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

[MaximusTheGreat]

Well said CPUNUT.

But do you think Whistler gave two craps about the RS PRO-18 or the GRE-PSR-800 before the hack became the latest rage?

Heck no! Whistler was happy to promote their high dollar TRX line.

The hack drew Whistler's attention to the possibilty that there was money to be made in FW updates of these models which happen to be close spinoffs of their top tier TRX units.

They responded by offering the $60 upgrade. Which quite possibly would never have happened without the hack. Pretty good for the scanning community I would say.

And I am using Whistler terminolgy when I mention, "hack".

100% agreed...

Because of the tool, WE, that includes all scanner hobbyists are now able to enjoy the unofficial and official methods to have DMR in scanners that the manufacturers did not care about.

It's a win win for EVERYONE!

 

[trp2525]

Is there any logical explanation why DMR with 3.1 still works for some of us, and not for others?

The "original" version of DSP 3.1 was released on May 22nd. It is speculated that Whistler made a change to the DSP 3.1 firmware around June 30th when other major updates (PC application and CPU firmware) were released for these scanners. The "new" version of DSP 3.1 did not get re-numbered even though it had apparently added some checks to see if it was installing on a genuine WS1080 or an officially upgraded scanner. That is when the problem of losing DMR reception and the use of Eric's tools began.

Two posters here on RR (myself included) have specifically confirmed losing DMR after installing DSP 3.1 on June 30th and July 2nd. Two other posters confirmed losing DMR after installing DSP 3.1 but they did not provide the exact date of their installs. For those with DSP 3.1 and working DMR, I would speculate that if you re-installed DSP 3.1 at this time you would then lose your DMR and the use of Eric's tools.

 

[trp2525]

Control Demo 2 for Legacy Scanners

For those on the fence about purchasing the official upgrade from Whistler for your PRO-18/PRO-668/PSR-800, there is now an additional benefit to doing so. Whistler has just recently released Control Demo 2 (for FREE) on their website for these scanners. It is a computer control program for these scanners but it is only fully functional with logging of transmission data if your CPU firmware version is at 4.8 (currently the latest version for the WS1080). For those who have used Eric's tools you know that you can only update to CPU firmware 4.6 at this time.

I have found the logging feature of this Control Demo 2 program to be extremely useful to me. I monitor a multi-site 900 MHz trunked MotoTRBO radio system and it provides me with a lot of useful information in a log format. I can see at a glance what talkgroup IDs and specific radio IDs are showing up on which tower sites. It also shows the exact frequency being used on each tower site for every transmission. This detailed information allows me to tweak the programming of my radio to make for more efficient and reliable scanning.

Here's the link to Control Demo 2 if you want it: https://whistlergroup.com/products/remote-control-demo-for-use-on-whistler-sd-scanners

 

[JustLou]

The "original" version of DSP 3.1 was released on May 22nd. It is speculated that Whistler made a change to the DSP 3.1 firmware around June 30th when other major updates (PC application and CPU firmware) were released for these scanners. The "new" version of DSP 3.1 did not get re-numbered even though it had apparently added some checks to see if it was installing on a genuine WS1080 or an officially upgraded scanner. That is when the problem of losing DMR reception and the use of Eric's tools began.

Two posters here on RR (myself included) have specifically confirmed losing DMR after installing DSP 3.1 on June 30th and July 2nd. Two other posters confirmed losing DMR after installing DSP 3.1 but they did not provide the exact date of their installs. For those with DSP 3.1 and working DMR, I would speculate that if you re-installed DSP 3.1 at this time you would then lose your DMR and the use of Eric's tools.

Yes,I've heard this speculation. It made sense until EC discovered that 3.0 and 3.1 were identical except that 3.1 messes with the bootloader disabling DMR. What doesn't make sense is why 3.1 was originally released if it's the same as 3.0 and didn't disable anything.

 

[trp2525]

Yes,I've heard this speculation. It made sense until EC discovered that 3.0 and 3.1 were identical except that 3.1 messes with the bootloader disabling DMR. What doesn't make sense is why 3.1 was originally released if it's the same as 3.0 and didn't disable anything.

According to the release notes for DSP 3.1 posted by WhistlerWendy on May 22nd, it made "minor enhancements to P25 PDU handling." I would imagine if Whistler added a check for a genuine WS1080 or an officially upgraded legacy scanner to DSP 3.1 later on (thought to be around June 30th based on the RR postings in this thread), I would doubt that Whistler would post that information in any subsequent updated release notes.

An additional point of information to consider here is that when DSP 3.1 was released on May 22nd, Whistler had not started their upgrade program yet. If DSP 3.1 was in fact modified around June 30th as speculated, Whistler would have had a month of data regarding the firmware status of the legacy scanners coming in for the upgrade. PERHAPS there were many more units coming in already loaded with Whistler firmware (by the use of Eric's tools) than what they had anticipated and that lead to the change in DSP 3.1???

 

[JustLou]

According to the release notes for DSP 3.1 posted by WhistlerWendy on May 22nd, it made "minor enhancements to P25 PDU handling." I would imagine if Whistler added a check for a genuine WS1080 or an officially upgraded legacy scanner to DSP 3.1 later on (thought to be around June 30th based on the RR postings in this thread), I would doubt that Whistler would post that information in any subsequent updated release notes.

An additional point of information to consider here is that when DSP 3.1 was released on May 22nd, Whistler had not started their upgrade program yet. If DSP 3.1 was in fact modified around June 30th as speculated, Whistler would have had a month of data regarding the firmware status of the legacy scanners coming in for the upgrade. PERHAPS there were many more units coming in already loaded with Whistler firmware (by the use of Eric's tools) than what they had anticipated and that lead to the change in DSP 3.1???

I guess only Whistler knows for sure.

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

I found one answer to why scanners were not disabled right away. I wondered what this code snippet did so I figured out what data bytes being compared held. When I figured it out, it became obvious.

                 CMP.B   #117, Year   ; 1900 based year, so 117 is 2017
                 JGTU    ApplyHack
                 JLT     NotYet
                 CMP.B   #5, Month   ; zero based month (0 = Jan) 5 is June
                 JGTU    ApplyHack
NotYet :     RTS

ApplyHack:

For people who can not read code, it reads the year and month and will not do anything until after June 2017.

This very insidious Whistler hack did nothing for over a month so users thought the update was okay, then it sprung into action on and after July 1, 2017.

73 Eric

 

[fredva]

Hello,

I found one answer to why scanners were not disabled right away. I wondered what this code snippet did so I figured out what data bytes being compared held. When I figured it out, it became obvious.

                 CMP.B   #117, Year   ; 1900 based year, so 117 is 2017
                 JGTU    ApplyHack
                 JLT     NotYet
                 CMP.B   #5, Month   ; zero based month (0 = Jan) 5 is June
                 JGTU    ApplyHack
NotYet :     RTS

ApplyHack:

For people who can not read code, it reads the year and month and will not do anything until after June 2017.

This very insidious Whistler hack did nothing for over a month so users thought the update was okay, then it sprung into action on and after July 1, 2017.

73 Eric

If that's the case. it would seem to reaffirm that the warning on their web site actually means something.

 

[Wackyracer]

Hello,

I found one answer to why scanners were not disabled right away. I wondered what this code snippet did so I figured out what data bytes being compared held. When I figured it out, it became obvious.

                 CMP.B   #117, Year   ; 1900 based year, so 117 is 2017
                 JGTU    ApplyHack
                 JLT     NotYet
                 CMP.B   #5, Month   ; zero based month (0 = Jan) 5 is June
                 JGTU    ApplyHack
NotYet :     RTS

ApplyHack:

For people who can not read code, it reads the year and month and will not do anything until after June 2017.

This very insidious Whistler hack did nothing for over a month so users thought the update was okay, then it sprung into action on and after July 1, 2017.

73 Eric

I no longer have my 668 but my mother still has hers....How does this code get activated? when it is downloaded? or will it activate when the scanner is turned on? and is it in the May 22 release or just since June 30th?

Technically it is a zero day attack on your hacked scanner?

 

[JustLou]

Hello,

I found one answer to why scanners were not disabled right away. I wondered what this code snippet did so I figured out what data bytes being compared held. When I figured it out, it became obvious.

                 CMP.B   #117, Year   ; 1900 based year, so 117 is 2017
                 JGTU    ApplyHack
                 JLT     NotYet
                 CMP.B   #5, Month   ; zero based month (0 = Jan) 5 is June
                 JGTU    ApplyHack
NotYet :     RTS

ApplyHack:

For people who can not read code, it reads the year and month and will not do anything until after June 2017.

This very insidious Whistler hack did nothing for over a month so users thought the update was okay, then it sprung into action on and after July 1, 2017.

73 Eric

Interesting...
But why does DMR still work for some of us? I'm sitting here listening to NJ-TRBO Linked System right now. (confused) Is it still a possibility that there was a revised 3.1 released in June?

 

[KevinC]

Interesting...
But why does DMR still work for some of us? I'm sitting here listening to NJ-TRBO Linked System right now. (confused) Is it still a possibility that there was a revised 3.1 released in June?

Some people don't have the date set correctly?

 

[JustLou]

Some people don't have the date set correctly?

Nope. That's not it. I just checked. Date and time are correct. ....If it matters, I checked the date of the CONFIG_.BIN file, and it appears I updated to 3.1 on May 29th.

 

[JustLou]

deleted

 

[JustLou]

DMR still working with DSP 3.1 and CPU 4.5


Sent using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

 

[JustLou]

Deleted. Stupid Tapatalk keeps reposting

 

[KevinC]

Nope. That's not it. I just checked. Date and time are correct. ....If it matters, I checked the date of the CONFIG_.BIN file, and it appears I updated to 3.1 on May 29th.

Right, but you probably have the suspected "good" 3.1. Users with the "enhanced" 3.1 are probably the ones getting hit, but only if they have the date set correctly...but I could be wrong.

You could always download the current CONFIG_.BIN and replace your current one and see what happens.:wink:

 

[JustLou]

Right, but you probably have the suspected "good" 3.1. Users with the "enhanced" 3.1 are probably the ones getting hit, but only if they have the date set correctly...but I could be wrong.

You could always download the current CONFIG_.BIN and replace your current one and see what happens.:wink:

I actually checked for a DSP upgrade and it says I have the latest 3.1 May 22nd 2017. I was curious if it would suggest I update.

 

[AtlasFBG2]

I updated to dsp 3.1 on may 22nd.

Just changed the clock to 7-9-2020 and restarted scanner.

It is still receiving dmr just fine.

 

[JustLou]

I updated to dsp 3.1 on may 22nd.

Just changed the clock to 7-9-2020 and restarted scanner.

It is still receiving dmr just fine.

At this point I'm agreeing with the speculation that DSP 3.1 was changed in June by Whistler. It's the only logical explanation.

 

[KevinC]

I actually checked for a DSP upgrade and it says I have the latest 3.1 May 22nd 2017. I was curious if it would suggest I update.

Correct, you have the "good" version. Get someone to send you a version from June and see what happens.