Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

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saberjerk
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Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by saberjerk »

What are the differences between a saber astro and a saber SI? Can't find any info in model specific. I can't seem to get search to work to check previous postings.
Thanks
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txshooter
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by txshooter »

The Saber SI was a 800 MHz Jedi radio placed in a Saber Housing. It is a unique product that at times Motorola refused to even acknowledge at times. It is not a Astro Product in that to my knowledge it is not capable fo digital operation. It is not caable of rebanding. It is a different Housing than any other saber.

There is information here on the board......I tried search, but was unable to find it, but it has been discussed many times. I have given some basic informtation.....there is a lot more.

I would suggest it is a good collector radio, but probably not a good radio to purchase to use since it will not be rebandable.
Scott B.
"Never argue with seven men when you are carrying a six shooter..."
saberjerk
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by saberjerk »

ok great thanks for the info. So these only came in 800mhz? The cases looked so much like an astro I thought they were. These look like an astro 3 but I guess may not be as long.
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Twisted_Pear
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by Twisted_Pear »

saberjerk wrote:ok great thanks for the info. So these only came in 800mhz? The cases looked so much like an astro I thought they were. These look like an astro 3 but I guess may not be as long.
There's also a UHF version that was marketed toward the US Government.

Check out the archives. There's lots of talk about the SI. The radio had a short run and a shitty start (lots of issues).
saberjerk
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by saberjerk »

Well I would check the archives but search isn't working. Or maybe I'm not doing it properly?
Do they program with astro rss or is there a special SI rss?
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n7maq
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by n7maq »

saberjerk wrote:Well I would check the archives but search isn't working. Or maybe I'm not doing it properly?
Do they program with astro rss or is there a special SI rss?
The SI had it's own RSS. (NLA) From what I have heard you want to stay as far away from them as you can.

Jim
saberjerk
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by saberjerk »

That's all I needed to hear. I am going to steer clear of these bad boys. thanks
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Elroy Jetson
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by Elroy Jetson »

I wonder if you could get hold of an SI and retrofit parts from other Jedi radios into the housing?

A VHF SI would have a certain coolness factor to it.

I love the Astro Sabers but the slightly shorter SI case does have its advantages. I could live with a VHF Jedi in an SI case.


Elroy
N4KVE
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by N4KVE »

It's been done before. A friend of mine put a UHF jedi rf board in an SI. Worked fine. GARY N4KVE
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Twisted_Pear
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by Twisted_Pear »

I can take mine apart and take some photos if anyone is that interested.
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FireCpt809
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by FireCpt809 »

If you swapped RF boards with a Jedi to make it VHF, what software would you use? Jedi? SaberSI? MTSX?
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Elroy Jetson
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by Elroy Jetson »

You'd use the controller, too, and hence would use the Jedi software appropriate for the donor radio.

It's been a while since I looked inside an SI but I seem to remember that the Jedi controller and RF boards
were ALMOST unmodified and any mods that were required would be easy to perform.

Elroy
saberjerk
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by saberjerk »

I would like to see pictures. I don't know what the SI case looks like inside. Do you have to re-route power for the new boards?
The Saber SI models I was looking at were 3's. Will all the buttons match up with the astro?
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txshooter
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by txshooter »

saberjerk wrote:The Saber SI models I was looking at were 3's. Will all the buttons match up with the astro?
The housing is shorter than the Astro Saber Housing, so a Astro Saber would never be able to fit in the housing. Therefore no the buttons would not line up!
Scott B.
"Never argue with seven men when you are carrying a six shooter..."
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Elroy Jetson
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by Elroy Jetson »

The Saber SI housing is the same length as a secure capable regular Saber housing.

So, there are three Saber family housing lengths, standard non-secure, standard secure/SI, and Astro.

You might be able to stuff a secure Saber into an SI housing, but some buttons won't match up and
I'm not even sure it'll work given the location of the power connector to the RF board on the rear of
the frame for an SI.

Incidentally, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed the vague physical resemblance between
JEDI RF boards and Astro Saber boards. They're at least distant cousins.


Elroy
cgroftmc
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Re: Astro Saber/SI

Post by cgroftmc »

At one time I had a SABER SI LAB RSS that would allow you to pick the bandsplit U, V or 800. I remember the software being very unstable.

Craig
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MTS2000des
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by MTS2000des »

I know MTSX DOS RSS in the past could read and write to SI's
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Deputy Disaster
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by Deputy Disaster »

So, One could stuff the innards of a JT-1000 in the SI case and have a FPP Saber?
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Elroy Jetson
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Re: Astro Saber and Saber SI what's the diff??

Post by Elroy Jetson »

Yeah, but you'd have to make a custom programming key, assuming your JT1000 needs one.


Elroy
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