I should start by saying that I have a tendancy to to dumb things without thinking them through first. I should also say that my knowledge of rfid is basic to say the least, but I learn much better by having a go at things. This is in no way approval of the blue cloner.
So I’ve been having fun with the hf side of my NExT but wanted to play with the lf end. I cant afford a proxmark3 right now so I bought a blue cloner off ebay. I had read all the warnings about them but I did it anyway.
It didn’t read my NExT so I dived right in to modifying the antenna as I have seen others do here. That glue they use is pretty tough so I reached for the mini blowtorch to soften it up. Antenna went a bit squiffy and burnt but never mind I got the bugger out. I start playing around with the loose pcb out of the case reading and writing fobs and trying to read NExT. I noticed lots of orange light but no green. Suddenly I realise that I have been repeatedly pressing the write button instead of read like some kind of demented ape. Mild disappointment sets in as I become convinced that I have bricked it. Now old blue wont read the NExT and barely picks up my practice fobs. Burnt plastic, wires and loose screws everywhere. I honestly don’t even know what I was trying to achieve. I think I have inhaled a lot of solder fumes throughout lockdown.
As I have no way of getting a readout from anything, I ordered a rdm6300 from good old ebay. I set this up with the arduino and a script by mschoeffler.com. Now I can get a reading on the serial monitor. Test fobs gave a readout with IDs but the NExT just displays 0 on every field. I am now certain that I have knackered my chip but I wasn’t too upset as the hf is the only side I actually use.
Nevertheless I embark on a mission to try to get it sorted with nothing much to lose at this point. The blue cloner is in a right mess and by now not reading anything. I figured I must have burnt the coating off the wire, causing it to short so I pulled the old burnt antenna off and soldered some jumper wires in its place. Then I plugged in the antenna off the rdm6300. I honestly didnt think this would work but to my surprise it functions beautifully. I read and wrote to some practice fobs with ease confirming on the arduino. Then I tried writing to the NExT and it also worked, as confirmed by the rdm6300. Now I’m dual frequency happy again. Here are some pics of my modded blue cloner that I will probably never use again.
I thought I should pass on this accidental modification and the idiotic story that resulted in its creation.
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Haha, that’s fantastic. I’m glad your happy accident worked out =)
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