NYPD Radios

[PDBuff3090 0]

Hi, Does anyone know where the NYPD gets their saber radios from? Do they get them from motorola or some radio company and would you recommend getting a saber, i understand it is an old radio but it must be reliable if the NYPD is still using them right? please let me know what you think about the saber radios. Thanks.

[RWC130 594]

For several years the NYPD used the Motorola Saber II's aka "The Brick"

Motorola designed a custom Saber II just for the NYPD. All of the NYPD radios had

"NYPD" or "NYCPD" labeled on them.

Some special units did and still do have Motorola Saber III's.

As far as I know and have seen some of the Motorola Saber II's are still in use today,

not many.

The NEW radios you see which have been in service a couple years now

are the Vertex Standard VX-520

Again, the radios are custom made for NYPD.

Motorola Saber's are GREAT!

I own two of them. 1 UHF and 1 VHF.

I hope this helps?

If you are interested in buying one try E-BAY but it's not easy to find Mototola

dealers to program them.

[joetnymedic 43]

I have a system saber in uhf 16 channels with scan and encryption mode. love the radio but thinking of selling to upgrade. I actually got hooked on them when I worked White Plains for Metro/TransCare. Nice sturdy radio. A little big but great. I actually bought a little Yeasu and got rid of it because it was too small.

Joe

[PDBuff3090 0]

All that info was great, thanks much.

[bronxfireradio 45]

NYPD used (and still uses) Saber I's. Saber II's have more zones, an LCD display, and 3 red function buttons. Saber III's have a display and full keypad. In my opinion, it truly is one hell of a durable radio. I've had lots, and next to the old silver MX300 series (talk about a brick...more like a cinder block), it can't be beat. Military entities still use them.

I've heard that since Motorola stopped making the Saber, NYPD asked them to make something similar, and the result was the SSE5000 (very similar to Saber I) - I am not sure if they are in service yet.

NYPD currently has many Vertex VX-520s in use.

Edited July 21, 2008 by bronxfireradio

[Guest 40-32 Comms]

The conventional Saber, trunking capable Systems Saber, and flash-upgradable / digital capable Astro Saber are generally considered by many to be the overall best series of radios that Motorola ever produced.

Unfortunately, Motorola has long since canceled all of the Saber series products, ended depot repair support, and many of the parts and accessories are rapidly becoming unavailable as stocks are depleted. Having said that, I own a number of them and go to great pains to keep them running. They really are great radios.

The SSE5000 does exist, and there are a number of them in use out on the street. It is basically a Special Production (SP) product available only to NYPD. It is nothing more than an XTS5000 with the boards modified to fit in a Saber style housing, a special limited top display, reduced output power, and some serious firmware tweaks. It uses all of the standard Saber accessories, but the Astro25 series programming software.

As a note, all of NYPD's Sabers have always been SP low power (1 watt) models. NYC has dense enough receive site coverage that they do not need the minimal benefit of higher power, and they have always preferred the greatly extended battery operating times that the reduced power allows.

[PDBuff3090 0]

All this info has helped me greatly, thanks again i found the SSE5000 nice radio.

[Guest]

Why do you need a radio like this? It will only get you in trouble, go get a scanner and don't put it in your car.

[MTACOP 0]

Why do you need a radio like this? It will only get you in trouble, go get a scanner and don't put it in your car.

If you're an explorer I would also suggest getting a nice scanner which you can program yourself and monitor a broad range of agencies and across more frequency ranges.

A portable could get you into trouble.

[Guest]

And to answer the other question, any and all Motorola radios for NYC are purchased direct through Motorola. They have a dedicated rep to handle the city's needs.

Edited August 3, 2008 by DOC22