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Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:16 pm
by WCHija
I am new to working with Astro Sabers, so please bear with me.
1. Was there a low band Astro Saber ?
2. Is there such a thing as Fire fighter knobs like for the xts radios, for the Astro Sabers?
3. I picked up one of those AVA suitcase units that were on ebay recently. I cant get the hhch to work. Do I need a special flash or something?
4. What is the shortest battery? Where can I find it? I have tried looking up the M partnumbers, but there is so much cross referenceing that the same battery is listed under 3 and 4 different replacement part numbers.
Thank you in advance.
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:23 pm
by N4KVE
Hi. The 2nd post in this section deals with the HHCH & Astro Saber. It's labeled "ASTRO SABER AVA & ASTRO HHCH. THE FACTS VS THE MYTH" started by Motorola Otaku. It deals with all the problems regarding this, & the very few people who actually have a working AVA, & HHCH. There was a mention of older f/w to allow the set up to work. I myself use my suitcase/AVA with an AS3 that has the latest f/w, so I use a Maxtrac mike. Great setup. As for batteries, I use an Alexander battery # H8251. From what I gathered from the article, a special mike adapter, & specific older f/w are necessary. Good luck to you. GARY N4KVE
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:49 pm
by FireCpt809
1 No. VHF, UHF,800 only
2 No. standard and the low profile
3 Astro saber HHCH were a latrer firmware revision. Do you have an Astro AVA? there were tons of analog SVA's being passed off on ebay as astro.
4 Tomindc has a 2" one he uses from some aftermarket supplier I forget the name
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 4:34 am
by N4KVE
FireCpt809 wrote:1 No. VHF, UHF,800 only
2 No. standard and the low profile
3 Astro saber HHCH were a latrer firmware revision. Do you have an Astro AVA? there were tons of analog SVA's being passed off on ebay as astro.
4 Tomindc has a 2" one he uses from some aftermarket supplier I forget the name
He has PM'd me & does have a 7737 AVA, but I wonder if he has the correct HHCH. GARY N4KVE
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 5:06 am
by Tom in D.C.
The battery supplier is Cut Rate Batteries in, IIRC, Tennessee. It's a 2-inch. 1900 mAh, Lithium-Ion
battery for $76. It also has the side bump so it fits a Saber charger correctly. I'm
using five of them and I'd swear it's the same unit that Motorola sells for about $120. Nice
thing is it can sit on the shelf for months and when you turn it on it still has plenty of power,
so to me it's worth the money if only to eliminate the "surprise" factor when you need the radio.
http://www.cutratebatteries.com/battery ... s/M344L1-D
And, FWIW, and hoping not to add to the confusion,
The Standard Saber HHCH is a 6150
The Systems Saber HHCH is a 6169
The Astro Saber has a mobile charger, and the rumored-to-exist HHCH for it has been discussed on this Board
but I think that few have ever seen one.
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:54 am
by jmr061
If he picked up one of those suitcase repeaters on Ebay that I am thinking he got they were advertised as Astro however the pics clearely showed it has a HHCH for the saber or systems saber, not the Astro.
Jason
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 7:24 am
by WCHija
It is a NTN7227B SP03. The mic is a 6150A.
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:35 am
by N4KVE
So the mike is for a Saber, but the convertacom is for the Astro Saber. They don't work together. I do use that mike with a correct SVA & a Saber, & it works well together as it's supposed to. Just use a Maxtrac mike & you will be fine. I have seen on Ebay where the suitcase is advertised as an Astro Saber convertacom, but it's really for a Saber. In my case I swapped the SVA for an AVA I had laying around. 2 minute swap. GARY N4KVE
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:26 pm
by FireCpt809
an SVA wont work with an astro saber as the astro saber needs a pin on the connector to physically switch the antenna to an external source.
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 1:57 pm
by Tom in D.C.
The AVA (for Astro Sabers) MUST have a pin on that internal connection block that flips up when you turn the side knob to internally connect the radio, otherwise the external antenna will not be connected. I went back and re-read the verbiage on Batlabs.com on the particular subject but it has no mention of the antenna changeover button setup.
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:00 pm
by d119
Tom in D.C. wrote:
The Astro Saber has a mobile charger, and the rumored-to-exist HHCH for it has been discussed on this Board
but I think that few have ever seen one.
Tom,
The ASTRO Saber convertacom is a full on unit just like the Saber/Systems Saber. It is _not_ just a mobile charger. It gives you speaker, microphone, etc.
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:30 pm
by resqguy911
d119 wrote:Tom in D.C. wrote:
The Astro Saber has a mobile charger, and the rumored-to-exist HHCH for it has been discussed on this Board
but I think that few have ever seen one.
Tom,
The ASTRO Saber convertacom is a full on unit just like the Saber/Systems Saber. It is _not_ just a mobile charger. It gives you speaker, microphone, etc.
Please make the AVA HHCH go away. I try to put that abomination out of my head. However, they did sell a very VERY SP Saber/Astro Saber drop in vehicular charger- but I can't find it for the life of me. It was identical to the Jedi one of the same vintage, but with a saber slot of course. Much nicer than the other SP one that was similar to the HT600 charger.
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 3:14 pm
by Tom in D.C.
d119 wrote:
The ASTRO Saber convertacom is a full on unit just like the Saber/Systems Saber. It is _not_ just a mobile charger. It gives you speaker, microphone, etc.
Of course it is. If it was just a charger I wouldn't be writing about an HHCH for the unit. My choice of words in referring to it as a mobile charger was imprecise.
Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:32 pm
by d119
Tom in D.C. wrote:d119 wrote:
The ASTRO Saber convertacom is a full on unit just like the Saber/Systems Saber. It is _not_ just a mobile charger. It gives you speaker, microphone, etc.
Of course it is. If it was just a charger I wouldn't be writing about an HHCH for the unit. My choice of words in referring to it as a mobile charger was imprecise.
no worries

Re: Astro Saber Questions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:47 pm
by WCHija
So, anyone need a 6150A mic?