DMR use in conflict situations

Started by DL1DBY, June 06, 2020, 09:25:47 AM

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DL1DBY

Watching videos about global political conflicts, it seems that DMR radios are widely used by combatants, which is interesting.

In Syria the government forces uses Hytera radios, the Russian armed forces often use Baofeng RD-5R. I guess they use their own repeaters. The insurgents in Idlib province also prefer Hytera, though the government claims that NATO made encrypted communications equipment is also used.

In Venezuela the government forces use Baofeng DM-1801/GD-77, whereas the U.S. sponsored invaders recently preferred Motorola XRP3500, according to Venezuelan government sources.

So DMR radios should also be very useful in SHTF situations, especially in closed user groups with encryption (I have not used encryption so far, as it is illegal for Hams).

Best regards
Dieter

gil

Hello Dieter.

I think so too. Even the mere fact that it is digital prevents lots of people from listening. I did make a video on the TYT MD-680, which does have encryption... That would be my choice...
Do you have the links handy to those bits of info about DMR use in conflicts by any chance?
Thanks!

Gil.

DL1DBY

Videos about Syria in which Hytera handhelds can be clearly seen are in the Youtube channels of ANNA News, which has journalists embedded in Syrian army units and in R&U Videos, which produces English language captions for some of ANNA News Videos.

Of course these channels are not neutral, there are on one side of the conflict, but that is certainly not the topic of this board.

Concerning the Venezuela I haven't found those articles again as Google does not promote them, but they had a photograph of Venezuelan officers sitting in a hangar at a table with DM-1801/GD-77 in a protective pouch and the article did quote Venezuelan government sources saying use of Motorola XPR3500 by the invaders would indicate CIA connection.

A friend of mine has a Motorola DMR handheld. So is he CIA too?  ;-)

In a crisis situation I would use encryption too, but so far I haven't experimented with encryption. Would be interesting to know if the different radio brands  are still compatible with encryption.

gil

Yes he is ;-)

Definitely, that is an interesting subject. I have only looked at the TYT MD-680, great handheld for prepping groups. The one-time-pad is a great, albeit slow option with Morse code; I have made a video on that..

Gil.