Motorola trbo. Are we dead in the water???

[rma0100]

I've made an extensive search looking for modification information to intercept the new Overton County SD transmissions. No luck. I spoke to a Motorola guy this morning who advertises ptrogramming for trbo on ebay. Withiout the color and header info there;'s nothing he can do. The info, contrary to what has been said here, is not transmitted over the air. One would need a decoder which costs $2-3K he said, IF YOU CAN FIND ONE, he said.

In addition, I've seen the WIKI hardware mod but I also hear that it really does not work and the information listed there is little to nothing. The SW that is supplied has no executeables and I have no idea where to put it in linux. I'm not a SW guy!

Does anyone have specific information regarding cracking this MOTO TRBO? I'm looking to get back my favorite and local information. Does anyone know of someone who has done it successfully. SUCCESSFULLY !

The owner of the particular radio shop noted that many many police departments are going MOTO TRBO and this will eventually kill our hobby. NEED HELP PLEASE. I need good solid info and I'm then willing to spend the money and DO IT as well as pass the information along in this forum. Thanks guys!!!

 

[Highpockets]

Have you read about this software.

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/DSD

 

[Banger]

Have you read about this software.

Digital Speech Decoder (software package) - The RadioReference Wiki

Highpockets:

Does this software work with a RadioShack PRO-197? We just bought one at our business and have been trying to figure out whether DSD will work on our scanner if we download it. We run mostly Macs and a couple of PCs here, so it looks like we wouldn't be able to do anything with DSD once we downloaded it, anyway.

Very frustrating, indeed.

 

[rma0100]

The WIKI posted SW-MOTO TRBO

Yes, that's the SW I'm talking about. I've read negative reports about it. No one seems to be saying, hey this works. Have you tried it? Do you know anyone who did and was successful? If so I'd buy everything I need in a heart beat and do it.

However I'm not a SW guy and I DL'd those files. Where do they go in the linux operating system and what's the best Sound Card to use? I would sincerely appreciate anyone that can help me decode this stuff but I need confirmation that it wotks first. Thanks much for your speedy reply and if you know anyone who will do it for a price I'd sincerely appreciate it and reward them.

Theory is one thing and success is another.

Our hobby is slowly going away and as the Motorola guy said, many many police departments and other Law Enforcement agencies are going to it. As long as it's not illegal we need to do this (in my opinion).

Thanks again for your reply.

Bob

 

[n4yek]

Someone is having success at it:
http://forums.radioreference.com/ge...feed-submitted-decoding-streaming-online.html
I would get in touch with the feed provider and ask that person what they are doing.
Danny

 

[n5ims]

You may want to follow this thread to see how things are going with the MOTOTrbo decoding. http://forums.radioreference.com/ge...ed-decoding-streaming-online.html#post1436336

Lots of discussion and suggestions on how to load/run/configure the software is in this (and a few other) thread http://forums.radioreference.com/tr...ing/189035-dsd-1-4-mbelib-1-2-3-released.html

 

[jimg]

I've made an extensive search looking for modification information to intercept the new Overton County SD transmissions. No luck. I spoke to a Motorola guy this morning who advertises ptrogramming for trbo on ebay. Withiout the color and header info there;'s nothing he can do. The info, contrary to what has been said here, is not transmitted over the air. One would need a decoder which costs $2-3K he said, IF YOU CAN FIND ONE, he said.

In addition, I've seen the WIKI hardware mod but I also hear that it really does not work and the information listed there is little to nothing. The SW that is supplied has no executeables and I have no idea where to put it in linux. I'm not a SW guy!

Does anyone have specific information regarding cracking this MOTO TRBO? I'm looking to get back my favorite and local information. Does anyone know of someone who has done it successfully. SUCCESSFULLY !

The owner of the particular radio shop noted that many many police departments are going MOTO TRBO and this will eventually kill our hobby. NEED HELP PLEASE. I need good solid info and I'm then willing to spend the money and DO IT as well as pass the information along in this forum. Thanks guys!!!

In middle Tennessee, Hickman Co. SO and Lawrenceburg PD and FD have also reportedly switched to MOTO TRBO. So, its use does appear to be "spreading".

 

[radioman2001]

There are other posts where TRBO was decoded with some success. An out of the box fix is probably a few years off. Some thing I have been saying since the 70's that it is a tech war, industry comes up with something, it takes time for those who want to defeat it to catch up. Of course the radio shops selling this product don't want to say that it is decodable, that would defeat their sale. The other possibility is that whoever does successfully decode it will make it public. Research takes time and money, you want to be on the leading edge, do it yourself.
There are Yahoo groups relating to MOTOTRBO, look there for more info.

 

[mackiefan2004]

It can be done

 

[SQP]

I warned you of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rdale]

I warned you of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You warned us that your keyboard has some stickies?

What did you warn who about?

 

[iamhere300]

I remember when people said there would never be a scanner to monitor trunked radio.

It will come.

 

[rdale]

I remember when people said there would never be a scanner to monitor trunked radio.

You listened to the wrong people.

It will come.

Ehh, probably not. Not enough demand.

 

[jackj]

I must be missing something here! Doesn't this fly in the face of interoperability? If different agencies have different radio communication standards then how can a mobile from one communicate with a mobile from another? Isn't that what the P-25 standard is supposed to support?

Wait....Wait...I get it now! This whole digital thing is a scheme to pry tax money from government and put it in private pockets! OH STUPID ME!!

 

[kruser]

Yes, that's the SW I'm talking about. I've read negative reports about it. No one seems to be saying, hey this works. Have you tried it? Do you know anyone who did and was successful? If so I'd buy everything I need in a heart beat and do it.
Bob

How can anyone have negative reports on something that is completely free?

edit: If you have a computer now, you do not need to buy a single thing. Maybe a burner if you do not have one to make the ubuntu install disc.
Surely you could find someone to burn the ubuntu iso for you if you don't have a burner.

Linux (Ubuntu) is free and can be installed alongside the Windows OS or it can be installed and ran from a thumb drive or even a Live CD version that does not get installed. I can't say how well the last two work as I did a full install. I actually installed it on three old laptops using the onboard sound chips. One of the laptops is a slow P4 Celeron processor at 1.6 Ghz I think with only 256 ram and it runs fine.
DSD is free for the taking as well. I'd tend to guess those "negative" reviews are simply from those that do not bother to try and understand the basics or give up before reading and trying.
I've used DSD and it does work fine on trbo and P25. I also know a person that is monitoring ProVoice with DSD and it works pefect.
I won't go into the specifics on how to install DSD or Linux as I'm not software expert either. All I did was google and read and it worked fine.

Try it then if you get stuck, ask here and someone will help. There are many threads here on the subject and one has step by step directions on getting DSD installed after you havbe Ubuntu 10.04 installed.
I do know that you need to use Ubuntu 10.04 and not higher as the newer release has issues from what I've read.

Do you have a spare hard drive you can throw in the machine you will try it with? That is the safest way. Just stick the spare drive in after you disconnect the original and then fire it up but boot from the CD or DVD that you made first in Windows or onthe Mac.
Ubuntu is fairly easy to install and is menu driven. You can pretty much just accept the defaults other than your logon name and password.

Good luck.

 

[kruser]

I must be missing something here! Doesn't this fly in the face of interoperability? If different agencies have different radio communication standards then how can a mobile from one communicate with a mobile from another? Isn't that what the P-25 standard is supposed to support?

Wait....Wait...I get it now! This whole digital thing is a scheme to pry tax money from government and put it in private pockets! OH STUPID ME!!

I may be wrong but I thought that business users were the main target for MOTOTRBO.

We have just a handful of TRBO users here and all are business users and one ambulance company which could be classified as a business as well as it is a private company.

I don't see a big push towards TRBO for the public safety sector but like I said, I may be wrong!

 

[rdale]

I must be missing something here!

Correct.

Doesn't this fly in the face of interoperability?

No.

If different agencies have different radio communication standards then how can a mobile from one communicate with a mobile from another?

Just fine. I have an EDACS portable in front of me that works on a 400MHz system that ties in to the state 800MHz P25 system. That talkgroup can be patched to any in the state.

On my other side is a Motorola P25 portable that works on a statewide 800MHz system, which can talk directly to units on that 400MHz EDACS system too.

This whole digital thing is a scheme to pry tax money from government and put it in private pockets! OH STUPID ME!!

MotoTRBO is cheaper than P25, so I'm really losing your point.

 

[JRayfield]

I must be missing something here! Doesn't this fly in the face of interoperability? If different agencies have different radio communication standards then how can a mobile from one communicate with a mobile from another? Isn't that what the P-25 standard is supposed to support?

Wait....Wait...I get it now! This whole digital thing is a scheme to pry tax money from government and put it in private pockets! OH STUPID ME!!

It might have helped if the federal government hadn't chosen a 'standard' that is 20 years old, hasn't been completely finished until recently (if it's finished now), the subscriber equipment for it costs 3 to 4 times more than other, newer digital standards-based equipment (like DMR), and the infrastructure equipment costs 10 times more than other, newer digital standards-based equipment (like DMR).

Oh, and the other, newer digital standards-based equipment (like DMR) is more spectrally efficient and works better than the 20 year old 'federally-chosen' 'standard'.

John Rayfield, Jr. CET-ma

 

[JRayfield]

I may be wrong but I thought that business users were the main target for MOTOTRBO.

We have just a handful of MOTOTRBO users here and all are business users and one ambulance company which could be classified as a business as well as it is a private company.

I don't see a big push towards MOTOTRBO for the public safety sector but like I said, I may be wrong!

Most MOTOTRBO users are businesses at this time. However, there are more and more public safety agencies that are switching over to MOTOTRBO. I've spoken with 4 or 5 of them (including some of the ones that have been mentioned here on this website) and they're 'tickled pink' with their MOTOTRBO systems.

And Motorola IS promoting MOTOTRBO for public safety use.

John Rayfield, Jr. CETma

 

[JRayfield]

There are other posts where TRBO was decoded with some success. An out of the box fix is probably a few years off. Some thing I have been saying since the 70's that it is a tech war, industry comes up with something, it takes time for those who want to defeat it to catch up. Of course the radio shops selling this product don't want to say that it is decodable, that would defeat their sale. The other possibility is that whoever does successfully decode it will make it public. Research takes time and money, you want to be on the leading edge, do it yourself.
There are Yahoo groups relating to MOTOTRBO, look there for more info.

Saying that MOTOTRBO is 'decodable' wouldn't hurt a sale at all. MOTOTRBO radios includes 40 bit digital encryption, which will be 'undecodable' (at least as secure as rolling code analog scramblers). So if someone wants security on their MOTOTRBO system, they can use the encryption.

John Rayfield, Jr. - CETma