Motorola Astro Digital Saber 800 Smartzone radio

[baj6974]

I was wondering before I buy if this would be a good radio?(for local police,maybe some business/es and EMS).It's up for sale at $375 which seems to me a good deal but what is the pros/cons versus a digital scanner?I know this has encryption capability, which local SWAT here uses that is encrypted.....

Opinions please and here are the specs..thanks in advance for your input.




The band spilt for the radio is 806 to 870 MHZ, 3.5 watt 800 Mhz radio that operates on the Motorola IMBE APCO P25 Digital Trunking type I, II, IIi Smartzone / Smartnet. the unit is pre-programmed The Astro 800 mhz Digital saber radio is Digital Voice Encryption Capable ( DES ) but will need module if used in secure mod most Departments don't use this on there main systems. The radio unit has been newly re-programmed and is fully re-banded and set up to operate on the new police and emergency fire, EMS Frqs's and has the 1 MEG Board installed Q806/G806 IMBE / APCO-25 Digital Operation H14/G114. The out put RF power of the Astro Digital radio is 3 watts. System Configurations. The Astro Digital saber portable radio is capable of the following: ASTRO P25 Digital Trunking, ASTRO Analog and Digital Trunking formats , and Analog and Digital Conventional. The Flash Code of the radio is 50008-00040007, 1 meg memory The saber Astro Digital radio has a lot of the same features as the XTS3000, and they share many of the same components and use the same software to program the saber and XTS3000 radio. Other radio specs are: Q806/G806 IMBE / APCO-25 Digital Operation ,Q387 Conventional voting scan, Q173/G173, Smartzone OmniLink Operation, H101,G101,H169Conventional Repeater Access (Analog Operation Only)MDC1200 or Singletone, H39 Selective Radio Inhibit, H38/G51Smartzone Operation, Q352Soft ID, H14/G114 Digital ID Display. The radio has a 16-position mode select rotary switch ,on/off volume rotary select switch, 3 buttons on the side, Weather sealed universal connector, Internal noise canceling microphone, Audible status tones Low battery alert. Has full 14 character Name display and 15 key keypad cover and many other features to. The Motorola saber Astro Digital radio model number is H01UCH9PW7AN and the radio band spilt is 806 to 870 MHZ, The radio is capable of 225 channels in a Name display format of what channel you are on when using the radio through the front display instead of looking at a number, you can have the channel name programmed into the radio for each Frequency.

[MississippiPI]

I have one that I can't get programmed here in my area of the world. My scanner is great.


Be safe

[PeterGV]

Well, this radio is an "oldie but goodie" -- No longer supported by Motorola, but usually reliable and solid.

Pros: Great IMBE decode. Almost impossible to destroy.

Cons: Large, heavy, expensive accessories, requires programming software that costs about $250, plus a Radio Interface Box (price varies depending on whether you buy a "real one" or a knock-off or "RIBless cable" on EBay). Can only scan 16 conventional channels at a time MAX. Can't be used on ANY trunked system without programming by the system owner. Requires expensive KVL to program encrypted channels. Will not decrypt any encrypted channels unless the specific encryption keys are programmed by the system owner.

If you want to monitor a trunked system, get a scanner. If you want to monitor a few conventional channels, this might be a good radio for you.

Hope that helps,

Peter
K1PGV

[baj6974]

Thanks, yeah they're on EBAY and they offer free programming w/ each purchase and cheaper than the digital scanners, I want to RX only, don't want to get in trouble w/ it, it wouldn't ever leave the house...

So make a long story short, the programmer would have to get permission from the system owners? Or is all this done by pretty much hacking?

[C138Kaysone]

As i read many forum posts regarding radios in the 800Mhz Smartzones, I would be careful with those if you are only using one to monitor because your radio will likely get zapped "become paper weight" and not work anymore if your an unauthorized user in the system even if your just monitoring and programmed only RX frequencies but you would need more if its digital and if its trunking as well.

Would be easier to just get a scanner and save the money just my opinion.

The programmer who said he would do it for you, would probably hack instead of asking, those ebay sellers that say they program will probably send you a bricked radio and shower in your money.

Any system admin would probably tell you know even if you knew the guy, it would probably put his job at risk by giving you a working radio added into the trunking network if im right but eh, i asked and i was told the same and i knew the guy and i was in explorers for a while lol, I cannot have mine added into the system even just for listening.

[baj6974]

Yeah, sounds like alot of trouble and will get me a pro-106. Thanks for all that responded