Motorola Saber 2: *k Restore from 2k memory option

[Downtown2991]

Hello,

I recently acquired a large lot of Motorola Saber 2 radios (H44QXJ7139CN). When I went to program the radio's with my 8k codeplug, a large number stated they were 2k only radio's. When I took the case off, I noticed that these were indeed 8k units that had been "downgraded".

I would like to restore them to their original 8k glory. I would like to thank all that reply, I tried the search function, but found nothing. Does the Lab or Depot software versions allow a user to revert these back? I am using R07.00.01 to program (Sorry I think that is the number).

Thanks for your help.

Matt

[Tom in D.C.]

Once you change an 8K Saber to a 2K the action can not be reversed. I actually did it myself once when I forgot about what would happen. I think it's discussed in the Saber section of http://www.batlabs.com.

[N6LAU]

There actually is a way to reverse this and in fact possibly a second way if memory serves. Method 1 would require you to have an extremely rare version of Saber RSS called version D04+/-10M that was released in 1989. This is a sort of lab version of Saber RSS that lets you go above or below the rated frequency range of the radio by 10 MHZ (hence the version number/name). This version will also let you uncheck the "Omit Memory 2K" option thus enabling the radio for the full amount of channels and memory.

Possible method 2 would involve creating a new codeplug from scratch making sure the "Omit Memory 2K" option is not enabled. After creating the codeplug you would write it to the radio being sure to select the "Use Radio's Tuning Values" when writing. Again this method is a maybe as it's been a while since I dealt with this issue and I can't remember for certain whether or not the radio will accept the new codeplug without being blanked first. Just be sure to save a backup of the original codeplug just in case.

There is one other method that I know of but it definitely isn't for the faint of heart and if done is done AT YOUR OWN RISK. It involves purposely inducing an ERR 0 81 in your radio. You then create a new 8K codeplug for the radio as mentioned above and dump it into the radio. If you choose to use this method be sure to go through and write down ALL the tuning values for the radio from the "Service" section of the RSS BEFORE you proceed as all tuning data will be erased when the ERR 0 81 occurs. After dumping in the new codeplug you will need to go through and re-tune the radio in the "Service" section using all the tuning data vlues you wrote down earlier. Also be sure when creating the new codeplug to select the proper model for your radio ie. bandsplit, power level, model 1 2 or 3, secure or nonsecure, etc. Below are the steps to perform this as taken directly from the Saber section of http://www.batlabs.com PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

1 Start the Saber software
2 Read the radio
3 Program the data right back into the radio,BUT, when the first 2 or 3 dots appear on the first line, turn the radio off.
4 Hit F2 when the error comes up
5 Turn the radio on , the display should read "ERR 0 81"
6 Read the radio again, press F2 after each line comes up with a checksum error
7 Create a radio personality file (Main Menu - F4 - F3) for the radio you want it to be (same power level and RF sub-band)
8 Program the new data into the radio
9 Reading and programming the radio is back to normal

[Downtown2991]

Thanks for the replies guys here is what we have:

1) ALL Radio's came from Long Beach and came with ERR 0 81 already displaying on the radio's.
2) We have been able to load new 2k plugs in without issue. But when we try the "power down" method, nothing seems to erase the 2k memory option (Even when we create a new CP).

We also found a ton of Saber 3's that were in Saber 2 cases and we are working on getting some 3 cases for those. 2k units are not a bad thing. But we have a need for more than 48 channels.

I guess we will keep trying the power down method on some of the radio's and see if we can get at least 1 to take it.

Again, I appreciate all your input guys. It really helps....

[FireCpt809]

One of the Long beach Tech's is a member here. He may have some insite. I had picked up a few. I tried that method too I never got them to recover. I just managed with 48

[N6LAU]

I've had several former Long Beach Sabers come my way and all of them were able to do the full 120 channels. When the radio is still displaying the ERR 0 81 and you attempt to dump an 8K codeplug into it you are still getting the 2K error message? If worse comes to worse you can mail your radios to me if you'd like and I'll be glad to use the D04 version of the RSS to open them up for full 8K use.

[GlennD]

The radios say error because we corrupt the code plug by turning off the power while programming.

If you follow the batlabs procedure it is very easy to recover the radio. The trick is that you must let at least one dot show and quickly turn off the radio.

Then program in a valid 8K code plug.

We are currently changing out Spectras. They are programmed to one channel named fail 001.
Most Spectras have the caps changed out.

We are also replacing X9000s. They have the 2KEEPROM removed.

[GlennD]

All Long Beach surplus is picked up by property room.com. After that it seems to end up at dealers or even on Ebay.

[vhacmowilmob]

I second following the batlabs procedure to purposfully corrupt the codeplug (turn off the radio while writing it, after two or three dots (you have to be quick), then create an 8k codeplug for the correct model from scratch and write it to the radio. I had one that someone had done that to, and this procedure fixed it right up.

[Downtown2991]

Guys,

Thank u for all the help, we will try it and push come to shove i will mail then for the D04 mod. I might have a line on that software package.

Thanks again

[Downtown2991]

Ok

We have followed the proceedure on batlabs for reviving the 2k mod. However, we are still having issues wih some of the radios not accepting the 8k codeplug.

Some units take it with no issues and others do not. The ones that have not have visually inspected to ensure that they are indeed 8k units. Short of getting the D04 software, is there any other ideas?

I appreciate all the comments and suggestions on this matter.

[Downtown2991]

Most of these are working just fine...Thanks guys...

But some now are giving memory allocation errors upon trying to reprogram and it stops the build in 07.01.00. Any ideas on how to correct this error?

Thanks in advance guys.

[GlennD]

I have never seen a memory alloc error. We mostly used an sp version of 6.28 with + or - 10Mhz band limits. For VHF fire we used 7.01 since they needed more pl freqs than 6.28 supported.

I used an ancient DEC 486 50Mhz computer. When I was first dragged into the screen room the slow computer was a pentium 100Mhz. This mostly worked but it sometimes gave very strange results. For example, it would never import tuning info.

[uman18]

Most of these are working just fine...Thanks guys...

But some now are giving memory allocation errors upon trying to reprogram and it stops the build in 07.01.00. Any ideas on how to correct this error?

Thanks in advance guys.

Dont know if this helps, but in the hundreds of the sabers i had at one point from LBPD, UHF were 440-470 split & 458-490 split and some you couldn't tell if vhf or uhf with out taking it apart but did at least have to open it up to read the number off the PA to see what UHF split.

[DJP126]

IIRC, the Long Beach radios had an SP version of software for their extended band split but would program with standard software without extending the band. Also, using the radio shutdown to intentionally corrupt the memory would work much easier with an older version of software such as version 4.?.?.

[GlennD]

Our SP version was 6.28 and it was used for all uhf radios except some fire radios that needed more PLs. In that case it was programmed with 6.28 and the Pls added with 7.01 without touching the freqs or it would revert to the band limits.

The vhf radios were all programmed with 7.01

All of the radios were corrupted with a uhf code plug loaded into 6.28.