From: "Jesse Lackey" > Hummm.... how about a bunch of phototransistors, carefully placed to > pick up each segment in the 7-segment displays? Certainly a hassle but > a lot easier than doing OCR on a microcontroller. That had crossed my mind too, but the biggest worry would be the fact that the displays are behind a protective screen that gets pretty grotty (dairy) so even cleaning it lots, there's still scratches and discolouration etc to worry about. > Although if they don't encrypt their data, that might be even easier. > Is there a chance they could 'shoot back' and update their systems to > thwart you if you are able to sniff the RF? No ... that's no worry at all. These are stand alone systems that the farmer has bought. There's no objection to them using the data, it's just the arrogance of the manufacturer in not providing the info to allow it to be 'read' by a third party system. > I hope you succeed, companies that try to lock up systems and impede > progress to help ensure their profit stream deserve to be bypassed and > (hopefully) not get new customers as their lock-in philosophy becomes > public knowledge. > > Let us know how it works out... > J Yeah, I agree too. Thanks for your suggestions. Regards, Roger -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist