Secure radio communications : A primer

[ViniVidivici]

Olycomm3 is located at top of e. Tiger Mtn., near where I-90 & hwy 18 cross. At over 3,000', it has huge coverage area. I've talked on it all over the place, as far as 95 miles, but it's all dependent on your own elevation and signal path, of course.

Well this is awesome that you got it figured out! Good to know it can be used in the advertised frequency range.

Yeah it can be a pain reconfiguring things in CPS for radios like these, but once done it's done, and that can be easily loaded onto more radios of same type in the future.

What digital are you working on? DMR repeaters, digital simplex, or the encryption?

[TechnoWeenie]

The radio supports AES-256, and allow keyloading via software and no add'l hardware. That alone makes it a better option for 90% of people out there.

AES-256 in commercial radios is more secure, as a captured radio can't be read to get the keys, but if you're at that point......

[ViniVidivici]

BTW, I just spoke with Mac n' Cheese actual on the radio, that repeater of his IS up and running, all info is current, tone is 123.0.

There is most likely some terrain feature blocking between it and Deckerville, if you are in Shelton actual you should be able to hit it.

[SporkBoy]

Ha ha! First contact! Off the UHF repeater in Belfair ... not a virgin anymore.


Still no luck on GMRS repeater Mac N Cheese ... Shelton, Union nor Deckerville. In Union I thought maybe because the radio indicated signals received (pretty strong ones) but I didn't hear anything.

Also, for some reason when switching to mode 0 it doesn't just clear frequencies (as the message prompt says) but a host of other settings ... so you literally have to rebuild the code plug from scratch.

I wish there was a way to export the frequency settings so I could load them into a different brand radio.

[TechnoWeenie]

Ha ha! First contact! Off the UHF repeater in Belfair ... not a virgin anymore.


Still no luck on GMRS repeater Mac N Cheese ... Shelton, Union nor Deckerville. In Union I thought maybe because the radio indicated signals received (pretty strong ones) but I didn't hear anything.

Also, for some reason when switching to mode 0 it doesn't just clear frequencies (as the message prompt says) but a host of other settings ... so you literally have to rebuild the code plug from scratch.

I wish there was a way to export the frequency settings so I could load them into a different brand radio.

export to csv?

[ViniVidivici]

Congrats on the first contact Sporkboy!

[SporkBoy]

I was at the overflow parking lot at Alderbrook G&CC and could hear chatter on OlyComm3 but it was noisy.

FYI the Abbree AR-771 antenna works fine but craps out above 450 MHz. I could not hear anything at 462 MHz. Good thing I got a magnetic base antenna for the van - it claims to got the 520 MHz and certainly does get 462 MHz just fine.

Still no luck with Mac N Cheese. Add Belfair to the list of no contact.

[SporkBoy]

Ha ha! First contact! Off the UHF repeater in Belfair ... not a virgin anymore.


Still no luck on GMRS repeater Mac N Cheese ... Shelton, Union nor Deckerville. In Union I thought maybe because the radio indicated signals received (pretty strong ones) but I didn't hear anything.

Also, for some reason when switching to mode 0 it doesn't just clear frequencies (as the message prompt says) but a host of other settings ... so you literally have to rebuild the code plug from scratch.

I wish there was a way to export the frequency settings so I could load them into a different brand radio.

export to csv?

I looked but did not see this as an option.

[ViniVidivici]

FYI, antenna resonance is mainly a function of transmit, rather than receive. Meaning, any wire connected to the radio will receive something, it's when you transmit that issues arise.

So strange, that Abree antenna looks alot like (and is similar length and clim of 2m/70cm) the Nagoya 771s we use for our HTs, we use them very effectively in the GMRS range.

You should try the ham repeaters on E. Tiger mtn. andmt Baldi.

HJR on E Tiger has huge coverage, as well as K7LED. Lot of traffic and nets on the latter as well.

HJR: 444.650, +5.0, 131.8.

K7LED: 146.820, -0.6, 103.5.

You should be able to get K7CPR on Capitol Peak too: 145.470, -0.6, 100.0.

Not near as much traffic on that one, but decent coverage. I can hit it from Puyallup area with a Slim Jim up.

[ViniVidivici]

Spoke to Mac n Cheese actual on Olycomm3 the other day, said his repeater has been temporarily relocated, so very limited range at this time.

[jukk0u]

Tangentially related as some of the incomprehensible jargon in this thread is defined:

https://www.ammoland.com/2023/11/radio- ... L_CAMPAIGN)

Article is mainly about scanners.