Batboard

I acquired a very clean Saber SI. The radio does something I've never seen before. Upon power down, the radio won't turn off, but the low battery icon comes on and flickers rapidly (not the usual when the battery is low). The radio continues to operate normally. When you rotate the power switch back "On" the icon disappears. You have to remove the battery for the radio to power down. I swapped batteries but no change. I contacted the seller (Ebay) and he claims he did not disclose this because he thought it had something to do with "Stat alert working when the radio is off" which sounds like "I knew the radio had a problem but didn't disclose it" to me.

I have not programmed the radio or read it, as I don't want to disturb it in case I have to wind up sending it back. I did look in SSI RSS to see if the radio supports soft power off (like the XTS series) but could not find any reference to it. I suspect a bad PA or something hosed in the codeplug. Ideas anyone?

MTS2000des wrote:I acquired a very clean Saber SI. The radio does something I've never seen before. Upon power down, the radio won't turn off, but the low battery icon comes on and flickers rapidly (not the usual when the battery is low). The radio continues to operate normally. When you rotate the power switch back "On" the icon disappears. You have to remove the battery for the radio to power down. I swapped batteries but no change. I contacted the seller (Ebay) and he claims he did not disclose this because he thought it had something to do with "Stat alert working when the radio is off" which sounds like "I knew the radio had a problem but didn't disclose it" to me.

I have not programmed the radio or read it, as I don't want to disturb it in case I have to wind up sending it back. I did look in SSI RSS to see if the radio supports soft power off (like the XTS series) but could not find any reference to it. I suspect a bad PA or something hosed in the codeplug. Ideas anyone?

It sounds like a bad PA just as you suspect.

Jim

I boxed it up and sent it back tonight, the seller is playing dumb but he knows quite a bit about Astros and sold quite a few, so I suspect he knew what he had, but fearing a Paypal chargeback, now says he will refund the money once it arrives. It sucks because the radio was really in nice shape, looked new, with tags and all, kind of a hard to find them "in the wild" but I don't feel like messing with a 14 year old basket case. For what they are, Astro Saber III VSELPS are a dime a dozen and pretty much the same radio more or less are they not?

The ASIII is a much better radio.

Jim

It was to my understanding that the Saber SI was a bastard child, limited production radio that was essentially an MTS2000 or something jammed into a saber case. If it's what I'm thinking of, it looks just like the Astro saber, but is a little shorter.

While it may be cool to have and collect dust, it doesn't serve too much a purpose over an Astro Saber III.

The Saber SI i had about 10 years ago was set for soft power off via one of the side buttons after turning the vol knob off. I don't remember if it ever was mentioned in the RSS anywhere.

well this is getting interesting, the seller got the radio back and now he's MIA...paypal claim filed. Anyone in the Covington, Indiana area know a man by the name of Stuart Winland aka Dynacomm?

He bought an XTS5000 on the 26th.

anyway, ended up getting an ASIII for the same money from a reputable seller. I just hope this guy doesn't think he is going to take me for a ride, he's got a big surprise coming to him if he thinks so.

thanks for all the help. It was indeed a bad PA. I put my Saber battery eliminator on it and watched it's standby current while OFF go up to close to 350ma. Seller claimed that it was "always that way (refusing to turn off) and he was told by his radio shop this was a feature of stat-alert receiving alerts when the radio was off and he didn't think anything was abnormal." but failed to disclose this in his ad. Hopefully paypal will recover my money so I don't have to take a warrant out on him. (been there, done that. got results too!)

MTS2000des wrote:Seller claimed that it was "always that way (refusing to turn off) and he was told by his radio shop this was a feature of stat-alert receiving alerts when the radio was off and he didn't think anything was abnormal."

I can't help it... That's the biggest load of crap I've heard in a long time...

yeah the guy is a liar- typical Ebay turd, had to file a Paypal claim- they ruled in my favor- hopefully they can recover the funds. He changed his story about 5 times, but his own words convicted him.

He picked up one of my old sabers off of Ebay last week. So far, I haven't had any issues. He paid quickly...

I am sure he did- he got my money quickly and sent me a junk radio. Paypal ruled in my favor, quickly at that, waiting on a refund...hopefully they will be able to recover my money, otherwise next step is swearing out a warrant for his arrest for OCGA 16-8-2.

I have messed with a lot of Saber SI's The problem you experienced was a programming issue. All of the SI radios I bought had this same issue. Most of the time the cause of it was someone not using the right software to program it triggering off this issue. Now with your radio having 300 or so Mw while idle indicates a bad PA or other RF board problem. Now knowing this, a bad PA or high current draw in idle will not cause what you experienced. Here is what triggers off your issue.

When using the wrong software such as MTSX or MTSX Lab or corrupt version of SI RSS (common) the software eliminates the soft power off in the radio. With soft power off being eliminated the processor does not know what to do with the radio when you turn the knob to off thus getting the flashing battery and blank screen. The radio is not off and will not turn off until the battery has been removed, once again the radio does not know what to do when the power off command has been given to it because it has not been told what to do. I have solved this issue by programming soft power off with good true SI RSS.

My take is that the dorko did not have the right software and screwed it up or he had received it that way. The seller should have been more specific with the radio in the listing and communication should have been more forthgoing rather then him ditching you because he is not familiar with the radio.


For those not versed in the SI here is a little background on the radio. The SI was an interim radio between the Systems Saber and the Astro Saber. They made the Saber SI in 2 bands, 800Mhz (common) and UHF range 1 (not so common) very few government agencies bought these radios, the biggest being the City of San Diego (800MHz). The only piece of this radio that is the same as a jedi is the modified RF board, the rest is completely different. Since the radio was not a success as Motorola had hoped, they scrapped the project and all support for the radio! Motorola will go as far as totally denying the radio ever existed and try to convince you the radio had never been manufactured. The Astro Saber now was in full production at this time and the SI was quickly forgotten.

Rod, that's great information. The SI that dorkus sold me did something odd, the display would not blank out when turned off- it would remain on- the radio itself would remain on in fact, the battery indicator would flash at a rapid pace (more rapid than the low battery indicator would typically flash). You would have to remove the battery as you said. However, using my Saber battery eliminator and bench power supply, I saw it drawing close to 300ma of standby current- which is odd. Shouldn't draw that much with the power ON at full RX volume.

I first suspected soft power off, but I did not touch the radio with any programming, I contacted the seller immediately and he him hawed around, then told me to send it back and he would refund the money. I did so and he started jerking me around.

I have owned SI's before, and am kind of fond of them- and they've always had problems. The first one I had back in 1997 had a bad flex. I'd reworked it several times, but if you flexed the top of the radio, it would reset. I guess they were never meant to be. I have an original brochure fold out dated 1992 and it reads "Saber SI...Get a Grip on High Performance" on the front, and it shows what appears to be an 800, UHF and VHF (judging from the antenna) though the brochure does not have specifications. I have seen a factory UHF low split about 10 years ago in use at a Federal facility in Atlanta, so they do exist despite what Motorola may tell you.

I kinda wanted one as a nostalgia thing, but this situation has killed any future desire for an SI, I don't think I'd take one if it was free. With 800 Astro Sabers (especially VSELPs) being a dime a dozen, the SI just seems to be a weird one-off red headed step child of Jedi/Astro history.