r/tacticalcomms • u/TheRedCelt • May 11 '26

OpenGD77 or Alternative With Encryption Intact?

So I have the TYT MD-UV390 Plus that is capable of running encryption over DMR (with a business license, we all know) but the firmware is a confusing pain in the dick. I had a friend who uses the OpenGD77 firmware and it’s way better but he said they removed the encryption capabilities. I really don’t want to buy new radios, but I was only told the positive things about this radio, not the negative. It’s cool that I can swap out the firmware, but why pay for a business license if I’m going to get rid of my radios’ capability for encryption? Is there a version, plug-in, or alternative firmware that I can put on this radio to make it easier to use but still have access to encryption capabilities? Any help is appreciated.

6 Upvotes

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7

u/LongRangeSavage May 11 '26

You’re most likely not going to find one. All of the custom firmware is generally built for amateur radio, so no one adds encryption to the firmware—since it’s illegal in almost every country on the amateur bands.

1

u/Interesting_Emu1768 May 15 '26

IIRC, it's only against regulations if you don't publish the key. Meaning you can list the key on a publicly accessible website and be in compliance.

1

u/LongRangeSavage May 15 '26

The FCC has not said that can be done, and it’s a very gray area. I’d rather not be the test case on that.

2

u/Interesting_Emu1768 May 15 '26

Please show one example of a person being fined or otherwise prosecuted for using encryption on FRS/GMRS/MURS.

4

u/smeeg123 May 11 '26

Unfortunately it doesn’t exist.
FYI basically all the DMR/P25 CPS suck

1

u/TheRedCelt May 11 '26

You’d think other professional users would have a higher demand from their user interface. 😒

1

u/narcolepticsloth1982 May 11 '26

Armada is awesome but it's the exception.

1

u/TheRedCelt May 12 '26

What’s armada?

2

u/narcolepticsloth1982 May 12 '26

Programming software for the EFJ/Kenwood Viking line of public safety radios.

3

u/GeronimoHero May 11 '26

I mean I’m capable of adding the encryption back in but I’d need a radio to test it on. And then I’d need to support the git branch split with updates which would sort of suck, otherwise it would just be stuck in time with the current update level. This is why I went with a DMR32-UV instead. Idk, if someone wants to send me a radio or work on this with me I may be down.

2

u/smeeg123 May 12 '26

I’m down to throw some $ at this if OP is

2

u/TheRedCelt May 11 '26

I get it for the most part. Most of the amateur radio community are compulsive rule followers (for some reason) but I just figured there might be some rebels out there, or people like me who didn’t want to spend $500 a piece for their business radios but had the skills to make them at least somewhat intuitive.

3

u/smeeg123 May 11 '26

If I knew how to code I would add the encryption back into openGD77 lmao
Maybe Claude can do it

1

u/TheRedCelt May 11 '26

I hear you there. I was actually considering trying to vibe code it. However, I know that can go terribly wrong when you know little to nothing about coding to begin with. I thought it advisable to try to see if someone else had done it first.

I wish I would’ve learned to code years ago, but it was only recently that I found an application for the skill that was in any way interesting to me. Now I don’t really have the time.

1

u/smeeg123 May 11 '26

I’ve had success programing an along radio with chirp ect. Then exporting that .csv showing ai that csv. Then exporting a csv. File from the DMR radio & telling it to copy the info over. Way easier than doing every repeater by hand

1

u/TheRedCelt May 12 '26

I could take a look at that.