Your ChatterBox cluster is designed to not simply sit on a predictable frequency (although you can configure it to do that if you want). In order to be resistant to jamming and interference, and also to make your cluster more secure, all devices in your cluster transmit and listen on a frequency that changes at regular intervals. To all devices not in the cluster, the frequency schedule is unpredictable, as the cluster’s shared symmetric key is part of the algorithm that chooses the next frequency. The frequency schedule does not repeat, so it could not be predictable by sniffing RF traffic either.
When you create your cluster, you are able to configure…
- The center frequency of your cluster
- How many channels your cluster has (currently up to 64 is allowed)
- How often your cluster hops frequencies
The settings you choose at setup time configure the cluster-wide frequency hopping (or not-hopping) schedule. All channels in your cluster are centered around the frequency you selected, and there is a gap of .1 mHz between each channel. So, a cluster centered on 914.0 mHz with 16 channels would span roughly 913.2 mHz to 914.8 mHz.
When 2 devices are privately communicating with one another in your cluster, they utilize their own frequency hopping schedule, which is private and specific to those two devices. They will hop frequencies between each individual packet exchange at a very fast rate. The schedule is only known to the two devices communicating, and is based on their asymmetric key pairs.