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I recently acquired three Saber I radios. All three batteries are charged, the fuse on the bottom of each radio is good. However, the radios when powered up do nothing. No Xmit light no static....Nothing. Any Ideas? If a Saber's programming is wiped clean, will it cause this......or was I deceived and bought three paper-weights. I would greatly appreciate any help you Gurus could give me.

If programming was wiped you'd get an error tone on power up. I'd start with verfying batteries, if they're OK I'd take a look under the hood to look for missing modules (modular radios and parts often swapped in this series)

Ok, I looked under the hood and all components are installed. Im out of ideas. Have zero ohms at the green fuse on the bottom of each radio. Any other ideas guys. As always...........any and all help is greatly appreciated.

1. No static (actually it's called noise) could mean that the radio is on but it's set to silent monitor, so check that.
2. No LED on transmit could mean the radios are set to receive only with transmit disabled.
3. Have you tried to read the radios with RSS? This is the place to start.
4. It's got to be something common, not necessarily obvious, for three radios to operate exactly the same way, so a bad flex to get power up to the switch is unlikely.

Let us know what you find. We'll smoke out the problem one way or the other.

molver wrote:I recently acquired three Saber I radios. All three batteries are charged, the fuse on the bottom of each radio is good. However, the radios when powered up do nothing. No Xmit light no static....Nothing. Any Ideas? If a Saber's programming is wiped clean, will it cause this......or was I deceived and bought three paper-weights. I would greatly appreciate any help you Gurus could give me.

What band are these radios On? By any chance are they 800 with trunking?

Jim

I will go out on a limb here, and assume these are VHF, but UHF is handled the same way.

First, no programming in the radio, you will see no TX light, and probably no RX either.
Areas to check:
Reference Oscillator...plugged in correctly?
Rcvr filter on bottom of module: Correct for the band you are using?
RSS settings:
Read radio, go into service, check settings, check squelch level, VCO modulation, TX/RX delay timing.

RSS: Normal read, check options settings to find out CORE of the radio, this will tell you what you can program into the radio, and will work with that particular CORE version(most common is the 5D CORE)
Channel data: Since this is a Saber I, you will not have a display, so 12 channels will be the maximum.
This also means no scan capability, and possibly a set amount of usable PL codes also.

Synthesizer version will also indicate the operational bandsplit the radio will operate on, such as 136-150.8, 146-162, 148-174...Etc...
The VHF Rcvr module will be an NLD8180x
I am out of town, so i do not have my books on the other modules...sorry.
VHF PA module..I think would be an NLD8773 (5 watts) or an NLD8122/8123
The F.D.S (Filter, Detector, Switch) is band specific in VHF models, and not present in UHF versions.
If the radio is secure capable, is there a module in the bottom section of the chassis?
If not, you will have NO RX. Either a dummy or active module MUST be in place for the radio to operate properly, or jumpers soldered to proper points to eliminate the actual module.

Under the RCVR modules in both UHF and VHF radios, there will be a ceramic filter, the UHF models have a red rubber cover over them, and a spring contact under them...do NOT lose or destroy this!
All contacts and pins on every module is fragile and made from Phosphor bronze, which is extremely brittle!
Do NOT bend the pins!
The rear cover retains the synthesizer module in place, and grounds the antenna port to the chassis as well, so the top left screw must be in place.
The PA module has two screws on the side of the frame, and also retain the shield for the F.D.S, and is also retained by the PA module screw(closest to top of radio).
Check all FLEX cables in the radio (three)
These connect the Spkr/Mic on the bottom left of the radio, then on display models, one will be on the upper left, below the reference oscillator, and the third, is located above the Rcvr. module for the controls, and is oriented horizontally, across the top of the modules.

That's all the info I can think of at the moment...You now have to do the research to see where the problem/s lie.
Good luck on reviving the radios!

I had a saber that I swapped components on, And had it programmed (by a radio shop) to which model they THOUGHT it was, and it exhibited the exact same behavior: totally DEAD for all intent and purpose. The radio had worked prior to modifying it's programming. It would still READ though, and eventually (through trying different model numbers) it was was recovered. Do you know if the radio will read?

Jim202 wrote:

molver wrote:I recently acquired three Saber I radios. All three batteries are charged, the fuse on the bottom of each radio is good. However, the radios when powered up do nothing. No Xmit light no static....Nothing. Any Ideas? If a Saber's programming is wiped clean, will it cause this......or was I deceived and bought three paper-weights. I would greatly appreciate any help you Gurus could give me.

What band are these radios On? By any chance are they 800 with trunking?

Jim

No chance because such a model does not exist. molver, grab yourself a copy of 68P81044C05-A "SABER Handie-Talkie Portable Radios Theory/Maintenance Manual" if you can. It has the block diagrams you need to troubleshoot this problem. Also, Tom's suggestion to try reading the radios sounds like a good start.