Pro-668: Radio Shack PRO-668 loaded with Whistler DMR firmware

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pro106import

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OK after reloading the Pro-668 firmware back into the radio, everything works fine- P25 sounds good, even though I did not touch the DSP. But the interesting thing is it still shows the DSP is version 3.0.
So it actually did load 3.0 in there (I guess?) but it doesn't work with the 4.4 WS1080 firmware apparently. Then I went to the Pro-668 EZScan and sure enough, it shows that there is DSP version 3.0 in there and you have to over ride the prompt stating that you have a newer version in the radio than the V1.4 that is the latest available. So I shot the 1.4 back in for the heck of it.
 

kruser

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As others are finding, my PSR800 took the WS1080 CPU 4.4 just fine as well as DSP 3.0 but I can no longer receive any digital at all.

I did wipe an SD card and started fresh but no joy.
Analog still worked fine.
I also noticed after I switched it to an WS1080, the S indicator was pretty much lit constantly when trying to scan anything digital.

The only thing I forgot to try was messing with the DSP Level and the ADC and DAC settings. By default, the latest PSR800 CPU or DSP set these to 14,0,0 respectively but after installing the WS1080 CPU 4.4 and DSP 3.0, the DSP Level went to 75 but I don't recall where the other two landed at.
I meant to try setting them all back to the PSR800's default levels but forgot. This change could have been made by the PC App also.

I ended up reverting back to the PSR800 CPU 2.0 and DSP 1.3 before I remembered I did not test changing those settings.
I don't know if changing them would have done anything with digital reception. At least the radio booted without error which was promising!

I suspect the PSR800 may not have the needed hardware to support DMR.

The latest EZ-Scan PC App installs DSP 3.0 firmware which also has NXDN support even though a real WS1080 does not support NXDN. I kind of doubt the pre NXDN version of DSP firmware would have made a difference but it's possible the pre NXDN version would have allowed the PSR800 to work as a WS1080 and allow DMR and not break P25.
The NXDN version of DSP could have some code in it that the PSR800 does not like but a real WS1080 can handle even though it cannot do NXDN.

I don't recall what version the DSP firmware was before NXDN support was added but I think it was DSP Version 2.3. I don't know how one could get that version being as the PC App downloads and installs it unless an older version of the PC App would only allow DSP Version 2.3 to install.

Does anyone have a link to download the WS1080 PC App version 2.16?
How about the CPU Version 4.3 manual installer?
The change log for CPU 4.4 does not even mention NXDN so it may have not added anything NXDN related but trying 4.3 may be worth a shot on a PSR800.

There is a report that a RadioShack Pro 668 at least stops on digital talkgroups and displays their info but it does not pass any audio it seems.
I don't own a 668 so cannot do any testing with it. That is more than I got from my PSR800!

If anyone knows where I can get EZ-Scan 2.16 and the CPU 4.3 manual install firmware file, please advise where as I would like to try this again with those versions.

That's my report with this attempt.
 

skinnyb82

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I ran into the exact same issue. DSP didn't function, couldn't/wouldn't decode any digital transmissions. Scanner wasn't even showing connected to a site in Pro96com. Flashing back to the RS v2.4 firmware and DSP v1.4 wasn't an issue, took a whopping....however long it takes the utility to flash firmware, short period of time. No harm, no foul. I doubt this issue will be a huge problem to address. Thank you for your work, Eric.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
 

pro106import

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As others are finding, my PSR800 took the WS1080 CPU 4.4 just fine as well as DSP 3.0 but I can no longer receive any digital at all.

I did wipe an SD card and started fresh but no joy.
Analog still worked fine.
I also noticed after I switched it to an WS1080, the S indicator was pretty much lit constantly when trying to scan anything digital.

The only thing I forgot to try was messing with the DSP Level and the ADC and DAC settings. By default, the latest PSR800 CPU or DSP set these to 14,0,0 respectively but after installing the WS1080 CPU 4.4 and DSP 3.0, the DSP Level went to 75 but I don't recall where the other two landed at.
I meant to try setting them all back to the PSR800's default levels but forgot. This change could have been made by the PC App also.

I ended up reverting back to the PSR800 CPU 2.0 and DSP 1.3 before I remembered I did not test changing those settings.
I don't know if changing them would have done anything with digital reception. At least the radio booted without error which was promising!

I suspect the PSR800 may not have the needed hardware to support DMR.

The latest EZ-Scan PC App installs DSP 3.0 firmware which also has NXDN support even though a real WS1080 does not support NXDN. I kind of doubt the pre NXDN version of DSP firmware would have made a difference but it's possible the pre NXDN version would have allowed the PSR800 to work as a WS1080 and allow DMR and not break P25.
The NXDN version of DSP could have some code in it that the PSR800 does not like but a real WS1080 can handle even though it cannot do NXDN.

I don't recall what version the DSP firmware was before NXDN support was added but I think it was DSP Version 2.3. I don't know how one could get that version being as the PC App downloads and installs it unless an older version of the PC App would only allow DSP Version 2.3 to install.

Does anyone have a link to download the WS1080 PC App version 2.16?
How about the CPU Version 4.3 manual installer?
The change log for CPU 4.4 does not even mention NXDN so it may have not added anything NXDN related but trying 4.3 may be worth a shot on a PSR800.

There is a report that a RadioShack Pro 668 at least stops on digital talkgroups and displays their info but it does not pass any audio it seems.
I don't own a 668 so cannot do any testing with it. That is more than I got from my PSR800!

If anyone knows where I can get EZ-Scan 2.16 and the CPU 4.3 manual install firmware file, please advise where as I would like to try this again with those versions.

That's my report with this attempt.

You can't use the direct PC app on a scanner that it isn't intended for. It won't initiate.
 

sibbley

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There is a video on RR showing Eric's PSR-800 doing DMR. Maybe all that is needed is the Pre NXDN CPU and DSP firmware. Eric, what DSP firmware were you on when you made that video? Anyone know if we can get earlier versions of EZScan for the 1080? I don't think I have the earlier version anymore.

BTW, Thank you for making this possible. It's always fun to try new things with older scanners. Makes the hobby exciting.
 
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pro106import

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There is a video on RR showing Eric's PSR-800 doing DMR. Maybe all that is needed is the Pre NXDN CPU and DSP firmware. Eric, what DSP firmware were you on when you made that video? Anyone know if we can get earlier versions of EZScan for the 1080? I don't think I have the earlier version anymore.

You still need a way to load the firmware even if you had it. That is why Eric went through all this work to make this program.
 

sibbley

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Yeah, sorry. I'm so used to swapping firmware with the Unidens, I keep forgetting the only way to get the Whistler firmware is through the CPU updater.
 

kruser

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You can't use the direct PC app on a scanner that it isn't intended for. It won't initiate.

I know that.
I was looking for the actual firmware BIN file extracted from the executable installer on Whistler's site.

They do not have CPU 4.3 on their site but do have 4.2 and 4.1 but I don't know how to extract the .bin FW file from them.
 

trp2525

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I've been following this thread very closely and was wondering if anyone can confirm that a real/genuine Whistler WS1080 is working just fine with both DMR and P25 transmissions after being updated to the very latest CPU Firmware version 4.4 and DSP Firmware version 3.0. The reason I mention this is that both of those updates were just released on Thursday, 12/15, just 3 days ago. I wonder if Whistler possibly "broke something" with those updates for the WS1080 and that is why we are seeing the problems that are being posted in this thread.

The other interesting thing that I noticed is that in the DSP Firmware version 3.0 release notes for the WS1080 it states "Add support for NXDN." AFAIK NXDN support was never intended for release to the WS1080 because it lacked the necessary memory capacity in comparison to the TRX-1. Could the DSP version 3.0 release for the WS1080 be an error on Whistler's part and perhaps the latest/current DSP should have remained at the previous version 2.3 for the WS1080? Maybe that's why DMR and P25 are not working on our PSR-800 and PRO-668 scanners that we have "converted" to WS1080 scanners?
 

pro106import

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I've been following this thread very closely and was wondering if anyone can confirm that a real/genuine Whistler WS1080 is working just fine with both DMR and P25 transmissions after being updated to the very latest CPU Firmware version 4.4 and DSP Firmware version 3.0. The reason I mention this is that both of those updates were just released on Thursday, 12/15, just 3 days ago. I wonder if Whistler possibly "broke something" with those updates for the WS1080 and that is why we are seeing the problems that are being posted in this thread.

The other interesting thing that I noticed is that in the DSP Firmware version 3.0 release notes for the WS1080 it states "Add support for NXDN." AFAIK NXDN support was never intended for release to the WS1080 because it lacked the necessary memory capacity in comparison to the TRX-1. Could the DSP version 3.0 release for the WS1080 be an error on Whistler's part and perhaps the latest/current DSP should have remained at the previous version 2.3 for the WS1080? Maybe that's why DMR and P25 are not working on our PSR-800 and PRO-668 scanners that we have "converted" to WS1080 scanners?

I can answer the first part. I did the upgrade to the 4.4 on my 1088 a few min. after the release and everything has been working fine since then. I really did not notice any change with anything, and I monitor several hundred DMR stations.
 

trp2525

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I can answer the first part. I did the upgrade to the 4.4 on my 1088 a few min. after the release and everything has been working fine since then. I really did not notice any change with anything, and I monitor several hundred DMR stations.

So just for accurate data points, you did the 4.4 CPU Firmware update on a WS1088 and not on a WS1080? Also did you update the DSP Firmware to version 3.0 in conjunction with the 4.4 CPU Firmware update?
 

pro106import

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So just for accurate data points, you did the 4.4 CPU Firmware update on a WS1088 and not on a WS1080? Also did you update the DSP Firmware to version 3.0 in conjunction with the 4.4 CPU Firmware update?

Yes to both. WS-1088 and did the DSP 3.0 after the firmware update. But first did the update on the EZ-Scan app.
 

EricCottrell

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Hello,

I did some testing and got the same results as other people. Loading WS-1080 CPU 4.4 and DSP 3.0 causes the scanner not to receive P25 or DMR. So I suggest people hold off using the transcoding feature.

My setup was working with CPU 4.1, so I went back to that version and had the same problem. I suspect that it is the DSP 3.0 file. I do not have any method to load previous versions of DSP at this time.

I wonder if "real" WS-1080 scanners are working with CPU 4.4 and DSP 3.0 as this could be a problem with Whistler providing the wrong DSP file when updating the WS-1080 firmware. The only change mentioned for DSP 3.0 was the addition of NXDN.

Sorry that I released this without testing it with the latest release. I mainly checked that the new firmware loaded properly.

Sorry that you will have to wait some more until I figure this problem out. Fortunately I do have previous dsp files, but no method to load them in the scanner.

So do not bother to use the utility to load WS-1080 firmware at this time.

73 Eric
 

pro106import

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I wonder if "real" WS-1080 scanners are working with CPU 4.4 and DSP 3.0 as this could be a problem with Whistler providing the wrong DSP file when updating the WS-1080 firmware. The only change mentioned for DSP 3.0 was the addition of NXDN.

Here is the readout from EZScan from my WS-1088 when checking for all updates: And the radio works as it did before the updates.
 

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EricCottrell

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Here is the readout from EZScan from my WS-1088 when checking for all updates: And the radio works as it did before the updates.
Hello,

Thanks for the information. I will need to look at this further. It would be interesting to see if this works on the WS-1080 as well, since it more closely matches the Pro-668. CPU 4.1 and DSP 2.2 did work in my Pro-668.

73 Eric
 
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