Tip when building Jaycar Phoenix Mk II

[msay]

Sorry for the delay, this take some time to do it

Here is board design:



This is the "real" board ready to be builded:


And the "under" side of it:


Looks "dirty" but it's the protective clear coat (specific for electronics), looks crazy but can you believe that my doesn't have a serial port? I need to buy a accessory or build myself one, argh...

Well, tomorrow i will drill and build the circuit and buy the damn 13v zener diode that i've forgot.

[gw1]

Always check the motherboard manual before making a cable for onboard serial ports because different pinout conventions exist. Your gigabyte board uses 'AT Everest' convention which has 1-1 mapping between IDC pin numbers and DB9 pin numbers.



A quick way of checking is to test with a multimeter to see whether IDC pin 5 or pin 9 is grounded. It will be one or the other, and that tells you which convention to use.

[gw1]

I took a look at your v3 schematic and spotted a couple of bugs.

The first bug is that your data LED won't flash in JDM mode. The problem is R10 needs to go to IC4 pin 14, not pin 12. You can fix it during construction by mounting R10 differently: instead of using the pad connected to IC4 pin 12, solder that lead onto the leg of R5 nearby.



The second bug is that JDM mode won't work if you select non-invert card detection. The problem is the inv/non-inv jumper link we discussed earlier still isn't right. To workaround this bug leave the jumper link set to 1-2: JDM will work, and Phoenix will work using inverted polarity (which is the more commonly used polarity anyway).

You can hack your PCB later if you need to use an application that requires non-inv polarity. The correct jumper arrangement is shown below.



Hope that all makes sense. Good luck.

PS. Apologies to everyone - we've hijacked the original thread. msay's project ought to be in a thread by itself.

[msay]

Thanks gw1!

I will build the board and apply your changes right away, i think that over all is not bad for a first-timer, my very first interface. I feel like a kid, like when we do our first electronic project. Soon after some tests and confirmation that your computer or board will not get on fire or damage anything else, i will upload a new pdf with schematic and board design so anyone would be able to build this at home with correct board size, parts etc.

That the way i like, get something for free from the community and give it back for free also.

I've not found the accessory for the serial port, i have a dual PII 450Mhz that i was using for practice when i was taking the MS certification, it has a windows 2003 server enterprise (demo) on it and it has two serial ports.

I hope that whatever soft is needed to interface with this board doesn't complain too much about it, because i will also be operating it by terminal service, this computer has no monitor, keyboard/mouse and is in the other room.

Thanks gw1!

[jrmargi]

i will apologise for my ignorance up front. Lets just say i built a kc 5361 stock standard out of the pack...........what software should i use for it and is it of any use without carrying out the mods you are speaking of... newbie here

[gw1]

It will work fine as-is with Gold, Silver and Emerald wafer cards. One popular use for those cards in Australia is to make an Aurora card using an Irdeto 1 emulator such as GhostGhold, GhostSilver, GhostEmerald or AusGold. The resulting emulator card will only give you pictures if you provide it with a working set of keys of course, but they're not hard to find.

To program the emulator into the blank card you'd use a program such as IC-Prog, with the interface in JDM mode.

Then, to load the card with keys, you'd switch the interface to Phoenix mode and typically use application-specific programs designed to send those keys. For GhostGold/Silver/Emerald those programs are ggedit or LMEdit. AusGold emulator is accompanied by a program "AusGold Card Writer" for loading its keys. Some emulators (such as Ghost's) provide ISO7816 card command scripts, typically named ".crd", which can be used to configure the cards and load their keys in conjunction with general purpose programs such as FMCard, as an alternative to specialised programs like LMEdit.

If you have a working subscription card you can use the KC 5361 as a Phoenix interface to utilise the card in a home card sharing network, for example plugged into a Dreambox's RS232 port, or into a PC running a card sharing server application. Generally you'd do this at 3.58MHz speed, but Irdeto cards work best using the 6MHz speed option. There are issues from time to time that prevent subscription cards from working with card sharing software, so there's no guarantee that it will always work. But that's one way in which the interface is sometimes used.

If you find that the data LED flashes briefly when you insert the subscription card but that it doesn't respond to commands from the Dreambox or PC - ie the card sharing server application can't recognise the card - it usually means you need to apply the schottky diode modification (replace 4K7 resistor with 1N5819 or BAT85). That's one modification you may need to make.

Another issue you may face is that the software says your card isn't inserted when in fact it is. If you find that withdrawing the card very slightly makes the problem go away, the answer is to apply the inverter modification (cut two tracks and add two wires).

Another issue is with certain cards (particularly one of the NDS cards) which are designed for 3V rather than 5V. All smartcards are designed to be initialised at 5V but then switched down to 3V if they request that lower voltage in their ATR. The Jaycar kit has only a fixed 5V card supply which is fine for most cards because that's what they use. But if you are using a card which needs 3V there's a modification you can make to achieve that (replace the MAX232 chip with a MAX3232, replace the regulator, and optionally change a couple of resistors).

There's another modification which ties a couple of the DB9 connector pins to ground. That may help some applications depending on how they work. Cross that bridge if you come to it.

There's also a recommendation to solder a decoupling capacitor between VCC and GND on the smartcard socket. This makes your card less prone to crash, especially when overclocking. You'll find the interface works fine for card programming without it.

There's documentation available on how to build a cut-down version of the kit for people who only need Phoenix mode. That saves time and improves reliability. If you're a newbie who wants to experiment then you'll want to build the full version.

And there's this thread, which warns about a problem with recent revision of the board having broken tracks because of incorrect pad & hole sizes.

Finally, be aware that there's nothing you can do with the interface to get "free Pay TV". Encrypted TV decoding is only possible with working keys and suitable software, neither of which are publicly available at the moment for commercial networks like Foxtel or Austar. The smartcard interface is good for learning about smartcards, card programming, the ISO7816 standard and the protocols used by DVB, GSM, and a bunch of proprietary applications. There's nothing about it specific to piracy and though pirates use such things there's no point building it if all you care about is getting foxtel for free. Put your time and money toward something else.

Hope that helps.

[OSIRUS]

Thanks for the above post, gw1

[gw1]

A few other reminders for newcomers to the Jaycar Mk II kit.

• If using a plugpack (rather than internal mounting in PC drive bay) it should be 9V or 12V DC, 150mA minimum but preferably 300mA or higher, positive tip. A transformer-based one rather than switchmode type is preferable.
• If using a switchmode plugpack you should always connect the serial cable to the PC before you insert the power plug, and remove power before disconnecting the serial cable. Failing to take this precaution puts you at risk of damaging the MAX232 IC and/or the serial port on your PC.
• The serial cable needs to be a fully wired male-to-female serial extension cable, ie with pin 1 connected to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2 etc through to pin 9. Beware some thin cheap mouse extension cables only have four wires connected and they won't work with any JDM or Phoenix interface. (If you have any such cables cut them up and put them in the bin - they're more trouble than they're worth.) Do not try to use F-F null modem cable in conjunction with a gender changer, 'cos that won't work either.
• The kit's JDM mode is for erasing, programming and verifying PIC based smartcards (eg gold and silver). It can also read PIC based cards provided they haven't had their security fuses blown. JDM mode is only for cards that have PIC processor - it mustn't be used with any other processor type such as Atmel (Funcard) or Gamma.
• The kit's Phoenix mode is for receiving card ATR (Answer To Reset) message, sending commands and receiving their responses. It will work with any ISO7816 smartcard provided the card is already programmed and able to handle commands. It cannot be used with blank cards of any type.
• Blank funcards cannot be used with Jaycar Mk II. You'll need another programmer to get funcards going, such as or one of the that advertises Funcard (or Atmel card) progamming.

Here are some of the wafer cards that were around a few years ago. New ones have arrived since then.

PIC BASED CARDS
Gold = 16F84 + 24C16 "alpha"
Blue = 16F84A + 24C64
Piccard 2 Canary = 16F628+ 24C16
Piccard 2 Emerald = 16F628 + 24C64
Piccard 2 Silver = 16F876/877 + 24C64 "PIC" or "EVIL"
Piccard 3 Green = 16F876/877 + 24C128
Piccard 4 / Greencard 2 = 16F876/877 + 24C256 "E4"
SuperPic Zen = 18F452 + 24C256

ATMEL AVR BASED CARDS
Atmel Funcard 2 Purple/Red = AT90S8515 + 24C64 "FUN"
Atmel Funcard 3 Prussian = AT90S8515 + 24C128
Atmel Funcard 4 Prussian 256 = AT90S8515 + 24C256 "FUN4"
Atmel Funcard 5 = AT90S8515 + 24C512
Atmel Funcard 6 = AT90S8515 + 24C1024 "FUN6"
Atmel Funcard 7 = AT90S8515 + 2 x 24C1024 "FUN7"
Atmel Jupiter1 = AT90S2323 +24C16
Atmel Jupiter1 Pink aka Wafercard 5 = AT90S2343 +24C16
Atmel Jupiter2 = AT90S8535 +24C64
Atmel X-Card = AT90S8535 +24C512
Funcard ATmega161 = ATmega161 + 24C64
Funcard ATmega163 = ATmega163 + 24C256
BlackCard = ATmega128 + 24C256

[fudda]

I hope the luddites and mentally challenged that run this forum have adequate measures in place to replicate these posts should it be required. The information provided by gw1, especially, is invaluable and should not be lost to the vaguaries and uncertainties of some overseas web hosting organisation that doesn't know the difference between raid 0 and raid 1. As forum members, we have never been provided with an adequate explanation of the last great 'Crash' involving a raid 0 array, nor have we been provided with an explanation of what measures, if any, have been put in place to circumvent a similiar catastrophic failure. Invaluable information was lost in the last great 'event' but no soothing words provided to allay our fears that it can't all happen again. The site is hosted overseas to prevent legal issues here in Australia, as I understand it, and that requirement seems to take precedence over the need to undertake regular and systematic archiving. What an oxymoron - a hi tech site that doesn't have any archiving regime.

[gw1]

Austech is provided to members and guests as-is at no cost. None of us should expect the site owner to keep backups. I hope they do, too, but don't expect them to.

Data are the new books, and the distinction between reader and publisher is disappearing. Distributed storage will become the norm; synchronisation and replication tools will evolve and become as common as email, even subsuming it. Privacy will be better understood, valued and managed while, paradoxically, anonymity disappears and opinions become commodities - cheap ones mostly. Large-scale coding has been that way for quite a while out of necessity. It's Borgish but sensible I think.

With time the distinction between personal data and the internet will almost disappear and people will treat the internet the same way they treat their own "stuff".

• Some things are rare, or even irreplaceable, but most things are commonplace. It's inefficient to be paranoid about things that can easily be obtained again.
• If something is useful but nontrivial to find, keep a copy on your hard disk or server. If you use it when you travel then keep a copy in a gmail draft, jungle disk or USB flash drive.
• Whenever you run out of hard disk space buy a new one twice the size, install a fresh system on it, copy over all your data, unplug the old drive and keep it on the shelf as a safety net. (Your Windows was probably overdue for a reinstall anyway.)
• If something is important finalise it on CD (Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim last much longer than the cheapies) and stick it somewhere dark, cool and dry. If really important put it in a safe and give a second copy to a friend.
• If you want to still have it in twenty years time nothing beats a paper printout.

Like all insurance, backups are investments that you hope you'll never need but make just in case. The trouble is, just as we're prone to under-insure our homes, our valuations are often short-sighted. Nearly all of the programs and electronics I made as a kid have long been lost. I regret throwing out my early microcomputers "to make room", as the BBC regret discarding their old videotapes. But regret and loss are reminders that everything passes away eventually - our work, fitness, beauty, memories, health, senses and knowledge. Most of the things we value and fear losing are only with us for a short time, and the trick to happiness is getting over that.

In a hundred years time we'll be gone but our backups and trash will remain. Will our descendants spend time browsing through our stuff, sorting trash from treasure? Probably not. In science class they might discuss an old interview from seven generations back that said "we can't afford to pander to the environmentalists, they'll ruin our economy!" After school they'll walk across to their bedrooms and close the door, play games and study while chatting remotely to their friends, asking around for codes to access the night's football game that's exclusive to suckers who rent 400 channels of Shark Week, Coronation Street, F-Troop and Who Wants To Be A Billionaire. The music clip ends and auto-minimises a public announcement - something about the President standing ready with a range of measures going forward. Then an advertisement - the carpet seller down the road is having another closing down sale with massively reduced prices, whatever. And just as the music returns, a student doing his homework on 'The History of Personal Identification' pauses and vaguely recalls "Jaycar Mk II" from the day's class. Pondering as it appears on his tablet, he taps to study further and spends five minutes glancing back through an animated book full of hundreds of articles, diagrams and photos that he now remembers as if he'd just spent the last three months reading and doing experiments. Yawning, stretching, reaching for a drink, he considers which of the articles he believes, guessing the device might have been used to impersonate people as much as identify them. Who can be sure, the old internet material was archived so long ago. He stands and puts on his breather for a walk outside. Education is tiring but so much faster than the old days; and cheaper: just a few bucks (plus the 30% GST). Of course that's provided they can afford to map regularly. If not, well, folk can still read manually if they want to.

[jrmargi]

gw1 thanks heaps for the info..........i understand valuable peoples time is. I am just taking this up as a hobby nothing more. i think once i get started and learn for myself i will understand thing better........i started with a ku dish and srt 4653x ...worked on finding sats.....want to get a cband dish.....that will come later in the year........but for now i want to touch on this programing stuff....i am no guenius so will probably cryfor help a few more times.........thank you muchly

[gw1]

I saw another Mk II kit today sent by a member who couldn't get it to work. He had carefully followed the instructions. His parts were mounted correctly. His soldering was pretty good. He'd spent hours trying to figure out what he'd done wrong. But he hadn't done anything wrong - it was entirely Jaycar's fault!

Jaycar are supplying faulty printed circuit boards.

They were told about this MONTHS AGO but have done NOTHING.

They are knowingly supplying faulty goods. IT'S A FRAKKING DISGRACE!



The faulty boards have broken tracks at REG1 and at Q2 because their revised artwork has pads too small for the drilled holes.

Jaycar should at least put errata sheets in all of their stock, if not recall them and replace the PCBs. The original Silicon Chip design does not suffer from the problem and is perfectly usable regardless of regulator/transistor lead spacing. Jaycar was advised of this problem in writing MONTHS ago but evidently nothing has been done. If you've been bitten by this problem I urge you to let rip on your local Jaycar manager.

For those about to build one of the kits:
When mounting the 78L05 regulator and 2N3904 & 2N3906 transistors, insert their leads into the holes indicated below. Also, solder an extra wire link as shown. These steps avoid broken connections which otherwise would prevent the 5V regulator and 13V switching circuit from working.

[billv2470]

gw1, as one member mentioned previously that you should be on Jaycar payroll, I would go one step further and I would say that you should be MR JAYCAR, for all the help and advice that you provide. I personally want to thank you for your unselfishness and assistance you provided me (that you did ) to fix the Jaycar Phoenix (MKII) .

Many thanks again.