Saber radios

[rabrol]

Hi Everyone.

What do you guys think of the Moto Saber series radios?
Looks like I can get my hand on a few 460MHz units.

I understand programming requires an old 386 DOS box, RIB & cable. Are these old radios fairly decent?

The units I will be looking at are Saber 1 and Saber 2 - NOT the Astro line.

If I was to invest in the programming gear, would people be interested in these old units (mostly from the 1990s) to use for HAM or other uses? I believe they had a decent reputation...

I'm also not sure which bandsplit they are - all I know is that Police Force that originally used them operated in the 460MHz range, so they could be one of 2 bandsplits - 1 useful for HAMs, the other not useful.

Let me know what you guys know / like about these radios. Are they too much effort to program, or do they still have some value in the 21st century?

Basically all I know about them I've learned on this Motorola SABER page.

Thanks for your input!
Rob

 

[mmckenna]

Batwing Laboratories is a good source of info also. Specifically http://www.batlabs.com/saber.html
I think the UHF sabers were 438-470, which would make them excellent candidates for 70cm amateur band as well as some "other" stuff.


Sabers were good radios, there are certainly a lot of them floating around on e-Bay and other auctions.
Couple of issues you'd want to consider before going down this road:
-Yeah, you need an old computer. I had an old 486 that worked fine, but one day the hard drive died. Had to dump the whole thing. If you are going to be serious about this, consider having more than one PC.
-A lot of the older radios have been well beaten. Consider that some of them you buy might be junkers.
-After this long, it might be wise to have the ability to at least look at them on a service monitor. At least that way you can tell if they are still performing like they should, especially if you are going to be reselling these.
-Might be some market for the amateur radio crowd. Consider, however, that most hams are going to want to program them on their own. Might get some "return" business, but might not.
-There are a lot of Motorola shops out there that have the equipment to do this. You might find their is some competition.
-A lot of people have the capability to program these radios already. Cables, RIBS and software are all easy to get. Not too difficult to find an older PC/laptop.
-Diversify. Don't get hung up on -just- Sabers. Might want to consider other models/brands
HT-1000's are popular, solid radios, cheap, and work well. Lots of these guys and their accessories are not only still in use, but plentiful on the used market. I've got 2 HT-1000's sitting in my garage right now.

Be ready for programming errors, failures, returns, and those guys that tell you to program it a certain way then keep changing their minds.
Programming can be tedious work. Programming up a radio from scratch, especially one that has a lot of features, can take a long time. Also consider the learning curve for this. Some of the older Motorola RSS was not very intuitive.

You could probably make some money off programming and selling basic mobile radios. I've seen a few guys at swap meets looking for old GM300's and the like just to put them on the 144.390MHz APRS channels.

Might be some market in programming up radios for U.S. customers on the US GMRS channels.
Programming up mobiles as receive only radios for those that want to stream stuff on the net might be an very small niche market, too.


Probably not a huge market for this, but maybe enough to add some additional income, especially if you have the time/space to do this right.

Good luck.

 

[PACNWDude]

Sabers work great.

+1 on the previous post, lots of great information.

Sabers work great if they are in good condition. Sensitivity and selectivity are better than almost everything else with these, if they are tuned and working properly.

Also take not of model numbers by serial number and firmware versions. I once bought a vehicle adapter for my Sabers and the seller did not mention the note on the device itself. It specified which firmware and serial numbers it was compatible with. My firmware was too old for this vehicle adapter. I ended up buying Astro Sabers to get it going.

Batteries can still be had, I purchased shorter versions so it was not like carrying a hammer around all day. The convertacom required a shorter battery.

Great radios, but get educated before spending money, lots of online auction sellers just want a quick buck at your expense.

 

[N4KVE]

Sabers were the best radio in their day. The problem is they came in 4 bandsplits to cover 403-520 mhz. The model # might NOT tell you which bandsplit your radio actually is. Many people buy Sabers for 440-450 ham, only to find the radio does not go below 450 mhz. In the past, before I laid down the cash, I read the radio to make sure it was the proper bandsplit I needed. Otherwise, great radio.

 

[rabrol]

Sabers were the best radio in their day. The problem is they came in 4 bandsplits to cover 403-520 mhz. The model # might NOT tell you which bandsplit your radio actually is. Many people buy Sabers for 440-450 ham, only to find the radio does not go below 450 mhz. In the past, before I laid down the cash, I read the radio to make sure it was the proper bandsplit I needed. Otherwise, great radio.

Thanks for the great information fellas.

Knowing the bandsplit is a dealbreaker. There are 4 UHF splits. The Tx freq of the department that used in the in the 90s was 460MHz, which means it is one of 2 bandsplits. One good for HAM, the other not. The serial number does not indicate the split. Only way to tell is to read the radio.

For me that means investing in a RIB, cable, old DOS PC and an RSS software disk before being able to tell. If the radios are not the split I'm looking for. I'd be out the cash, although I guess the RIB could be used with other older Motos.

On eBay a few folk are selling the Saber RSS, but it can go for upwards of $50 and would only be useful if the radio hadn't last been programmed with a newer version.

I'm not sure how many Sabers the guy has - maybe there were 8 or 10 in the box I saw, but it was a dimmly lit room and there may have been other boxes. There was a box of MX 350 parts, including at least 1 full radio.

Maybe if they're the wrong split they could be useful as Rx only, but with most traffic around my area in the 460 range using DMR, I'm not sure how popular they'd be.

Thanks for the input guys. It seems such a shame to see these radios just sitting in a garage doing nothing. They must have cost quite a bit back in the early 90s.

 

[mmckenna]

I think you are on the right track here. They can be good radios, but buying a box of unknowns out of someones garage has a pretty high chance of not ending well.

There are a lot of good radios out there if you are willing to shop around. I've been buying up cheap Motorola CDM mobiles when I find them, purchased several CDM-750 VHF models for $100 or less. I have the benefit of having a genuine RIB, cables and software here at work.
If I didn't have that stuff and needed radios, I'd be looking more towards Kenwood and some of the other manufacturers. If all you are looking for is usable radios, Kenwoods are often cheaper. Cable and software is cheaper, too.

 

[N4KVE]

A Motorola Jedi radio is a better choice. Only 2 different splits for the whole UHF band. And the ser # decal clearly indicates which split the radio is. "R" indicates 403-470, & "S" indicates 450-520. MTS2000's work with a Windows XP machine, & ribless cables are available for $20. Since Moto no longer sells the CPS for these radios, it's easy to find for free, & they don't care. These radios are on a famous auction site all day long for $50. If it doesn't need to be Motorola, Kenwood radios are also good.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

These radios are easily serviced if you have access to parts. I have taken a dozen of these and made 6 that are quite decent by swapping modules, mother boards and housing parts. Having the correct band range is key to making a choice. Reading with RSS is not conclusive as someone can force the wrong range into the hardware. Make sure the VCO, the receiver, the PA and antenna switch are all the correct ones. Half the radios I have are the govt split that I bought cheaply for the newer cleaner housing or motherboard.

Dont pay more than 20 to 80 dollars for a saber radio and you will do fine.

I have found that sellers on ebay and hamfests are unreliable about telling you the bandsplit. Trust no one, verify.

The RSS service screen gives to access to the radios tuning values. Record them on 3 by 5 card for each radio and use those values if you swap the RF modules into another radio mother board. The TCXO value stays with the housing unless you move that module as well. You will need to verify TX freq error anyway.