This paper describes the analysis and practical implementation of synchronized hyperchaotic maps for private communication of digital data. The data is transmitted using chaotic masking and demodulated using a matched filter (integrate and dump) receiver, which is shown to be nearly optimal in this case. Simulation results were validated by implementing two maps on circuit boards using high-speed discrete components. Experimental results show a bit error rate (BER) of 2x10-6 at a bit rate of 10 kbps and a clock frequency of 0.5 MHz, which is sufficient for high-fidelity real-time speech and image transmission without additional error control coding.