. Quoting a wiki article is hardly "proof" of anything.

 

[iMONITOR]

Oakland County, Michigan chose MACOM OpenSky years ago. This was pretty much a departure from the majority of Michigan. It was an expensive unreliable mess for years. It put many first responders in jeopardy! I nicknamed it "OpenLie". They're in the process of changing over to APCO P25 Phase 2, with encryption. There's a good reason why Oakland wants to hide behind proprietary digital modes and encryption.

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

 

[garys]

Open sky = Dead End.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Here goes nothing. What is the likelihood of Uniden offering an upgrade to Open Sky? I never ever expected Uniden to offer DMR, PV or NXDN, but they did.

Not very likely. Most of the few systems that existed have been replaced and what is left really would not make it viable since the R&D cost would make the cost too high to sell. You also don't see many new systems going on the air.

In short, it's a dinosaur in the making.

 

[Ensnared]

I was unaware this system is on the way out. Thanks for all of the replies.

 

[bubbablitz]

I remember listening to Las Vegas Metro when they were still on Open Sky and rebroadcasting over the VHF channels. The patrol officer’s transmissions would get stuck for a second or two in sort of a Max Headroom stutter. Must have been very frustrating for the dispatchers.