Motorola Astro Saber 800MHZ Programming Help

[jtm1816]

I recently was given an 800mhz Astro Saber (Model II) by the wife of a silent key who was friends with my father. Apparently she had found this in the bottom of his desk and had no idea what to do with it. She had the charger, Rib box (Aftermarket), and programming cable for it. She said this was one of the last projects he had started working on before he got sick.
Given that no one in my area uses an 800mhz phase 1 system its pretty much a useless radio. If anything, its a neat collectors item but being the techie that i am i wanted to see if I could get it working. At least i could tell her that i was able to complete his project.
When I start it up, I immediately got the dreaded Fail 01/92 Luckily I have a depot version Astro Saber running on an XP virtual machine so i figured I could try and pull the code plug or push a similar one. So far i have been unsuccessful.
I have tried

1. Pulling the original code plug
2. Create a new code plug from scratch and push it
3. Flash the radio with new flash code

Just looking to see if there is anything else i can try before i give up.

 

[mikewazowski]

Items 2 and 3 require a SmartRib.

 

[jtm1816]

Items 2 and 3 require a SmartRib.

I was afraid someone was going to say that. I guess im stuck sending it off and "hoping" someone can push a codeplug to it

 

[MTS2000des]

Honestly if it doesn't have 9600 baud HOST/DSP, it's a nice conversation piece and would look great on a desk or display case, but I wouldn't waste that much time and effort on an 800MHz XTS3000/Astro Saber. They are a dime a dozen in working condition with the "right" firmware and flashcode for 9600baud.

 

[ElroyJetson]

That error code indicates an external EEPROM failure, more than likely. There is a chance of recovery if you disassemble the radio and very carefully clean the internal interconnects between the RF and vocon board, but more likely it's a bad EEPROM.

I'd kind of like to have AS depot in my collection just to have it. Even though I'm done with Astro Sabers for the most part, but I still use one on VHF. But there'd no point to depot'ing it as it's already absolutely maxed out.

 

[MTS2000des]

Without an SRIB, it's pissing into a fan. Ancient radios. Put it on your shelf and invest money into an XTS2500/5000, affordable and ten times better radio performance and capability wise. The VHF and UHF ones are great with FPP.

 

[ElroyJetson]

I just want to see what's in that software. Don't have any need for it. And actually I have an srib.

I've also got lots of xts5000 experience. 4100, 4101, and 4102 are no strangers to me.

 

[radioman2001]

What version of software are you using the DOS RSS or windows version, as the only AS Depot version I know of was v8.0 and it was DOS.

If the firmware is something close to what you want you can use FDB Tool to change options, but if you are looking to make it P-25 and that's not in the firmware the radio is useless. Maybe sell it for the case parts.