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

[trp2525]

...One person noted that Whistler couldn't upgrade his radio.

If you are referring to a posting on this thread by RR member joec157, that situation had to do with a problem with the USB port on his radio not functioning properly. Whistler could not do the upgrade because the USB port was apparently not allowing them to communicate with the scanner. He is currently evaluating having the USB port repaired/replaced and then having the upgrade performed.

I have read many accounts here on RR where members have sent in their PRO-18/PRO-668/PSR-800 scanners already loaded with the Whistler CPU firmware (by using Eric's tool) and they have had their scanners upgraded and returned to them by Whistler without an issue. Some have even noted that on their return paperwork a technician at Whistler had made a notation that their scanner had been found to be "hacked" when Whistler evaluated it before the upgrade. I have not read one account where Whistler refused to upgrade a scanner because the owner had previously loaded "unofficial/unauthorized" firmware into it.

 

[SCPD]

Unintended consequences

The person that noted Whistler couldn't upgrade his radio stated it was because of a faulty usb port. That would not be damage caused by the experimental upgrade.

Here's the deal. I wrote the bootloader and significant to this discussion, the firmware load protocol, that Eric hacked. I tried to discourage what was going on and no one listened. There are other issues in play that are not appropriate to discuss here, it's not just about getting a free upgrade but helping to keep this hobby viable.

Yes there is a chance that these hacked loads could damage the radio and it just might masquerade as a USB issue. To think that a well packed radio's USB port would just fail is into the 0.001 percent chance. It took 12 years for someone to figure out how to hack the bootloader so I don't feel too bad about the technique I used which is simple by today's standards. To my knowledge not one person's radio was "bricked" due to using the firmware load feature as intended in the time I was with GRE. When an error occured the bootloader would clear the partial application and allow the user to start over, didn't matter if the batteries died, the PC crashed, cable became unplugged, etc.

Loading application firmware for a different radio into an older model may have unintended conquences, plain and simple.

A long time back when I was bored, I hacked firmware to enable about $2k of features on a $12k service monitor. Was a fun exercise. I never used the features or would have paid for them. What I didn't do is post how to do it or the tools for others to accomplish the same online.

I have a gread deal of respect for Eric's intelligence and capabiliy and the other person in this thread who contributed to this. I don't respect publishing hacks and knowledge that may harm a company or break a person's hard earned piece of equipment. As the title of this message says, "unintended consequences".

I also know Uniden has been targeted and I'm sure my once compatriot, and now competitor, Paul would agree with much of what I have typed.

I hope there is something to be learned from this.

73, Craig

 

[sibbley]

Well I can tell you that Eric's little experiment made at least 2 sales for Whistler. Once I upgraded my PSR-800 with the experimental tool, I was so impressed with the DMR/TRBO I bought a 1080. I was going to have Whistler upgrade my PSR-800, but then decided to buy a new 1088.

I'll give you possible unintended consequences from the hack. However, I've seen usb ports just plain go bad.

There was a great deal learned from this experience. Thanks to this little hack I learned that Whistler handles DMR much better than Uniden.

 

[tumegpc]

Well I can tell you that Eric's little experiment made at least 2 sales for Whistler. Once I upgraded my PSR-800 with the experimental tool, I was so impressed with the DMR/TRBO I bought a 1080. I was going to have Whistler upgrade my PSR-800, but then decided to buy a new 1088.

I'll give you possible unintended consequences from the hack. However, I've seen usb ports just plain go bad.

There was a great deal learned from this experience. Thanks to this little hack I learned that Whistler handles DMR much better than Uniden.

Count me in for 2 more sales and an upgrade because of Eric's little experiment. WS1088 ,TRX-1 and 668.

 

[Fasteddy2]

PRO-668 upgrade

Can you use PAY-PAL as a payment for the upgrade ?

 

[trp2525]

Can you use PAY-PAL as a payment for the upgrade ?

No but according to the information on the payment method checkout page, you can use Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover credit cards. I would imagine if you have a bank debit card with one of those logos that would also work but YMMV.

 

[trp2525]

Well I can tell you that Eric's little experiment made at least 2 sales for Whistler. Once I upgraded my PSR-800 with the experimental tool, I was so impressed with the DMR/TRBO I bought a 1080. I was going to have Whistler upgrade my PSR-800, but then decided to buy a new 1088...

Count me in for 2 more sales and an upgrade because of Eric's little experiment. WS1088 ,TRX-1 and 668.

After listening to DMR on my PRO-668 using Eric's experimental tool, I recently purchased the official upgrade and also a TRX-2.

 

[Fasteddy2]

Thanks for the info. @trp2525....I was hoping to use PAY-PAL be much easier for me ...Oh well I sure miss the DMR.

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

Thanks to n3617400 for the info. My initial assessment of DSP Version 3.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

Do not install DSP Version 3.1. The DSP code is the same as 3.0 and Whistler just added a block of M16c code at the end that modifies the bootloader and changes the Boot Version to FF.


Whistler should be careful when they intentionally damage a scanner that they do not not own, much less manufactured. Sony BMG did not fair too well with their stealth modifications of user's computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

73 Eric

 

[Nasby]

Hello,

Thanks to n3617400 for the info. My initial assessment of DSP Version 3.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

Do not install DSP Version 3.1. The DSP code is the same as 3.0 and Whistler just added a block of M16c code at the end that modifies the bootloader and changes the Boot Version to FF.


Whistler should be careful when they intentionally damage a scanner that they do not not own, much less manufactured. Sony BMG did not fair too well with their stealth modifications of user's computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

73 Eric

Corporate greed!!

 

[EricCottrell]

Here's the deal. I wrote the bootloader and significant to this discussion, the firmware load protocol, that Eric hacked. I tried to discourage what was going on and no one listened. There are other issues in play that are not appropriate to discuss here, it's not just about getting a free upgrade but helping to keep this hobby viable.

Yes there is a chance that these hacked loads could damage the radio and it just might masquerade as a USB issue. To think that a well packed radio's USB port would just fail is into the 0.001 percent chance. It took 12 years for someone to figure out how to hack the bootloader so I don't feel too bad about the technique I used which is simple by today's standards. To my knowledge not one person's radio was "bricked" due to using the firmware load feature as intended in the time I was with GRE. When an error occured the bootloader would clear the partial application and allow the user to start over, didn't matter if the batteries died, the PC crashed, cable became unplugged, etc.

Loading application firmware for a different radio into an older model may have unintended conquences, plain and simple.

A long time back when I was bored, I hacked firmware to enable about $2k of features on a $12k service monitor. Was a fun exercise. I never used the features or would have paid for them. What I didn't do is post how to do it or the tools for others to accomplish the same online.

I have a gread deal of respect for Eric's intelligence and capabiliy and the other person in this thread who contributed to this. I don't respect publishing hacks and knowledge that may harm a company or break a person's hard earned piece of equipment. As the title of this message says, "unintended consequences".

I also know Uniden has been targeted and I'm sure my once compatriot, and now competitor, Paul would agree with much of what I have typed.

I hope there is something to be learned from this.

73, Craig

Hello,

You did not try too hard as your last post before yesterday was four years ago.

And the radio can also be damaged by released firmware masquerading as a DSP update. I suppose that is my fault as well. It does illustrates the escalating move/countermove that I saw coming and decided to end.

I did not hack the bootloader. I reverse engineered the firmware download and update process and wrote my own code. I did not see any notice in the documentation preventing me from doing this. There is not much in the way of copyright notices at all in the documentation or firmware compared to Uniden.

73 Eric

 

[fredva]

Hello,

Thanks to n3617400 for the info. My initial assessment of DSP Version 3.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

Do not install DSP Version 3.1. The DSP code is the same as 3.0 and Whistler just added a block of M16c code at the end that modifies the bootloader and changes the Boot Version to FF.


Whistler should be careful when they intentionally damage a scanner that they do not not own, much less manufactured. Sony BMG did not fair too well with their stealth modifications of user's computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

73 Eric

When I go to the DSP 3.1 page on Whistler's site, it says

"Update for DSP on the WS1080/88 and the WS1095/98



This application is for PC only.

**IMPORTANT**
This software is intended for use with Whistler brand products only. Attempting to update any other brand of scanner with Whistler software/firmware may cause the scanner to stop functioning."

Is there a separate 3.1 DSP for the PRO-668 and the PSR-800? Or are people choosing to download the 3.1 DSP for non-Whistler scanners, understanding that there is a risk to that?

 

[TES]

Whistler should be careful when they intentionally damage a scanner that they do not not [sic] own, much less manufactured. Sony BMG did not fair [sic] too well with their stealth modifications of user's computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

Even if we presume (just for the sake of argument) that Whistler "intentionally" did something that affects non-Whistler-branded scanners...

There are some important differences between the Whistler situation and the Sony case:

• Whistler releases firmware that is intended only for a particular scanner.
• In order to load Whistler's firmware on a non-Whistler-branded scanner, people have to defeat Whistler's protections. They use a third-party tool to do that. It could be (easily) argued that Whistler did everything they could to discourage such abuse. In fact, it seems that with CPU 4.6, they further encrypted the firmware and we had to wait for yet another party to hack it and provide a non-encrypted file suitable for use with Eric's tool.
• Even after defeating those protections, the executable code sent to the scanner and programmed into its flash memory is not what Whistler released. A third-party tool modified it. If it was what Whistler released, we'd still see the "no digital" behavior we saw before Eric started "patching" the data.

 

[Fasteddy2]

uP Appl ver :U4.6
DSP flashing: 2.3 /5.E
DSP BUILD#: 94
RR Lib Ver:530
Still no DMR?
Why can I not pickup DMR on this firmware?

 

[SCPD]

Hello,

You did not try too hard as your last post before yesterday was four years ago.

And the radio can also be damaged by released firmware masquerading as a DSP update. I suppose that is my fault as well. It does illustrates the escalating move/countermove that I saw coming and decided to end.

I did not hack the bootloader. I reverse engineered the firmware download and update process and wrote my own code. I did not see any notice in the documentation preventing me from doing this. There is not much in the way of copyright notices at all in the documentation or firmware compared to Uniden.

73 Eric

It was either by PM or email, one of you guys, probably the other and received the same kind of dribble about copyright and kind of "can't do anything to me" response when I was trying to talk reason. BTW Whistler does own all the IP for all previous GRE radios, one of the last things I helped to facilitate before they were no more, well along with Moto Phase 2. Guess it's a personal choice, and as noted in my post you can see what my decision was when in a similar situation.

 

[DonS]

received the same kind of dribble about copyright and kind of "can't do anything to me" response when I was trying to talk reason

Sorry, Craig. It's impossible to make things idiot-proof. Something about new revisions.

 

[IAmSixNine]

Time to move on.
Whistler has stepped up and is now modifying the units for us for 60 bucks.
Go that route, it works, people are happy with it. Mine will go to them in a month or so.
Perhaps its time to close the thread as Eric has made the decision to not support the modificaiton AND Whistler is now doing it for us for a small fee.

 

[SCPD]

Unintended Consequences

Time to move on.
Whistler has stepped up and is now modifying the units for us for 60 bucks.
Go that route, it works, people are happy with it. Mine will go to them in a month or so.
Perhaps its time to close the thread as Eric has made the decision to not support the modificaiton AND Whistler is now doing it for us for a small fee.

I agree. There is a lot of passion here and am glad to see the interest. I type as myself representing no one else, or any of the corporations mentioned. It takes a lot of time and money to design and produce these radios. One poster typed "corporate greed". That old late 1800s [manifesto] concept has nothing to do with this. My passion to jump in, after dedicating a good portion of my professional adult life to this hobby, is to give it the best chance of staying viable.

I'll type once more: The issue, which I can not fully elaborate upon, is that these hacks can seriously hurt the hobby. If we want the best from Uniden or Whistler, support them by not hacking. There are ways that these hacks could potentially end the hobby as we know it.

Please don't attack the messenger. As we can imagine, I have a view and experience that is rare after hand picking the team, and doing a lot of the engineering, that has brought you one brand of digital scanners since early 2002.

You won't hear anything like this from any of the big ham radio manufacturers, or a past employee. I'm trying to do some good here in ways that for anyone that wants this hobby to thrive, with future in innovations, might understand.

I will again tip my hat to the two hackers on this thread. You have amazing talent. Please consider the long term effect of what you are doing. Unlike an iPad, iPhone, Samsung, etc., these radios have to meet government regulations, that at the future conclusion of this hacking progress, could end the hobby as we know it.

I love this hobby and am putting my neck on the chopping block to support it with the passion we all have.

73, Craig

 

[Nasby]

I agree. There is a lot of passion here and am glad to see the interest. I type as myself representing no one else, or any of the corporations mentioned. It takes a lot of time and money to design and produce these radios. One poster typed "corporate greed". That old late 1800s [manifesto] concept has nothing to do with this. My passion to jump in, after dedicating a good portion of my professional adult life to this hobby, is to give it the best chance of staying viable.

I'll type once more: The issue, which I can not fully elaborate upon, is that these hacks can seriously hurt the hobby. If we want the best from Uniden or Whistler, support them by not hacking. There are ways that these hacks could potentially end the hobby as we know it.

Please don't attack the messenger. As we can imagine, I have a view and experience that is rare after hand picking the team, and doing a lot of the engineering, that has brought you one brand of digital scanners since early 2002.

You won't hear anything like this from any of the big ham radio manufacturers, or a past employee. I'm trying to do some good here in ways that for anyone that wants this hobby to thrive, with future in innovations, might understand.

I will again tip my hat to the two hackers on this thread. You have amazing talent. Please consider the long term effect of what you are doing. Unlike an iPad, iPhone, Samsung, etc., these radios have to meet government regulations, that at the future conclusion of this hacking progress, could end the hobby as we know it.

I love this hobby and am putting my neck on the chopping block to support it with the passion we all have.

73, Craig

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".

 

[JustLou]

Hello,

Thanks to n3617400 for the info. My initial assessment of DSP Version 3.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

Do not install DSP Version 3.1. The DSP code is the same as 3.0 and Whistler just added a block of M16c code at the end that modifies the bootloader and changes the Boot Version to FF.


Whistler should be careful when they intentionally damage a scanner that they do not not own, much less manufactured. Sony BMG did not fair too well with their stealth modifications of user's computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

73 Eric

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