Revisiting the Saber SI topic....

[NSPD]

It would appear (from looking at ebay) that San Diego is starting to retire their fleet of Saber SI's. I would expect Orange County, FL to do the same if they have not already done so.

So.. this brings me to my next question... has anyone (that is willing to share information) actually managed to move one of these down to VHF or UHF by switching out the RF board? Has anyone ever been able to successfully align one of these things using either MTSX or the actual SI software?

I have an "AN" revision HT1000 sitting here ready for the job...

[N4KVE]

While I have never done this, I did see a few that were on the 403-470 split back in '95. The owner simply said he "popped in a UHF Jedi board". GARY N4KVE

[MTS2000des]

While I have never done this, I did see a few that were on the 403-470 split back in '95. The owner simply said he "popped in a UHF Jedi board". GARY N4KVE

a little more to it than that Gary, the Jedi RF board and Saber SI have a totally different interconnecting flex and battery terminal arrangment. I am sure it's possible to swap them over, but you'd need a good SMD rework/reflow station to CAREFULLY remove the SI 800 RF board connectors, as I am sure they are long NLA from Ma M.

Somewhere I've got a nice three page spread PDF of an original brochure for the SI, and it clearly showed a unit with a VHF heliflex on it. If I can find it, I'll gladly send it to whoever wants it. It was a huge 8MB file on a CD someone gave me who took the time to scan a bunch of sales literature from the late 80's and ealry 90's.

[MTS2000des]

It would appear (from looking at ebay) that San Diego is starting to retire their fleet of Saber SI's. I would expect Orange County, FL to do the same if they have not already done so.

So.. this brings me to my next question... has anyone (that is willing to share information) actually managed to move one of these down to VHF or UHF by switching out the RF board? Has anyone ever been able to successfully align one of these things using either MTSX or the actual SI software?

I have an "AN" revision HT1000 sitting here ready for the job...

The RSS for that radio is the biggest POS Motorola ever released, full of bugs...I think earlier versions of MTSX DEPOT were more reliable. I had an SI a few years ago, and simply entering the alignment menu caused the radio to give a FAIL 01/82 and the RSS would bomb. I ended up giving up on the project and not hassling with it. These seem to be the read headed step children of the Jedi/Astro portable era. With the price of Astro Sabers being what they are, why bother?

[motorola_otaku]

With the price of Astro Sabers being what they are, why bother?

Because they're relatively unexplored territory?

I picked up an ex-San Diego Port Authority 800 radio a couple of years back with an intermittent antenna contact issue, and got as far as determining that they share almost no common hardware with the Astro Saber line save for external stuff like knobs and the battery plate. One of these days I'll get around to seeing how it behaves in an AVA.

[NSPD]

When I purchased my radio, it came programmed for the Orange County, FL trunked system, and it appeared to have already been hit with MTSX, as that was the only software that would read the radio. It would not surprise me if the radio techs at the agencies that owned these picked up on the fact that they could actually reprogram the radios with that (less)buggy software.

Anyway, I have not cracked open my radio yet to see exactly what I would need. Mine is in mint condition and it works excellent, no problems with it at all.

I have been told that the "AN" revision HT1000's had a different RF board power connector that was actually compatible with the Saber SI, which is why I have one of those stashed away.

[MTS2000des]

I'd love to know more about the controller boards in these. They don't seem to go into test mode (or the one I had never would), so I never saw the firmware version. I know they aren't supported for rebanding, as Motorola had them listed for replacement, along with 256K MTS2000's and pre 1 MEG Astro Sabers. They seem to be a glorified MT2000 in a Saber housing with a two-line display. Surprised the NYPD didn't go into convulsions when they didn't produce these in UHF. Seems like they would be the ideal Jedi replacement for the analog Saber back then.

[Q2222A]

I don't believe your gonna get any Saber SI's from San Diego. They've all been replaced with XTS2500 & XTS5000 radios by Nextel for rebanding and have been sent to the crusher.

Sorry!