Systems Saber Busy Line

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

I have a Systems Saber that I acquired a while back and have never been able to program. Whenever I try to read the radio RSS throws an error that it can't acquire the busy line and to restart the radio. It sees the radio (COM test shows that it's a CON4 radio) and the radio looks like it's trying to do something, it says 040104 or something like that for a second, then it blanks out and says "CHAN 1>" for about five seconds, then it returns to normal and the computer throws the error. I haven't tried writing to it because I don't want to possibly brick it and lose the tuning settings. I've tried it with multiple computers and I did take it apart and verify that it is indeed a Systems Saber and not just a Saber III stuffed inside a Systems case.

I'm not an M expert by any means and some would probably say I'm in over my head, but I do want to get this working since it's a pretty sweet radio.

 

[KG4INW]

Are you using Systems Saber specific RSS? It's completely separate from the one used by the original Saber.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I have a Systems Saber that I acquired a while back and have never been able to program. Whenever I try to read the radio RSS throws an error that it can't acquire the busy line and to restart the radio. It sees the radio (COM test shows that it's a CON4 radio) and the radio looks like it's trying to do something, it says 040104 or something like that for a second, then it blanks out and says "CHAN 1>" for about five seconds, then it returns to normal and the computer throws the error. I haven't tried writing to it because I don't want to possibly brick it and lose the tuning settings. I've tried it with multiple computers and I did take it apart and verify that it is indeed a Systems Saber and not just a Saber III stuffed inside a Systems case.

I'm not an M expert by any means and some would probably say I'm in over my head, but I do want to get this working since it's a pretty sweet radio.

There is a crystal on the uC that is around 7.xxx MHz and if bad can cause RSS not to connect. That said I have several SYSTEMS SABER 1 radios that I cannot read, all same symptoms and changing the crystal did not help. One symptom is going into TX when connecting the RSS cable. I would be curious as well what you find.

 

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

Are you using Systems Saber specific RSS? It's completely separate from the one used by the original Saber.

Yes, I'm using Systems Saber RSS.

There is a crystal on the uC that is around 7.xxx MHz and if bad can cause RSS not to connect. That said I have several SYSTEMS SABER 1 radios that I cannot read, all same symptoms and changing the crystal did not help. One symptom is going into TX when connecting the RSS cable. I would be curious as well what you find.

My "electronics bench" isn't very expansive at the moment so unfortunately there isn't really a way for me to test the crystal and find out if it's oscillating at frequency.

My radio doesn't appear to do anything different until you actually try to read it with RSS and the display changes around, regardless of what order I connect the cables (Radio to RIB, RIB to radio, and Radio/RIB to PC). It looks like it wants to work and that the computer sees the radio and the radio responds, but it doesn't send any codeplug data through.

I'll have to do some more looking and see if I can come up with anything.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Yes, I'm using Systems Saber RSS.


My "electronics bench" isn't very expansive at the moment so unfortunately there isn't really a way for me to test the crystal and find out if it's oscillating at frequency.

My radio doesn't appear to do anything different until you actually try to read it with RSS and the display changes around, regardless of what order I connect the cables (Radio to RIB, RIB to radio, and Radio/RIB to PC). It looks like it wants to work and that the computer sees the radio and the radio responds, but it doesn't send any codeplug data through.

I'll have to do some more looking and see if I can come up with anything.

Use a shortwave radio to listen for zero beat. Note there are two such identical crystals in a SYSTEMS SABER so you should have two zero beats.

 

[KG4INW]

Yes, I'm using Systems Saber RSS.

Got it, just wanted to check the obvious first!

I don't suppose you have another radio to try, which would verify your cable/RIB setup? Otherwise, I'll yield to others more proficient than me in these older but classic radios.

 

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

Use a shortwave radio to listen for zero beat. Note there are two such identical crystals in a SYSTEMS SABER so you should have two zero beats.

I'll try and see if I can get my hands on one.

Got it, just wanted to check the obvious first!

I don't suppose you have another radio to try, which would verify your cable/RIB setup? Otherwise, I'll yield to others more proficient than me in these older but classic radios.

I don't right now but my plan was to get another after I get this one programmed.

 

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

So I did a little bit more poking around and found that some people had issues with R03 Lab RSS and recommended using the R04 standard RSS. I was able to read the codeplug with no problem. I do have another question though, is the CON version listed under RSS restricted to the firmware on the radio or is it possible to change it to a CON 5 or 6 codeplug and not brick the radio? The "04 01 04" is probably the version number of the radio and I couldn't find any answers anywhere else. I'm assuming no and that you'll royally screw it if you do that, but it would be nice to have QCII decode and other additional features.