[PCR-1000] Re: PCR-1000 Digest, Vol 5, Issue 19

[Jay A. Kreibich]

On Mon, Sep 27, 2004 at 11:11:59PM -0600, Chuck Simons scratched on the wall:

> A weakness (IMHO) is how easy it is to trash your EPROM. From the
> programming side, If you send a command to the radio and it has not replied
> from a previous command, you can just abt bet your going to scramble the
> chips mind.

  I think this is the key reason why Icom has been so tight-lipped
  about the control protocol-- basically the hardware is designed so
  poorly, that it is extremely easy to screw it up if you tinker with
  the serial port.  Don't get me started on THAT-- but that's the way
  it is, and backing up the EEPROM is definitely something that's part
  of running an PCR-1000.

> I scrambled mine and did not even know about backing up the chip.
> But there are a lot of images on the net that you can use. The problem with
> that approach is each chips info is supposed to be tuned for that radio.
> Your more than welcome to send your radio back and ICOM will calibrate it
> and send it back.

  Their stance has always been that using *any* third part software 
  voids the warranty-- including the Bonito software that comes with
  many of the units!

  What a great example of how to totally screw up a really good product
  idea.

   -j

-- 
                     Jay A. Kreibich | Comm. Technologies, R&D
                        jak at uiuc.edu | Campus IT & Edu. Svcs.
          <http://www.uiuc.edu/~jak> | University of Illinois at U/C