NEW FIRMWARE UPDATE FOR THE AR-DV1 AS OF 19 FEBRUARY 2021

[marlbrook]

IMPLICATIONS OF AOR ADDING TRUNKING TO THE DV1 - 19/02/21 Firmware Update

AR-DV1 Firmware update v2101C, feature improvements:
- TETRA GSSI user group filtering “PRO” feature. Optional function. To activate this “PRO” feature, please purchase an activation key at: https://www.aordirect.jp/

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Interesting the AR-DV1 is capable of TRUNKING, and AOR have reconsidered it. Adding it for TETRA only seems a strange choice, given that so many transmissions are encrypted. An expensive paid for 'add on' under those circumstances, when trunking for other modes would have attracted a lot wider audience.

In the past AOR have seemed to intimate that the DV1 is a General Coverage Receiver, not a Scanner, and as such they would not incorporate any form of Trunking. Well that principle, if that is what is was, is 'blown' with this latest Firmware update, even if it does cost 11000 Yen / £74.

If AOR added trunking for other Modes, P25 and DMR for example, that would be a leap forward for the AR-DV1. We can only hope.

 

[sklpl]

We can only hope that they will not charge another 100$ for DMR, then P25 etc... This is already quite expensive scanner (sorry, receiver) and with those addons ("PRO") the price may double

By the way - there is also an update for AOR-DV10. I have installed it and then lost all the memory. Loading it from the backup didn't succeeded. After few attempts of "Full reset" I gave up. Device was not even able to enter MEM mode. I was about to install back old fimware but eventually I tried to write some random frequency from VFO info MEM and it succeeded. After that I was miracously able to load everything from the backup without any issues. I learned again that with AOR I should expect the unexpected

 

[RMW1010]

Interesting the AR-DV1 is capable of TRUNKING

Does is actually follow the call setup for a GSSI to a secondary TETRA carrier?

In my area most TETRA sites have 2 or more carriers (frequencies).
The call can take place on the control channel or on the 2nd or 3rd carrier belonging to that site.
Trunking means to me that the DV1 or DV10 changes frequency to follow the call.

 

[G7HID]

No it will not follow it...

Mike

 

[RMW1010]

Thanks. Assumed it wouldn't.

Calling it trunking is quite misleading if you ask me.

On a side note: Would love to see TETRA in the Blue Tail P25RX by @btt

 

[grosminet]

Shame on AOR . No firmware update for more than one year for ARDV10 . Now we have to pay to display TETRA settings ... There is still problem with frequency deviation never solved, with error code displayed sometime on the screen , problem using this memory software tools wich is a nightmare .

 

[G7HID]

Just to add that you would need to navigate a Japanese language web page to purchase the add on licence key..
I kid you not

Mike

 

[digiman1]

No it will not follow it...

Mike

It says in the Manual that if you go to a Voice channel it will jump to the control channel so I feel that with a firmware tweak it should be able to follow calls. Would be a nice feature.. I think they are slowly getting there with this feature.

 

[G7HID]

You can live in hope

Mike

 

[digiman1]

You can live in hope

Mike

I emailed AOR about this and they confirmed that this will follow calls across different frequencies similar to the Tetra Trunk Tracker. I will order a key and see how it pans out.

 

[G7HID]

Best of luck ..

Mike

 

[grosminet]

firmware for ARDV1 and ARDV10 are available

AR-DV10 | Firmware Updates | Download Area | Support | AOR,LTD. Authority On Radio Communications

one year to add a non free option .. no comment

 

[martufello]

firmware for ARDV1 and ARDV10 are available

AR-DV10 | Firmware Updates | Download Area | Support | AOR,LTD. Authority On Radio Communications

one year to add a non free option .. no comment

better do not comment ....

 

[sklpl]

I just received the activation code (it took exactly 3 days) and did first quick testing on my DV-10.

Some initial impressions:

Pros:
+ it works
+ radio is automatically tuning to main channel of given system
+ radio is following traffic on different channels (frequencies) of the system
+ you can tag users and groups by alphanumerical strings
+ you can monitor all groups, only single group or you can mute selected groups

Cons:
- it does not display MCC and MNC of tetra system
- displayed GSSI characters are very small - one meter from the display and you do not see which group is active
- you can monitor only one system at once - no possiblity to scan multiple systems or to scan tetra and some other frequencies
- TRUNK mode is totally disconnected from channel memories - it is separate working mode (on same level as mem/srch/vfo)
- to change the system you have to put frequency MANUALLY (you cannot even use the knob!).
- to change the system you need to enter the MENU->TRUNK->HOME FRQ and put it from keyboards - you cannot choose it from MEM !
- I haven't found the way to pre-program GSSI tags, seems that you need to wait for given GSSI to appear in network and then you can tag it

 

[sklpl]

Another two findings:
- if you turn off the device in TRUNK mode, it will come back to VFO during next startup
- you can easily assign tag (name) to groups but in order to do this for user ID, you need wait until the user will take part in private/individual call.

The second one means that for users that speak in groups only (90%?) you are not able to assign a tag because they will never appear in the list of discovered GSSIs (recent activity list).

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

Thanks for the info. I might consider this if I travel down to the New Jersey or up to Montreal. I have no local TETRA systems.

I wonder if AOR added this feature because some big customer had problems monitoring a multiple frequency TETRA site. The systems I monitored had all frequencies at a site active. I get the impression that a voice transmission can occur on any open frequency/slot. Since the control channel frequency also carries voice, you can not just scan the other frequencies for activity. I did not hear any activity when I last monitored NJ Transit. I wonder if it was due to being tuned to the wrong frequency. It just seemed like monitoring TETRA "conventionally" like other modes is unwieldy and this feature is required.

73 Eric

 

[sklpl]

Other cons:
- there is a single favorites (GSSI) list for all systems. You cannot have a list of groups for system A, other list for system B etc. You cannot even have different name for same GSSI in different systems (e.g. if you name GSSI 1 as "Group A" then it will be valid for all systems).
- the only option to change currently monitored system is to change HOME FREQ by typing new one, go to VFO or MEM and then go back to TRUNK. Radio will reinitiate MCCH search starting from new home freq.

 

[digiman1]

Other cons:
- there is a single favorites (GSSI) list for all systems. You cannot have a list of groups for system A, other list for system B etc. You cannot even have different name for same GSSI in different systems (e.g. if you name GSSI 1 as "Group A" then it will be valid for all systems).
- the only option to change currently monitored system is to change HOME FREQ by typing new one, go to VFO or MEM and then go back to TRUNK. Radio will reinitiate MCCH search starting from new home freq.

I would like to add

- Unable to reorder the GSSI Fav list
- A Separate list for ISSIs would be nice but I would needed about 500 or more spaces for this
- Unable to add your own GSSIs (I have a full list of about 40 GSSIs I use with Tetra Trunk Tracker, I would like to add these manually so that I don't have to sit and wait on the GSSI Fav List being populated which could take a long long time.
- Having the ability to switch between LAs/MCCHs would be nice without having to leave Trunk > Go to MEM > Select LA/MCCH > Back into Trunk.

This new feature is doing what it should be doing and does it well but if AOR would look at all the Cons (Constructive Feedback as I like to call it) above would make this an absolute beast when it comes to Tetra.

 

[digiman1]

Something else I would like to see:

The ability to hold onto the call for a set period of time, say 5 seconds after someone unkeys the mic before resetting back to the home frequency.

 

[dudekindjack]

Update to receive nxdn 9600 mode would been better but aor says the dv1 can't do it, due to hardware