The AOR AR-DV1 vs. The Scan New England Bunker

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KC1UA

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Hi Folks,

First and foremost, many thanks to Jeff at The Hamstation for being so kind as to send me this "much maligned and controversial" latest offering from AOR for evaluation. Over the next few weeks I plan to run it through the ringer. No worries Jeff, as you'll see in the pictures below there is no chance I'll set a beer on top of it and create a nasty ring. Even if I did I'd use a coaster.

A few caveats as I begin this demolition...


  • I am a hobbyist, not a technician. Therefore this will be by and large "un-technical".
  • There will be beer involved. I have a keg of Anchor Steam Beer from San Francisco in my kegerator. One of the world's best, and like the radio hobby, a vice I just don't see myself getting over anytime soon.
  • I listened to the album "Ten" by "Pearl Jam" as I set this test platform up. As a result it'll likely be tomorrow before I can start to report how the radio actually sounds...
Some preliminary photos follow, primarily the unboxing, underscored by some comments, some of which will likely be ridiculous in nature.

1.jpg

The box. Remarkable, huh?

2.jpg

Damn I hate paperwork. I suppose I might have to refer to these from time to time. One of my favorite things is to try to figure out radios out of the box as much as possible prior to RTFM. You know, it's a guy thing...

Continued in part two.
 
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KC1UA

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The Unboxing Part Two

3.jpg

For purely aesthetic reasons, can I get mine in black, please? I guess it's just the way components are these days. It is cute though, but those legs look flimsy. If I own one it'll be used with them in the retracted position.

4.jpg

Wall worts suck. This will be going back in the box posthaste.

5.jpg

Everyone who spends $1200 on a receiver is SURE to use this gem. Short range plumbing snake? Yes. Antenna? Nyet!

Continued in part three...
 

KC1UA

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Unboxing and Test Platform

6.jpg

Another view of this receiver. I'm still trying to figure out if it is truly DIN sized, which I read somewhere. I'm thinking close but no cigar. We'll see.

7.jpg

An unremarkable rear end! Of any AOR receiver I've ever seen, this is the least busy. Somewhat depressing actually. A few more outputs would be nice, like an IF out maybe? Line level audio? Separate HF and VHF/UHF antenna inputs?

8.jpg

And finally, the test platform. Receiver, chintzy speaker, and Connect Systems CD-1 tone decoder already connected to the AUX OUT on the back of the receiver, which seems to have a nice strong level of discriminator audio. Also pictured? Some of the radios this little gem (?) will be up against...and it'll be very hard to beat them.

More to follow over the next several days! Looking forward to your comments, suggestions, insults, etc. :D
 

n2pqq

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Questions and comments

The display is showing as yellow all other photos
I have seen it is orange.

Which is correct ?

Can you show photos of the keypad in the different
colors.

I also noticed the display does not look so blocky .

Video on the hf bands would be nice to see.
 

KC1UA

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It's tough to make out in the photos but I'd describe it as "brilliant" orange, certainly not yellow.

Once I learn how to manipulate the keypad to show colors (didn't know it was possible) I'll follow up, but honestly that'll be secondary to me to actual performance.

So far the display to me looks the same as I've ever seen it in photos and videos, but maybe that has changed or will as firmware updates.

I will definitely follow up with some HF reports after a fashion, but that's the one place where I can only run one at a time as I don't have a multicoupler suitable for HF. That said, the DV1 will be up against the RFSpace NetSDR, which I expect will likely eat it for lunch, but stay tuned.
 

KC1UA

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Some random first day observations, keeping in mind that this is without much reading of the manual.

1. The audio quality from the built-in speaker is atrocious. An external speaker is almost certainly a necessity. Of course one can buy a multi-thousand dollar HDTV that sounds like a tin can too. No need for a soundbar here, but an external speaker can't hurt.

2. AUTO mode doesn't seem to do too well where digital signals are concerned. Once the receiver is in the proper mode it's fine.

3. Speaking of which, DMR audio sounds good, but there is no AGC setting that I'm aware of yet so different levels of audio are present.

4. P25 audio sounded "cleaner" to me than DMR audio. I have not tried NXDN yet.

5. The Function key is a toggle and remains on until pressed again. Not sure I like that, I think a timeout would be better, and maybe there is one, again no RTFM yet.

6. The Aux output provides a very strong discriminator audio. My Connect Systems CD-1 tone decoder seems more responsive with this receiver than others and very rapidly and correctly displays all CTCSS and DCS tones received.

7. I seemed to be hearing lots of images of the local MA State Police control channel at several locations in the 855 MHz band (the actual CC is on 855.5375).

8. Audio on a strong analog 800 MHz signal did not sound clean, meaning I could hear lots of artifacts and "hash" beneath it.

9. There is allegedly a CTCSS and DCS tone search capability. This I did peruse the manual on. Damned if I can make it work or display anything. Meanwhile the CD-1 merrily shows subaudible tones without an issue via that Aux jack.

10. No 7.5 KHz step for the VHF-HI band. Uh....FAIL. Firmware update please!

Again, just random observations out of the box. I will start to do side by sides with various other radios over the next few days, and I'll try to do my best to provide video of various things to include the aforementioned request for HF performance.
 

AA6IO

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Just a couple of comments. When I had the receiver for a few weeks, I always used headphones or external speaker because the built-in speaker was quite poor. My YouTube video a couple of weeks ago was with an external speaker.
I also had difficulty with the AUTO mode to decode digital. Also, I never could get the CTCSS and DCS tone search to work at all during the time I had receiver.
Will be interested in your scanning and search speeds. I know the unit you have is not the one I had. Mine was directly from AOR.

Steve
 

vince48

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Scott
Great job as usual. I too is somewhat interested in this receiver. But, so far....... a little disappointing.

vince48
 

EricCottrell

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Some random first day observations, keeping in mind that this is without much reading of the manual.

9. There is allegedly a CTCSS and DCS tone search capability. This I did peruse the manual on. Damned if I can make it work or display anything. Meanwhile the CD-1 merrily shows subaudible tones without an issue via that Aux jack.

10. No 7.5 KHz step for the VHF-HI band. Uh....FAIL. Firmware update please!

Again, just random observations out of the box. I will start to do side by sides with various other radios over the next few days, and I'll try to do my best to provide video of various things to include the aforementioned request for HF performance.
Hello,

I still have your old AOR AR5000, which I like and still use.

I have tone decode problems with the AOR AR-Alpha I bought used a few months ago. It sometimes works if there is no voice. This is one of several problems that AOR has not addressed with the AR-Alpha. P25 detection does work.

The AR-DV1 may have a programmable frequency step, like the other AOR receivers. There seems to be some indication it does, but the manual does not mention it.

I have been thinking about getting the AR-DV1. It would be more convenient to have digital in one box for some of my listening, like having the spectrum display in the Alpha versus using the separate SDU-42 with the AR5000. So I am interested in your observations.

73 Eric
 

KC1UA

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Hi Eric,

Nice to hear the good ol' AR5K is chugging along.

I tried to program in a custom step by accessing the step menu and then trying to enter 7.5 KHz via the keypad. As I recall that was the way a custom step was entered in the 5K, but it did not work for me. If there is a way...that ain't it! I'll play more tonight.
 

EricCottrell

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Hello,

From comments of others people, not much digital information is displayed. One item displayed is the DStar callsign.

73 Eric
 

KC1UA

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Simple NOAA Weather Test

Target: Pack Monadanock Mountain, Peterborough, NH
Distance: 111.75 Miles
Frequency: 162.525 MHz
Antenna: Comet GP-15 at approx 160 feet above sea level
Receivers:

  • AOR AR-DV1
  • Airspy SDR
  • NetSDR with VHF/UHF converter
  • Icom IC-R7100
All receivers equally fed through Stridsberg MCA-204 multicoupler.

The AOR AR-DV1 hung in there with the rest of the receivers throughout this event. There was one significant fade involved where 3 of 4 receivers lost the signal. The only receiver that seemed to retain the signal was the $199 Airspy. However, as time passed the DV1 and NetSDR continued to receive the signal when the airspy was choppy. The venerable IC-R7100 at that point seemed to have the best sounding signal of all, despite not registering any signal level.

On the closer signal from Blue Hills in Canton/Milton MA, 51 miles from my location, the DV1 sounds as good as any of the others, although the option of having the SDR's passing through PC speakers in all cases surely makes everything sound a little better. I will continue to work on getting a better speaker onto the DV1 to make a more fair assessment. Signal-wise the DV1 shows more signal than the IC-R7100 on this frequency, but who knows how accurate the S-meter is. I'd tend to trust the R7100's meter first, although it is historically "stingy" in readings, at least in the one I own.

Everything sounds good on the 162.400 MHz NOAA signal coming out of Rhode Island.

So, in this simplest of tests, the DV1 hangs with these other receivers as far as a weak signal from over 100 miles distant.
 

KC1UA

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I have started to RTFM, so I can report the following.

1. I can change the key colors. I have a lovely blue now. Whoopee....weird thing is it did not work the first time, but the second. Maybe operator error? Maybe an anomaly.

2. I must conclude that unlike the AR5000 there is no way to add a custom step to this receiver. The "step adjust" mentioned in section 11-1-2 of the manual allows for different steps to be used, but not for a custom one to be added. The lack of the 7.5 KHz step capability, or any custom step for that matter, sucks.

Still digging for why CTCSS/DCS doesn't show up. I have to wonder if I'm missing a setting, why have a SRCH setting to "verify the CTCSS frequency used" as noted on page 51 in section 10-5 if it doesn't display on the screen. I know there's a lot going on screen-wise, and not a lot of room, so this is a mystery.
 

KC1UA

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Simple P25 Test

I think those of us interested already know the answer to this one...

Target: Dartmouth MA Police Department
Distance: 29.29 Miles
Frequency: 453.550 MHz
Antenna: Comet GP-15 at approx 160 feet above sea level
Receivers:

  • AOR AR-DV1
  • Uniden BCD996XT
Both receivers hear this signal equally I'd say, and it's an easy one from here, but let's face it, the BCD996XT wins this battle for two simple reasons:

1. It ain't nearly as expensive as the competition.
2. It displays NAC codes.

Probably something that AOR might be able to accomplish with a firmware update, but considering that the current firmware can't display CTCSS and DCS signals (unless I'm a jackass which is ENTIRELY possible) one has to wonder how soon NAC codes could show up.

Again, a simple test, but you're late to the table on this one AOR, and you didn't bring the silverware with you that you need to eat with.

Edit: I'm not being entirely fair here until now. The decoded P25 sounds excellent. The receiver does a fine job of this on every P25 signal I've heard thus far.
 

KC1UA

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Bizarre Anomaly #1

Was sitting on a P25 frequency used at Joint Base Cape Cod. Wanted to see what happened with encrypted P25, although I expect it'll be passed as garble instead of muted. Nothing was going on so I decided to do some comparisons with VHF-HI analog signals.

I tuned from 165.1375 to 155.625, and then changed the mode from P25 to FM.

The DV1 apparently didn't like that. All I got out of the speaker was a steady tapping noise at about 1/2 second intervals. And in addition to that, those colored keys decided to cycle through as many colors as they could come up with. A shutdown and restart solved the issue.

Eww?:confused:
 

KC1UA

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I was able to duplicate the above issue. It may have something to do with stopping on AUTO mode prior to entering FM mode. That's the only common ground I can figure with the two events.
 
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