{"id":783,"date":"2017-01-29T19:36:36","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T19:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andrewbaze.com\/tempblog\/?p=16"},"modified":"2017-02-05T17:30:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T01:30:56","slug":"16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.andrewbaze.com\/wparchives\/radio\/16\/","title":{"rendered":"TriSquare eXRS – Frequency-Hopping Spread-Spectrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sorry everyone \u2013 it appears that TriSquare has stopped producing eXRS radios! I\u2019ll leave this article up in case you come across a couple at a flea market.\u00a0 But you have another option! \u2013> What FHSS technology is available now?\u00a0Motorola makes the DTR650 \u2013 see more details here.<\/span><\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks,
\nAndrew<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Frequency-hopping, spread-spectrum communications \u2013 available to everyone with no license!<\/h3>\n

Do you have anything private to discuss on the radio?\u00a0 Are you concerned about people listening in?\u00a0 Are you tired of hearing neighbors, vacationers, and random kids constantly blabbering on all the channels of your FRS\/GMRS (common handheld) radio when you have important business to get done?<\/p>\n

Did you know that high-tech, frequency-hopping handheld radio communications are available without a license?\u00a0 Did you know that FRS\/GMRS radios usually have only 22 channels, and that a new system has 10,000,000,000 \u201cchannels\u201d available?\u00a0 To learn what this amazing, little-known (until now!) technology is, keep reading.\u00a0 I\u2019ll start with a few questions, and then dive into the specifics.<\/p>\n

THE PROBLEM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have a plan for communicating during an emergency situation? What about if your cell phone and land-line phone aren\u2019t available?\u00a0 I have an option for you that few people are aware of, which has some amazing, high-tech capabilities. Prepare to be amazed\u2026 in a minute.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s set some context. If you\u2019ve been reading my blog, and if you\u2019ve read my Emergency Communications Primer (free when you sign up for my newsletter), you\u2019ll know that you have a few options, and the most useful are FRS\/GMRS and amateur radio. (There are some other options, e.g., CB and marine radio, which may be applicable for you, in your area, but they still have a limited number of channels available, just as with FRS\/GMRS).<\/p>\n

Every option has its pros and cons. The easiest and least expensive option is usually the FRS\/GMRS (Family Radio Service \/ General Mobile Radio Service) radio, and that\u2019s what many people have already.\u00a0 But for about the same price, and the same effort (relatively low price, no license needed) you have another option, and option that changes the game significantly.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s quickly look at another key limitation of FRS\/GMRS.\u00a0 Since this system has a limited number of channels and since these radios are so common, you should expect to have noisy competition for use of your radio at times (depending on your location \u2013 more people will mean more noise), and that\u2019s the last thing you\u2019ll want in an emergency. In addition, you may want an option that you can\u2019t get with ANY other system, whether FRS, CB, marine, aviation, amateur radio, or even public service (police, fire) frequencies (which you can listen to on a scanner).\u00a0 What is it?\u00a0 Privacy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

None of these other options mentioned (unless law enforcement is using scrambled radios \u2013 that\u2019s a different beast, and usually unavailable to non-spook civilians) allow you to speak in private.\u00a0 Anyone with a similar radio or a scanner can listen to your conversation.\u00a0 Do you want to have a sensitive conversation?\u00a0 Do you need to discuss a topic that would put you in danger if someone else could hear it?\u00a0 Of course, you\u2019re not going to talk about moving your gold hoard from your house to the one down the street, but what if you needed to ask a neighbor for help because you hurt your back and couldn\u2019t get up off the floor?\u00a0 And what if another \u201cneighbor\u201d somehow heard what was going on, knew you or somehow determined where you lived, and decided to liberate you of your emergency supplies or anything else?\u00a0 What if you live in an area where have to assume that some of the people listening are not good people?\u00a0 And if you find any of those scenarios unlikely, what if you simply prefer privacy for privacy\u2019s sake?<\/p>\n

If you only have FRS or amateur radio, assuming your frequency is available in the first place, you can \u201cobfuscate\u201d (confuse other listeners) your conversation by talking in code.\u00a0 Per FCC rules, this is not allowed on amateur radio frequencies (although it\u2019s unlikely that the FCC will be enforcing such rules during the time of a disaster), and anyone can still listen in.\u00a0 You may even attract unwanted attention with this approach (unless your codes sound like normal conversation).\u00a0 This also means you and whoever you\u2019re talking with will need to remember what the code words or phrases are, especially if you\u2019re stressed out!\u00a0 Talking like you normally talk would be much easier. There must be an easier way\u2026<\/p>\n

THE SOLUTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is! It\u2019s time! We have a solution. You can use these relatively new, effectively un-interceptable radios that use \u201cFrequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum<\/strong>\u201d technology. (Although I suspect that the FCC\/The Man could intercept them, using fancy, uncommon gear.\u00a0 The traffic isn\u2019t encrypted. It\u2019s just transmitted in a different way.) \u00a0These radios constantly switch from one frequency to another during the transmission, and they automatically synchronize between radios.\u00a0 If you were trying to listen in and monitored any single frequency during the discussion (which is what a scanner will do \u2013 one frequency at a time), you would theoretically hear a microsecond blip of noise, and nothing more.\u00a0 If you have a compatible radio, however, you hear the whole conversation!\u00a0 Nobody else can hear a thing.<\/p>\n

\"eXRS<\/a>There is one\u00a0brand of radio that uses this technology, available to the general public.\u00a0 It\u2019s called TriSquare eXRS<\/span><\/u><\/a>, and you should probably get one, if you need to be able to talk without interference, don\u2019t want casual listeners to be able to intercept your conversation, and want some other cool options built in.<\/p>\n

Additional Specs<\/strong><\/p>\n

These radios use the 900 MHz frequency band, which will limit your range in some ways, as with FRS\/GMRS.\u00a0 Every set of frequencies will have different propagation characteristics (meaning that the radio waves can travel farther in certain cases, or through different materials better or worse than others).\u00a0 These radios put out one watt of power, which is relatively low (although twice as powerful as a 500 milliwatt FRS radio, and less powerful than a GMRS handheld radio, which is usually between one and five watts).<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear: these are not long-range, powerful ham radios.\u00a0 They are short-range radios, useful for conversation in your neighborhood, between nearby buildings, cars in a convoy, etc..\u00a0 Don\u2019t expect them to work 10 or 20 miles away.\u00a0 In my experience they work for a couple miles in open territory, and for a couple hundred meters in downtown, steel-and-concrete city territory, depending on what\u2019s in your way.\u00a0 Of course, if you don\u2019t have buildings between radios, the range grows considerably.\u00a0Nonetheless, they still have some incredible features to offer.\u00a0 Keep reading.<\/p>\n

From TriSquare website, with my highlighting added:<\/p>\n

\u201c[The eXRS radios have the] added benefit of wide band digital security and privacy provided by the frequency hopping spread spectrum algorithm. Maintaining the information signal as narrow band FM modulation centered on discrete frequencies allows for a large pool of non-overlapping hopping frequencies to draw upon within a given section of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. The pseudo-random drawing of the hopping frequencies spreads the total signal power equally over the entire bandwidth of the RF spectrum used, which ensures minimal interference between many simultaneous, independent users.<\/p>\n

Interference Free is a major advantage that eXRS has over existing FRS and GMRS radios. Based on a contracted study from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of a major university, more than 100,000 eXRS users within talk range can enjoy uninterrupted communications. Whereas, FRS\/GMRS quickly becomes unusable with just a few tens of users within range of each other. Bottom-line is that the eXRS two-way radios provide private communications in areas where FRS\/GMRS conversations can be congested or impossible.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk features.\u00a0 The radios are not set up to talk on FRS\/GMRS frequencies, and can only communicate with other eXRS radios. This shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. They can receive NOAA weather radio transmissions, which is great (and don\u2019t underestimate the value of weather radio \u2013 it\u2019s super-handy!<\/span><\/u><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Here are some of the cool features available, that I haven\u2019t seen on any other radios:<\/p>\n