Military Motorola Saber Radio ???s

[NDT]

Not having much luck figuring this out. The Motorola Saber handheld radio was procured for US military use in the 1990's. Later, just about every PD and FD in the United States had them. What bands were used by the military? I would think the H42 model in the 66-88 Mhz band, so they could talk with PRC77's and the like, but I don't believe this is true. Can anyone school me on this? Should I just give up on finding a military "R"? one and buy a VHF ex-PD unit in the 2M HAM band?

 

[Stan Leschert]

Most of the Sabers were used for base ops. Mainly VHF (2M) but some were on 70 CM (UHF) if the band allocation was used in that area. We never saw the ones that would talk to the Prc radios or the RT524 thingys. 2 M is just fine, the RIBs can be found on E-Pay at decent prices, but you have to go to nefarious sites to get the software to actually program them. You will need an XP (or older) computer to run the ancient software.

 

[m38inmaine]

The couple of mil surplus ones I have are VHF 132-160 Mhz. Have never seen a low band one for sale.

 

[foxmike]

Probably VHF 138-144 and 148-151 MHz. Those ranges are US Govt.

 

[B3.3T]

You will not find a Sabre capable of that range. As stated, most were used for base/post ops and security, not tactical or field operations.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

Supposedly SEAL teams used the MX300R from Motorola first, and later the Saber R Secure. I've seen tons of military surplus Sabers but, as others have said, never any in 30-88 Mhz (most military surplus ones I've come across were UHF 403-433 split, and usually base security/ MP frequencies.) Also, if you're after an ex-military Saber R, be aware that there are no more batteries for them. Anywhere. At all. Motorola discontinued them a long time ago, and the aftermarket folks like Alexander and what-not shortly thereafter. Lots of batteries out there for the standard models - just not the R (and beware cross-references that say x-aftermarket battery crosses to NTN7058 for the Saber R...because it doesn't.)

Also, not a problem for Amateur VHF and UHF, but the Saber R and Saber family radios are wideband only. Astro Saber and Astro Saber R will do narrow or wide. Saber R will also not fit in the vehicle kit for the normal Saber, and finding a Saber R vehicle kit is like finding the Holy Grail.

 

[NDT]

OK, here is where I ended up. I decided to go UHF and no point in buying an expensive "R" model if batteries are not available. I found 5 units in the second UHF split from epay seller cmeyers215. She actually works for an electronics recycling company and they have hundreds of the H44's, all identical, from a huge police department that used the Sabers up until last year. Batteries are all good. Here are some pics of the Saber all snug in the molle carrier made for it (another ebay item). While the PD that has these has moved to a different band, the FD did not and some channels are still on the FD freqencies. Of course this makes for interesting listening.