It's a Motorola thing.....

Some of the forums I'm on seem to have some rabid Motorola fans on them and I decided to give the "bat" a bit of a try.

Picked up 2 VHF Motorola Saber II handhelds from the states, in pretty good condition but very pricey on shipping - Saber info here: Repeater Builder. Waiting for the radios I had a scout around for a charger and also picked up another 2 chargers for $30 each. The shopping continued with 2 new VHF antenna, a Motorola RIB and cables to interface the radios with the computer for programming.

One of the attractions on the Sabers I picked up was the optional DES encryption modules (called Securenet) they came with.....research ensued and that's when the Motorola quirks started to come out: CryptoMuseum , Batlabs

1. You need a Key Loader to put the encryption key into the radios
2. Radios without power for about 40seconds lose the encryption key
3. KVLs are hard to get outside the States and they're not keen to ship them outside of the USA
4. By all reports encryption cripples the radios range and as it is not permitted on a ham licence you may choose not to bother with it.
5. Forget what the seller says the radio is - you need the model code off the actual radio and then decode it to ensure you are getting what is being advertised - go here to decode your model code: Repeater Builder
6. Because of the way the programming software is coded you need an old (slow) computer - as in a 286, 386, and you're pushing it with a 486.

The last point is where I came unstuck. I thought I'd try a newer one and see how it went but that didn't work no matter what I tried. I also thought finding an old PC would be the easy part but it appears that old computers are now called vintage and command a fair whack from collectors. The hunt started and after a bit of messing around I landed a Dauphin 486 pen computer (ipad forerunner for PC) dating from circa 1993. This was a mistake and I should have gotten a normal PC rather than something so unique.






















So after a lot of messing around with the Dauphin, the cables and connections, and software the radios were programmed with VHF Marine frequencies, charge fine in their chargers and work quite well.

Some feedback:

• They are solid in the hand, not girly-man radios - I like them
• They feel industrial - I like this too

• Squelch settings are universal on all channels and the level has to be programmed (no squelch knob)
• Channels are limited to 12 per Zone - bit of a pain for a bandplan with more than 12 channels (VHF Marine, UHF CB).

• Does scan but I haven't bothered with it.
• Programming is a pain, slow, and at times can be cryptic.
• Software is DOS based - no GUI here.
• I haven't tested battery life yet but feel optimistic of a good result.
• Chargers are industrial as well and can keep the battery topped up.

Some tips for the uninitiated:

1. You need the old computer
2. Using tricks such as throttle and slowdos to slow down your computer will not work
3. You need the RIB and cables
4. You need the correct version of the software - if your radio is programmed with a different version of the same software you may have problems reading  and writing to the radio.
5. Always read from your radio the first time and save the config (codeplug in Motorola parlance) in case you need to restore this to the radios.
6. My sabers ended up locked with an error code when I tried to write to them with a version of the software that proved incompatible. The fix is to begin programming them again and turn the radios off half way through the programming, changes the error code and the radio will now accept a fresh codeplug in full - this is where you reload the original one you read before you started playing.
7. For the issue above this is where I also changed the version of the programming software I was using and the writes no longer caused the radios to error.
8. Be careful when writing to your radio and choose to use the RF settings in the radio not the ones from the CPS - otherwise it messes with your radios alignment.
9. Get onto the Batlabs forum and search for Saber - lots of information and help there: Batlabs forum

Overall it was "fun" (but expensive) to get the gear in and play around with them myself.....so much fun I bought some more....see the next post.