20 year comms guy here. The idea of your own codes is a great idea, but I’d add just a little more. Every night I’d pass out the next day comm encryption key, terms would never be the same. Every member would get 2 copies, an A and a B. One would be for a few hours, then at a designated time, 1600 the next sheet would become active. Obviously everyone would have to start in the same location to receive them or you make a months worth and pass them out. If SHTF on the 12th, everyone would start on page 12A/B. Hopefully this doesn’t sound like I’m mentally ill, actually I am a little special.
Same sort of thing came to me as I listened to this common sense but critically important issue. One very smart 'special' cooky you are Sir. Thank you for your input... We The People.
I’m glad somebody in the community has said it. Comms is my #1 setback to all my preps. I can do some carpentry, welding, building ARs, gear setup, water collection systems, and animal husbandry. But outside of turning a knob to set channels and keying up I’m absolutely dumb when it comes to commo
Check this old navy radioman handbook. A lot of it doesn’t pertain, start on page 95, radiophone. It will give you a solid base on comms. www.navy-radio.com/manuals/rm32-10228E-1967.pdf
So basically you can do what everyone else can do, but you have trouble with comms? That’s no excuse and not a very good position to be in. Learn it. Comms are essential and there is no excuse to not be familiar in this day and age of cheap radios that are abundant, and the information literally at your fingertips.
Good information. I was an 11B/ RTO back in 1990-1992. We used PRC 77 radios, and cartoon references to name our teams, locations, movements, etc. It worked great as long for us, except for this one guy who would come on the radio telling us “this is an official government frequency and you are not allowed to use it without authorization”. But we just ignored him and carried on with the mission. Fun times!
Ive actually use a Whistler digital scanner with a bandscope and signal strength meter and a small handheld yagui to locate cartel spotters on hilltops in Vekhol valley in AZ. Took 2 whole day and a lot of patience and moving to locate them in a fixed location. Boy were they surprised when we made contact.
You can cut that search time by more than half by placing your directional in a shielded tunnel. Install a variable resistor to adjust DB- and use squelch break to rapidly close the distance... Once you've reached minimum RF receive and full squelch it's just hunting 101 pick your target out of the terrain..,... Using SDR is even easier.. people seem to forget we can rapidly scan transmit and receive codes and we can already decode the digital modes.... They also forget a whole team can be monitored by dropping a few SDR Porter packs in the area to monitor and triangulate positions...
David my name is Mike from Tuscaloosa Alabama. I am not a coms tech nor am I ex military. I have a serious problem on my son’s property. Ken’s and Karen’s have placed hidden cameras with audio on his property. Some are WiFi and some are cellular. We cannot find them after many hours searching visually. With your experience finding cartel spotters, will your method of looking find wireless cameras? Any chance you could take a few minutes and advise me? Local law enforcement has been contacted and all they say is when you find the cameras they are now yours. Any help is very much appreciated.
@@michaelfanelli1437 Holy smokes! Isn't trespassing to plant 'bugs' and then secretly listening in on people and transmitting that crime on the public airwaves about 3 or 4 felonies per device? What's their beef?
@@ronfox5519 there are many things worse than what I have said. Only gripe we know of is my son is in the county where shooting guns on one’s own property is very legal. The other side of the lake is city. They gripe if my son does a controlled burn of brush and debris. My son and daughter in law keep to themselves. Sheriff deputies were out a couple days ago but not enough evidence to press charges. I am still trying to find best procedure for finding cameras outside. Night vision is not working for us.
I'm one of the nerds that you speak of. Keep TX short. Use brevity codes. TX then move to a new observation point quickly with the idea that large or sudden movements will be seen from a distance. Offset after TX by a minimum of 1 km. If you can: make 1-time pads for info that needs to be spelled out but can't be transmitted in the clear. We have used these principles of COMSEC since before radio encryption was "common" for individual units. Mostly as a way to keep from getting shelled by the Soviets that tied radio direction finding to the FDC. Final hint: don't get complacent. The best encryption is often defeated by operators not following the schedule or using the incorrect encryption and then transmitting the same message using the correct one right after. Now they have a way to compare your encrypted comms and see if there is a mathematical pattern and use that against you.
You are a little young to remember or have been exposed to old Army commo procedures. There used to be a thing called an S.O.I. (signal operating instructions). Also known as a “code book”. It contained all the frequencies for every element, time tables for freq changes, authentication codes, brevity codes, call sign’s etc. In Vietnam movies sometimes you hear them talk an out burning the code book if they are about to be overrun. It’s the S.O.I. they are talking about. This is something that can easily be created for your group. Keep in mind the S.O.I. is considered a sensitive item.
Comms is a tough nut to crack because most ham radio guys are engineers by trade who enjoy tinkering with radio stuff as a hobby. For them, the idea of something that is easy to use and works out of the box defeats the whole purpose. They WANT to tinker, fiddle, and figure stuff out. To make matters worse, engineers aren’t typically known for their social skills. The end result is that we preppers become frustrated because communications is just one piece out of dozens that we have to learn about, buy, and train with but it’s difficult to find simple, plug & play solutions. With that being said, I look at comms no differently than I do rifle ballistics, tactical medical, land navigation, etc… it’s an important skill that takes time and effort to learn. The only difference is that those other things are generally considered fun by most preppers, so they’re willing to put in more effort to learn those skills to a high level. Comms stuff can be extremely challenging to learn, but I think people who blow it off (I’m NOT saying that’s what’s being suggested in this video) are doing a huge disservice to themselves, their family, and their group. I’ve been learning/using ham radio stuff from a preparedness standpoint for about a decade and I STILL get frustrated by the ham engineers on a weekly basis as I work on various projects. It’s painful at times, but the capabilities gained are worth the effort.
I read you 100%.... same situation like you, and I have been a HAM for close to 20 years. Yet I am challenged by the new digital era of radio. Plug & Play (Digital) systems I can handle, but when we start getting RaPi involved, I draw the line.
No, “comms” are not difficult and one not need be an engineer to master “comms”. I’m a General class ham radio operator and if I can do it, anyone else can master “comms”, too.🙄
@@BBaldwin I’ve been a General class for over a decade and am currently working on my Extra to take the test next month. I’m far from a newbie, and yes, once you get beyond the basic tasks, good, reliable, targeted comms is tough. It’s not hard to buy a radio & antenna, string it up in tree, dial a frequency and talk to a random person. But that’s not remotely close to what I’m talking about; it’s also not the radio skill that preparedness groups need. Getting a group to be able to reliably & repeatably use various modes to include JS8Call, WINLINK over Vara HF & 2m, possibly getting an itinerant business license to legally utilize encrypted digital voice & data, etc etc etc to pass information regionally & locally is pretty damn challenging. Let’s do a test. The bands are absolute shit today because of the recent solar activity. I’m monitoring JS8Call on 7.115, drop me a message telling me that i’m wrong and that targeted comms is a piece of cake. After all, you do have JS8Call working and an antenna capable of making targeted contacts, right? My callsign is K9ALE, prove me wrong.
@@BBaldwin If you’re talking about basic analog comms, not that’s not difficult at all. But if that’s all you’re using for your group, then you’re behind the power curve. Without a dedicated commo guy (or guys) in the group, it’s extremely challenging to get people up and running with JS8Call, WINLINK, a digital mode like DMR, etc. It’s extra challenging to help them remain proficient such that they could use it, unaided, in an actual emergency. PS: If you think you’ve “mastered” comms, I think you might be a personification of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
The main difference between comms and all the other things you mentioned is messing up those things gets you and perhaps your squad killed. Messing up signals gets everyone killed. This is why engineers have to go to such lengths to keep them secure and it pushes things so far out of the box so quickly it is tough to train a grunt on the theory. This is why rules of thumb are made and updated. Because explaining encryption to a layman is so difficult. An engineer can explain a 60 year old AR design to you sure, but explaining how AES-GCM-SIV works directly is nearly impossible, and there are few analogies that would make it more relatable.
Good stuff, Randall. I would also recommend NC Scout’s Geurilla’s Guide book. Two things from that book that a worth testing out: transmit / receive pairs using handheld yagi antennas. If you’re talking between 2 known points on the map and know the azimuth between stations, you can talk over long distances with low power and it’s very hard for anyone off axis to listen in or triangulate your signal. And sending digital messages over a tablet with something like andFLmsg allows you to send short transmissions with a lot of data that aren’t encrypted per se, but require some electronic translation to decode. Not hard to achieve with cheap basic equipment.
@@bruhnoyankeenobrim Short transmissions only make it hard to triangulate you if the person direction finding is using a directional antenna method. Anyone using an SDR based direction finding system (although there are several different approaches) will pinpoint you the second you transmit. Mobility is the best way to avoid triangulation, but you are compromising your AO. Directional antennas and low power can also work, but this is counter productive to mobility.
@DaveSmith-cp5kj Interesting I actually never heard about that I'm still learning a lot about radios. Can you suggest any sources where I can read up on this I find SDRs very interesting and would like to find out more about how that works? Thanks for sharing.
@@bruhnoyankeenobrim Look up the Rohde Schwartz Direction Finding White Paper PDF. This is a simple summary of SDR based DF methods. Ultimately though, the summary is that if you use a radio at all you are actively compromising yourself no matter what you do, so act accordingly.
Couple points. And, this is from a 14 yr grunt, now well into fat middle age, who plays radio and likes to go WAY out into the woods and set up emergency comms. First point, triangulating is surprisingly easy, if someone is transmitting. A simple Yagi antenna is VERY simple to build. Two guys, a half mile apart, can narrow it down pretty quick with nothing more than a Baofeng and a tape measure (no joke). Second, offsets are NOT encrypted, in any way, shape, or form. Someone with a good working knowledge of radios (and, I would assume, a comms guy in the military would know how to do this), can "unlock" the offset. Again, its simple enough to do. A simple scanner will pick it up. Third, and this is something that was JUST starting to come to fruition when I got out in 04, are drones. One only needs a general area, then saturate the place with drones. Honestly, as an ex infantryman, this modern warfare bullshit scares me. A single drone can do what an entire platoon used to do. As you said, your best bet is to work in code. I dont recall the booklet we used to use, but, each day, we would have a freq, callsigns, pro words, etc. This was when we still humped PRC 77s, and nothing was encrypted. Man, I wish I remember the name of those pads!!! Anyway, your best bet is to develop something like that. And, ALWAYS assume your radios are compromised. ALWAYS.
@@stevecochran9078 That could have been it. I just remember it was a small book, and was considered a sensitive item. It very well could have been the CEOI-its been two decades since I have used one though lol
I'm a Marine Corps vet (Armorer/Small Amrs Repairman), a HAM operator and a new subscriber as well. While having basic VHF/UHF FM Transceivers is great, look into Digital Modulation like D-STAR, C4FM, DMR and P25 capable radios. Everyone with a VHF/UHF FM Transceiver can hear you if you're in line of sight. Having a digital radio, on the other hand, it'll sound like a idling diesel engine on the frequency, that's the best way I can describe it. However, the downsides is; 1.) Those radios aren't cheap, just about all the places that sell them will ask for a FCC issued callsign. 2.) Not all digital vioce is the same modulation. That means that not all the radios will "talk" to each other. Everyone has to be on the same page with radios that have the digital modulation capability. While having a Baofeng hand held radio is a good thing, you're getting ahead of the curve. I've started out with Baofeng radios when I first got into the hobby, but upgraded to better equipment as I progressed. Hope this helps in achieving mostly secure comms.
@loriflarson4236 Yes and no. You can work the radio in the VFO. If you have a Amateur Radio License and want to get on repeaters and talk on simplex, one can program the tones, offset and frequencies in the channel mode to make things easier. If you don't have a license, I recommend not transmitting to avoid causing any interference. In the case you want to transmit, keep the radio in low power and look up the band plan for your area and use simplex frequencies. If you're in the middle of nowhere and not causing any interference, chances are the FCC will not come looking for you. Once you start causing interference and if enough people complain, then the FCC might get involved.
If you look hard enough, you can score a p25 aes256 capable surplus /\/\ radio off the internet for not too terribly much money. Found a decent deal on an xts2500 fcc/gov fpp vhf radio package for $250 a few months ago. There's an "open source" key loader that exists on the Internet for encryption keys, and the software is super easy to find. Simply relying on dmr/p25/cfm/etc digital modes on clear channels isn't secure comms if your adversary is even the least bit technically competent. Yeah, it would avert casual Sally's with a RadioShack scanner from listening in, but a laptop and a couple 20 dollar sdrs will decide unencrypted digital radio modes with ease.
@@loriflarson4236 - For general use, no, you can just punch in the frequency and talk. However, you should know your gear and it's a pretty easy, "knowable" radio. Also, 90% of its capability is basically useless for you. For non-tech people it's a scary term to "program" something, but it is really just setting things up for purpose. If you can handle a rifle, you can handle a radio.
Add or subtract the minute or hour at the time of transmission to adjust the compass bearing. True heading is 147, but you adjust the figure given + or - 32 because it's 32 minutes after the hour. The adjustment changes for every transmission but it's easy to decode for your group. The code can be changed easily by rotating the 4 variables. +, -, Hour, Minute
Hi there Randall, Morning Greetings from Greece! As a HAM and preparedness minded, I will second what everyone - with lengthy posts - has said so far. But let me add 2 things. If I were to track you, I would no bother with locating you while on the move. I would be monitoring and tracking you for 2-3 days, for the purpose of locating frequent points of communication. If I got stronger signals from them (larger antennas) all the better... I just located you home/base etc. And If you are not to communicate from them, that does not matter. It would become a black hole point in transmitting. Same thing. now....a technical advice. Getting to know the tech stuff DOES help you with tactics. Please take note of the following: I seriously cannot understand why everyone buys a longer antenna and sets his radio to VHF. This maximizes range and you do not generally want that, since most comms are intra-team, "tactical". Switch to low power (better radios allow for a very low power), switch to UHF (far greater absorption by vegetation than VHF), and get a stubby antenna, the 2 inch ones. I know, having 3 antennas per radio is a nightmare (keep the original for a spare), but the infantry has a point in getting 3 different AT weapons doesn't it?
I agree. Australian here, so we are allowed to use 5W UHF CB, but mine are always switched to 0.5 W with Stubby antenna, and this is fine for the distances I need - no need to shout louder than you need to.
UHF is also the best band to use indoors as it more easily passes around doorways and windows. I’ve always said this to my guys. Use UHF around upper band limit, set radio power to minimum. It won’t leave the forest.
Came here to see what he had to say and suggest the book. That book definitely took the mystery of some of this out of it for me. I'd highly recommend it, along with all his other books, even as just a reference if you already know everything it has in it (which it sounds like he does with maybe some exception to the digital stuff)
Totally agree, the radio discipline is very smart and effective. But really it is so important to try and understand basic coms just as well as ballistics or medical. There is so much that can be done to bring a team into the 21st century with just a little bit of effort to learn. ATAK over radio is just one example.
1. Buy a "trunk tracker" 2. Get an oscilloscope 3. Set a frequency buzzer to those lines of folks you dont like (200-800 mhz) 4. Only talk to your buddies over field line over great distances 5. Have a good damn time.
@@SpartanONegative "transmitting at very high levels" usually takes a lot of power, and either you will have a lots of heavy batteries or some kind of generator to do that for a longer time period. From another point of view - "transmitting at very high levels" can be seen (by simple electronics) from very far away and that could invite some unwanted ordnance ;)
I was a commo guy (31U then, now 25U) in an infantry battalion who ended up being the RTO for both the QRF and the BC during my tour in Afghanistan. I was voluntold for that because I knew how to use the PSC-5 and was an NCO (E5 at the time). I was responsible for comms back to KAF and they didn't trust a grunt with that. There's a reason ODA teams have 1-2 comms sergeants. I use GMRS for comms now. I also have several FRS radios because they're simple and can talk with GMRS. They're all set to talk with each other so I can just grab them and go.
Anytone DMR 878 radios have encryption as well as digital mode. You can (not FCC legal, but in a SHTF situation….) on GMRs or MURS frequencies quite easily. These radios can be purchased for less than $400
Yes, $400!! And - not having yet found an Elmer, and having uploaded a code plug - I have still not really learned how to use my 878 after 2 years w a tech license. Maybe I’m just that dumb, but it is not that simple either.
General license holder, effectively the RTO for my MAG. I have been playing with DMR for the last two months. It's a steep learning curve and if the guys in your group won't even learn a basic 'feng and basic RF principles... fuhget 'bout it. There's two guys with the 878 and they have no clue how to use it.
For the two replies to the OP, have you tried watching YT videos to learn some basics on the DMR? Here is a whole listing of videos, just on that subject alone. Just trying to help. th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=using+dmr+878
@@CLIFFHAAS-b3f It's not particularly difficult but you've got to take a few days of practice. Once you have all 16 AES-256 keys populated, and assigned, test them out heavily (yourself). Then at a planning meeting everybody brings their radios, you upload the codeplug to everybody and do tests for an hour. Have at least two if not 3 zones in the radio. Unsecure regular FM, including GMRS, ham if you're licensed, MURS, etc. Then tactical unencrypted DMR channels (optional), and finally AES encrypted when it's Game On. Nobody should ever know you have this capability, nobody outside of you and one other should ever know the RF frequencies and keys. Just a zone that says "Secure 1, secure 2, etc." Up to 256 channels per zone if needed. Create a use case for each one, if you want.
You had me at bloodhound! Miss my girl. Had to put her down a couple years ago. Awesome video! Coms are a must and 90 percent of us are not "nerdy" enough to figure this stuff out. Red neck talkin can't be decrypted 😅😅😅
One thing you could also do is have prerecorded background noises on an Ipod or similar device and as you are chatting have fake background noise playing close to you. Those background noises could be a train horn in the distance or up close, a running brook, a small waterfall or just about anything that is not even remotely in your area you are in. Those wonderful small bluetooth speakers come in handy for that as well. Hell even sit close to a busy highway and record the traffic for a couple hours and cherry pick 2 minute clips that you could loop if needed. You could even have a neighbors dog barking outside recorded. They can think they are in the right area and the background noise throws them off because they do not hear a train horn sounding off or a dog barking so they might give up the area and move to another one. A friend of mine had a tree top rope and pully system placed all over their woods and you could quietly move along the rope and pully system in the tree tops and anyone on the ground not looking up or know to look up would even know you are above them. All you had on you was your harness and line hook and when you needed to change to a new line all you did was unhook from the one and hook to the other. There were also key places where you could easily get up and down the line system in seconds. They got the idea from the movie Medicine Man.
My job in the military was tracking people down, among other things. I'd like to describe some threats you might not have considered. TDOA RDF systems can get accurate bearings on any transmission of any duration. A user can go back in time and plot a map of bearings over time, and slowly paint your routes. These are being phased in as the primary RDF system on all military platforms, and you can build one for $600. Brevity codes and code words are super popular. However, codebooks are not changed often enough at best. At worst, which is most common, people ditch the code words due to laziness or being in a pinch. From insurgents to professional near-peer militaries, I have seen no exception to these. Physical threats from "nerds" typically are IEDs, mortars, and rockets. Or kamikaze drones. Just referring to current conflicts, it's a much broader risk in reality. Think capabilities, intentions, opportunities. Consider the threat of covert actions. If your channels are discovered as operational channels, jamming is a threat. Encrypted channels don't give any hints on their own. A less common threat to this is replay attacks and channel infiltration. Someone could replay a transmission that was copied, such as "meet me at X position" which is a desired position or would otherwise reveal a code word specified when you are observed. Spoofing attacks like this that influence a target's movements are the most reliable way to engage target personnel ie kill or capture. Target might hear their buddy in the same channel they've been in say "hey step out in the road a little bit," only to take a sniper shot to the chest 9 seconds later from 1/2 mile away.
I came to say nearly the same things. I don't know what youtube videos or Hollywood references he's looking at, but the "nerds" arent going to go into the woods with their SDRs and gear. They'll have listening posts on peaks or towers relaying your location to the artillary. I can certainly see Hollywood strutting out SDRs for the visuals, but that isn't the threat except for sweeping the spectrum quickly to get your signal, just as a cheap scanner could do. Its the TDOA and beamforming systems, and these can be installed on cell towers. These techniques are good for EMCON 4. At EMCON 3 I'd suggest minimizing power and using directional antennas. And if you're worried about mortars and drone striking your locations (EMCON 2), to just avoid radio comms all together and switch to signal mirrors. Using directional antennas and signal mirrors may sound crazy inconvientant, but if you're in a situation where you're shooting at people who don't provide the right challenge/response... then you're dealing in a life & death situation that poor comsec is going to ruin your weekend. If you're just larping in the woods or paintballing, then sure the advice in this channel is just fine.
Never met anything that qualified as 'Grunt Proof.' Got yerself a new Subscriber for THAT alone! (Looking forward to checking out your other videos) Thank you!
Yup you are correct! I have my thermal certification as well. There will be no approach to any base. You will leave your position to forage and that group will be the first to be contacted.
Black trash bags, make you invisible.. Search; hiding from drones../ heat seeking, also evergreen 🌲 trees..put off heat= year around.. hide near/under them.. 😊 pine, Holly, cedar...ext...green year around.
Drones are very loud. They work in the Ukraine because there are constant bombings and firefights shield the drone noise. Also, drones quite easy to take down and they may have a bomb, but otherwise no way to attack. Also-also you aren't sitting in trenches in the woods, so the enemy have to navigate around the trees with that drone... so: - They are loud - The enemy still have to have boots on the ground to hit you - They are pretty hard to navigate in the woods
I'm totally lost with the new technology. I used anvrc46/47 when I was in service. Mastered building homemade antennas. I might be lost but not out the game yet. Great video sir.
As a radio nerd (me), I can say most everything you said checks out. One thing I’ll add is you don’t need to spend $4500 to achieve AES256 encryption. For $199 you can buy an Ailunce HD2 DMR radio. It has Motorola compatible AES256 encryption using the DMR protocol. Only real difference is the mode would be DMR instead of P25. Both are capable digital modes. I do prefer P25 as a standard but DMR is almost as good. In fact it might be better in some ways as it has the ability to use DMR repeaters that likely already exist in your immediate area. Anyway, hope that helps!
Excellent information brother. In addition to this video y’all should pick up the book “The Guerrilla's Guide to the Baofeng Radio”. This is a great reference to what Randell is saying. Thanks for the awesome content brother!
There's a channel called "S2 Underground" has radio-stuffs and other stuff that might be interesting to people here on Grunt Proof. Just putting this out there. (S2's video backlog might need some scrolling down for the misc interesting stuff)
He's got his videos listed by category so it's easy to find what you want if you go to play lists. A particular favorite of mine is his one time use code pad. If you follow it right your transmission time is too short to be tracked and nearly impossible to decrypt the code without the pad.
One additional thing we did for point reverences that I picked up from my dad, who was a comms tech in WWII, was to use random name references. For example, if your "PBR Point" was just knows as "the bar", then a reference to any beer would indicate that location, like Miller or Guinness. You can designate map point like "Boy" and then use any boy's name like Joe, Bob, or Robert to reference that point.
I know we come down hard on comms, especially if they have a HAM background, as they usually have a large ego and easily end up off in the weeds when talking about their favorite subject. But, for the record, pew pew veterans can just as easily go down a rabbit hole discussing windage, elevation, red dots, MOA and all of that important stuff that they love so much. Just a quick reminder that every bit of the prep work is important and needs to be brought down to the common denominator of your assembled peers. So, ease up a bit, find some humor and share the knowledge so that everyone understands it.
It was great advice for 10 years ago. And for avoiding announcing you every intention to the scanner. However a simple four pound dollar sensor package on a drone federal budget of every law-enforcement Agency. so forget hearing a vehicle pull up. They locate your 4000 acres from your radio signals. Then send in a thermal drone and search for every movement. And you will have no idea that you’re even being trapped.
Great tutorial... the radio comms. gear (and security strategies) play a major role in the script of new post-apocalyptic fiction-adventure series that I am involved in...as the idea was to keep it simple (and believable) for non-tactical civilian characters in the story, off-the shelf appropriate ham radio gear was chosen for the script...RDFing and mantracking definitively take place in the story plot's epic scale pursuit of the protagonist..
I think it's gr8 to try to make simple realistic radio comms part of your story. In a way getting people on board to make the effort needed to learn basic radio skills might be easier after shtf. Radio doesn't seem to rise to the importance it should until an event forces people to face not being able to call anyone at any time from almost anywhere. Good luck with it
Lesson from Ukraine, anything that can transmit or receive despite encryption draws drones and artillery. Btw I watch a bunch of your videos rarely leave a comment. Seen your award congrats!
Set up one radio a reasonable distance away, but not so far as to make them drive, leave it keyed on, take their vehicles & leave them stranded when they investigate lol!
I appreciate you highlighting this topic. For most people, encrypted comms are out of reach and even if you can afford them yourself, can you team/family afford them too? I think its better to have dozens of radios everyone knows how to use and use "redneck encryption" than having one pair of encrypted comms.
Encrypted radio comms are difficult, however something like the meshtastic system with solar powered nodes and AES256 encrpytion are pretty secure and not terribly difficult to use, it is a text message based system though, so no voice transmissions. It can also be used to securely send GPS data, and can be integrated with ATAK/ITAK. With about $500 in materials I am covering a majority of my standard AO (about 1.5 counties) and the county next to me has a few people running the same mesh system so my messages can be securely repeated by their nodes also meaning I have the entire bottom portion of my state covered.
I've been thinking along these lines for a long time, because unfortunately my options are super limited. I opted for CB radio for various coms purposes, because that's about the only thing I can possibly get buy in for among my list of friends, and because being so old and "outdated" certain well equipped and funded entities won't have it/don't likely have equipment that can listen to it. It also occurs to me, and I could be wrong, that it might be possible to use the skip chatter as "cover" to conceal short range transmissions. I've noticed that, for example, the guys running huge amps on superbowl six can overpower most transmissions from normal radios, except when in close proximity. My thought is that among a group operating close together, they should be able to cut through all that to each other, but someone trying to listen in from further away is just going to lose that low power transmission in the mess of the amp guys shouting at each other. Someone who knows more than me about radio science can chime in on whether my theory is right or not.
Back at JRTC at Ft Chaffee, we 509th OPFOR used a fake SSN +1 extra digit then add our 8 digit grid coordinate togther in " the clear". When we gave our location you subtracted from that number and that was our mortar position for resupply on the PRC-77.
7:25 The police phonetic (Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International) has been in use for over 80 years and was adopted for its succinctness and brevity. I’m more partial to it than the military phonetic alphabet since I started out as a law enforcement explorer before I enlisted in the military and later became a police officer, but the premise is the same: spelling out a letter through the use of words to prevent miscommunication.
I work for the fire service. We use Motorola 800 with encryption. It does not stop people from listening in. It just makes them buy more expensive hardware to listen in.
If you're really ENC, they can't buy hardware to monitor you, period. MAYBE they could find a key if they bribe someone in your radio shop but that's the only way. Very few FDs are encrypted (Philly and I think Denver). Are you thinking "trunked"? That's easy to decode but it takes a bit of knowledge to program in a trunked system and its talkgroups and more expensive scanners.
Good info. My group getting pace plan down and effective is a challenge let alone comms opsec. Slowly but surely. Commsec is difficult but vital. I suggest use of rattlegram as well.
Gonna watch this video tomorrow but this is a video concept ive been thinking through for a few months now. Figuring out how to get the best bang for 30 mins.
in the corps i was a satellite communications operator and also a radio operator, comm is legit trial and error of learning. the best skill you can have is troubleshooting. also you can do everything correct and it still wont work, you might have to start over 5-10 times and on the 11th try itll work, we might not know what "fixed' the problem we just know that radio is just a theory.
The $15 quansheng uv-k5(8) radio with the NUNU firmware has encrypted messaging, spectrum analyzer, modulation switch (so you can receive AM on MIL airband or satcom), SSB reception on CB etc, 18mhz-1200mhz.
The "Don't Want To Learn" solution: GMRS radio, channelized, same power as ham HT's (same range/clarity), "no test" 10-yr license for $35, as easy as "push the button & talk", no programming required, works out of the box. A potential downside is that it transmits in the clear and anyone else with a GMRS radio within range can hear you. The "I Could Learn, I Guess, If I Have To" solution: Something like the TYT MD-UV390 configured for DMR (digital mobile radio) and which includes an AES-256 encryption function that can be enabled. As I write this, it's only $115 on Amazon. That's just one example that I could find in a hurry. There are quite a few digital radio options out there for most any budget. Lots of youtube vids on configuring a DMR radio. Heck, **I** was able to figure it out and that's saying something! In an effort to mitigate triggering the "sad-hams": The TYT radio is intended as a ham radio. The FCC requires a ham license to transmit on ham freqs. The TYT radio is not FCC certified (allowed) to transmit on GMRS, FRS, MURS, Biz or any other non-ham freq band. Encrypted transmit is only allowed by the FCC on Business radios with a Business-Radio license on your assigned Business Freq (for us non-govt folks). All that being said, the TYT radio is legal to buy and possess and program however you like. The restrictions are for pressing the "push to talk" button and actually transmitting. Receiving is perfectly legal. Hopefully, you're picking up what I'm putting down.
Interestingly those laws don’t apply if the transmitter transmits less than 1/4 seconds per every ten seconds. Or something like that. I haven’t seen a device in the wild take advantage of that rule but even a raspberry pi could easily handle the compression needed.
And we can use AI Speech-to-Text and automatically tag and mine spoken transmissions too, major force multipler. Just needs an $80 RPi-5 with a $30 RTL-SDR. Even short of "listening" to the spoken words, a listening post can be like a trip-wire if certain signals/waveforms are detected.
@@rubberduckindustries6665 Essentially yes. If you have enough I/Q bandwidth resolution ("In-phase" and "Quadratic" samples, how SDR capures RF, with a high enough sample rate), the only limitation to your post-processing is storage space and compute power (the receiver doesn't need the compute, but post-processing does). The same I/Q samples are good for decoding any carrier type - AM, FM, PAM, AAM... etc, so long as the signal you are attempting to look at requires less bandwidth than your capture (roughly 80% of your capture rate is the practical limit). Once you pick out the waveform from the RF noise, you can do whatever post processing you want, to try and pick out data. For example if you have a 40MHz capture, you're likely going to be able to decode a 20MHz channel, but not a 40MHz channel. A 40MHz bandwidth capture can be used to look at all of the LoRa signals in the 915MHz ISM band (the band is 26MHz, 80% of a 40MHz capture is 32MHz), as well as any other signal format that fits in that band. This is why companies like Ettus Reasaerch (now part of National Instruments) make SDR products with 1.6GHz of capture bandwidth like the USRP X440 - one can analyze even all of the WiFi-6 160MHz wide channels in the entire 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz ISM bands, or the entire cellular band-set from one device. If you ever waned to know what NSA spends all that money on, or what those big DoE super-computers could do while they are idle (hin't: they are never "idle", they always find a workdload for them). Massively parallel processing can brute-force all waveform types and data encodings, and if you're NSA, you probably know about all the weaknesses and backdoors. Remember, if you want to create a transmitter for sale in the USA, you need to register it with the FCC - they keep a government-library of the emission types and major characteristics or the device. Look on the label for your FCC ID and do a Google search for "[your FCC-ID] fcc.io". It would be insane to assume that NSA hasn't purchased and torn apart every bit of each device that goes through FCC certification to find any weaknesses. Once the protocol is broken, one could just create a template of that protocol to scan for in the band of interest. One should assume that most closed-source radio protocols have zero-days that the NSA would gain no benefit from reporting, and organizations that create these standards have little interest in doing anything but supressing faults in their standards (the recent TETRA radio protocol out of the EU comes to mind here). The old "security by obscurity", or else "loss of market share". Hubris, pride, whatever you want to call it - it's a sin for a reason. For more rabbit-hole and food for thought, once a template of a protocol is created, on an expected carrier, on an expected band - this gives a nation-state-level threat actor a view to not only what it is, but what it isn't.
@@peterbaan9671 have you tried it? We can instantly jump to the beginning of the transmission and instantly snap to any carrier on the spectrum that just happened. It is instant replay of anything on the band of spectrum we're monitoring
Good stuff man. Greatly appreciate it. We use encryption at work but at home i have baofeng radios and even gave one to my buddy for hurricanes. Going to get some SOPs going
Obfuscation, often if you're trying to stay under the radar. It requires more creativity but listen to the common radio traffic in your area and tailor your code words to fit into that. For instance lots of ham radio fudds will talk about their medical issues. IBS, gout, arthritis can all have meanings in your group that no one is going to blink am eye at. 'Man my gout has really been acting up I need to goto Dr. Johnsons office' can indicate a situation and a location.
@GruntProof I'm waiting to have some disposable income to pickup one of the krakkensdr to see just how accurate it is at locating people as it's supposed to provide an exact position not just a bearing.
If polar is sop, don't declare polar, give out 2 sets of four numbers, padding the azimuth/back azimuth and distance as the sop specifies. Say, add day/month to degrees and year to distance So, pbr 3048 3267 would be 45 degrees, 1243 meters
I suggest you get in contact with their local ham club or group and coordinate with them for a fox hunt. It is not difficult and it does not take a long time to find someone by radio signal. Two ham with scanners and yagi antennas can get the job done in minutes. They have localized competition with gear for prizes fairly frequently.
On the frequency hopping. Implement a seed generation algorithm. Use the seed to determine randomized frequencies. The idea being that the seed can be changed on the fly and any radio using the same seed will have the same information. Seeds will also be closer to a true random compared to predefining things. This also automates a lot of that work
We had Frequency jumping radios in the late 80s into the 1990s, they were what was referred to as Trunked Systems....Kindo f what you are describing at 16:45 into your video.
On HF radio, you can talk on one frequency and listen on another frequency, and whoever is tuned in can listen(like your group), but that can be hard sometimes if the atmosphere isn't working with or for you. I've been a Ham radio operator for over 15 years. It's not hard to build your own radio once you're in it for a while.
What would you want simplified? What sort of device(s) are you expecting? How would you expect them to operate? Which functions are important for you? I'm considering designing something this summer Have you heard of Meshtastic in the meantime?
so on a bit of location encryption, you can have a daily updated encryption numbers that you use for corresponding uses. One example would be if you had to send your grid over an un encrypted net, in your sop you would add your 10 digit grid to the encryption number to help hide your true coordinates. I should all so note that code words for location requests/updates should be changed often as well. Doing a +/- system for time of day and date is use full in its own ways. It would take a metric ton of coordination on the end of the comms guys, but it is do able.
14:06 first, thank you for that moment of silence, it's been a while since I've been out in nature. Secondly, those are really good points to remember, but to sum it all up, just follow good opsec.
All great advice. I'd add one more layer to this and that's the one time use code pads. But those aren't for general communication purposes and best suited for observation or Intel relay. And very few people should be involved in it as possible, ideally two people unless you have to transmit across great distances with handhelds. It's a numeric code that changes with each transmission so even if somehow they cracked the last one they are back to the beginning next timed transmission. S2Underground did a video on it. Separation of code methods based on role in the mission makes it harder to be found and harder to know what is going on.
I say, your group/club should form an LLC and buy US 2nd hand comm gear. [You would be amazed what the US military sells for penny on the dollar.] You may have to buy three comm items to have two fully functional comm items and a bit of spare. Also, the clubs should join (membership) into regional Operating Clubs, where the HQ's buy the more expensive items. Think of it in the same manner of the hierarchy of the Church; parishes buy up to certain amount, the diocese will buy a higher level, then the archdiocese will purchase higher limits amounts and finally the Church purchases the most expensive and items use for higher level Operations. 😁
RDF can be quite easy. It all depends on the equipment and experience of the people doing it. It is possible, with easily purchased commercial products to be able to zero in on a signal in about 30 seconds. Its not uncommon for people to talk for 30 seconds so yea, you can be found pretty quick, assuming the trackers have the equipment and there are more than one tracker.
A few radios that have AES 256 encryption for $200 and under. Ailunce HD2, TYT MD 390 Plus, Anytone 878 UV. Less than $500 Hytera 782 (AES key sold separately $240), Belfone BF 930, caltta 660 (AES sold separate $200). All DMR but also have analog to talk with tri 152 or baofeng or anything else you already have.
You can pick up a cheap DMR Baofeng and they have 40bit encryption capabilities. Not "terribly" strong, but it is something. They are more expensive than an analog Baofeng, but not excessive [last time I checked].
During an infantry officer course at Ft. Benning, GA we had a force on force where one platoon was attempting to discover and attack another platoon's operations base (40 men each). We had only about a 4 square km area to locate in and I chose what was apparently a very good spot away from natural lines of drift. The other platoon came within 20 meters of us and still could not find us after hours of searching. And this was nowhere close to the really thick nasty stuff like a swamp or briar thicket. If one person good at fieldcraft is trying to hide then they are going to be very difficult to find.
Sadly even the most capable fieldcraft is now easily defeated with an Amazon prime membership. $3K gets you an Autel drone with high res thermal imaging, and 15KM range.
I understand everything you are saying. but a Mototrbo DMR radio for about $500 will do encryption. Cloning it not easy. but only a few seconds of manual programming per radio to add the key.
electronic comms is a massive danger area, forget encryption just the fact Electronic Counter Measures and direction finding is so advanced, you could be compromising yourself everytime you transmit. While 3rd world counties and guerrilla groups might be lacking ... i'm sure all state actors now have some capability in this field. I was a platoon signaler then Company signaler while in the infantry ... personally if somebody around me wanted to make a transmission i'd want them to go take a walk and do it,
Just about the easiest, fastest, and most reliable secure comms for the civilian is a DMR radio running AES256 encryption. There's numerous models available that make this possible. One of the biggest mistakes people make is running full power. If you don't need it, don't use it. It makes triangulation of your position really easy. Next, use encrypted meshtastic and ATAK for situational awareness and messaging. Lastly, set up a Bluetooth mesh network using BLE 5.0. It's used in numerous devices and even in things like motorcycle intercoms. It's currently used by Racial, Motorola, Tate, Harris and others in Military gear for squad level,low power comms that are extremely secure, and very hard to direction find because of the very low power level.
Basic cryptology is pretty easy. Use code words. Obviously there are a million ways to obfuscate your language. You can get encrypted radios - like Baofeng. You can use letter substitution ciphers. You can use frequency hopping. You can manually change frequencies. Some are radio programs, some you can do yourself. You can use charts, graphs, whatever. It doesn't have to be complicated, though. Best option is to be short and concise. DF isn't necessarily fast or accurate. Some are better than others. Regardless of what you do, have a plan. Make sure everybody knows the plan. Train how you fight, fight how you train.
The unconventional individual hits and runs to fight another day. Just like communicating. Transmit then move. All transmission are in code so only those that need to know what is being said and understands what was spoken. Also transmittions can be used to draw in another for a surprise. Learn to think Adapt improve everything is motion
With the high nature of the new area. A radio trans would be far more useful to set a trap than for actual comms, imo. Meaning. Best encryption is to make them assume radio activity is always a trap. Thus allowing comms to be used for limited comms.
Stay off the RF spectrum if possible or use an IP radio. Their handheld but basically use something like WIFI. The actual signal is digital which makes it very difficult to eavesdrop. BREVITY and AUTHENTICATON and CODEWORDS. Old field phone networks are secure and coupled with radios can provide a secure and difficult to monitor network. Combined with radios remoted by connecting them to the field phone network using simple Radio Wireline Interface procedures and you could build a very robust and secure communications system. Based on your needs it could be completely man mobile, vehicle mobile, or fixed in place.
Good video. Also having code words for things would help. Coyote sign could government wheeled vehicles, bandits or that neighbor you're not sure about.. Or acorns and cattails. You get the idea. Sounding like hunters looking for food while you're actually patrolling. Or like you're looking for a missing dog. All sorts of ways of disguising what you are up to and where you are.
Motorola's are DEFINITELY out of my Pocketbook's reach. I think THE best handheld Ham Rig for Tac Comm's is a Yeas VX-8 It operates on FOUR Ham Bands. If happen to have a MODIFIED Radio (Do so at your own legal risk), you can do some AMZING little tricks.For example, Team Leaders radio sends out at 146 MHz, but receives on 445 MHz. Team MEMBER'S Radio are set in the reverse. This is something I INTEND to teach MY group. The Baofengs can do the same thing: I just happen to have the Yeas.....
An added layer could well be to learn some amount of a relatively obscure language. Preferably a language that has no speakers in the area other wise. This is something I've noticed often on vacation. For example if we're on vacation in the middle of nowhere BC, the odds that someone understands Dutch, even though it's not that obscure a language is pretty slim. The odds that someone speaks our specific dialect of Dutch are pretty much null, given that even native speakers of Dutch who aren't from the area have trouble understanding the dialect.
@@swftflipGods plan lol more like Satan's. And it will be Apaches and Abrahams tanks, and swat vehicles etc, driven by illegals wearing US military uniforms or UN blue 🔵 helmets 🪖.
First, I have no illusions that if this type of situation happens, I dont expect to make it. That being said, its a numbers game. The government simply doesn't have the human resources to get everyone at once. Also, not all the military members are off the rails. If we have to deal with a military, it wont be ours.
@vacayooper4728 I mostly agree. Unfortunately though, I don't think that there will be that many pockets of resistance, regardless which government is being resisted. Unfortunately, most humans are OK with being ruled by just about anyone.
Hi guys I aint no one especial just someone that wants to know and learn from you guys, if shit hits the fan and when cellphones stop working what radios would work? I've been looking to HAM radios, GMRS radios what would work at long distances.
I havent read all of the comments so maybe somebody has already mentioned this so please forgive me....I would within our group make our own CEOI, set a time of day when we change channels, change call signs and challenge/passwords etc. It would take some time to do this so I am not sure how feasible it would be, just a suggestion?
We had a drown buzzing our location. A store bought, dad being retired military took ordinary balloons white and light blue read about how huge they operated and tangled one up on his fishing pole and got that sucker out of the sky, a fluke, na patient, make a plan gather intel and set your plan and execute, cool stuff.
It’s not dudes with SDR’s that make me limit emissions by using yagi antennas and adjusting down transmit power to minimum necessary… it’s the very real use of automated SDR tech employed on arrayed drones that can triangulate a position within meters the instant you hit the PTT. This isn’t the exclusive dominion of the military and signals intelligence assets. State law enforcement agencies are buying up this stuff, just like they have been using Stingray for years. … and it’s not like they need to walk through the bush to come at you, nor do they need to drop a bomb on you. Sometimes just knowing where the “enemy” without fucking with said enemy allows you to advance your position, mission, and objectives toward a checkmate position.
Most of the stuff you mentioned is true, but scary enough it's easy enough add sdr and thermal camera's to fairly silent drones as well. Your methods work about as good as your going to get for a mobile infantry coms group, but be aware there are always things out there that bigger and badder. (it is best to make your group as well trained as ready as possible, and also know its necessary to not draw attention when possible, and with it the ire of those who could possible have trump cards up their sleeve for groups like yours.) This will work well for most stuff though!
20 year comms guy here. The idea of your own codes is a great idea, but I’d add just a little more. Every night I’d pass out the next day comm encryption key, terms would never be the same. Every member would get 2 copies, an A and a B. One would be for a few hours, then at a designated time, 1600 the next sheet would become active. Obviously everyone would have to start in the same location to receive them or you make a months worth and pass them out. If SHTF on the 12th, everyone would start on page 12A/B. Hopefully this doesn’t sound like I’m mentally ill, actually I am a little special.
I like that idea 👍
👀👍🏻
You have made your own CEOI
Same sort of thing came to me as I listened to this common sense but critically important issue.
One very smart 'special' cooky you are Sir.
Thank you for your input...
We The People.
Thanks for this. Great idea.
I’m glad somebody in the community has said it. Comms is my #1 setback to all my preps. I can do some carpentry, welding, building ARs, gear setup, water collection systems, and animal husbandry. But outside of turning a knob to set channels and keying up I’m absolutely dumb when it comes to commo
Oh, you too???
Lol
Check this old navy radioman handbook. A lot of it doesn’t pertain, start on page 95, radiophone. It will give you a solid base on comms.
www.navy-radio.com/manuals/rm32-10228E-1967.pdf
So basically you can do what everyone else can do, but you have trouble with comms? That’s no excuse and not a very good position to be in. Learn it. Comms are essential and there is no excuse to not be familiar in this day and age of cheap radios that are abundant, and the information literally at your fingertips.
You have the important stuff squared away in my opinion
Get educated, get your ham radio license and your “comms” situation will be remedied🤡
Good information. I was an 11B/ RTO back in 1990-1992. We used PRC 77 radios, and cartoon references to name our teams, locations, movements, etc. It worked great as long for us, except for this one guy who would come on the radio telling us “this is an official government frequency and you are not allowed to use it without authorization”. But we just ignored him and carried on with the mission. Fun times!
Ive actually use a Whistler digital scanner with a bandscope and signal strength meter and a small handheld yagui to locate cartel spotters on hilltops in Vekhol valley in AZ. Took 2 whole day and a lot of patience and moving to locate them in a fixed location. Boy were they surprised when we made contact.
That’s a gutsy move. Would feel safer not letting them know.
You can cut that search time by more than half by placing your directional in a shielded tunnel. Install a variable resistor to adjust DB- and use squelch break to rapidly close the distance... Once you've reached minimum RF receive and full squelch it's just hunting 101 pick your target out of the terrain..,... Using SDR is even easier.. people seem to forget we can rapidly scan transmit and receive codes and we can already decode the digital modes.... They also forget a whole team can be monitored by dropping a few SDR Porter packs in the area to monitor and triangulate positions...
David my name is Mike from Tuscaloosa Alabama. I am not a coms tech nor am I ex military. I have a serious problem on my son’s property. Ken’s and Karen’s have placed hidden cameras with audio on his property. Some are WiFi and some are cellular. We cannot find them after many hours searching visually. With your experience finding cartel spotters, will your method of looking find wireless cameras? Any chance you could take a few minutes and advise me? Local law enforcement has been contacted and all they say is when you find the cameras they are now yours. Any help is very much appreciated.
@@michaelfanelli1437
Holy smokes! Isn't trespassing to plant 'bugs' and then secretly listening in on people and transmitting that crime on the public airwaves about 3 or 4 felonies per device?
What's their beef?
@@ronfox5519 there are many things worse than what I have said.
Only gripe we know of is my son is in the county where shooting guns on one’s own property is very legal. The other side of the lake is city. They gripe if my son does a controlled burn of brush and debris. My son and daughter in law keep to themselves. Sheriff deputies were out a couple days ago but not enough evidence to press charges.
I am still trying to find best procedure for finding cameras outside. Night vision is not working for us.
I'm one of the nerds that you speak of. Keep TX short. Use brevity codes. TX then move to a new observation point quickly with the idea that large or sudden movements will be seen from a distance. Offset after TX by a minimum of 1 km.
If you can: make 1-time pads for info that needs to be spelled out but can't be transmitted in the clear.
We have used these principles of COMSEC since before radio encryption was "common" for individual units. Mostly as a way to keep from getting shelled by the Soviets that tied radio direction finding to the FDC.
Final hint: don't get complacent.
The best encryption is often defeated by operators not following the schedule or using the incorrect encryption and then transmitting the same message using the correct one right after. Now they have a way to compare your encrypted comms and see if there is a mathematical pattern and use that against you.
You are a little young to remember or have been exposed to old Army commo procedures. There used to be a thing called an S.O.I. (signal operating instructions). Also known as a “code book”. It contained all the frequencies for every element, time tables for freq changes, authentication codes, brevity codes, call sign’s etc. In Vietnam movies sometimes you hear them talk an out burning the code book if they are about to be overrun. It’s the S.O.I. they are talking about. This is something that can easily be created for your group. Keep in mind the S.O.I. is considered a sensitive item.
Already have one made up. Class of 1972.
CEOI
CEOI in the 80s
Comms is a tough nut to crack because most ham radio guys are engineers by trade who enjoy tinkering with radio stuff as a hobby. For them, the idea of something that is easy to use and works out of the box defeats the whole purpose. They WANT to tinker, fiddle, and figure stuff out. To make matters worse, engineers aren’t typically known for their social skills.
The end result is that we preppers become frustrated because communications is just one piece out of dozens that we have to learn about, buy, and train with but it’s difficult to find simple, plug & play solutions.
With that being said, I look at comms no differently than I do rifle ballistics, tactical medical, land navigation, etc… it’s an important skill that takes time and effort to learn. The only difference is that those other things are generally considered fun by most preppers, so they’re willing to put in more effort to learn those skills to a high level.
Comms stuff can be extremely challenging to learn, but I think people who blow it off (I’m NOT saying that’s what’s being suggested in this video) are doing a huge disservice to themselves, their family, and their group.
I’ve been learning/using ham radio stuff from a preparedness standpoint for about a decade and I STILL get frustrated by the ham engineers on a weekly basis as I work on various projects. It’s painful at times, but the capabilities gained are worth the effort.
I read you 100%....
same situation like you, and I have been a HAM for close to 20 years. Yet I am challenged by the new digital era of radio. Plug & Play (Digital) systems I can handle, but when we start getting RaPi involved, I draw the line.
No, “comms” are not difficult and one not need be an engineer to master “comms”.
I’m a General class ham radio operator and if I can do it, anyone else can master “comms”, too.🙄
@@BBaldwin I’ve been a General class for over a decade and am currently working on my Extra to take the test next month. I’m far from a newbie, and yes, once you get beyond the basic tasks, good, reliable, targeted comms is tough.
It’s not hard to buy a radio & antenna, string it up in tree, dial a frequency and talk to a random person. But that’s not remotely close to what I’m talking about; it’s also not the radio skill that preparedness groups need.
Getting a group to be able to reliably & repeatably use various modes to include JS8Call, WINLINK over Vara HF & 2m, possibly getting an itinerant business license to legally utilize encrypted digital voice & data, etc etc etc to pass information regionally & locally is pretty damn challenging.
Let’s do a test. The bands are absolute shit today because of the recent solar activity. I’m monitoring JS8Call on 7.115, drop me a message telling me that i’m wrong and that targeted comms is a piece of cake. After all, you do have JS8Call working and an antenna capable of making targeted contacts, right? My callsign is K9ALE, prove me wrong.
@@BBaldwin If you’re talking about basic analog comms, not that’s not difficult at all. But if that’s all you’re using for your group, then you’re behind the power curve. Without a dedicated commo guy (or guys) in the group, it’s extremely challenging to get people up and running with JS8Call, WINLINK, a digital mode like DMR, etc. It’s extra challenging to help them remain proficient such that they could use it, unaided, in an actual emergency.
PS: If you think you’ve “mastered” comms, I think you might be a personification of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
The main difference between comms and all the other things you mentioned is messing up those things gets you and perhaps your squad killed. Messing up signals gets everyone killed. This is why engineers have to go to such lengths to keep them secure and it pushes things so far out of the box so quickly it is tough to train a grunt on the theory. This is why rules of thumb are made and updated. Because explaining encryption to a layman is so difficult. An engineer can explain a 60 year old AR design to you sure, but explaining how AES-GCM-SIV works directly is nearly impossible, and there are few analogies that would make it more relatable.
Good stuff, Randall. I would also recommend NC Scout’s Geurilla’s Guide book. Two things from that book that a worth testing out: transmit / receive pairs using handheld yagi antennas. If you’re talking between 2 known points on the map and know the azimuth between stations, you can talk over long distances with low power and it’s very hard for anyone off axis to listen in or triangulate your signal. And sending digital messages over a tablet with something like andFLmsg allows you to send short transmissions with a lot of data that aren’t encrypted per se, but require some electronic translation to decode. Not hard to achieve with cheap basic equipment.
Plus andFLmsg sends short data bursts making it hard to triangulate you.
Great info. keep sharing, knowledge is power.
@@bruhnoyankeenobrim Short transmissions only make it hard to triangulate you if the person direction finding is using a directional antenna method. Anyone using an SDR based direction finding system (although there are several different approaches) will pinpoint you the second you transmit. Mobility is the best way to avoid triangulation, but you are compromising your AO. Directional antennas and low power can also work, but this is counter productive to mobility.
@DaveSmith-cp5kj Interesting I actually never heard about that I'm still learning a lot about radios. Can you suggest any sources where I can read up on this I find SDRs very interesting and would like to find out more about how that works? Thanks for sharing.
@@bruhnoyankeenobrim Look up the Rohde Schwartz Direction Finding White Paper PDF. This is a simple summary of SDR based DF methods.
Ultimately though, the summary is that if you use a radio at all you are actively compromising yourself no matter what you do, so act accordingly.
Couple points. And, this is from a 14 yr grunt, now well into fat middle age, who plays radio and likes to go WAY out into the woods and set up emergency comms.
First point, triangulating is surprisingly easy, if someone is transmitting. A simple Yagi antenna is VERY simple to build. Two guys, a half mile apart, can narrow it down pretty quick with nothing more than a Baofeng and a tape measure (no joke).
Second, offsets are NOT encrypted, in any way, shape, or form. Someone with a good working knowledge of radios (and, I would assume, a comms guy in the military would know how to do this), can "unlock" the offset. Again, its simple enough to do. A simple scanner will pick it up.
Third, and this is something that was JUST starting to come to fruition when I got out in 04, are drones. One only needs a general area, then saturate the place with drones. Honestly, as an ex infantryman, this modern warfare bullshit scares me. A single drone can do what an entire platoon used to do.
As you said, your best bet is to work in code. I dont recall the booklet we used to use, but, each day, we would have a freq, callsigns, pro words, etc. This was when we still humped PRC 77s, and nothing was encrypted. Man, I wish I remember the name of those pads!!! Anyway, your best bet is to develop something like that.
And, ALWAYS assume your radios are compromised. ALWAYS.
CEOI?
@@stevecochran9078 That could have been it. I just remember it was a small book, and was considered a sensitive item. It very well could have been the CEOI-its been two decades since I have used one though lol
Redneck encryption sounds practical, time to practice, the underworld has used that method for years.
Excellent response. I couldn't agree more. Any thoughts on how you would defeat the drones?
@@jeffb5781 not a clue. Those are so prevalent and easy to obtain now
I'm a Marine Corps vet (Armorer/Small Amrs Repairman), a HAM operator and a new subscriber as well. While having basic VHF/UHF FM Transceivers is great, look into Digital Modulation like D-STAR, C4FM, DMR and P25 capable radios.
Everyone with a VHF/UHF FM Transceiver can hear you if you're in line of sight. Having a digital radio, on the other hand, it'll sound like a idling diesel engine on the frequency, that's the best way I can describe it.
However, the downsides is;
1.) Those radios aren't cheap, just about all the places that sell them will ask for a FCC issued callsign.
2.) Not all digital vioce is the same modulation. That means that not all the radios will "talk" to each other. Everyone has to be on the same page with radios that have the digital modulation capability.
While having a Baofeng hand held radio is a good thing, you're getting ahead of the curve. I've started out with Baofeng radios when I first got into the hobby, but upgraded to better equipment as I progressed.
Hope this helps in achieving mostly secure comms.
Do the baofangs need to be programmed? I'm totally tech-stupid, but I need comms
@loriflarson4236 Yes and no. You can work the radio in the VFO. If you have a Amateur Radio License and want to get on repeaters and talk on simplex, one can program the tones, offset and frequencies in the channel mode to make things easier.
If you don't have a license, I recommend not transmitting to avoid causing any interference. In the case you want to transmit, keep the radio in low power and look up the band plan for your area and use simplex frequencies.
If you're in the middle of nowhere and not causing any interference, chances are the FCC will not come looking for you. Once you start causing interference and if enough people complain, then the FCC might get involved.
Baofang is for the grunts. Save those for newbies or those getting fire wood. Leaders get better radios and code sheets.
If you look hard enough, you can score a p25 aes256 capable surplus /\/\ radio off the internet for not too terribly much money. Found a decent deal on an xts2500 fcc/gov fpp vhf radio package for $250 a few months ago. There's an "open source" key loader that exists on the Internet for encryption keys, and the software is super easy to find.
Simply relying on dmr/p25/cfm/etc digital modes on clear channels isn't secure comms if your adversary is even the least bit technically competent. Yeah, it would avert casual Sally's with a RadioShack scanner from listening in, but a laptop and a couple 20 dollar sdrs will decide unencrypted digital radio modes with ease.
@@loriflarson4236 - For general use, no, you can just punch in the frequency and talk. However, you should know your gear and it's a pretty easy, "knowable" radio. Also, 90% of its capability is basically useless for you.
For non-tech people it's a scary term to "program" something, but it is really just setting things up for purpose. If you can handle a rifle, you can handle a radio.
Add or subtract the minute or hour at the time of transmission to adjust the compass bearing.
True heading is 147, but you adjust the figure given + or - 32 because it's 32 minutes after the hour.
The adjustment changes for every transmission but it's easy to decode for your group.
The code can be changed easily by rotating the 4 variables. +, -, Hour, Minute
Hi there Randall, Morning Greetings from Greece!
As a HAM and preparedness minded, I will second what everyone - with lengthy posts - has said so far.
But let me add 2 things.
If I were to track you, I would no bother with locating you while on the move. I would be monitoring and tracking you for 2-3 days, for the purpose of locating frequent points of communication. If I got stronger signals from them (larger antennas) all the better... I just located you home/base etc.
And If you are not to communicate from them, that does not matter. It would become a black hole point in transmitting. Same thing.
now....a technical advice. Getting to know the tech stuff DOES help you with tactics. Please take note of the following:
I seriously cannot understand why everyone buys a longer antenna and sets his radio to VHF. This maximizes range and you do not generally want that, since most comms are intra-team, "tactical".
Switch to low power (better radios allow for a very low power), switch to UHF (far greater absorption by vegetation than VHF), and get a stubby antenna, the 2 inch ones.
I know, having 3 antennas per radio is a nightmare (keep the original for a spare), but the infantry has a point in getting 3 different AT weapons doesn't it?
Great points. Thank you
I agree. Australian here, so we are allowed to use 5W UHF CB, but mine are always switched to 0.5 W with Stubby antenna, and this is fine for the distances I need - no need to shout louder than you need to.
UHF is also the best band to use indoors as it more easily passes around doorways and windows. I’ve always said this to my guys. Use UHF around upper band limit, set radio power to minimum. It won’t leave the forest.
Excellent advice. Thank you for this!
Just use a switch on 3 different antennas.
Check out NC Scout's book, "The Guerrillas Guide to the Beofeng Radio". It's a good read
Saw it on notarubicons channel thought about picking one up for a bathroom read
@@JayTX. Your legs are gonna be numb after every shit. Ask me how I know... 😂 😂
@@kevinbrown3316 hahaha yep I have to order one after that comment
Came here to see what he had to say and suggest the book. That book definitely took the mystery of some of this out of it for me. I'd highly recommend it, along with all his other books, even as just a reference if you already know everything it has in it (which it sounds like he does with maybe some exception to the digital stuff)
@@kevinbrown3316 best book review I've ever seen
Totally agree, the radio discipline is very smart and effective. But really it is so important to try and understand basic coms just as well as ballistics or medical. There is so much that can be done to bring a team into the 21st century with just a little bit of effort to learn. ATAK over radio is just one example.
1. Buy a "trunk tracker"
2. Get an oscilloscope
3. Set a frequency buzzer to those lines of folks you dont like (200-800 mhz)
4. Only talk to your buddies over field line over great distances
5. Have a good damn time.
If I don't like your frequency, I'll just transmit that frequency at very high levels 😂 You can always crank it up another notch ⚡
@@SpartanONegative "transmitting at very high levels" usually takes a lot of power, and either you will have a lots of heavy batteries or some kind of generator to do that for a longer time period. From another point of view - "transmitting at very high levels" can be seen (by simple electronics) from very far away and that could invite some unwanted ordnance ;)
That buzzer on all the time would be fairly easy to triangulate and find out where that transmitter is
I was a commo guy (31U then, now 25U) in an infantry battalion who ended up being the RTO for both the QRF and the BC during my tour in Afghanistan. I was voluntold for that because I knew how to use the PSC-5 and was an NCO (E5 at the time). I was responsible for comms back to KAF and they didn't trust a grunt with that. There's a reason ODA teams have 1-2 comms sergeants.
I use GMRS for comms now. I also have several FRS radios because they're simple and can talk with GMRS. They're all set to talk with each other so I can just grab them and go.
Anytone DMR 878 radios have encryption as well as digital mode. You can (not FCC legal, but in a SHTF situation….) on GMRs or MURS frequencies quite easily. These radios can be purchased for less than $400
Yes, $400!! And - not having yet found an Elmer, and having uploaded a code plug - I have still not really learned how to use my 878 after 2 years w a tech license. Maybe I’m just that dumb, but it is not that simple either.
General license holder, effectively the RTO for my MAG. I have been playing with DMR for the last two months. It's a steep learning curve and if the guys in your group won't even learn a basic 'feng and basic RF principles... fuhget 'bout it.
There's two guys with the 878 and they have no clue how to use it.
For the two replies to the OP, have you tried watching YT videos to learn some basics on the DMR? Here is a whole listing of videos, just on that subject alone. Just trying to help.
th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=using+dmr+878
@@CLIFFHAAS-b3f It's not particularly difficult but you've got to take a few days of practice. Once you have all 16 AES-256 keys populated, and assigned, test them out heavily (yourself). Then at a planning meeting everybody brings their radios, you upload the codeplug to everybody and do tests for an hour. Have at least two if not 3 zones in the radio. Unsecure regular FM, including GMRS, ham if you're licensed, MURS, etc. Then tactical unencrypted DMR channels (optional), and finally AES encrypted when it's Game On. Nobody should ever know you have this capability, nobody outside of you and one other should ever know the RF frequencies and keys. Just a zone that says "Secure 1, secure 2, etc." Up to 256 channels per zone if needed. Create a use case for each one, if you want.
You had me at bloodhound! Miss my girl. Had to put her down a couple years ago. Awesome video! Coms are a must and 90 percent of us are not "nerdy" enough to figure this stuff out. Red neck talkin can't be decrypted 😅😅😅
One thing you could also do is have prerecorded background noises on an Ipod or similar device and as you are chatting have fake background noise playing close to you. Those background noises could be a train horn in the distance or up close, a running brook, a small waterfall or just about anything that is not even remotely in your area you are in. Those wonderful small bluetooth speakers come in handy for that as well. Hell even sit close to a busy highway and record the traffic for a couple hours and cherry pick 2 minute clips that you could loop if needed. You could even have a neighbors dog barking outside recorded. They can think they are in the right area and the background noise throws them off because they do not hear a train horn sounding off or a dog barking so they might give up the area and move to another one.
A friend of mine had a tree top rope and pully system placed all over their woods and you could quietly move along the rope and pully system in the tree tops and anyone on the ground not looking up or know to look up would even know you are above them. All you had on you was your harness and line hook and when you needed to change to a new line all you did was unhook from the one and hook to the other. There were also key places where you could easily get up and down the line system in seconds. They got the idea from the movie Medicine Man.
My job in the military was tracking people down, among other things. I'd like to describe some threats you might not have considered.
TDOA RDF systems can get accurate bearings on any transmission of any duration. A user can go back in time and plot a map of bearings over time, and slowly paint your routes. These are being phased in as the primary RDF system on all military platforms, and you can build one for $600.
Brevity codes and code words are super popular. However, codebooks are not changed often enough at best. At worst, which is most common, people ditch the code words due to laziness or being in a pinch. From insurgents to professional near-peer militaries, I have seen no exception to these.
Physical threats from "nerds" typically are IEDs, mortars, and rockets. Or kamikaze drones. Just referring to current conflicts, it's a much broader risk in reality. Think capabilities, intentions, opportunities. Consider the threat of covert actions.
If your channels are discovered as operational channels, jamming is a threat. Encrypted channels don't give any hints on their own.
A less common threat to this is replay attacks and channel infiltration. Someone could replay a transmission that was copied, such as "meet me at X position" which is a desired position or would otherwise reveal a code word specified when you are observed. Spoofing attacks like this that influence a target's movements are the most reliable way to engage target personnel ie kill or capture. Target might hear their buddy in the same channel they've been in say "hey step out in the road a little bit," only to take a sniper shot to the chest 9 seconds later from 1/2 mile away.
I came to say nearly the same things. I don't know what youtube videos or Hollywood references he's looking at, but the "nerds" arent going to go into the woods with their SDRs and gear. They'll have listening posts on peaks or towers relaying your location to the artillary. I can certainly see Hollywood strutting out SDRs for the visuals, but that isn't the threat except for sweeping the spectrum quickly to get your signal, just as a cheap scanner could do. Its the TDOA and beamforming systems, and these can be installed on cell towers.
These techniques are good for EMCON 4. At EMCON 3 I'd suggest minimizing power and using directional antennas. And if you're worried about mortars and drone striking your locations (EMCON 2), to just avoid radio comms all together and switch to signal mirrors.
Using directional antennas and signal mirrors may sound crazy inconvientant, but if you're in a situation where you're shooting at people who don't provide the right challenge/response... then you're dealing in a life & death situation that poor comsec is going to ruin your weekend.
If you're just larping in the woods or paintballing, then sure the advice in this channel is just fine.
Camouflage Carrier Pigeons.
With low tech lasers and GPS lol
No! Not camouflage! They’ll look like combatants. You need denim pigeons so they blend in.
😅
😂😂😂 exactly!
The CCP?
Never got into comms or nav. Recently started thinking on it some. First thing I have seen that makes any sense to me. Appreciate it.
Never met anything that qualified as 'Grunt Proof.'
Got yerself a new Subscriber for THAT alone!
(Looking forward to checking out your other videos)
Thank you!
Drones have changed the game. No need to walk up on someone or someplace anymore. Love your podcast!
Yup you are correct! I have my thermal certification as well.
There will be no approach to any base. You will leave your position to forage and that group will be the first to be contacted.
They said the same thing about missiles. Yet........
@@rednose1966 I have a drone with Flir thermal as well. Working on my commercial UAS license.
Black trash bags, make you invisible.. Search; hiding from drones../ heat seeking, also evergreen 🌲 trees..put off heat= year around.. hide near/under them.. 😊 pine, Holly, cedar...ext...green year around.
Drones are very loud. They work in the Ukraine because there are constant bombings and firefights shield the drone noise.
Also, drones quite easy to take down and they may have a bomb, but otherwise no way to attack. Also-also you aren't sitting in trenches in the woods, so the enemy have to navigate around the trees with that drone... so:
- They are loud
- The enemy still have to have boots on the ground to hit you
- They are pretty hard to navigate in the woods
I'm totally lost with the new technology. I used anvrc46/47 when I was in service. Mastered building homemade antennas. I might be lost but not out the game yet. Great video sir.
As a radio nerd (me), I can say most everything you said checks out. One thing I’ll add is you don’t need to spend $4500 to achieve AES256 encryption. For $199 you can buy an Ailunce HD2 DMR radio. It has Motorola compatible AES256 encryption using the DMR protocol. Only real difference is the mode would be DMR instead of P25. Both are capable digital modes. I do prefer P25 as a standard but DMR is almost as good. In fact it might be better in some ways as it has the ability to use DMR repeaters that likely already exist in your immediate area. Anyway, hope that helps!
Aliunce hd2 should be the new prepared civilian standard IMHO
Excellent information brother. In addition to this video y’all should pick up the book “The Guerrilla's Guide to the Baofeng Radio”. This is a great reference to what Randell is saying. Thanks for the awesome content brother!
There's a channel called "S2 Underground" has radio-stuffs and other stuff that might be interesting to people here on Grunt Proof. Just putting this out there.
(S2's video backlog might need some scrolling down for the misc interesting stuff)
He's got his videos listed by category so it's easy to find what you want if you go to play lists.
A particular favorite of mine is his one time use code pad. If you follow it right your transmission time is too short to be tracked and nearly impossible to decrypt the code without the pad.
just finished watching the wire for today. Solid channel
His Ghost Net thing is neat too
One additional thing we did for point reverences that I picked up from my dad, who was a comms tech in WWII, was to use random name references. For example, if your "PBR Point" was just knows as "the bar", then a reference to any beer would indicate that location, like Miller or Guinness.
You can designate map point like "Boy" and then use any boy's name like Joe, Bob, or Robert to reference that point.
I know we come down hard on comms, especially if they have a HAM background, as they usually have a large ego and easily end up off in the weeds when talking about their favorite subject. But, for the record, pew pew veterans can just as easily go down a rabbit hole discussing windage, elevation, red dots, MOA and all of that important stuff that they love so much. Just a quick reminder that every bit of the prep work is important and needs to be brought down to the common denominator of your assembled peers. So, ease up a bit, find some humor and share the knowledge so that everyone understands it.
pew pew?
It was great advice for 10 years ago. And for avoiding announcing you every intention to the scanner. However a simple four pound dollar sensor package on a drone federal budget of every law-enforcement Agency. so forget hearing a vehicle pull up. They locate your 4000 acres from your radio signals. Then send in a thermal drone and search for every movement. And you will have no idea that you’re even being trapped.
I have things that defeat flir and can move without been seen night Vision is a different story.
@@davidkanalos6710 they can make 1 million mistakes, you can't make 1
To me, it sounds like the only solution is not broadcasting if you were on an op. Too dangerous with all the technology that exists.
I was also an RTO (25C) back in the Army. I really appreciate your video. COMSEC on the civilian side has been like chasing a unicorn.
Great tutorial... the radio comms. gear (and security strategies) play a major role in the script of new post-apocalyptic fiction-adventure series that I am involved in...as the idea was to keep it simple (and believable) for non-tactical civilian characters in the story, off-the shelf appropriate ham radio gear was chosen for the script...RDFing and mantracking definitively take place in the story plot's epic scale pursuit of the protagonist..
I think it's gr8 to try to make simple realistic radio comms part of your story. In a way getting people on board to make the effort needed to learn basic radio skills might be easier after shtf. Radio doesn't seem to rise to the importance it should until an event forces people to face not being able to call anyone at any time from almost anywhere. Good luck with it
@@tbmpetsolutions Thanks 😊 tropical salutes, from the on-location work in Venezuela, currently filming site scouting.
Lesson from Ukraine, anything that can transmit or receive despite encryption draws drones and artillery.
Btw I watch a bunch of your videos rarely leave a comment. Seen your award congrats!
Set up one radio a reasonable distance away, but not so far as to make them drive, leave it keyed on, take their vehicles & leave them stranded when they investigate lol!
Excellent video man! I’ve watched you on and off for a few years now and to learn that you were an RTO is awesome!
I appreciate you highlighting this topic. For most people, encrypted comms are out of reach and even if you can afford them yourself, can you team/family afford them too? I think its better to have dozens of radios everyone knows how to use and use "redneck encryption" than having one pair of encrypted comms.
Encrypted radio comms are difficult, however something like the meshtastic system with solar powered nodes and AES256 encrpytion are pretty secure and not terribly difficult to use, it is a text message based system though, so no voice transmissions.
It can also be used to securely send GPS data, and can be integrated with ATAK/ITAK.
With about $500 in materials I am covering a majority of my standard AO (about 1.5 counties) and the county next to me has a few people running the same mesh system so my messages can be securely repeated by their nodes also meaning I have the entire bottom portion of my state covered.
I've been thinking along these lines for a long time, because unfortunately my options are super limited. I opted for CB radio for various coms purposes, because that's about the only thing I can possibly get buy in for among my list of friends, and because being so old and "outdated" certain well equipped and funded entities won't have it/don't likely have equipment that can listen to it. It also occurs to me, and I could be wrong, that it might be possible to use the skip chatter as "cover" to conceal short range transmissions. I've noticed that, for example, the guys running huge amps on superbowl six can overpower most transmissions from normal radios, except when in close proximity. My thought is that among a group operating close together, they should be able to cut through all that to each other, but someone trying to listen in from further away is just going to lose that low power transmission in the mess of the amp guys shouting at each other. Someone who knows more than me about radio science can chime in on whether my theory is right or not.
Back at JRTC at Ft Chaffee, we 509th OPFOR used a fake SSN +1 extra digit then add our 8 digit grid coordinate togther in " the clear". When we gave our location you subtracted from that number and that was our mortar position for resupply on the PRC-77.
I've just started looking into establishing a Meshtastic network.
May be worth checking out.
7:25 The police phonetic (Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International) has been in use for over 80 years and was adopted for its succinctness and brevity. I’m more partial to it than the military phonetic alphabet since I started out as a law enforcement explorer before I enlisted in the military and later became a police officer, but the premise is the same: spelling out a letter through the use of words to prevent miscommunication.
I work for the fire service. We use Motorola 800 with encryption. It does not stop people from listening in. It just makes them buy more expensive hardware to listen in.
If you're really ENC, they can't buy hardware to monitor you, period. MAYBE they could find a key if they bribe someone in your radio shop but that's the only way. Very few FDs are encrypted (Philly and I think Denver). Are you thinking "trunked"? That's easy to decode but it takes a bit of knowledge to program in a trunked system and its talkgroups and more expensive scanners.
Good info. My group getting pace plan down and effective is a challenge let alone comms opsec. Slowly but surely. Commsec is difficult but vital. I suggest use of rattlegram as well.
Gonna watch this video tomorrow but this is a video concept ive been thinking through for a few months now. Figuring out how to get the best bang for 30 mins.
in the corps i was a satellite communications operator and also a radio operator, comm is legit trial and error of learning. the best skill you can have is troubleshooting. also you can do everything correct and it still wont work, you might have to start over 5-10 times and on the 11th try itll work, we might not know what "fixed' the problem we just know that radio is just a theory.
The $15 quansheng uv-k5(8) radio with the NUNU firmware has encrypted messaging, spectrum analyzer, modulation switch (so you can receive AM on MIL airband or satcom), SSB reception on CB etc, 18mhz-1200mhz.
A great refresher course from my ground pounding days! Perhaps even the course I should have had in those said days! Thanks for sharing!
2 paper cups connected by waxed string...
The "Don't Want To Learn" solution: GMRS radio, channelized, same power as ham HT's (same range/clarity), "no test" 10-yr license for $35, as easy as "push the button & talk", no programming required, works out of the box. A potential downside is that it transmits in the clear and anyone else with a GMRS radio within range can hear you.
The "I Could Learn, I Guess, If I Have To" solution: Something like the TYT MD-UV390 configured for DMR (digital mobile radio) and which includes an AES-256 encryption function that can be enabled. As I write this, it's only $115 on Amazon. That's just one example that I could find in a hurry. There are quite a few digital radio options out there for most any budget. Lots of youtube vids on configuring a DMR radio. Heck, **I** was able to figure it out and that's saying something!
In an effort to mitigate triggering the "sad-hams": The TYT radio is intended as a ham radio. The FCC requires a ham license to transmit on ham freqs. The TYT radio is not FCC certified (allowed) to transmit on GMRS, FRS, MURS, Biz or any other non-ham freq band. Encrypted transmit is only allowed by the FCC on Business radios with a Business-Radio license on your assigned Business Freq (for us non-govt folks). All that being said, the TYT radio is legal to buy and possess and program however you like. The restrictions are for pressing the "push to talk" button and actually transmitting. Receiving is perfectly legal. Hopefully, you're picking up what I'm putting down.
Interestingly those laws don’t apply if the transmitter transmits less than 1/4 seconds per every ten seconds. Or something like that. I haven’t seen a device in the wild take advantage of that rule but even a raspberry pi could easily handle the compression needed.
Can't hide from the SDR. We can record the spectrum and go back in time to hear it
And we can use AI Speech-to-Text and automatically tag and mine spoken transmissions too, major force multipler. Just needs an $80 RPi-5 with a $30 RTL-SDR. Even short of "listening" to the spoken words, a listening post can be like a trip-wire if certain signals/waveforms are detected.
@@Real_Tim_SI assume it's possible to run that captured signal through a digital decoder and read data bursts?
@@rubberduckindustries6665 Essentially yes. If you have enough I/Q bandwidth resolution ("In-phase" and "Quadratic" samples, how SDR capures RF, with a high enough sample rate), the only limitation to your post-processing is storage space and compute power (the receiver doesn't need the compute, but post-processing does). The same I/Q samples are good for decoding any carrier type - AM, FM, PAM, AAM... etc, so long as the signal you are attempting to look at requires less bandwidth than your capture (roughly 80% of your capture rate is the practical limit). Once you pick out the waveform from the RF noise, you can do whatever post processing you want, to try and pick out data. For example if you have a 40MHz capture, you're likely going to be able to decode a 20MHz channel, but not a 40MHz channel. A 40MHz bandwidth capture can be used to look at all of the LoRa signals in the 915MHz ISM band (the band is 26MHz, 80% of a 40MHz capture is 32MHz), as well as any other signal format that fits in that band.
This is why companies like Ettus Reasaerch (now part of National Instruments) make SDR products with 1.6GHz of capture bandwidth like the USRP X440 - one can analyze even all of the WiFi-6 160MHz wide channels in the entire 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz ISM bands, or the entire cellular band-set from one device.
If you ever waned to know what NSA spends all that money on, or what those big DoE super-computers could do while they are idle (hin't: they are never "idle", they always find a workdload for them). Massively parallel processing can brute-force all waveform types and data encodings, and if you're NSA, you probably know about all the weaknesses and backdoors.
Remember, if you want to create a transmitter for sale in the USA, you need to register it with the FCC - they keep a government-library of the emission types and major characteristics or the device. Look on the label for your FCC ID and do a Google search for "[your FCC-ID] fcc.io". It would be insane to assume that NSA hasn't purchased and torn apart every bit of each device that goes through FCC certification to find any weaknesses. Once the protocol is broken, one could just create a template of that protocol to scan for in the band of interest. One should assume that most closed-source radio protocols have zero-days that the NSA would gain no benefit from reporting, and organizations that create these standards have little interest in doing anything but supressing faults in their standards (the recent TETRA radio protocol out of the EU comes to mind here). The old "security by obscurity", or else "loss of market share". Hubris, pride, whatever you want to call it - it's a sin for a reason.
For more rabbit-hole and food for thought, once a template of a protocol is created, on an expected carrier, on an expected band - this gives a nation-state-level threat actor a view to not only what it is, but what it isn't.
By that time the transmission is expired. It's not a world war where you have infinite time and money to hunt down some people in the woods.
@@peterbaan9671 have you tried it? We can instantly jump to the beginning of the transmission and instantly snap to any carrier on the spectrum that just happened. It is instant replay of anything on the band of spectrum we're monitoring
Good stuff man. Greatly appreciate it. We use encryption at work but at home i have baofeng radios and even gave one to my buddy for hurricanes. Going to get some SOPs going
Well said.. totally agree 👍🏻. Watching from Northeastern Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
Obfuscation, often if you're trying to stay under the radar. It requires more creativity but listen to the common radio traffic in your area and tailor your code words to fit into that. For instance lots of ham radio fudds will talk about their medical issues. IBS, gout, arthritis can all have meanings in your group that no one is going to blink am eye at. 'Man my gout has really been acting up I need to goto Dr. Johnsons office' can indicate a situation and a location.
Truth 🤣
@GruntProof I'm waiting to have some disposable income to pickup one of the krakkensdr to see just how accurate it is at locating people as it's supposed to provide an exact position not just a bearing.
That little puppy of yours will track us all down radio or not lol I know I had one RIP Rohan
There are a few good pieces of information sprinkled in here, surrounded by so many incorrect, uninformed, bad advice.
Good overview. KISS principles apply physical encryption and short transmission times.
Nothing sexier than land nav and comms
Those two skills are joined at the hip. They're just not as sexy as shooting, so get only passing attention.
Lots of good info. I'm sort of a civ comms guy I guess and am ok at the nerd stuff but I still learned a good bit from this. Thanks for the great vid!
Just an FYI - TYT DMR radios offer encryption, and they're relatively cheap. The TYT MD-UV390 claims that it is IP67 rated.
If polar is sop, don't declare polar, give out 2 sets of four numbers, padding the azimuth/back azimuth and distance as the sop specifies.
Say, add day/month to degrees and year to distance
So, pbr 3048 3267 would be 45 degrees, 1243 meters
I suggest you get in contact with their local ham club or group and coordinate with them for a fox hunt. It is not difficult and it does not take a long time to find someone by radio signal. Two ham with scanners and yagi antennas can get the job done in minutes. They have localized competition with gear for prizes fairly frequently.
Great video brother!! I love hearing other people talk about some of the old ways of doing things.
What a valuable channel appreciate you from the Canadian rockies.
On the frequency hopping. Implement a seed generation algorithm. Use the seed to determine randomized frequencies. The idea being that the seed can be changed on the fly and any radio using the same seed will have the same information. Seeds will also be closer to a true random compared to predefining things. This also automates a lot of that work
We had Frequency jumping radios in the late 80s into the 1990s, they were what was referred to as Trunked Systems....Kindo f what you are describing at 16:45 into your video.
On HF radio, you can talk on one frequency and listen on another frequency, and whoever is tuned in can listen(like your group), but that can be hard sometimes if the atmosphere isn't working with or for you. I've been a Ham radio operator for over 15 years. It's not hard to build your own radio once you're in it for a while.
What would you want simplified? What sort of device(s) are you expecting? How would you expect them to operate? Which functions are important for you? I'm considering designing something this summer
Have you heard of Meshtastic in the meantime?
Great stuff man ! I am a fan and now a subscriber! By the way, what state are you in!? Beautiful backdrop .
I have several frequencies on simplex offset like your talking about. Rx 148.995,
tx 144.565, as an example.
so on a bit of location encryption, you can have a daily updated encryption numbers that you use for corresponding uses. One example would be if you had to send your grid over an un encrypted net, in your sop you would add your 10 digit grid to the encryption number to help hide your true coordinates. I should all so note that code words for location requests/updates should be changed often as well. Doing a +/- system for time of day and date is use full in its own ways. It would take a metric ton of coordination on the end of the comms guys, but it is do able.
Don't take this the wrong way but I don't have a problem looking at your hounds face while you are talking in the background 🙄😂
NotaRubicon's channel is awesome and super simple to follow. Not to mention hilarious
14:06 first, thank you for that moment of silence, it's been a while since I've been out in nature. Secondly, those are really good points to remember, but to sum it all up, just follow good opsec.
All great advice. I'd add one more layer to this and that's the one time use code pads. But those aren't for general communication purposes and best suited for observation or Intel relay. And very few people should be involved in it as possible, ideally two people unless you have to transmit across great distances with handhelds. It's a numeric code that changes with each transmission so even if somehow they cracked the last one they are back to the beginning next timed transmission. S2Underground did a video on it.
Separation of code methods based on role in the mission makes it harder to be found and harder to know what is going on.
I say, your group/club should form an LLC and buy US 2nd hand comm gear. [You would be amazed what the US military sells for penny on the dollar.] You may have to buy three comm items to have two fully functional comm items and a bit of spare. Also, the clubs should join (membership) into regional Operating Clubs, where the HQ's buy the more expensive items. Think of it in the same manner of the hierarchy of the Church; parishes buy up to certain amount, the diocese will buy a higher level, then the archdiocese will purchase higher limits amounts and finally the Church purchases the most expensive and items use for higher level Operations. 😁
Great video. What’s the make/model of black HT you’re holding around 4:45 mark? Thanks!
RDF can be quite easy. It all depends on the equipment and experience of the people doing it. It is possible, with easily purchased commercial products to be able to zero in on a signal in about 30 seconds. Its not uncommon for people to talk for 30 seconds so yea, you can be found pretty quick, assuming the trackers have the equipment and there are more than one tracker.
A few radios that have AES 256 encryption for $200 and under. Ailunce HD2, TYT MD 390 Plus, Anytone 878 UV. Less than $500 Hytera 782 (AES key sold separately $240), Belfone BF 930, caltta 660 (AES sold separate $200). All DMR but also have analog to talk with tri 152 or baofeng or anything else you already have.
I'm the commo nerd lol
that is the cutest dog ive seen in a while
You can pick up a cheap DMR Baofeng and they have 40bit encryption capabilities. Not "terribly" strong, but it is something.
They are more expensive than an analog Baofeng, but not excessive [last time I checked].
During an infantry officer course at Ft. Benning, GA we had a force on force where one platoon was attempting to discover and attack another platoon's operations base (40 men each). We had only about a 4 square km area to locate in and I chose what was apparently a very good spot away from natural lines of drift. The other platoon came within 20 meters of us and still could not find us after hours of searching. And this was nowhere close to the really thick nasty stuff like a swamp or briar thicket. If one person good at fieldcraft is trying to hide then they are going to be very difficult to find.
Sadly even the most capable fieldcraft is now easily defeated with an Amazon prime membership.
$3K gets you an Autel drone with high res thermal imaging, and 15KM range.
I understand everything you are saying. but a Mototrbo DMR radio for about $500 will do encryption. Cloning it not easy. but only a few seconds of manual programming per radio to add the key.
electronic comms is a massive danger area, forget encryption just the fact Electronic Counter Measures and direction finding is so advanced, you could be compromising yourself everytime you transmit. While 3rd world counties and guerrilla groups might be lacking ... i'm sure all state actors now have some capability in this field.
I was a platoon signaler then Company signaler while in the infantry ... personally if somebody around me wanted to make a transmission i'd want them to go take a walk and do it,
Awesome job. Way to bring it out in the open. Definitely gave some things I didn't think about.
Could you do a video demonstrating the "Turning the Map" strategy? I think I understand, but a demonstration would be very useful for confirmation.
Just about the easiest, fastest, and most reliable secure comms for the civilian is a DMR radio running AES256 encryption. There's numerous models available that make this possible. One of the biggest mistakes people make is running full power. If you don't need it, don't use it. It makes triangulation of your position really easy. Next, use encrypted meshtastic and ATAK for situational awareness and messaging. Lastly, set up a Bluetooth mesh network using BLE 5.0. It's used in numerous devices and even in things like motorcycle intercoms. It's currently used by Racial, Motorola, Tate, Harris and others in Military gear for squad level,low power comms that are extremely secure, and very hard to direction find because of the very low power level.
Beautiful bloodhound brother !!
I put together an ebike with storage cases on the back that I plan on incorporating a powerful radio into.
Quick, nimble, scout vehicle.
Basic cryptology is pretty easy. Use code words. Obviously there are a million ways to obfuscate your language. You can get encrypted radios - like Baofeng. You can use letter substitution ciphers. You can use frequency hopping. You can manually change frequencies. Some are radio programs, some you can do yourself. You can use charts, graphs, whatever. It doesn't have to be complicated, though. Best option is to be short and concise. DF isn't necessarily fast or accurate. Some are better than others. Regardless of what you do, have a plan. Make sure everybody knows the plan. Train how you fight, fight how you train.
The unconventional individual hits and runs to fight another day.
Just like communicating. Transmit then move.
All transmission are in code so only those that need to know what is being said and understands what was spoken.
Also transmittions can be used to draw in another for a surprise.
Learn to think
Adapt improve everything is motion
With the high nature of the new area. A radio trans would be far more useful to set a trap than for actual comms, imo. Meaning. Best encryption is to make them assume radio activity is always a trap. Thus allowing comms to be used for limited comms.
This is the video I have been looking for. Awesome video. Do you offer classes on the 152?
It’s just a basic analog handheld radio with no functional difference compared to the UV-5R. I don’t think you need a specific class for the 152.
Stay off the RF spectrum if possible or use an IP radio. Their handheld but basically use something like WIFI. The actual signal is digital which makes it very difficult to eavesdrop. BREVITY and AUTHENTICATON and CODEWORDS. Old field phone networks are secure and coupled with radios can provide a secure and difficult to monitor network. Combined with radios remoted by connecting them to the field phone network using simple Radio Wireline Interface procedures and you could build a very robust and secure communications system. Based on your needs it could be completely man mobile, vehicle mobile, or fixed in place.
Good video. Also having code words for things would help. Coyote sign could government wheeled vehicles, bandits or that neighbor you're not sure about.. Or acorns and cattails. You get the idea. Sounding like hunters looking for food while you're actually patrolling. Or like you're looking for a missing dog. All sorts of ways of disguising what you are up to and where you are.
Motorola's are DEFINITELY out of my Pocketbook's reach. I think THE best handheld Ham Rig for Tac Comm's is a Yeas VX-8 It operates on FOUR Ham Bands. If happen to have a MODIFIED Radio (Do so at your own legal risk), you can do some AMZING little tricks.For example, Team Leaders radio sends out at 146 MHz, but receives on 445 MHz. Team MEMBER'S Radio are set in the reverse.
This is something I INTEND to teach MY group. The Baofengs can do the same thing: I just happen to have the Yeas.....
An added layer could well be to learn some amount of a relatively obscure language. Preferably a language that has no speakers in the area other wise.
This is something I've noticed often on vacation. For example if we're on vacation in the middle of nowhere BC, the odds that someone understands Dutch, even though it's not that obscure a language is pretty slim. The odds that someone speaks our specific dialect of Dutch are pretty much null, given that even native speakers of Dutch who aren't from the area have trouble understanding the dialect.
What if the bad guys send an Apache gunship with hellfires and not a patrol of nerdy guys with Tech equipment?
Then it was Gods plan
@@swftflipGods plan lol more like Satan's. And it will be Apaches and Abrahams tanks, and swat vehicles etc, driven by illegals wearing US military uniforms or UN blue 🔵 helmets 🪖.
Stay low and out of thermal range
First, I have no illusions that if this type of situation happens, I dont expect to make it. That being said, its a numbers game. The government simply doesn't have the human resources to get everyone at once. Also, not all the military members are off the rails. If we have to deal with a military, it wont be ours.
@vacayooper4728 I mostly agree. Unfortunately though, I don't think that there will be that many pockets of resistance, regardless which government is being resisted. Unfortunately, most humans are OK with being ruled by just about anyone.
Hi guys I aint no one especial just someone that wants to know and learn from you guys, if shit hits the fan and when cellphones stop working what radios would work? I've been looking to HAM radios, GMRS radios what would work at long distances.
I havent read all of the comments so maybe somebody has already mentioned this so please forgive me....I would within our group make our own CEOI, set a time of day when we change channels, change call signs and challenge/passwords etc.
It would take some time to do this so I am not sure how feasible it would be, just a suggestion?
We had a drown buzzing our location. A store bought, dad being retired military took ordinary balloons white and light blue read about how huge they operated and tangled one up on his fishing pole and got that sucker out of the sky, a fluke, na patient, make a plan gather intel and set your plan and execute, cool stuff.
It’s not dudes with SDR’s that make me limit emissions by using yagi antennas and adjusting down transmit power to minimum necessary… it’s the very real use of automated SDR tech employed on arrayed drones that can triangulate a position within meters the instant you hit the PTT.
This isn’t the exclusive dominion of the military and signals intelligence assets. State law enforcement agencies are buying up this stuff, just like they have been using Stingray for years.
… and it’s not like they need to walk through the bush to come at you, nor do they need to drop a bomb on you. Sometimes just knowing where the “enemy” without fucking with said enemy allows you to advance your position, mission, and objectives toward a checkmate position.
Hard to get people to understand this. Been blue in the face from saying it repeatedly. Some folks are still gonna learn the hard way.
Most of the stuff you mentioned is true, but scary enough it's easy enough add sdr and thermal camera's to fairly silent drones as well. Your methods work about as good as your going to get for a mobile infantry coms group, but be aware there are always things out there that bigger and badder. (it is best to make your group as well trained as ready as possible, and also know its necessary to not draw attention when possible, and with it the ire of those who could possible have trump cards up their sleeve for groups like yours.) This will work well for most stuff though!