Saber III

Motorola Saber III Front (closeup)

The Motorola Saber III (or Saber 3) is a 120-channel handheld radio. It represented the 'flagship' of the Saber line, which is no longer produced or supported by Motorola but continues to be popular in the ham and hobbyist market, especially as many public safety users phase them out, often in favor of the Motorola XTS Series. It includes an 8-character LCD (with green backlight), a 12-character DTMF keypad, and 3 red buttons directly below the screen for menu operation.

Features

Features varied with time, but the following should be a good approximation:

• 120 channels (12 channels, 10 banks)
• Voice encryption (e.g., DES) capability (in some models)
• MDC1200 support (as well as the older MDC600)
• CTCSS and DPL support
• Scan capabilities on most (more recent) models
• No trunking capabilities (Systems Sabers do support trunking)

Securenet

Some (arguably, most) Sabers were Securenet-capable. These radios can be identified by:

• Model numbers with an "X" as the fifth character (e.g., H43QXN7139CN)
• Longer height (the area just below the speaker houses the secure module)
• A rocker switch to the left of the volume knob
• "SECURENET" or similar verbiage on the top of the radio

Bands

The Saber supported three main bands. While the band can be determined from the model number, the sub-bandsplit cannot. (E.g., it is possible to tell whether a radio is VHF or UHF, but it is not possible to tell what split within the band it covers.)

• VHF Low: 66-88 MHz (H42... model numbers)
• VHF (H43... model numbers)
• UHF (H44... model numbers)

Saber III Radios for Sale

• Saber III eBay Listings