misawatech wrote:It sounds like your first slot is loaded with the OFB key
There's no such thing as a DES key vs a DES-XL key vs a DES-OFB key. A DES key will work with any of the DES-* algos, as it is the algo that changes, not the key type or size.
In Astro and Astro25 radios, you can have any combination of multi-algo hardware and singlekey/multikey flash. For example:
- You can have single-algo hardware and the multikey flash option. Example: Use 5 different DES-XL keys.
- You can have multi-algo hardware and the singlekey flash option. Example: Use 1 key in DES-XL mode on analog and DES-OFB mode on digital.
With regards to the original problem...
Firmware looks recent enough, so that's probably not the issue.
Are you
absolutely sure that on the problem radio, the conventional personality that you're trying to use does indeed have the DES-XL default transmit? The reason I ask is I've had more'n one occasion where I got tripped up by a setting I could SWEAR I double checked, only to find that no, it was that OTHER personality I was thinking of... (one of the reasons I really love the newer Astro25 relationship between personalities and "channels", but I digress...)
An interesting tidbit or two about the way multikey and multi-algo (XL/OFB) interact:
If you look under Secure Configuration > Multikey > Key ID TX & RX Hangtime, you'll see values for both TX and RX, expressed in ms's, for key hangtime. Let's say you and your mate each have two identical keys loaded into your radios. You default to the key in slot 1, and he defaults to the key in slot 2. Now, if you both have multikey configured correctly, when you key up and TX with the key in slot 1, his radio should, for the duration of the RX, automatically switch to the key in slot 1, even though his default is the key in slot 2. If once you have unkeyed, he keys up within the Key ID RX Hangtime value as programmed into his radio, his radio will continue to use the key in slot 1. You can go back and forth, and both radios will use the key in slot 1 until one or both of you let the hangtime expire. This is, by the way, based on the Key ID. As long as the keys are the same, which slot they are in compared to the other radio is unimportant (used here for the purposes of illustration only).
Now, under Conventional Personality > Secure > DES-XL TX Default, the help file states:
When checked, enable the radio to use the DES-XL algo as the default for all encrypted voice and data transmissions while operating on the current Conventional Personality. This is only true provided the radio-user does not initiate transmission during the Key ID RX Hangtime (emphasis mine).
This may help to explain your difficulties, and it's something that I ran into at Dayton this year. I normally run OFB by default, as most of the crew around here has OFB capabilities. However, most of the crew at Dayton were running XL by default, due to the preponderance of Astro Saber DES-XL only modules. We were all using the same key, of course. When a XL only radio keyed up, and I responded within 3 seconds, even though the radio was not programmed for XL by default, it would key up in XL and the folks that were XL only could hear me. Pretty nead, though it can be confusing for folk who are not aware of the capability.
Anyway, hopefully some of the above helped. Double check the settings. If all else fails, pull codeplugs from all radios concerned and ask someone here to review them. Sometimes another pair of eyes does the trick.
. So don't count out bad firmware in radio 
