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Mark19960
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Greetings all

Post by Mark19960 »

So I heard this was a cool place.
Figured I would not lurk as I do in other places. :)

I do unorthodox things to radios :)
I have a project going now that most will call unorthodox :)

In fact, some of you might know me from other places.
Cheers all!
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MrWeetabix
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Re: Greetings all

Post by MrWeetabix »

Hello Mark and welcome to TM1.

I for one am intrigued by this unorthodox radio stuff.... do elaborate ;-) haha

Best 73 de Craig
26TM175. OP: Craig. QTH: Gateshead IO94EW. Also 163TM175 when mobile in Wales 8)

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Mark19960
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Re: Greetings all

Post by Mark19960 »

Well, interface refreshes for one.
Putting LCD screens in radios that never had one :)
And right now... total replacement of the front panel PCB in the Uniden 980SSB

Things of that nature...
And coming very soon a custom radio with a full UI refresh based on an 858 chassis.
That's lined up after the 980.

I have videos of all of this which is why people might have recognized me but I don't want to post links and break any rules.
Happy to post pictures of what I am doing instead for anyone interested.
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mof000
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Re: Greetings all

Post by mof000 »

Hi and welcome!
Austin Powers International Man of Mystery?!
I'll pay whatever i think it's worth...:-)
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Auldgeek
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Re: Greetings all

Post by Auldgeek »

Welcome to TM1. :wave:

You have us all intrigued so spill the beans. :thumbup:
Auldgeek - Drew

Winner of IBTL Autumn 23 Edition
I've changed radios so many times, I've forgotten what I have :think:
Mark19960
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Re: Greetings all

Post by Mark19960 »

Fair enough.
By trade I am an Electrical Engineer so the radio bits break the repetition :)
I can put this into another post but since you lot are curious..

So the 980 project I am doing now is a replacement front panel MCU board for the radio.
I am using the existing glass and microphone connector but nothing about the board is the same besides the shape and placement of the most obvious components like the LCD screen, etc.

There are a ton of myths on various forums about this radio which comes in about a half a dozen flavours.
Most are simple program version changes which are identified by the sticker on the MCU.
One is a total main board redesign.

The myths.. some are comical and some are outright stupid.
The so-called "stinger" issue is an example of an outright stupid myth that is being spread by people that actually have a name for themselves.
This myth is that an AD-203 "stinger" cannot be used with the new version of the 980. It's b0llox.
I did a video on that in fact... and I do not like amplifiers. I find a challenge in talking to people with as little power as possible.

Another myth is that the radio has the capability of being expanded.. so people continue to search.
Now... Myself and a few other technically inclined people were able to successfully glitch the MCU to extract the firmware and there is no way, no how it can be expanded with the current application running on the MCU.
It only knows the 40 FCC channels and the 10 weather frequencies in America. That's it.
I am sure this has a lot to do with FCC coming down hard on manufacturers that can simply be modified with key combinations or jumpers.
It's also a big program utilizing almost all of the flash as it is. There is 32k of flash so it's possible that it could be squeezed into a new application.
However, trying to glitch a Renesas MCU that works 1 in three times (we killed two radios in the process) isn't that great of odds and to what end?

So, look for this name on YouTube and you will find my various exploits.
In fact I am to have prototypes for the 980 today... complete with mistakes :)

I have done a lot of near and weird things to radios.
The issue I have is finding others that take interest in it without being dodgy or downright mean about it.
I think this is strictly an American thing. (I am not an American incidentally - I just live here in the states)

I dwell in that little area between what people think is impossible or impractical and what really is impossible or impractical :)
It's kind of cozy here too. I try to encourage others to join me.
I even put out a call to collaborate with another person or group on this 980 project but the only people that were interested were the ones that can't write code or have no engineering backgrounds.
Those that could do either one were more interested in what "they" got from it. (as in money)
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