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>MASC< Marconi Advanced Scrambler

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2023 1:24 pm
by Martin
This post may be of interest to our Ham Radio Members

Peter sent me a >MASK< datapak to experiment with... It appears to be related to a portable radio scrambler system used by the UK police between 1992 to 2002 - Archive description (here). It appears that GEC Marconi had their offices in the UK and in Quebec.

The datapak in an Organiser LZ with a Comms Link turns it into something called a 'Fill Gun'. So much so that to get back to an Organiser LZ you have to remove the battery and the datapak, if you just remove the datapak the Organiser just hangs.

There is a 'Wire Free Alliance' member (here) looking for the DOS software and who points to a YoueTube video (here) (pause at 4:14).

I have used Jaaps tools and have all the files (OPL,OB3,ODB and OPK) saved so if anyone is interested PM me and I'll send a ZIP.

Sincerely
Martin
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Circulation
@Hawsey - Gary H - Call signs 2E0HGP, M7GPH, 2E0HGP
@Yves M - VE2YMM
@Carlos - Carl A - M6-RXU
@Jan - PA4J
@OKTO

Re: >MASC< Marconi Advanced Scrambler

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2023 9:22 pm
by Yves
Very interesting! Thanks.

Re: >MASC< Marconi Advanced Scrambler

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2023 1:55 am
by Zenerdiode
Martin wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2023 1:24 pm The datapak in an Organiser LZ with a Comms Link turns it into something called a 'Fill Gun'. So much so that to get back to an Organiser LZ you have to remove the battery and the datapak, if you just remove the datapak the Organiser just hangs.
Yep, the 'ESCAPE OFF' being the very first thing executed in the BOOT proc enforces that.

The Expert password, if needed, is indeed 'expert'. They allow you to set the time in the expert menu; it actually calls the Top Level TIME function by an SWI. So you can also use the Stopwatch or Timer.

Re: >MASC< Marconi Advanced Scrambler

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2023 12:43 pm
by xchris
no crap... darn, I had a conner 200mb drive with that s/ware + incl dev tools -even came with a hell of adaptors , all donated now, lol
it even came with a boxed EEPROM datapack as well, that I repurposed/cannibalised as ROM for an 8bit system :lol:

IIRC the s/ware asked for a key or keyword

Re: >MASC< Marconi Advanced Scrambler

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:31 pm
by Hawsey
Very interesting stuff , I'll have a look at this , cheers for sharing and tagging me