RC4 / ADP support added to APCO P25 in version 4.50

It's hard to believe, but Kenwood has changed its mind after many years (see our earlier post, Missing ARC4 / ADP support in APCO P25) and has finally added RC4 support to the NX-5000 product line in P25 mode. This feature is called Enhanced Encryption, or P25 EE, and is known as ADP in Motorola's terminology. ARC4 was implemented for DMR a few years ago, but that is a separate feature for DMR mode only. Its part number is KWD-5500EE, and it does not provide APCO P25 support.

P25 EE was recently introduced in firmware version 4.50. Our team has tested it, and we can confirm that it works well! We verified interoperability with Motorola XTS and APX radios and with TAIT Tx9400/Tx9600 radios. It should also work with EFJohnson and L3Harris P25 radios.

Keys are entered through KPG-D1 without any additional software or special hardware. However, the NX-5000 requires the radio feature license KWD-5107ADP to use P25 EE.

The KWD-5107ADP feature license is available free of charge to large agencies that are direct Kenwood customers. Submit the request form, and Kenwood will send the JKEFR files in two to four weeks. If you are not a direct Kenwood customer or are located outside North America, you need to purchase the KWD-5107ADP feature license, for example through eBay.

KPG-D1 v4.50 has a bug affecting EE in P25 mode that was fixed in KPG-D1 v4.51. If you use ADP, upgrade both the software and firmware to version 4.51. Download the latest software and firmware from the Files section.

Kenwood, you're getting better and better! You're as slow as an Estonian turtle, but delivering a much-requested feature after five years is better than never delivering it at all.

Please keep developing and improving the best radio platform you've ever created!