MotoTRBO Encryption and Scramblers

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turbovectorz
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:11 pm
What radios do you own?: Sabers, homebrew scanners

MotoTRBO Encryption and Scramblers

Post by turbovectorz »

Hi,

Just curious..

1. Will MotoTRBO have encryption? If so, what is it? AES, DES, RC4? I head there's a Basic Privacy and "Advanced" Privacy Option.

2. Are there manufacturers (3rd party?) making voice scramblers that will work on MotoTRBO?

3. I was listening to a MotoTRBO vs. Moto Analog two-way demo in a noisy environment (factory floor). The MotoTRBO is intelligible, but sounded very "robotic". Shouldn't you just be able use an Active Noise Reduction (ANR) add-on unit and make it sound better than the MotoTRBO? ANR is what's being used in military CVC and PRC field radios.

Thanks all in advance!

-- TVZ
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wavetar
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Re: MotoTRBO Encryption and Scramblers

Post by wavetar »

Depending on the firmware version, MotoTRBO can have either no encryption capability at all, 8-bit 'Basic Privacy Scrambling' (255 codes), or 40-bit 'Advanced Digital Privacy', which I believe is the 'RC4' you mentioned.

The level of encryption doesn't affect the audio quality either way, since the voice is already digital.

What's important is using 'digital AGC'. My experience is using digital AGC in extremely noisy environments is damn near miraculous in giving perfectly intelligible audio. I'll take some 'robotic' (which is the error correction overloading dealing with the background noise) yet clear voice over overpowering background noise any day.

I have no idea if there are 3rd party boards ANR available or not...haven't heard of any.
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turbovectorz
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:11 pm
What radios do you own?: Sabers, homebrew scanners

Re: MotoTRBO Encryption and Scramblers

Post by turbovectorz »

Thank you very much for your reply, wavetar!
It's awesome to have knowledgeable people in this forum!
My primary goal is always been to learn from the "hands-on" people from the field to design better products and systems.

Thank you all for sharing, I am learning a lot!

Sincerely,

TVZ
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