A very useful feature of many of the surplus Motorola Sabers, is their ability to communicate in Secure (digitally encrypted) mode. While not legal on the amateur bands, it is perfectly legal and appropriate on Mutual Aid frequencies when authorized by the local, state or Federal government agencies whom we serve (in this case, we would be operating OUTSIDE of amateur rules, as agents of the government – like in the case of the Flagler Emergency Management Volunteers).

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Secure mode has many options, but the most common is DES or DES-XL (proprietary to Motorola). All of the VHF units that Jason and I acquired are capable of DES encryption, and we have tested them using public safety frequencies at short range for tractional communications. In fact, we have tested using Public Safety, MURS and Ham frequencies (for testing only) and can confirm that secure mode operation is viable on all the frequencies that the Saber is capable of in the VHF, wide-band spectrum (144-173Mhz).

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You might ask – why in the world would you want to operate in Secure Mode..?? One very simple and practical reason is the transmission of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) when in the middle of an emergency or disaster situation – such as name, age and medical information. As we have all learned in the ARRL EMCOMM classes – such should not be performed on open voice channels, and not even on packet or DRATS, given that it is still “in-the-clear”, but it would be both appropriate and reasonable to transmit that information using DES Secure voice channels on appropriate Public Safety Frequencies.

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So, how difficult is this to accomplish – actually quite simple – once you figure out the process, technique and tools. In summary, here’s what is required based on extensive research and testing by Jason W4LTL and myself:

• Insure that you have a pair of Secure capable Sabers (or other radios, including Astro Sabers, Spectras or Astro Spectras amongst other models) and that the firmware supports the encryption functionality,
• Insure that all of the radios have the same encryption module installed (DES or DES-XL, or DVI, or DVI-XL, etc) and that the modules are functional,
• Insure that you have a Key Variable Loader (KVL) that is able to load to the target devices (you will need a T3011DX if you want to load to Astro Saber portables or Astro Spectra mobiles) – if you only have Sabers or System Sabers a T3020 of any model will do. The KVL’s cost anywhere from $75 to $250 on eBay, or if you’re like Jason, you could possibly pick-up 5 of them for a real steal (less than half the cost of my T3011DX..!!)
• Create a key on the KVL – this is a multi-step process which takes about 5 minutes, once you figure out the process. Essentially it entails entering a 16 HEX digits into the KVL to establish a single key, which will be DES encrypted, then subsequently loaded into the radio. The KVL’s are capable of storing anywhere from 8-32 keys (for different systems or groups), but the Sabers are only capable of storing a single “Radio-wide” key. By contrast, Astro Sabers are capable of storing up to 16 DES keys and can automatically scan the keys to perform key-matching against a current  received signal.
• Load the newly created DES key to the radio – this is the simplest process of all – since it only entails connecting a single cable between the KVL device and the radio – once connected, simply press the PTT (Push-to-Transfer) button and in a matter of a couple of seconds, the radio will BEEP to signify that it has received and loaded the DES Key.
• At this point, simply disconnect the  KVL cable and the radio will go into standard operating mode. When you want to go Secure, simply flip the SecureNet toggle switch and the radio starts transmitting a digitally encoded data stream across the Analog, wide-band FM signal which can be decoded by the other radios in the network loaded with the same key.
• The receiving radios do NOT have to have their radios set for Secure Receive, since  the Sabers automatically detect the encryption stream – as long as the encryption matches the key that is loaded in the receiving radio, it starts to decode automatically. Other radios, however, will only hear hash-noise (sounds like squelch noise), followed by a beep an the end of a transmission.
• A couple of cautions and safeguards – if the battery is disconnected while the radio is ON, the encryption keys are automatically “DUMPED” into the bit bucket – a security feature. If the battery is removed after the Power Switch is turned OFF, the user (you) will have approximately 30-seconds to re-insert a battery into the radio (power switch can stay off) – if a battery is not inserted in the requisite time, the encryption keys are again DUMPED. This is a crude, but effective way to prevent key-hacking. Once the keys are lost, reloading is required by connecting the KVL device and following the key-reload process once again (the Astro Sabers can re-load keys Over-the-Air).

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More tools for radio communicators – although not necessarily applicable for Ham applications, all Hams can still be useful to local, state and federal disaster efforts by being part of Emergency Management Agency groups thru their volunteer programs. For those of you interested in volunteering in the Flagler County, Florida area – please contact Frank Sanita at the Flagler County Emergency Operations Center and join the FEMV group..!!