Astro Saber 512k or 1 meg

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jmr061
was KB9KST
Posts: 3176
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2001 4:00 pm

Post by jmr061 »

I am new to astro radios and have a one vhf and one uhf Astro Saber III. I have heard a lot about 512 versus 1 meg in these radios. What exactly is this and what does the 1 meg version have over the 512k version. Thanks.

Jason
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Elroy Jetson
Posts: 1158
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2001 4:00 pm

Post by Elroy Jetson »

The 1 meg version is required in order to support the firmware that allows the radio to do Astro 25 (Apco Project 25 Digital Trunking, also known as EIA/TIA 102 standard) trunking, which is the digital trunking format that has a 9600 baud control channel and is purely digital, with no analog talkgroup capability at all, and no backwards compatibility with other trunking types.

While there are a number of IMBE digital trunking systems, there are only a few Astro 25 trunking systems. Michigan has one, the state of Florida has one, and there are a few others.

Only users of those systems REQUIRE 1 meg radios. For any other system type, 512K is enough.

Elroy
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