Reverse "engineering" on the Pro-95

Status
Not open for further replies.

Alain

Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2003
Messages
343
Location
San Diego, California
Hello All,

There is a lot of buzz in one of the Yahoo groups regarding "rebanding" and how it will affect the unit. Overwhelming consensus admits that 800 Mhz trunking will be useless.

Some are asking what is involved in "reflashing" the PROM? Is it co$t effictive even to contemplate messing around with?

It's very unlikely that R/S is going to offer any options, other than perhaps a new scanner, once all the dust settles.

Willl the Pro-96 be able to handle the rebanding, via Don Starr's WIN96?

Alain
 

John_M

Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2005
Messages
1,485
Location
Rochester, N.Y.
It would be cost effective if it was worth it to you. It probably wouldn't involve anymore work to upgrade than the Pro-97. If they do offer an upgrade for the Pro-97 than they should also offer one for the Pro-2055. Right now RS is not going to offer an upgrade for the Pro-95.
 
Last edited:

K9GTJ

Member
Joined
May 20, 2006
Messages
602
Location
Kokomo, IN
Dubbin said:
The rebanding will not affect it.

Can you dumb it down a little more for me? ;)

I really was asking for a slightly more detailed answer but am glad it will still work as I monitor EDACS as my primary system.
 

WayneH

Forums Veteran
Super Moderator
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Messages
7,521
Location
Your master site
kokomo1 said:
Can you dumb it down a little more for me? ;)

I really was asking for a slightly more detailed answer but am glad it will still work as I monitor EDACS as my primary system.
EDACS uses a logical number to represent a frequency for assigning channels via the control channel. This number is then looked up in a table the radio has programmed into it. With Motorola the table is fixed and does not rely on a user-programmed table for frequency conversion.

Also, rebanding won't completely kill all 800. Channel assignments for 854 through 861 will not change. If agencies (former 866MHz users for example) get frequencies reassigned that are below 854 there will be issues.

Alain, with the RCS you may be out of luck for some of the site and you may not. The North Zone will have to reorganize a bit but as long as they don't go below 854 scanners will still be Ok. San Diego PD.... unknown. Depends on what they get assigned. By the time San Diego does reband it will be several years from now. Much can change in the scanner world. With regard to the Pro-96, there is a possibility it will still be useful but it's unknown how Motorola has decided to reassign the new 851MHz PS freqs.

Us in Wave 1 on the other hand...

-Wayne
 
Last edited:

Alain

Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2003
Messages
343
Location
San Diego, California
Hi Wayne!

Thanks for the info. Yes, RCS North was my main concern. However, I wasn't aware that San Diego County was on the rebanding list so far in the future...

Alain...Valley Center
 

gmclam

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
6,335
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
New firmware

Alain said:
.... There is a lot of buzz in one of the Yahoo groups regarding "rebanding" and how it will affect the unit. Overwhelming consensus admits that 800 Mhz trunking will be useless.

Some are asking what is involved in "reflashing" the PROM? Is it co$t effictive even to contemplate messing around with?
I've been doing a lot of research of "upgrading" one of the PRO scanners for lots of reasons - fix bugs, add features, support rebanding, etc. The PRO-93/PRO-95 is the scanner I would most like to upgrade, but I've also looked a the PRO-92 & PRO-97.

The "problem" with the PRO-93 & PRO-95 scanners is that they use embedded microcontrollers with internal program memory. They could have been "masked" or programmed OTP parts. Regardless, to change any firmware in these scanners requires changing the CPU. My initial research on this shows the CPU cost is just over $20 in small quantities. Consider the 80 pin CPU is surface mount technology and requires pretty much disassembling the entire scanner to replace. Other than labor (for the swap out) there are costs for engineering/coding, shipping a scanner back and forth, and profit. I don't think it would be viable for under $50+shipping per scanner. Ideally a new CPU could be upgraded via FLASH, but a flash part would be more $$ than an OTP part. I don't think many people would be willing to spend that much; unless the cost of new scanners able to handle rebanding go way up.

Ironically the PRO-92 looks like a good candidate. The code is in a separate ROM and the upgrade would not require a complete CPU swap out. But all those other costs above still apply.

I am still gathering info on this idea but that's my current thoughts.
 

iMONITOR

Silent Key
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
11,156
Location
S.E. Michigan
Mischief810 said:
Relax, y'all.

Rebanding is a government project. If it ever even gets started, it will not be finished before the affected scanner models are worn out.

:D



It's definitely starting to look that way, isn't it! :)
 
N

N_Jay

Guest
Mischief810 said:
Relax, y'all.

Rebanding is a government project. If it ever even gets started, it will not be finished before the affected scanner models are worn out.

:D
GreatLakes said:
It's definitely starting to look that way, isn't it! :)

Well, it definitely has started.

And it definitely has ended in some areas

But the end of the whole process is well over the horizon.
 

gmclam

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
6,335
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
Worn out scanners

Grog said:
The 1st pro92 will most likely survive rebanding...
The first PRO-92 misses transmissions and does not work very well on Motorola II systems. Perhaps there are a few instances where it is ok, but that's just a few. I have compared the PRO-92B with other scanners, and it too could be smarter.

Mischief810 said:
Relax, y'all.
Rebanding is a government project. If it ever even gets started, it will not be finished before the affected scanner models are worn out.

:D
I guess that depends on your definition of "worn out". The only thing worn out about my circa 1974 scanners is that they require crystals (for which I have quite a library of). Yeah they do not do 800, 900 or trunking; but there is an awful lot here I can pick up with them. And while 20 channels does not sound like much, it all depends on WHICH 20 channels you put into them. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we should all use 20 channel scanners; all I am saying is that you can put the 20 most active in one scanner and leave another scanner to find all the juicy stuff.

Perhaps what you mean by worn out is that someone will come out with some new feature that will cause you to go out and buy a new scanner to have it. YUP, that's the idea here! ;)
 

iMONITOR

Silent Key
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
11,156
Location
S.E. Michigan
Seriously guys, PRO-95's are still somewhat sought after. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell it, and buy a newer scanner that will be compatible after re-banding?
 

Mischief810

Member
Joined
May 7, 2006
Messages
74
Location
Cultural Center of the Universe (Mobile Bay)
N_Jay said:
Well, it definitely has started.

And it definitely has ended in some areas

But the end of the whole process is well over the horizon.

I know they say that it's begun. But I don't think there's a single rebanded system in the country that's been brought up and tested yet.

They are -- at least -- two years behind schedule and they are showing no signs whatsoever that getting back on schedule means diddly. It's the government. The very word "schedule" means something different.

I know this, because I used to work for'em. ;)
 
N

N_Jay

Guest
Mischief810 said:
I know they say that it's begun. But I don't think there's a single rebanded system in the country that's been brought up and tested yet.

They are -- at least -- two years behind schedule and they are showing no signs whatsoever that getting back on schedule means diddly. It's the government. The very word "schedule" means something different.

I know this, because I used to work for'em. ;)

There are lots of systems that are rebanded.

As for the rest, I would not leave the government alone as the cause of the delays. (Nextel, the radio companies, and even a few licensees have helped.)
 

KE4ZNR

Radio Geek
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
7,254
Location
Raleigh, NC
N_Jay said:
There are lots of systems that are rebanded.

As for the rest, I would not leave the government alone as the cause of the delays. (Nextel, the radio companies, and even a few licensees have helped.)

Gotta go with N_Jay on this one...to lay the blame soley at the feet of the government is incorrect....even though I used to work for them (and have been accused of being a "fanboy" in the past) Sprintel (Sprint/Nextel) deserves a large portion of the blame...also uneducated system operators deserve blame too...I do see this situation dragging on for the forseeable future with no quick end in sight (kinda like Iraq) :cool:
Marshall KE4ZNR
 

UPMan

In Memoriam
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 19, 2004
Messages
13,296
Location
Arlington, TX
At last count, 128 public safety rebanded licenses have been issued. However, all are either:

1) EDACS
2) P25
3) Motorola Analog that required no frequency (thus no control channel format) change.

You can find this by doing a type "YE" license search on FCC's Enhanced License Search page.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top