Secure COMMS

Arent Antifa and BLM Marxist militias??
I guess your right! And they use radios too, although the liberal press only covers right-winger comms as a danger to Democracy. You're thought of keeping an eye on those types is a good start - "making friends" with them is better. Sun Tzu (Art of War) said “Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.”

They're watching us. And taking advantage of a more inclusive shooting culture, to get closer.
 
Once you have a communications channel established, one of the most effective means of concealing the meaning of communications is the book cipher. When done properly it can be thought of as a slightly weaker variation on the only truly unbreakable encryption method, the one time pad.

(Both Book and OTP are only as strong as the tradecraft, when executed poorly they can be very weak).

Clandestine communication? Anyone with a radio can listen. And Leftists can use radios too!
It's nearly always invalid to include "radio" and "clandestine" in the same sentence. Numbers stations, for example, are anything but clandestine in their transmission, the clandestine part is the intended recipients (who likely are using one time pads to decipher the messages targeted at the individual recipient). Finding the sender is easy -- Even the ham radio folk have their radio direction finding and "fox and hound" exercises. Finding a passive listener can be difficult, and requires proximity to the receiver (or a leak in the organization).

I'd expect every agency, ours and others (e.g. in the foreign embassies), to be monitoring the entire spectrum anywhere near the capitol building.
I don't doubt "they" are monitoring RF everywhere, but particularly in that location, or near any other high-value "target".
 
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Expanding on the above, consider the risks from "traffic analysis", "envelope" data, and network theory. [tinfoil]

There's significant intelligence to be gleaned even without decryption, just from volume of traffic and knowing who is talking to whom (every transmitter or Telegram user or phone has a unique fingerprint). Over a longer period, time-data series can reveal hierarchy and command structure -- where do orders originate, how are they distributed to the various cells and members? Are there highly-connected critical nodes, or sub-graphs with very limited connectivity to the main group? (Each a weak point in its own way).
pSlnnHD.png
Long before Facebook, various TLAs were deeply invested in researching Social Network Analysis (SNA) and social graph theory. Convenient that we are volunteering to fill in the network/graph for them these days :rolleyes:

If you're interested in open datasets for experimenting with social graph tools, one interesting set of data to learn on is "The Enron Corpus", a freely available database of ~600,000 emails generated by 158 employees of the Enron Corporation in the years leading up to the company's collapse (12/2001) and made public by UMass-Amherst.
For some visualizations, see Using social network analysis measures - Cambridge Intelligence
 
Expanding on the above, consider the risks from "traffic analysis", "envelope" data, and network theory. [tinfoil]

There's significant intelligence to be gleaned even without decryption, just from volume of traffic and knowing who is talking to whom (every transmitter or Telegram user or phone has a unique fingerprint). Over a longer period, time-data series can reveal hierarchy and command structure -- where do orders originate, how are they distributed to the various cells and members? Are there highly-connected critical nodes, or sub-graphs with very limited connectivity to the main group? (Each a weak point in its own way).
pSlnnHD.png
Long before Facebook, various TLAs were deeply invested in researching Social Network Analysis (SNA) and social graph theory. Convenient that we are volunteering to fill in the network/graph for them these days :rolleyes:

If you're interested in open datasets for experimenting with social graph tools, one interesting set of data to learn on is "The Enron Corpus", a freely available database of ~600,000 emails generated by 158 employees of the Enron Corporation in the years leading up to the company's collapse (12/2001) and made public by UMass-Amherst.
For some visualizations, see Using social network analysis measures - Cambridge Intelligence

Good stuff. I worked for an informatics start-up out of UMass Lowell a few decades ago. The data mining wizards used some stock software but also made an in-house app we used to sift and soft terabytes of gene expression data. It was all biotech fun and games until one of our VCs asked us to work with a hospital system with many hospitals in different large cities - the clusters and patterns that fell out after cleaning and analyzing the data were immediate answers to questions we hadn’t even asked yet. Which departments at which hospitals were losing money due to bad docs/practices vs higher-risk patients, etc. We’d have made millions had the CEO/CFO of that customer not been indicted for SEC violations - the contract died instantly and we went bust.

I still keep in tough with that crew. The visual analytical tools that have evolved since are amazing - piping petabytes of real-time data through analytic systems daily. Fully de-identified data patterns can indeed tell a lot.

The higher-level signals intelligence people involved in the Ukraine War certainly know they are leaving their partisan patriot sources exposed to risk. But they do need input data to target Russian resources. The partisans appear to be moving from learning by dying to learning by doing, at least. Even if any one operator doesn’t do the same thing twice, the pattern of multiple operators can be discerned.

The advances in SIGINT during this no-holds-barred war will advance government capabilities. Unfortunately, laws regulating application of such new capabilities lag - it usually takes a whistleblower to expose matters. And then the courts have to sort things out - domestic/international, citizen/non-citizen, etc. Cyberlaw Podcast is a useful resource. The Jan 6 geofencing cases going through the courts are quite interesting but the lesson is once you’re caught, you’re caught. Even if they have to throw out “the fruits” of illegal searches, they usually use knowledge gained from those illegal searches to generate legal evidence to hang you.

 
Just arrived last night. While written for the Baofeng HTs, it’s an excellent guide to CommSec and a good introduction on how to use a HT radio, antennas, digital, etc. If you have a UV-5R and have been waiting to get your ARLL license, start here in the meantime. Sure, there’s laws wrt licensing of operators and permissible frequencies on different radios (Ham, GMRS, FRS, etc.) That said, don’t interfere with other’s RX/TX use and it’s like a tree falling in the forest with nobody there to hear it…

7424E98E-751E-477D-828A-4777A7E738AB.jpeg
 
For those that want to step up their radio security a notch, but not get into true commercial-grade radio's and keyloaders in order to have AES-256 level encryption, here is my go-to radio and it is on sale today at R&L. Highly recommended:


That is the out-the-door price for people in Massachusetts, as well. A couple of these radio's in digital encrypted mode will be quite secure, unless the Fedbois really want to throw a LOT of technical assets your way. For simple bug out types who don't want the local po-po or staties listening, those boys don't have enough brain power to get past this. I have a couple of the prior generation of this radio and they work great. I might grab an extra at this price. Alinco is a Japanese radio company as well, not a Chinese junk manufacturer.
 
Nothing against this particular radio, but why so many memory locations? Just because they can? At some point you have more memory channels than you can access via the VFO. I think I've seen a VHF/UHF with something absurd like 10,000 memories. What the heck?

4000 channel memory, 250Zone, 250 Scan lists
500,000 Digital Contact lists capabilities

I'm curious about DMR, but the closest DMR repeater to me is out of range by about 15 miles, and it's in an area that makes me wonder who even uses it.
 
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Nothing against this particular radio, but why so many memory locations? Just because they can? At some point you have more memory channels than you can access via the VFO. I think I've seen a VHF/UHF with something absurd like 10,000 memories. What the heck?

4000 channel memory, 250Zone, 250 Scan lists
500,000 Digital Contact lists capabilities

I'm curious about DMR, but the closest DMR repeater to me is out of range by about 15 miles, and it's in an area that makes me wonder who even uses it.

I wouldn't worry about the fact that it has so much memory space. Nobody uses it all. As for the 500,000 entry contact list, I again say don't worry about it. That much memory space allows you to pre-load the entire DMR contact list for the entire ham world.

The radio itself does wide FM voice, narrow FM voice, DMR digital voice and DMR digital data. The AES-256 encryption only works on digital, NOT analog FM. I have had Alinco radios continually for the past 30 years. Great Japanese radios. This radio I provided the link for is also Part 90 certified, so it is perfectly legal to use it outside the ham bands, in case you have a friend that has a commercial repeater (doesn't everybody?).
 
What kind of data are we talking about here? Can you connect a laptop or tablet through Bluetooth or wired, and send an email, for example?

The radio supports APRS in digital and analog mode. The radio does SMS directly from the radio. I'm sure anyone could figure out how to connect a packet modem for sending ax.25 protocol stuff. I've never tried anything more than the SMS stuff personally. You might want to check youtube and rumble to see if anyone has done anything more with this radio.

DMR is essentially a frequency modulation scheme anyway, so anything that anyone has done on analog FM for mail or anything else should work in this case. Maybe you can experiment with it and report back to us.
 
Maybe you can experiment with it and report back to us.
That's probably years away. I'm still waiting to get a license to even talk on one of these contraptions. That will be another 5 weeks away, then I'll try to figure that out over the summer and fall. I was not looking for an expirement; I was asking what it does. Thanks anyhow.
 
That's probably years away. I'm still waiting to get a license to even talk on one of these contraptions. That will be another 5 weeks away, then I'll try to figure that out over the summer and fall. I was not looking for an expirement; I was asking what it does. Thanks anyhow.

All of the major flavors of digital modulation schemes (P25, DMR, NXDN) use the AMBE+2 vocoder to generate a 4-FSK signal. Technically, any computer software CAN be developed to imprint a signal onto any modulation scheme. Since FSK schemes are characteristically "FM", anything already done on analog FM can be ported to those digital modes.

The real point I had for posting the link yesterday was to point out a good sale price and to add to the discussion of "secure comms". When I think of secure comms, one aspect is the potential use of encryption at some point. A pair, or more, of these radios I linked would enable any user to enact AES-256 level encryption to their voice comms at the cheapest price point that I am aware of. Some of my other radios have AES-256 encryption modules, but the equipment is very expensive.
 
The real point I had for posting the link yesterday was to point out a good sale price and to add to the discussion of "secure comms". When I think of secure comms, one aspect is the potential use of encryption at some point. A pair, or more, of these radios I linked would enable any user to enact AES-256 level encryption to their voice comms at the cheapest price point that I am aware of. Some of my other radios have AES-256 encryption modules, but the equipment is very expensive.
And that was an awesome point. Don't want to take away from that.

Interested in digital data over radio, but that can be a different conversation somewhere.
 
That Alinco is $20 more already. I'm glad I waited instead of buying impulsively. I don't have anyone to talk to on DMR anyway, maybe one guy, but it's coming.

They do have another model that's $190 (currently) and seems to be very similar minus some memory for contacts and APRS. I flipped back and forth between the two datasheets and those were the only two differences I could see. They have a few models that look very similar to me, but only two I see for sale.

XLT - ALINCO DJMD5XLT [DJMD5XLT] - $289.95 : R&L Electronics, Amateur radio sotre

XT (XTG?) - ALINCO DJMD5XT [DJMD5XT] - $189.95 : R&L Electronics, Amateur radio sotre
 
That Alinco is $20 more already. I'm glad I waited instead of buying impulsively. I don't have anyone to talk to on DMR anyway, maybe one guy, but it's coming.

They do have another model that's $190 (currently) and seems to be very similar minus some memory for contacts and APRS. I flipped back and forth between the two datasheets and those were the only two differences I could see. They have a few models that look very similar to me, but only two I see for sale.

XLT - ALINCO DJMD5XLT [DJMD5XLT] - $289.95 : R&L Electronics, Amateur radio sotre

XT (XTG?) - ALINCO DJMD5XT [DJMD5XT] - $189.95 : R&L Electronics, Amateur radio sotre

They are both very capable radios made by a long time, well established Japanese radio manufacturer. R&L always has something on special sale each day. Yesterday just happened to be the XLT radio. I know that the XLT has AES-256 encryption. I'm not sure if the XT does or not. Someone else will have to do the due diligence on that.

If you are doing simplex encrypted comms in a SHTF scenario, the flavor of digital voice (P25/NXDN/DMR) matters very little. You simply need radios for one specification, program them and hand them to your family members. At that point, it is just like handing out Baofeng's with analog FM, with the additional ability to encrypt your comms from outsiders.

All of these radio's also do analog FM, although you cannot enjoy the benefit of encryption on the analog side.
 
I totally missed that it was their daily special. You probably said it, and I check nearly everyday, but I missed it.

I gotta learn up on these radios. They seem like a really nice alternative to the Yaesu/Icoms that have gotten seriously out of hand price wise. And I wouldn't mind having DMR capabilities.
 
HRO is having a Hamvention sale. That Alinco is $259 for the next few days.


The dealers all seem to have the mobile version on sale for $400 as well. It is the MD-520T. It also has the ability to run AES-256 encryption in digital voice mode like the HT. I am contemplating adding one or two of them to my mix so I have more powerful radios capable of encryption, if needed.

Geez, at this rate, I'll have to send out to Kenwood for AES modules for my NX series radios. LOL.
 
I totally missed that it was their daily special. You probably said it, and I check nearly everyday, but I missed it.

I gotta learn up on these radios. They seem like a really nice alternative to the Yaesu/Icoms that have gotten seriously out of hand price wise. And I wouldn't mind having DMR capabilities.

Lol I don't have a problem with the price at all. I have a problem with not getting the tier of shit that I want. There's a lot of marginal stuff out there. I'll drop a grand for an HT.... "if it does all the shit". 🤣 Most are deficient in some area.
 
Lol I don't have a problem with the price at all. I have a problem with not getting the tier of shit that I want. There's a lot of marginal stuff out there. I'll drop a grand for an HT.... "if it does all the shit". 🤣 Most are deficient in some area.
<-- Unabashed skinflint over here. But I do spend money on things I care about.

I can't for the life of me decide if I need DMR/D-whatever. I already don't use Yaesu Fusion that I have in my FT-70D.
 
<-- Unabashed skinflint over here. But I do spend money on things I care about.

I can't for the life of me decide if I need DMR/D-whatever. I already don't use Yaesu Fusion that I have in my FT-70D.

I avoid the so-called "amateur" flavors of digital voice and stick to those prevalent in the commercial realm (DMR, NXDN, P25). History has shown that most radio technology migrates from the commercial world to the ham world, with hams tweaking the commercial technology.

I just reached out to a friend who is a commercial radio dealer to order a new Kenwood NX-5700 radio. I need to replace my old (very old) radio for my desk that just died. I've grown to like the Kenwood NX-5000 series for the ability to run multiple flavors of digital voice. Any 5000 series radio can run FM analog and any TWO flavors of digital voice (DMR/NXDN, DMR/P25, NXDN/P25).

I doubt the somewhat proprietary amateur modes such as D-Star and Fusion will ever amount to much.
 
This use of radio during the highest-profile instance of right-wing extremism in decades, however, is not unique. It is part of an obscure but increasingly concerning phenomenon among the far right in recent years: using radio as a means of clandestine communication…Richard Fairburn, a retired law enforcement professional who has written on radio issues, said that law enforcement must be aware of the popularity of radio, particularly with the wave of low-cost products hitting the radio market. “Since the radios can be programmed to any frequency within their limits, some ‘unused’ or ‘black’ frequencies can be used, which would be very unlikely to be monitored by the FCC or ham operators,” he said.

Clandestine communication? Anyone with a radio can listen. And Leftists can use radios too!

This is just the government having a hissy fit because the plebes can have secure communications and we all know that only the federal overlords need to be free from scrutiny. They'll want a ban because 'we need to ban this, extremists are using it' even though that's probably <1% of the people using those radios.
 
I doubt the somewhat proprietary amateur modes such as D-Star and Fusion will ever amount to much.
I was kind of wondering this also. It seems like they would both benefit if they could combine forces and come out with a standard instead. Everyone would win.
 
I was kind of wondering this also. It seems like they would both benefit if they could combine forces and come out with a standard instead. Everyone would win.
The problem being everyone is so invested in their own protocol. If they switch gears, does that abandon everyone who bought Fusion gear or D-Star? In the long run that would likely be better, but I'm sure Yaesu and Icom have a lot of money in their gear to just drop it and move to something else.
 
They need to find the common ground, and come out with firmware that brings older equipment to some basic level of support of the new standard for both brands. Then, they can together build on that for new equipment going forward. Where there's a will, there's a way.
 
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