Throwback Tuesday: HT1000 with Transcrypt Hopping code encryption boards.

[speaker-mic]

Here's an old one. Came across some HT1000 radios with Transcrypt boards in them. They make a MDC1200 chirp and then another chirp like the GE Star and start with the inversion and a ticking sound about each second. I know this is dinosaur tech but they were pretty good back in the day.

I used to have a copy of their software that they emailed free of charge but that was 2+ decades ago.

Never really dealt with them much and when i poked around, I found out they are out of business.

Anyone here ever deal with these boards? Id like to take a matched set and add them to the legacy exhibit.

Thanks.

P.S. Looking to have a matched set programmed, not fishing for software. Also, please don't hate me for the nostalgic gear, its part of a history display.

 

[N4DES]

We used Transcrypt at PBSO in the 90's that I installed in their VHF Standard HX400 portables & GX3000 mobiles for the undercover operations and SWAT. I maintained about 100 in total and while they had a repeater system, the rolling code worked much better in simplex. I have this board on my shelf of fame in my man cave.

 

[dgruver911]

Vaguely recall those. We had about a dozen that we used on VHF simplex in HT1000's for our SWAT team for a few years, until we made the jump to P25 800. I think I actually still have the software around here somewhere. But the radios and boards were purple-waved 10 years ago.

 

[prcguy]

I have a pair of those boardsaround here somewhere. Been waiting 25yrs for a project to come along that may neve happen.

 

[kv5e]

Midian briefly had some time domain scrambler boards on the market that quickly were withdrawn. Not sure why, maybe the inherent delay was poor or that they had sync problems.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I remember the first time I heard that encryption. A salesman in Iowa called and asked me to check an interference problem on a customers channel. He said it sounded like Martians and sent me a cassette tape. It did indeed sound like Martians. I investigated and Iowa Beef Packers had gone encrypted to protect bid prices for cattle.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

We used Transcrypt at PBSO in the 90's that I installed in their VHF Standard HX400 portables & GX3000 mobiles for the undercover operations and SWAT. I maintained about 100 in total and while they had a repeater system, the rolling code worked much better in simplex. I have this board on my shelf of fame in my man cave.

View attachment 193623

That board is just teasing you to drill down and attach some wires.

 

[firefive76]

We had a mix of probably 75 HT1000s, HT750s, CM300s, and M1225s equipped with them several years ago. We then went to an IPSC MotoTRBO system and opted for enhanced privacy until the end of 2023.