The SB9600 protocol

[thomas_chen116]

Currently, I tried to develop the new control panel with PC for the motorola mobile. I need the SB9600 protocol for this issue. How can I get this protocol from Motorola?

[escomm]

pay a lot of $$$$$$

i am sure wowbagger could elaborate but his NDA may preclude him from doing so !

[Al]

There are printed descriptions of the SB9600 protocol in several Motorola service publications available from Motorola. One that comes to mind is p/n 6881083C20-B, MCS2000 Mobile Radio service manual volume 1, pages 7-11 and 9-27. While page 7-11 is not a complete formal description of the protocol, operation of the SB9600 bus is described in detail so that you could infer the physical layer part of the protocol.
A much shorter and less complete description of the "SB9600 proprietary multiprocessor serial protocol" appears on page 10-7 of the Visar service manual p/n 6881073C75-C.

[tvsjr]

But don't even think about trying to implement it, as you'll be violating patents and on the wrong end of Ma M's legal department.

[Al]

The protocol descriptions that I've mentioned above deal mostly with the physical layer implementation, and are far from a complete description. MDC 1200 and 2400 protocol was proprietary(which generally means *not patented*, because patent applications require complete disclosure which then becomes public when the patent is granted) until Midian electronics reverse engineered it and incorporated MDC into several of their signalling products two years ago.
To reverse engineer the SB9600 protocol having the physical layer implementation at hand would require a logic analyzer and lots of time. Good luck, Thomas!

[mancow]

I once hooked a RIB to a spectra and watched the data on a terminal controller type program I downloaded for free. I was able to identify command sets for different functions and then control the radio by transmitting those to it from the pc.

[Wowbagger]

pay a lot of $$$$$$

i am sure wowbagger could elaborate but his NDA may preclude him from doing so !

Actually, I don't have that protocol, nor can I see a reason to have it - it goes outside the scope of what Aeroflex products do, which is to test the radio.

However, I agree with the other posters:

You might be able to reverse engineer the protocol. You might be able to implement it. But if you draw any attention to yourself from Motorola for having done so, they will send you a nice cease-and-desist letter.