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Midian briefly had some time domain scrambler boards on the market that quickly were withdrawn.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.

 

[speaker-mic]

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.

I know its a no-go relating to motosoft, is transcrypt off limits even though they are gone?

 

[SuitSat]

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.

To the best of my knowledge, Midian never made Time-Domain scramblers.
Time for a trip down memory lane [it's been a very long time since I've played with this stuff, it was "somewhat" fun back in the days ^^ (well, except for sync and audio frequency response problems )]

Their flagship product -especially in the late 80's, early 90's- was (and still somewhat is) the Rolling-code (hopping flavor IIRC, whereas Transcrypt favored irregular sweeping for their higher Tiers boards) TVS-2 model.
(This product is poorly secure in my opinion, the Transcrypt SC20-500 Phoenix and Marconi MASC are way more secure, but never forget that any and all analog scramblers, a fortiori simple Frequency-Domain ones, are inherently INSECURE).

Nowadays, Midian also offer the VS-1200 which is an FFT-band scrambler (I've never used it, but think of it as the close cousin of the Harris AVS algorithm)...


But I assure you that your memory is still sound

There effectively was a manufacturer of TDS scrambler boards during that era, and this product, as you rightly recalled, was quickly pulled out of the market (don't ask me why though, I don't know ; Time-Domain is/was a proven technology as was seen on devices like the Racal MA-4225 or BBC Vericrypt, but I guess you're close to the truth with delay and sync problems).

It was Selectone (of SmarTrunk fame, they changed their name to SmarTrunk when they focused exclusively on trunking, and the Signalling and Voice Privacy Lines were then distributed by CSI), with the 72bits algo ST-50/ST-51/ST-52 series of modules (ST-50 is the most secure, 52 the less secure)

Luckily, there's still some infos floatting on the Internet for your reading pleasure ^^

Selectone - Product Information

I know its a no-go relating to motosoft, is transcrypt off limits even though they are gone?

Ditto !

I just found in a old drawner (with a few years' worth of dust on it, and a sprinkle of sand ) my old Icom F-43GS equipped with IC20-DES (custom SC20-500) board ; But of course my programming software (TR99-DES, aka KL30-DES) for that is long gone (old WinXP or Win98 computer), as is Transcrypt...
Any help would be appreciated

IIRC, only the Phoenix and then VoSec boards [Alias Dark Star (No, not THAT Daekstar-1056 )] needed special softwares, the classic SC20-410/416/430/460/480 Series used a "dumb" ASCII Terminal (but with abstruse/obscures commands/parameters) connected to the OTAR TR30 modem...

BTW, your MDC/GE-Star burst(s) is Transcrypt’s proprietary FlashCall™ format signalling, using (IIRC) a 600 Baud PSK burst(s).
The first burst is very important for proper initial sync, the smaller bursts are then used to keep the clock "in-sync"...
The SC20-480, which was a Godsend for some (esp TRS users), used a continuous sync carrier, at approx 500Hz/200 Baud IIRC, (and a special modem was needed due to the different synchronization used)...

That's all for today Folks, hope you liked this small trip down memory lane

 

[SuitSat]

BTW speaker-mic, if you can play/whistle a constant tone (1kHz would be the best) in your HT-1000 in secure mode, and can make a recording of the scrambled audio here, I might be able to indicate what flavor (410/430/460...) of module you have in your transceiver
(IIRC the hardware board/PCB was the same for all 410/430/460 modules, only the firmware was different... 400/480/500 and 760 modules used differents PCBs BTW).

I'm also interested to know where you found them; the origin can shed light on the user and therefore the type of module (and I wouldn't say no to adding a pair to my collection as well)

 

[speaker-mic]

BTW speaker-mic, if you can play/whistle a constant tone (1kHz would be the best) in your HT-1000 in secure mode, and can make a recording of the scrambled audio here, I might be able to indicate what flavor (410/430/460...) of module you have in your transceiver
(IIRC the hardware board/PCB was the same for all 410/430/460 modules, only the firmware was different... 400/480/500 and 760 modules used differents PCBs BTW).

I'm also interested to know where you found them; the origin can shed light on the user and therefore the type of module (and I wouldn't say no to adding a pair to my collection as well)

Says:
NTN8313A I4739
AVS Advantage Board
For the Option-Mate
Interface Plug

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