Ard25

[obijohn]

I have an Icom R7000 Receiver and was curious if anyone hs any experience using
the ARD25 decoder. I have looked back at threads for a year and the '25 didn't
get mentioned. It looks like the scanner dealers don't have this in stock, so it isn't
real popular? with the small difference in price, I'm probably better off just buying a
new P25 scanner. any comments appreciated.

 

[KC1UA]

I'm surprised a search didn't find it here; there have been comments made by me periodically.

I owned one but sold it as part of a package. I used it with an Icom IC-R8500 and it worked quite well. The audio quality was OK, but I found it to be tinny. Trying to pass analog audio through it was a disaster; I simply searched for P25 signals and when I found them I turned up the ARD25 volume and turned off the IC-R8500 volume.

It almost seemed like the wrong value of potentiometer was used for the volume knob. I could not tolerate anything beyond about "9:30" or so.

The RS232 output made for some interesting data retrieval. It's an interesting device but likely not worth the $$, given that you can buy a P25 scanner for about $100 more. I'm now using an Icom IC-PCR2500 receiver with the UT-122 P25 board installed, and the audio quality is superb.

The ARD25 is a nice idea, but if it were priced at about half of what it costs now it might be a bit more popular.