Systems Saber Key Retention

[Osprey]

Do Systems Sabers dump their key when the battery is removed with power on if IKR is selected? If not, is there any way to zeroize the key in the radio?

[akardam]

Systems Sabers cannot do IKR as far as I know. So yes, in theory if you left the batter off for a couple minutes it will loose the key. I suppose if nothing else you could keyload a key with all zeros into the radio.

[RESCUE161]

All of the Systems Sabers that I have will instantly lose their keys when the battery is removed IF the radio is on. If the radio is off, the radio will retain the key for a few minutes. From my experience, every radio is different.

I've had radios that sat on the shelf with a dead battery attached and still retained the key after months of sitting in that situation. I just didn't turn it on and just changed the battery.

Other times, the key was lost within seconds of removing the battery (while turned off) and replacing it with a newly charged battery. I don't know why there is a wide range of "Key Loss Times", but that's what I've experienced.

[kb0nly]

From my tinkering with them i believe that it must have to do with aging of the capacitor for the secure module. From what i have read they have a capacitor to retain the key when changing batteries, but i don't know if this component is in the module itself or the radios main board.

The radio dumps the key when the battery is removed with the power on because it switches to drawing from the capacitor when the radio is turned off, when the radio is on it draws power normally from the battery, removing the battery while on doesn't allow it to switch to the capacitor backup instead and so the module loses power completely.

I have one radio that i can turn off and pull the battery and let it sit on the shelf overnight and put the battery back on and the key is still there! I also pulled this radio from its case to swap the PA module in it, put it all back together and powered it up and the key was still there!

On the other hand, i have another radio that you have to do a hustle shuffle on the battery swap, move fast like your life depended on it! I plan on trying a test, swap the modules between radios, keyload them again, and then see if the fast key loss follows that module or the radio itself.

[AEC]

From the RSS direct, Ver. 3.00.02 (old), this is what I have as options on secure:

OTAR erase last index...enable/disable
KEY loss KEY................enable/disable.
last OTAR ACK on power up.........enable/disable
OTAR check.....enable/disable
Coded radio check........enable/diable
Coded remote monitor......enable/disable
Coded radio inhibit.....enable/disable
Coded radio uninhibit.....enable/diasble
KMC ID............xxxx

WhileI have later versions, this is what I looked at first, while there is no direct correlation to key retention, I do believe that later versions of the RSS do allow this, I will open the other versiojns to make certain of this.

Looking in Ver. R04.00.02
Under Config:sec/MultiKey
Erase Key in Emergency........Enable/Disable

So it appears that yes, there IS IKR capability within certain RSS version to retain keys.

Especially if retention is a programmable option for emergency deletion, the ability to retain a ley or keys must also be there, or the above option would not be in the RSS as an option to begin with.

That's my take on the matter, never had a reason to worry about key retention capabilities as I carry several batteries if going portable for extended periods.

Even a dead battery has more than enough juice left to retain a key, so I've never had to worry about losing one in the field.


Enterprize.....One to beam up!