Motorola SABER RVN4002K User's Guide download pdf (Page 4)

 
MX-1000, 2000 and 3000
In some countries, such as Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries, a special
version of the SABER, known as the MX-1000 series was available from a variety of operators. The MX-
1000, 2000 and 3000 are analog to the SABER I, II and III. Although the MX-series is cosmetically similar to
the SABER, it has a different set of features and specifications. It can only be programmed with a dedicated
MX-1000 RSS. 
 
CORE and COPE
SABER radios have two types of processors. The main one is CORE (Control Of Radio Electronics). It is the
actual microcontroller of the SABER's mother board. The firmware inside the CORE is mask-programmed
and can not be changed without swapping the processor. Different versions of the CORE support different
features. Generally speaking, the higher the CORE version the more features the radio supports. One of the
most common versions of CORE is 5D. Certain features of the radio are only available on later versions of
CORE, like 6D and 8D. All SABERs have a CORE. 
The second type of processor is COPE (Control of Peripheral Electronics). It is used for the display, the
keyboard and an additional number of channels (external memory). As such, COPE is only available in a
SABER II and SABER III. Radios without a display (i.e. a SABER I or IE) do not have a COPE processor. The
COPE is part of the front assembly of the SABER II and III. 
There are two different (hardware) implementations of the COPE board of a SABER II: one with 2KB of
memory and one with 8KB of memory. The difference can be determined by counting the number of chips
on the COPE board. The 8KB version contains 5 chips, whilst the 2KB one has only 4 of them. The 5th chip is
the DTMF tone encoder. 
 
Error messages
When something goes wrong whilst programming a SABER, an error message may appear on the display
(SABER II and III only). In such cases, the display shows ERR followed by three digits. The first digit
identifies the hardware that causes the error. It can take three values (see below): 
The remaining two digits are the hexadecimal notation of a 8-bit word (byte) in which each bit represents a
single error (flag). This way, multiple errors can be reported simultaneously. The bits can be written out in
the following 8-bit mask, with the bit value written above it: 
For example: error message ERR 1 0B means that the COPE processor has raised the error 0B
(hexadecimal notation of 11). This means that three errors are present in the blue section above (8 + 2 +
1). Please note that error ERR 1 0D always appears on the display when programming the radio. This is
normal. Once programming has completed, the display should return to normal. 
 
Out of band frequencies
When programming a SABER for the 2m amateur band, one needs to be able to enter frequencies in the
range 144 to 146 MHz (US: 144 to 148 MHz). By default, this is only possible on radios that work in the 136-
150.8 MHz band-split (i.e. the Government Split). There are three more band-splits that are suitable for the
HAM frequencies: 
 
146-162 MHz
146-174 MHz
148-174 MHz
Although radios in this band-split are perfectly capable of transmitting and receiving on the amateur
frequencies, you can not enter the required frequencies, as the RSS is bound to the lower limit (146 or 148
MHz). This problem can be solved by patching the RSS program. A good description of how to patch the
RSS can be found here [2]. This is basically how it works: 
Look for the EXE-file (e.g. 'SABER.EXE'), which resides inside the directory that holds the RSS. Inside this
file, which consist of compiled code, are the limits of the band-splits, stored as 32-bit values (i.e. 4 bytes
each). By looking for these 32-bit values, and replacing them by an alternative one, the software can be
tricked into believing that the lower limit is 144 MHz. This can be done either with a piece of home-built
software, or with a suitable HEX-editor. In the latter case, you need to look for the hexadecimal
representation of the required values (146000000 and 148000000) and replace them with the hexadecimal
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Motorola SABER RVN4002K User's Guide Page 4

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