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Programming Orion and M-7100

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merlin

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I was compelled to dig up my cable to program these, I have 2 of each. One Orion was blanked, 'a' simplex channel and DCS.
One 7100 was wiped, Made up a simple working code plug for that.
Now the other two of each are loaded with 'I gotta keep that' but as my luck, reading from them is my generic error 'programmed with a newer version'
I decided to hack programmer and see if I can get past this ridiculous error. All the radios work fine, nothing nuked. Doesn't seem to be a workaround like for M-RKs. Like usual, Maint. will read from them and save bins/DSP files, but no personality.
Got my work cut out for me.
 

jparks29

John McClane
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If you're as experienced as you claim to be, you'd know that you'd also have newer firmware in the M7100 in order to work with RPM, so even if you were able to back date it to ProGrammer, you'd need to back down the firmware version too.
 

merlin

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I am not retrofitting the firmware, I am going to make programmer work with these hardcase radios, like an upgrade.
I already fixed a print issue with it. Strange some radios read fine, ones I want to save most I get errors.
programmer is rather simple, just a lot to it. over 400 settings and all the radios it supports.
 

jparks29

John McClane
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I am not retrofitting the firmware, I am going to make programmer work with these hardcase radios, like an upgrade.
I already fixed a print issue with it. Strange some radios read fine, ones I want to save most I get errors.
programmer is rather simple, just a lot to it. over 400 settings and all the radios it supports.

I don't think you understand. They don't communicate with each other. The personalities are laid out differently. Memory addresses are different. You can't run old software with new firmware.. or new software with old firmware.
 

merlin

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If you insist. I already know and can point out the tiny spots of different code. Memory mapping ""MUST"" be the same for two identical radios.
Another 'SAME' is all the files still have to work with the same processor. You are right, you can't mix and match files not made for each other.
What is not beyond me is patching programmer for both old and new, already dove into that.
 

jparks29

John McClane
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If you insist. I already know and can point out the tiny spots of different code. Memory mapping ""MUST"" be the same for two identical radios.
Another 'SAME' is all the files still have to work with the same processor. You are right, you can't mix and match files not made for each other.
What is not beyond me is patching programmer for both old and new, already dove into that.

Firmware can change memory address lookup tables. It's the operating system.

Just get a copy of RPM.
 

GE-Radio_Guy

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The ability to "read" and save firmware, adi codes and DSP codes was removed by (then) Ericsson in 2000 for a very good reason.
It was NOT intended to piss-off technicians and hobby types.

There is a very real issue of data read errors that can AND DOES occur on a regular basis called Replicant Error. It is the computer equivalent of photocopying a photocopy too many times. Errors creep into the personality file, like the clarity of a photocopy degrades if replicated too many times. I've had to recreate too many personality files in radios over the years because of this.

The first documented case I recall reading about was in Los Angeles County in the 90's. They were using DOS software on M-RK's and had it happen, where it shifted all the frequencies in the radios 60 kHz.

Now imagine a magnitude of FUBAR by corrupting the actual operating system (aka: firmware) in the radio!

While I'm on my soapbox I'll touch on another topic: Radio Programmer vs. RPM. When the factory implemented RPM, they added extra bits to the memory address structure. (This is why in Programmer you can only have 64 conventional channels versus 1024 channels in RPM!) In addition to increasing channel/group capacities, they also fixed a hell of a lot of technical issues that could never be resolved in Radio Programmer do to its limitations. If the radio is in RPM, don't revert it unless you have no other choice.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone....
 

merlin

Active Member
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Jul 3, 2003
Messages
2,380
Location
DN32su
The ability to "read" and save firmware, adi codes and DSP codes was removed by (then) Ericsson in 2000 for a very good reason.
It was NOT intended to piss-off technicians and hobby types.

There is a very real issue of data read errors that can AND DOES occur on a regular basis called Replicant Error. It is the computer equivalent of photocopying a photocopy too many times. Errors creep into the personality file, like the clarity of a photocopy degrades if replicated too many times. I've had to recreate too many personality files in radios over the years because of this.

The first documented case I recall reading about was in Los Angeles County in the 90's. They were using DOS software on M-RK's and had it happen, where it shifted all the frequencies in the radios 60 kHz.

Now imagine a magnitude of FUBAR by corrupting the actual operating system (aka: firmware) in the radio!

While I'm on my soapbox I'll touch on another topic: Radio Programmer vs. RPM. When the factory implemented RPM, they added extra bits to the memory address structure. (This is why in Programmer you can only have 64 conventional channels versus 1024 channels in RPM!) In addition to increasing channel/group capacities, they also fixed a hell of a lot of technical issues that could never be resolved in Radio Programmer do to its limitations. If the radio is in RPM, don't revert it unless you have no other choice.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone....
You make some good points, but just dealing with radios supported by programmer. Maintenance reads and saves just fine.
Yes, ADI & DSP files are still there.
Knowing embedded control, the radios are simple. I can hack the firmwares for any new commands in the radios from RPM, and I think just a script can give unlimited channels pending PC disc space.
Need be, write my own firmware. Turned a satellite receiver into a radio telescope like that, the radios are far simpler.
Hey,Happy Thanksgiving everyone,,73s
 
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