Is my Saber Slowly Dying?

[W3AXL]

Hi all,

My trusty Astro Saber, after two years of loyal service, is now refusing to read and write. The radio will get put into programming mode but will wait a while before timing out. I checked in DOS trying to read it and the same thing happens, resulting in either a timeout error or an "Interpacket Violation" error.

I don't have a way to verify that the cable hasn't gone bad other than knowing that there's continuity for all three pins on the cable through to the rib connector. I know that these older Astro radios are starting to show their age in the form of EEPROM failure, and I'm wondering if that might be what's happened here. Other than the programming issue it still works flawlessly. Hasn't forgotten any programming info and doesn't give any error beeps. It's a model 1, so if it's got any fail codes it's not beeping to tell me something's wrong.

Would appreciate other input on this.

Cheers!

[jry]

would suspect your CPS/RSS setup and not the radio.

Check your RIB and COM port on another radio if possible.

[W3AXL]

Wow, I would've never guessed it. I think my trusty rib has given up the ghost after three years.

It's a Kawa rib that worked fantasticly for everything I needed it to do. Suddenly it won't program the Saber and any spectra I plug it in to fails 01/90 until it's removed.

Looks like another one is going to need to be ordered. Wish I could afford the real deal, but considering the Kawa rib gave me zero issues for three whole years I'll probably just pick up another one. I'd love to know what suddenly failed on this rib though; nothing inside looks fried or damaged in any way.

[motorola_otaku]

Pay Chinese prices, get Chinese quality.

The EEPROMs used in Astro Saber memory do have a finite number of read/write cycles and some of the earlier production models are starting to hit that mark, so don't be surprised if you do hit a wall one day. Astro Spectras and XTS3000s are also vulnerable.

[N4KVE]

Pay Chinese prices, get Chinese quality.

So the factory cables are made in Chicago from all American parts? GARY