iDen/ISm Secure Comms.... UpDate...

Discussion in 'Survival Communications' started by BTPost, Mar 24, 2011.


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  1. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Unfortunately this is true,,,,
     
  2. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

  3. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    All good Info... Thanks for Posting...
     
  4. Mountainman

    Mountainman Großes Mitglied Site Supporter+++

    Did not see any posts about line of site range so I'll post what I found out today. i355 LOS maximum range was 12.8 miles and comms at that range were hit or miss but possible. Range in the hills was comparable with what was already posted at 1.3 miles.

    Did a range test today in the rain with it coming down at a 1/4" per hour rate. Of course the range was effected:
    LOS = 8 miles
    Non-LOS = 1.1 miles
     
    BTPost likes this.
  5. wilfor03

    wilfor03 Monkey

    Hey fellas ('n ladies?)...just bought 5 sets of the Motorola i560's w/batteries and chargers AND 6 sim cards. Got em all up and running on the Direct talk feature but for the life of me, I can't get these things programmed with phone numbers and to be able to set up the "my info" page. Could somebody please explain in "old man" terms how to do this. I have the owners/users manual but everything seems to be geared to having the service provider connection with the phone itself. Whew....I'm just trying to get these things set up for if & when the SHTF. I may be old, but a snake can bite till it's dead, eh? (US ARMY Recon, Retired)
     
  6. Sapper John

    Sapper John Analog Monkey in a Digital World

    BT Post is our comms guru here.I am sure he will be glad to help you out when he gets back on line.And welcome to the Monkey wilfor03.
     
  7. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Ok, @wilfor03 Here is the process...
    1. Get in DirecTalk Mode, FIRST
    2. Go to My Information Screen
    3. Hit the Edit Button
    4. Scroll down to Name, and Hit OK Button
    5. Enter a Unit SPECIFIC Name, and then hit the OK Button.. Write the Name down....
    6. Scroll down to Line 1, and hit OK
    7. Delete old 10 digit Number, and enter your NEW 10 digit Private Number, and write it down, next to the Name, and then hit the OK Button
    8. Hit Back Button, Twice (which brings you back to the DT Ready Screen.
    9. Repeat 2 - 8 for each Phone using a different NEW 10 digit Private Number, and Name, on each Unit
    10. Once that is done, then enter the Private Number (no spaces) of one of the other Units, using the Keypad, and Press the PTT Key...
    11. The Unit that uses that number will Answer in DT Private Unit to Unit Mode, and you can carry on a back & forth conversation....
    12. After the conversation is over for a few seconds, the screen will go to the Recent Calls Screen....
    13. Hit the Back Key, and you will be back in Squad Comms Mode (CH 5/Code 5 is MonkeyNet Setup)
    14. Repeat 11 - 13 for each unit so that ALL your Units are in the Recent Calls Screen
    15. You can ADD these Names and Private Numbers to your Contacts Screen and then use the Contacts Screen
    to connect Directly to each of your Units in Private Unit Mode, Individually, where as in Squad Comms Mode ALL Units using the same Code
    can receive ALL Transmissions made on that Ch/Code Setup Combination.

    You can Skype "Me" (btpostak) if you need further Help, or just ask here.....
    Once you get them running, send the Kids, or Grandkids, as the case may be, out with a few, and get a feel for the Ranges, and coverage of your local AoO. These make real handy Comms Devices for Family Outings, Like County Fairs, Gun Shows, Camping Trips, Town Shopping Trips, and the like where you are separated, but within Range of the iDen/ISM Units.... and folks just think they are CellPhones, when you are using them.
     
  8. wilfor03

    wilfor03 Monkey

    Thank you BTPost....I so appreciate all the info. I pretty much ran the batterys down (crap batteries sent with the units), so when they charge up, I'm gonna play some more. I'll let you know how they all work. Again, THANK YOU!!!
     
  9. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Hey, Great.... I think you will like these.... We use our around the place all the time, instead of the 5 Watt FM Marine/Business Radios, that we used to carry... Now those are only used during the summers, when we need to have comms with boats, and Planes....
     
  10. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Ok,I was perusing a Comms Sales Catalog, and came across these Motorola iDen/ISM TwoWay Digital Comm Devices. These seem to use the same Motorola Chipset, that the iDen/ISM Cellphones use, and are VERY similar to the TriSquare Electronics Corp. Units that are, NOW, no longer in production. They are being marketed in the same Price Range as the TriSquare Electronics Corp. Units. They are Significantly more expensive, than the Cellphones, but ARE in production, TODAY.

    iDen_ISM1.

    I did some looking, and found the Opertions Manual for these Units. There are some interesting "Features" that the iDen/ISM Phne do NOT have, but the difference in price/Unit is a bit much even for the extra features. .
     

    Attached Files:

  11. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    @Brokor Take a look at the above Post, and User guide..... Interesting....
     
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  12. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    Yes, these are AMAZING. I just did a quick search, and I am betting they can be had for the right price...the right price for the seller. They are just a bit out of price range for me to change out from the iDen line. I still want a couple of them!

    From what I gathered, they can be cloned with a cable --a feature the Trisquare's have also.
     
  13. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    I was most interested the the Messaging, and the Remote Shutdown features... But NOT at those Prices.... Now if they could send FILES from a connected PC, that would be worth the Price....
     
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  14. wilfor03

    wilfor03 Monkey

    Hey there all......Got the i560's up and running on Direct talk, and they are amazing. My son did most of the programming of the phones and we got almost 2 miles LOS. He has ordered a headset for the i560 and we'll see how that goes and will report back on the success/failure of the headset. Thanks "BTPost" for your help. We really appreciate it down here in Alabama. Just hope I can pass this along with others down our way getting started too!
    How did that antenna hookup deal go for ya? Been looking at doing the external hookup thingy also? Again, thanks for help
    Bill
     
  15. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    This is copied for the Blog, but wanted to get these ideas into the Comms forums as well.....


    Ok, I have been considering this ISSUE (Range extension, and or Terrain, or Path Issues) for a while, and I think I have an answer for some of these, that would be SECURE and still get the Job done.... Build a Repeater out of two Motorola i355s.... They ALL have a Remote Audio Jack, for access to Rx audio, Tx Audio, and PTT... They are Spread Spectrum, so if one were to set them up with Vertical Separation of say 15 Ft, on a 30 Ft Pole, and programmed them on Different ChannelSetUps, Say Ch1/Code5 on one and Ch10/Code 5 on the other, and placed the Pole, a Solar Panel, Charge Controller, and a Battery, on the Hilltop between your two places. You would use the first Setup to TX, which would trigger the Second Unit to Tx on the Second Setup, which would be RX'ed by your Friend. Then he would replay on the second Setup and the second Unit would trigger the first Unit to Tx on the first Setup back to you on your Unit which is still on the First Setup.... I haven't tried this, but the theory is SOUND, and should work. The only thing that you would need to do, was to WAIT for the other Pole Unit to Lockup with your Friends Unit, before any audio could pass on the Link. This would be a couple of Seconds, I think... Double what it takes for a single Link, the way we use them NOW.... also NOTE, that these Units can be operated with Power Amps, to Ten Watts, and ANY Antennas one would like to use, under Part 97 (Ham License) as they use the 902-928 Mhz Ham Band which is a SHARED Band with ISM, and the Ham USE is a Secondary Use, where the ISM is an Unlicensed, and must accept interference from and can NOT interfere with a Primary or Secondary Use. I guess I will have to get a couple of more i355s, and try this out, this spring....

    Just thinking out loud here, But one "could" build a HUB Repeater on a Tall Pole, that had multiple (not just two) Units, all cross-connected, so that a RX on any One Unit would cause a Tx on ALL the other Units, and then each Camp, or Group, could just TX up on their Setup, and be received by ALL on their individual Setups. Another thought just came to mind, Why not just put a High Powdered WiFi Router up on the Pole as well, and do ALL the interGroup Comms via Digital Voice, (like Skype or Equivalent) You could use High Gain Panel Antennas, on each end, at the Camps, and a reasonable High Gain Omni Directional Antenna on the Pole, in the middle. Leave the Encryption to the computers, and send Encrypted GPG files, back and forth, across a completely closed Network. Costs would be cheap, and as SECURE of Comms, as the Encryption Scheme. GPG for normal Comms, and OnePad for REALLY SECURE Comms.....
     
    Altoidfishfins and Gunny Highway like this.
  16. Gunny Highway

    Gunny Highway Hard Work and Sacrifice blessed by God's Grace

    Bruce you absolutely amaze me !!! Keep the innovation and great ideas coming.
     
  17. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Just got two i355s and had them direct talking in about a half an hour. Interesting stuff. After they arrived I purchased two of the i560s. Hopefully they arrive before next Thursday when I depart for the remote property. Over the weekend we're having a meeting of the "fan" (as in SHTF) club. I'll hand them out to 3 other people at the conclusion and we'll have the opportunity to test these out in our real world conditions. If they have sufficient range, they'll solve the issue of encryption which is a problem with the 460 meg FRS/GMRS radios that can be monitored by anyone with a bubble pack job from WalMart.

    Thank you BT POST! You are a virtual library of information. Your repeater idea is intriguing. It would be interesting if an output could be found on these phones (you'd probably have to get it off of the PC board, if it exists) which would change state to positively indicate the receipt of a valid transmission, similar to the ( I believe it's the) COR function on some two ways.
     
  18. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Just off the Top of my Head... Seems to me one could just tap the Audio Output, Rectify that, and use that, with a long deIntegrated

    Another thought, on OpSec... Do NOT discard the FRS/GMRS Radios, as these would be just fine, for unSECURED Comms, pre-SHTF, and Post SHTF, they can be used for Spoofing, and Monitoring Outsiders, by directing a series of pre-arranged Spoof Comms, on FRS/GMRS, while keeping the REAL Comms on the SECURE Phones.... Very Good way to lead Bad Guys, into a Ambush/Trap, while maintaining Group OpSec.... A Good Scanner, that monitors MURS, FRS/GMRS, and other local Police. Fire, and Ham, FM Frequencies, should ALWAYS be part of an Integrated Comms Plan for ANY Group.
     
  19. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    @Altoidfishfins

    One could tap the Audio Output, of the Unit, Rectify that, add a Delay Hystereses, and use that to trigger the PTT of the Other Unit. Basically a VOX (Voice activated Switch) Circuit. Not to hard to design & build into a Controller System.

    One other thing, for Group OpSec.... Do NOT chuck the FRS/GMRS Radios, as they can be used, Pre-SHTF for routine Group Comms. Post-SHTF they then become a valid Spoofing Unit to deal with Outsiders, trying to Monitor your Group Comms. Setup a pre-Arranged Spoofing Comms routine, that would tend to lead outsiders away from your area, and also can be used to lead Bad Guys, into a pre-Arranged Ambush/Trap, with your Spoofing Comms, while maintaining your REAL Comms on the SECURE Phones. A Group should ALWAYS have a Good Scanner programmed to watch MURS, FRS/GMRS, as well as local Police, Fire, and Ham, FM Frequencies, as part of a Group Comms Setup, just so you can Monitor, Who, What, and Where, others are moving around in your AoO. This is all part of OpSec Rules for any Prep'ed Group. Someone needs to be designated as your Groups Comms Guru.

    If you have a Ham Operator, then that person should get themselves hooked up with MonkeyNet, to keep your Group connected to the rest of us. You can review MonkeyNet, by reading the Comms White Paper in the Advanced Comms Forum, here on the Monkey site. OnePad is a very valid system to SECURE Comms, on unsecured Comm Links, like FRS/GMRS, and the like. A Phrase PAD that was designed for Your Specific Group, and AoO could be invaluable, down the road, for Groups Comms, The technology that is the basis of MonkeyNet, is available to ANYONE. This allows for each Person, or Group to setup their OWN Private SECURED Comms, and get ready to deal with MonkeyNet, when vetted into the System. .....
     
    Altoidfishfins likes this.
  20. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    You have a good point about not tossing the FRS/GMRS arrangement. There's little traffic back there, RF or otherwise.

    It's interesting that you mention a scanner, although not much signal get back there, for the price of one they may be well worth the monitoring capabilities.

    I've seen MonkeyNet mentioned on here before. Now that I know where to find it, it deserves a look. I have a Technician ticket, but will probably look into going for a General within the next few months or so. As I understand there may be another HAM or two in the group, although never met them.
     
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  7. melbo
    Resource

    i355 Motorola (iDen) 2014-01-08

    [ATTACH]
    Posted By: melbo, Jan 8, 2014 in category: User Manuals
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