Author Archives: Tyler Watthanaphand

TL;DR FreePBX and Polycom VVX provisioning

This guide will quickly give you very important information you need on provisioning VVX phones with FreePBX

When a phone is factory reset, it will get a DHCP lease.

Polycom VVX phones have a mac address starting with 0004F2. You can create a policy in Windows DHCP server to allocate specific IPs to the phones

Polycom phones utilize DHCP option 160 to find a provisioning server. The contents of option 160 must be in string format. (e.g. tftp://192.168.1.10)

For time synchronization, DHCP option 42 must be set.

They also use DHCP option 002 to get the time offset.

I use software called Tftpd64 to create a tftp server on my windows PCs. I tell it which folder I dump all my config files into.

when the phone boots, it will look for [mac address].cfg, if it can’t find that, it will look for [mac address]-web.cfg, then 000000000000.cfg.

000000000000.cfg is supposed to be the catchall for phone provisioning. It should not contain any actual phone provisioning commands, it only helps the phone point to other configuration files.

Example 000000000000.cfg here

Polycom recommends using XML Notepad by Microsoft to edit these files.

000000000000.cfg defines the following settings before the phone boots:

the firmware update file location
which config files to load (I recommend setting up a generalize.cfg file, then a [PHONE_MAC_ADDRESS]-sip.cfg file for each individual phone)
where to store boot logs (polycom phones will write its boot logs back to the TFTP server)
where to store call history logs (polycom phones will write this back to the TFTP server)

This is an example deployment scenario:

The phone reads 000000000000.cfg because it couldn’t find [phone mac].cfg or [phone mac]-web.cfg
Phone will check for firmware updates defined in the file, if none are found it will continue
000000000000.cfg points to generalize.cfg and [PHONE_MAC_ADDRESS]-sip.cfg
generalize.cfg is read and applied (these settings apply to all phones)
[PHONE_MAC_ADDRESS]-sip.cfg is substituted for the phones MAC, and then is read. (these settings contain passwords, and settings specific to that phone)
The phone boots

The following settings are important for a FreePBX Deployment

generalize.cfg – Settings that don’t change, used by all phones.

msg.mwi.1.callBackMode=”contact” – This is part of the fix for the voicemail button. By default it is set to “register”, but FreePBX requires SIP phones to call a number to get voicemail

voIpProt.SIP.AlertInfo.1.value=”Auto Answer” – When a user dials *80[ext], typically the phone will autoanswer. This is known as page/intercom mode. Special SIP headers are sent by FreePBX so the phone recognizes a page from a regular call. Setting this will make the phone aware of a page

voIpProt.SIP.AlertInfo.1.class=”ringAutoAnswer” – your polycom phone has profiles that define what ringtone to use, how many times to ring, and to auto answer. This setting will tell the phone to auto answer if the SIP.AlertInfo field equals “Auto Answer”

attendant.resourceList.1.label=”Page All” – I have my main page group set to 900 in FreePBX -> Applications -> Paging and Intercom -> Page Group. These commands will create a softkey button to page all phones in page group 900.

attendant.resourceList.1.address=”900″

attendant.resourceList.1.type=”normal”

[PHONE_MAC_ADDRESS]-sip.cfg – you will need one of these per phone, since the attributes defined in this file are specific to each phone

msg.mwi.1.subscribe=”[ext]” – enter your sip extension here to get the mailbox to work

msg.mwi.1.callBack=”*98[ext]” – enter *98 and your sip extension here. This is the number that is called when the voicemail button is pressed.

Other notes:

Web interface changes:
- Whenever you manually go into the web interface and make a phone setting change, the phone will write a file [phonemac]-web.cfg to the TFTP server
- This will prevent it from loading 000000000000.cfg in the future.
Web browser:
- The VVX phones have a full featured web browser, good for internal company resources, or in my case, garage door openers, door buzzers, etc.
- see mb.main.home for more info

Stereo install: XAV-AX100 in a 2018 Subaru WRX Premium

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This is a technical guide on how to wire in an aftermarket radio in a 2018 WRX Premium

General Notes:

XAV-AX100 does not have AUX Inputs
2018 WRX with 2 USB ports won’t work unless OEM USB module is swapped to one with single USB port.
OEM Subaru Microphone is not compatible with any aftermarket head unit. Use microphone supplied with Sony system.

Tools:

VISE-GRIP wire stripper and crimper
misc wire 14-20 gauge (preferably 16AWG)
Tesa 51608 tape – Noise free electrical tape, reduces vibrations, doesn’t leave residue
If using Crimp method
- butt and spade connectors
If using Solder method (recommended)

Wiring Diagram

What isn’t shown

USB Connector
Antenna Connector

Basic Functionality

Sony XAV-AX100 (duh). Other compatible models include XAV-AX200, and XAV-AX5000 (wiring harness is identical)
Scosche SU2031B Dash Kit Gloss Black – not cheap, but fits better than Metra 95-8907HG
Metra 40-LX11 – adapts the subaru/lexus/toyota/scion square antenna to the round motorola type. Extra blue wire hanging off is not used. clip off.
Metra 70-1761 – main harness, power, front rear speakers. Simply match colors from sony end to Metra end, and (preferably) solder, properly crimped butt connectors also work.

Adding more functionality

AX-SUB28SWC-6V – subaru/toyota/lexus/scion use a standard 28 pin connector.

This connector has the capability to provide:

reverse camera video and power
aux input
steering wheel control (2 banks of resistors)
vehicle speed sense (Pulse)
parking brake sense (GND activated)
reverse gear sense (+12V)
CANBUS
powered microphone power and audio

However not all features are available in the WRX, as some pins are missing.

The AX-SUB28SWC-6V requires modification to work with the WRX.
This is the only option available for retaining steering wheel control and backup cam. Out of the entire install, this part gave me the most trouble because the connector had to be re-pinned.

Luckily I made a diagram that should help you figure out what goes where.

When it was all said and done, I only needed 5 of the pins in the 28 pin connector:

Reverse Trigger
Parking Brake
SWC Ground
SWC Bank 1
SWC Bank 2

Also note: the Metra connector is fragile, do not force in.

Steering Wheel Control

The black connector end of the AX-SUB28SWC typically connects to a Metra Axxess ASWC-1 can be chopped off, because the XAV-AX100 is capable of reading the signals directly from the steering wheel via pins 21-23 on the 28 pin connector
Pins 21-13 can be soldered/crimped directly to the 3.5mm jack, then connected to the “remote” port on the XAV-AX100 (see wiring diagram)

Backup Camera

the WRX backup cam requires 6V. The AX-SUB28SWC-6V includes a 12 to 6V converter for this purpose.
When shifted into reverse, pin 2 of the 28 pin connector is given 12V. That 12V is sent into the 12to6 adapter, and 6V gets sent out to power the reverse camera.
The 2018 WRX Premium uses a 5 pin connector for backup camera video and power, instead of the 28 pin (as is common in other Toyotas)
If yours uses the 5 pin, there is no known wiring harness you can buy to adapt the backup camera. We must make our own with breadboard jumpers.

Take 5 of those wires, and cut and strip them, the bare wire side will be soldered to:

Ground
6V in (from 6V out on the 12to6 converter)
VID (+) (RCA Shield)
VID (-) (RCA Center)
Not used

stick them into the OEM camera harness and tape (see wiring diagram for detailed info)

USB Ports

AX-SUBUSB2 Converts a standard male USB connection to the subaru connector found on the OEM harness. This allows you to use the OEM usb ports in your car, with an aftermarket stereo.

(This only works out of the box with WRX’s with a single USB port in center console)Newer WRXs have 2 USB ports and have a builtin USB hub. Since Android Auto/CarPlay is not compatible with USB hubs, a single Aux/USB combo module from 15-17 WRX can be swapped in, if needed. (video coming soon)

Aftermarket Door Speakers

Metra 72-8104 – door speaker, minor modification to plastic adapter required to get proper fitment

Screws (3 per door). OEM screws that connect speaker to door, have too large of a head to accommodate the Metra 72-8104. Any hardware store will carry a screw with a smaller head that won’t interfere with the speaker adapter. (these are not machine screws, they have pointed tips, they go into the plastic inserts in the door)

Speaker Foam – Creates a seal between the speaker frame and plastic Metra adapter to prevent vibrations.

Dynamat (recommended) – Stick inside door panel, reduces vibrations, gives door speakers more bass, and makes interior quieter

Steps Afterward

After you get everything running you’ll want to do a couple things:

Test the backup cam by going into reverse
Turn off the ugly proximity lines in the head unit settings.
Program steering wheel controls in custom mode
Customize your XAV’s wallpaper
Firmware update your XAV
Make sure all FM stations are coming in, (test fringe stations to check if the antenna amp is working)
Load up android auto and check if the parking brake sensor works
turn on/off your headlights to see if the illumination/dimmer wire works.

Scion tC gen 1 reverse wire tap

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Quick tip. Avoid running a positive wire from the tail light harness to your head unit for a backup camera

this pink wire in the driver side kick panel cover is the wire that provides 12V when the car is in reverse. Plug this into your head unit to automatically bring up the reverse camera

its position in the harness is bottom left

here is a photo from the wiring diagram

Here is a photo from further back

WARNING Do not do business with D. Bren Photography or David Brendorfer

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I was scammed $220 out of selling my Canon 5D Mark III in Brunswick, Ohio.

He left without paying the full amount I asked for the camera and now has the audacity to say that I scammed him!

Do not sell camera gear to this person, do not do business to this person, he isn’t a true photographer, he is a shady scam artist who acts on his own indulgences.

His contact number he used was: (440) 796-4884

Camera serial number 288022001868 5D Mark III

Enabling WiFi on Screenly OSE [Digital signage for Raspberry Pi]

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Screenly is a preconfigured port of Raspbian, a Linux distribution for Raspberry Pi devices.

In Screenly’s FAQ, they say console login and wifi aren’t recommended, but in this tutorial, we will show you how to do all that.

1. Hook up a keyboard to your Pi while screenly is booted

2. Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to open a terminal

3. Enter credentials pi | raspberry

4. Follow this guide to set up wifi normally

5. Reboot and it should connect, verify by going into the console and typing ifconfig

Some other info:

It appears Screenly uses UZBL, a webkit web browser to display webpages.
After getting into the console and logging in, you can do run startx, this will open the screenly application. Pressing Windows key+ D will get you to the desktop.
Screenly uses a lightweight DE called black box.
Right clicking the desktop will give you a couple extra options.

2015 Macbook and iPad Pro model numbers revealed

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Didn’t see this anywhere else on the internet, it seems I just found these model numbers

2015 Apple Macbook

Input voltage (USB-C) 14.5V 2A
Model: A1534
FCCID: BCG-A1534

Suposed iPad Pro

FCC ID: BCG-A1489
Model Name: A1622, A1623
Input voltage: 20V 4.25A, 5V 1A
Interesting note, it looks like the iPad Pro may have USB type C for charging instead of lightning.

Apple Watch

FCC ID: BCG-E2871
Model Name: A1554, A1638

Other things

APPLE WATCH MAGNETIC CHARGING CABLE
MODEL NUMBER: A1570
Magnetic Charging Case
Model number: A1647
APPLE WATCH MAGNETIC CHARGING TRY-ON CASE
MODEL NUMBER: A1668
APPLE WATCH MAGNETIC CHARGING CABLE FOR DISPLAY CASE
MODEL NUMBER: A1667

Online Camera stores to avoid

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Here’s a list of online camera stores to avoid, these commonly pop up on Google Shopping, and Google doesn’t seem to care enough to take them down.

These vendors are generally shady, try to upsell you on accessories or “the real version” of what you’re trying to buy. Almost all of these vendors are not Nikon or Canon authorized vendors.

What you shouldn’t do

Buy their product direct from their website, especially if using a credit card number
Buy their product on eBay without carefully reading the listing

What you can do:

Buy their product on eBay or in store, after carefully reading the listing/ what they have to say

These vendors do have some loopholes they can go around like the “US Warranty” badge when selling a gray-market camera
Gray market cameras are cameras imported from other countries, that Canon or Nikon will refuse to service from a US Warranty.
The US Warranty the seller offers is mediocre at best, don’t rely on it at all.
Always make sure to check what’s inside the box, make sure the lens they say you’re getting is what you actually get.
A lot of these lens+body bundles were “split” to be sold separately for profit, then bundled with another cheaper lens. A Canon reputable dealer is not allowed to do this.
In the end, if you don’t get what you paid for, you do have recourse if you bought on eBay.
eBay generally sides with customers for complaints and will refund you if you receive an item that wasn’t as described

Vendors to avoid include:

Gadget Circuit
America Cameras
AudioVideoNation
Nice Electronics (upsell scam)
fumfie (sells gray market but doesn’t inform buyer)
Abe’s of Maine (upsell scam)
Chat and Vision
rakuten
6th Avenue Electronics/Express (use eBay only)

Most of these vendors sell gray market cameras without letting the customer know. How can you tell though? The price is lower than a popular site like B&H.

Unlike these sites, B&H, Adorama, etc are genuine retailers and have a minimum sale price set for their products, anyone who goes below this price can’t be a genuine re-seller of camera products.

It’s fine to buy a gray market camera, just don’t expect any warranty support. If you need warranty support for a gray market camera, try a third party service like squaretrade.

Waves MaxxAudio on Dell Workstations

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This post will be a bit of a rant. I recently got a Dell Precision M4800, a professional mobile workstation.

It comes with software preloaded called Waves MaxxAudio, it provides some of the same features other notebooks include that can “make audio sound better”.

I’ve been comparing the sound output with MaxxAudio enabled, and MaxxAudio disabled. And while it does sound somewhat better while on. The audio still sounds terrible for some strange reason.

I turned the audio enhancement off, and the audio that came out sounded like a megaphone. I instantly knew something was up. So I stuck the audio from the headphone jack straight into a calibrated audio spectrum analyzer and found that:

1. When MaxxAudio is ‘off’, It isn’t actually off. The mids are boosted, and bass/treble cut off to make the audio sound much worse than it should be

2. When MaxxAudio is ‘on’ It boosts the bass and treble to levels where music begins to sound nothing like what it was intended.

So what I did next was uninstall the realtek driver, and rebooted my PC. Music sounds much better now, not distorted, and full of adequate sub bass that i’m used to hearing from a semi-decent DAC.

Now, I really expected better from Dell. I find this completely unacceptable in a professional notebook. Audio coming out of the speakers, when audio enhancements are “off” should not be tampered with at all.

My advice is, UNINSTALL THIS CRAPWARE the moment you get it. Use the stock driver provided by microsoft. Wave audio’s enhancement software is nothing but a scam and a battery/CPU hog.

This is the only way to make the speakers and headphone jack sound normal again.

Introducing ScanEyes

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What is ScanEyes?

ScanEyes is a PHP web front end for visualizing, listening to, and archiving trunked radio traffic.

It allows user registration, permissions, and playlist creation.

It is currently live at sdrscan.com

sdrscan viewed from a mobile device

Talkgroup browse mode

Number of calls in a 24 hour period chart

Admin control panel, log section

App config of AdminCP

Fake scanner interface

Problem, Objective and Solution

Problem

A new radio system is being deployed in my city. New talkgroups pop up every day, need a way of logging them for review later so I can identify the unknown ones and submit the info (X City Police Dept) into the RadioReference Database
A means to record police dispatch calls in my city, so I can recall them when my local news paper publishes their “police blotter” section.

Objective

Program a script that records the calls so I can listen them to later, a pretty web interface is optional

Solution

What you see here

How it works

Two essential pieces of software were written by me. LogRecorder (Available here) and the main ScanEyes application

The ScanEyes application is run in Apache with PHP without the need for a SQL server.

LogRecorder is a PHP script that runs in php-cli.exe (no web server) It polls sdrsharptrunking.log for file changes every 150ms and spawns an audio recorder if an active talkgroup is picked up by Unitrunker.

LogRecorder tells sox.exe to write an mp3 file containing call audio to a specific folder ‘YYYY/MM/DD/UNIXTIMESTAMP_TGID_TGNAME_RID_RNAME.mp3’

EverythingSearch by Void Tools indexes these files and when a user queries ScanEyes, the query is sent to es.exe with the search term. The resulting data is manipulated into various tables and charts.

Here is a diagram of the entire setup, including extra features I’ve built into the server for, for example, streaming live audio with low latency. This entire setup runs at about 7% total CPU utilization for a Core i5 4670K during idle. Main culprits for CPU usage are SDRSharp, 5%; and Unitrunker, 2%.

There are two pieces of hardware in this setup, two SDR dongles. One talks to Unitrunker, another talks to SDRSharp.

Beginners explanation of trunked radio

Unitrunker listens to the control channel and gives a birds eye view of the entire radio system. It shows all the talkgroups on the radio system (Talkgroups are like virtual channels, unlike traditional analog radio, talkgroups are not bound to a particular frequency, rather grouped into a pool with other channels, sharing or competing for a group of frequencies. When an officer keys up their trunked radio, the voice signal can be on any voice channel defined by the control channel. The control channel tells all the other radios what talkgroup to listen to)

Unitrunker has plugins that allow remote tuning of the active control channel. By default, every talkgroup has the same priority, so it’s first come first serve. Unitrunker has 2 features, priority, and lockout. Lockout mutes the talkgroup so it is never listened to, and priority gives a talkgroup more priority over others. Useful for example, when you want to hear SWAT traffic over FD traffic.

remote.dll is a plugin that writes the current listening talkgroup to a file. SDRSharp is a piece of software that acts as a virtual radio, you can tune it to what ever frequency you want, and it will communicate with the second SDR to receive radio signals.

SDRSharp has a plugin that listens to remote.dll. This way, unitrunker can tell SDRSharp what channel to listen to, to get voice out. SDRSharp will then output this sound to a virtual audio cable. Virtual audio cables act as pipelines for audio from one program to another. In this case, we are taking the audio from SDRSharp, and putting it into our digital voice program.

P25 is a radio communications protocol that usually carries voice traffic. If you were to listen to P25 straight from the speaker, you would not hear voice, but digital noises like this. These noises can be decoded into regular voice by a program called DSD. All DSD needs is an input and output audio device and you’ll get clean listenable audio.

Other info

Listenable talkgroups along with all data is set through unitrunker, locking out a talkgroup causes LogRecorder to not record the call in the first place.

User and talkgroup prototype feature in unitrunker allows a user to prioritize newly added talkgroups, or lock them out, if only known talkgroups want to be logged.

Features

Responsive design works on tablets, phones as well as desktop browsers

Playlist Creation

Users can create playlists to share via email, reddit, G+, or Facebook.
The playlist URL contains a gzipped encoded call ID (no DB required)
When playlists are called, every file is played back in chronological order
Example playlist from a May 12th storm in my city

User permission levels

0: Peon – no browse access
1: Regular user – Configured default user, can browse and create playlist
2: Streamer – Can do all above and listen to live radio stream
3: General Admin – Can delete calls, restart programs, delete/modify users and above
4: Global Admin – All above and reconfigure program options

Access levels for guests

No access, browse or search (Admin access only)
Guest browse and search (default)
Guest browse, search and stream

Admin Control panel features

Full event log with file deletion logging, security breach logging, logins and logoffs
Restarting system services, DSD+, Unitrunker, SDR#, LogRecorder (planned)
File Deletion, and file not found handling for users trying to play back said file
File Renaming, updating all files to their latest definition (planned)
Configuration interface, skips the need to edit config.php manually
User modification, deletion, addition (planned)

User Control panel features

Change passwords (planned)
Notepad, for writing down useful call notes (planned)
Streaming (for privileged users)

Methods to access calls

Search (command based browsing planned TGID:1234 RID:1234 etc)
Day-by-day browse

Other misc features

salted, hashed passwords
Call timeline chart (shows number of calls per hour per talkgroup)
full context searching, click a radio ID or talkgroup ID to do an “all encompassing search” against it
fake scanner (skeuomorphic BCD536HP scanner)

Other Planned features

Problem alerting, no recorded calls in X amount of time
High traffic alerting, something important happening
HTTPS support

Limitations

ScanEyes uses files instead of a traditional database. This may cause issues with large amounts of user accounts (this is on the bug list)
Limitations provided by Unitrunker, SDR#, and remote.dll only allow LogRecorder to record 1 call at a time. There can’t be simultaneous recording of more than 2 talkgroups at once.
Playlist playback page load is slow, 100ms/call
EDACS support is untested

System Requirements

System requirements, a.k.a. everything needed to listen to and record trunked radio calls.

This system has been tested on an Intel Core i5 4670K and 2x Intel Xeon X5355. It is untested on AMD processors

CPU: 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 Desktop processor
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Disk: 500MB Disk (SSD recommended)

Licensing

I’ve decided not to open source my work until an experienced PHP developer can review my code from a security standpoint. I’ve taken all possible measures to deter hackers, focusing mainly on input sanitization. That said. If you find anything on sdrscan.com, I’ll pay you via paypal to report these vulnerabilities to me.

Until then, I will allow other users(persons) to run this software provided that they don’t share it, or use my code elsewhere without my permission. Also, I doubt this will ever happen, but if a company would like this software, you can contact me directly.

As it stands right now, this software uses licensing servers with key validation.

Final thoughts

This was my first large scale PHP project. I’ve learned a lot along the way, which has caused some code discrepancies. For example not having a database out of pure laziness to learn MySQL. As I learn new things, I will begin to incorporate or update those features.