The issue I am having is transmitting encrypted (RC4, AES128, AES256, etc) voice (DMR) over simplex. Sometimes it works, in that the voice is decrypted on the other radios, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes on just one of the radios, sometimes on all of the radios. This issue is present on both Private and Group calls. Unencrypted voice (DMR) always works, both in simplex, and via repeater. Data (text) calls, always work (Private and Group). Uncrypted voice always works.
Is this a known issue? If so, is it due to a setting in the CPS software?
I am using CPS version 2.34 and the radio firmware on all of the radios is S219.043
I have tried both the stock keys, and a user generated keys.
Dear Robert, I was able to get my screen back on. But now I have problems with the CPS. I’m still on an old version 1.30 for my UV390plus10WGPS120k. Could you please forward me the 2.41 version? Or if there is a even more current version out, I would be interested to copy it. I hope to hear from you.
Yours, Bernd
I’m also using v2.41, with D219.043 firmware. The encryption issue is driving me mad! Maybe the radio’s processer is struggling to keep up with AES being used. But I also don’t see this problem occurring everywhere.
As for now, AES is barely worth using.
I think this is a firmware bug. My 5 watt 390 Plus radios perform AES256 just fine in both simplex and through a repeater. My 10 watt radio only seems to work with AES256, 128 and RC4 when in simplex. It just transmits in the clear when using a repeater and won’t decrypt a received signal from the repeater.
TYT has been less then responsive to the issue.
My 5watt radios all run S119.038 programmed with a CP of 3.27. The 10 watt radio is S219.043 programmed with a CP of 2.41.
Makes me wish I bought a 5W version.
I tried some experiments with D219.043 to mitigate the issue, it seems AES-256 is often more unstable than AES-128. Slightly less than ideal signal strength also appears to be also causing it to fail occasionally, although it can fail in any condition. Writing only one 256 bit key with the default name into the radio makes it a little bit better. There are two types of failures I noticed on DMO/simplex.
1> Sporadic failed decryption, scrambled voice heard. It seems as though the radio didn’t detect the correct IV/MI to decrypt.
2> Sporadic failed decode, audio stutters and loops for a second, and then decodes but fails to decrypt.
Of note is a longer delay in voice using advanced encryption compared to enhanced, basic, and no encryption.
I’ll try some more troubleshooting but I’m running out of patience.
I got my feedback from the guys at BuyTwoWayRadios suggesting a combined 2.37 and 2.41 CPS approach. One for loading the freqs the other for loading the keys.
I will give that a shot when I get home tonight and pay an update.
So I got home and tried it. I downloaded the provided UV-380 V2.41 and used that to upload the AES key to the radio. I then used the UV-390 software V2.37 and also tried V2.41 and found it still was not working. I guess I can only hope that TYT will release a firmware/CPS version that fixes this.
Good to hear you got yours working, but I’m still having reliability issues with AES over DMO/simplex. I also tried programming with the lesser-known V2.39 CPS as well as switching to D119.033 but it didn’t make a difference.
I’m new to this forum so please forgive me if I’m not posting this correctly.
The issues I’m having are:
My MD-UV-390 Plus will not transmit/receive once programmed. I’m using v2.43 downloaded from buytwowayradios.com, and using the rtsystems programmer software v5.00.62.
I’ve tried DMR talkgroups with no success. The program and radio display shows the info is correct. I’ve compared it to both my UV380 and my MD-380. The red LED will light when I press the PTT but no signal or audio to the other radios and no signal/audio from the other radios, even in the monitor mode.
I even tried programming in my analog GMRS repeater frequency and still to TX/RX.
I also cannot get the radio off of talkaround mode. I’ve checked the programming and when I go in to Utilities, I cannot change the talkaround option on the radio.
Any advice with correcting these issues? Is there a factory reset option I should try?
What seems to be happening is that your radio is still in a locked state. DMR can be complicated to understand and work with if you’re new, but GMRS is fairly straightforward so its most likely configured correctly. An easy way to check is to make sure your radio is in frequency mode; this can be done through the mode option under utilities or general settings in the software. If your radio is displaying 450.000, it is locked. To unlock your radio, hold down the left two programmable buttons while turning the radio on, and keep holding them down until the radio is fully powered on.
If your radio is NOT locked and you are still unable to get GMRS or DMR to work call me at (888) 569-9499 ext 231 and we can troubleshoot over the phone.
I ended up returning mine due to this issue, but my buddy experienced the same problem with his 10W. He discovered that if the encryption keys don’t include any '0’s, it works almost 98% of the time, both for receiving AES 256 and transmitting AES 256. He actually found this tip on a Btech forum about the 6x2, where they mentioned the CPS doing some weird reformatting of AES keys that contain '0’s. He decided to try generating keys without '0’s on the UV390 Plus, and to his surprise, it worked!
There will still be an occasional encryption “gargle” sound when first receiving, but it usually only lasts a second or so. It’s still annoying, but hopefully, this helps someone else. Also, CPS version v2.41 is necessary for this to work. TYT still needs to fix this issue, but my buddy can now use his TYT radio with his other radios and is mostly happy with the results.
Very strange, I’m thinking that AES might not be working with Forward Error Correction, whenever I have a weak AES signal, I can guarantee that it will break out. I’ll do some more testing with different keys as well as with AES-128.
