AOR AR-DV1 "Mystery"

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MStep

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Some of the advertising for the AOR AR-DV1 shows a photo of a "prototype" or possibly a special version of the receiver, that may have been used as a sample product when the radio was first introduced. This image is still being used in some of the current advertising for the DV1.

What is striking are the midnight-black volume and squelch controls, along with a matching turning knob. Above the tuning knob, it appears that the "Up" and "Down" are a beautiful translucent blue. From all the information that I could gather, there were only two or three versions of this DV1 made, possibly as sample pieces, prior to the actual production run.

This should not be construed as taking anything away from the current production version of the DV1's with it's bluish-green or grayish control knobs (sorry guys, but I am partially color-blind) --- besides being a great receiver, it is really nicely designed.

The big surprise in the attached image of this "mystery version" of the DV1 appears in the stenciling of control functions printed on the front panel of the radio. It's pretty close the production run version except for one variation---- above the (F)unction key is the word "Scope" !!!

Yes, triple exclamation marks are in order here. Did the engineers originally plan on incorporating a "Scope" function--- perhaps a spectrum scope, into the DV1? Was the idea abandoned, or perhaps never finalized, and is the function still lurking somewhere within the DV1? Perhaps an undocumented key-press sequence might reveal either that or other "secrets", still waiting to be uncovered, within the DV1.

There are probably only one or two engineers in Japan who truly know the full workings of the DV1. But it's fun to speculate on what's really hiding "under the hood"--- I guess we will have to wait for upcoming firmware updates to reveal some of those capabilities.
 

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G7HID

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A search on this forum unearthed this:
Originally Posted by EricCottrell

Two interesting things to try are the Stereo Decode and the Frequency Scope. The Stereo Decode is not listed as being in the menus, but I can try it through the serial commands. The Frequency Scope commands are similar to the AR-ALPHA.

I was playing with the Frequency Scope commands on the AR-Alpha and discovered some of the commands are undocumented in the AR-Alpha command list. The Frequency Scope data is also displayed on the AR-Alpha's LCD screen. I am pretty sure I tried the commands on the AR-DV1 and they worked. So it is possible to at least get a Bandscope Display on a computer, much like the Uniden 536/436 scanners.

I am busy developing an EXTIO dll for my AOR AR-Alpha so I have only used the AR-DV1 for some routine listening rather than exploring the features. It appears I could make a "Bandscope App" for both the AR-Alpha and AR-DV1.

Also a look on page 43 of the AR-DV1 command list shows this:
 

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MStep

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A search on this forum unearthed this:


Also a look on page 43 of the AR-DV1 command list shows this:

That's excellent detective work G7HID---- sounds like a project for Jeff (marlbrook) at eSPYatARD. He seems to be the resident expert on the command sets for the DV1.

Where are you Jeff? (Right now he's probably in a phone both changing into his Super-Programmer costume).
 

marlbrook

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SCOPE for IMPROVEMENT

I have little doubt that AOR thought about including the same 'SCOPE' display they have on the AR8600.

The screen is the same on both radios.

Sensibly, in my view, they presumably decided against it.

The AR8600 scope is a novelty really. It does pick up a scope type display from left to right, but it takes far too long to be useful.

The main downside of this type of display is the inability to instantly control what you see.

Years ago the Standard Radio Company brought out the AX700. That had a 'dynamic' and fast scope display, but more importantly in scope mode there was a vertical cursor line you could move with the tuning knob. You could then place it over a 'spike', click a button and the radio would jump to that frequency.

I know about the control codes as mentioned above.

I can say, without doubt, that it would not be a practicable proposition to include it in eSPYonARD.

Serial Comms are just not fast enough to do the thing justice.

Even the dedicated AR8600 display on the Radio is nowhere near fast enough to be really much more than a novelty, and without the ability to quickly got to a shown spike (frequency), that novelty soon wears off.

I am still working on turning the AR-DV1 into either a TARDIS time travelling machine, or an active 'StarGate' of course. I, or anyone else, have a lot more chance of achieving those aims than providing an AR-DV1 program with a fast and useful scope display,

"Faster than a speeding pullet, more powerful than a dead worm. Look in the sky, its a bird, its a plane, no its a pig flying", lol.

Must dash, hot date with Lois Lane.
 

MStep

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Mystery Partially Solved

The mystery has been partially solved. The unit has been identified by a reliable source as a prototype version of the DV1. Apparently only one unit was made in this fashion, and it now sits on display at AOR's main facility in Tokyo.

As for the "Scope" indication on the front panel stenciling, that still remains a mystery, although I think that Jeff (marlbrook) pretty much cleared that up for us.
 

EricCottrell

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Hello,

The scope on the AR-Alpha is a lot faster than the AR8600 since it is FFT based instead of sweeping across frequencies like the AR8600. The Uniden BCDx36HP scanners have a similar analyze mode using a frequency sweep.

SD on the AR-Alpha is Stereo Decode, but for the SD card on the AR-DV1.

I have been busy on other projects, so I have not gotten a chance to play with the scope output or checking for more undocumented AOR commands. There may be an undocumented command like the RT command to allow periodic output of scope data.

73 Eric
 

MStep

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Hello,

The scope on the AR-Alpha is a lot faster than the AR8600 since it is FFT based instead of sweeping across frequencies like the AR8600. The Uniden BCDx36HP scanners have a similar analyze mode using a frequency sweep.

SD on the AR-Alpha is Stereo Decode, but for the SD card on the AR-DV1.

I have been busy on other projects, so I have not gotten a chance to play with the scope output or checking for more undocumented AOR commands. There may be an undocumented command like the RT command to allow periodic output of scope data.

73 Eric

Thanks Eric for your input. I imagine that are a number of undocumented features on the DV1, as there are on most current receivers---- mainly functions that might be used by used by engineering to test out various functions of a receiver. There might also be a few lurking around in the DV1 as well for features or functions that were never fully implemented.
 

marlbrook

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Fully Functioning

Is that a screen capture of a functioning band scope? It looks awesome! Are you planning to add that functionality to eSPYonARD? If you manage to do that, it would be brilliant!

ScanCHS

Yes it shows a fully functioning Band Scope for the AR-DV1 integrated into the Program.

I am still undecided about releasing it, as I am not sure if many will be interested, but pleased you are.

A bit of a Peter Pan 'Tinkerbell' decision I guess. If there seems to be enough interest then I will do all the work of testing needed before a new release. The Scope is fully functional on my Windows 7 P.C. with an I7 processor.

I created it for me really, because of the challenge, and I wanted a Band Scope for my own use. I genuinely did not think it would be possible, but had a go anyway. It has not proved easy.

The amount of data transfer required via the USB Serial port is immense as everything has to be achieved via software. I would need to test it on slower P.C.'s and with different versions of Windows.

Some nice touches are that the 'graph' is inter-active. Select a vertical line with the Mouse cursor, the sweep pauses, and the Frequency / Mode are sent to the AR-DV1, or one can choose from a list of 'pause'times so the 'sweep' stops on an active frequency before moving on.

One can choose an 'S' value on the right of the screen. So only signals above that 'S' reading will show in the graph.

In 'NO PAUSE', one can select an inter-active 'Q' function. Each time an active frequency is found its details are automatically added to the 'Q-Scope List' window for later recall with a mouse-click.

Alternatively right-clicking on an active frequency line send the details to the 'Q' window manually. There is an option to save the 'Q' file.

For a 'sweep' 5 Modes can be selected, AM, ( including LSB,/USB), FM and AUTO.

One can set up to 100 'pass' frequencies too, from within the Scope coding, as well as several other functions.
 

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scanchs

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I'm definitely interested!

I really hope you decide to release the band scope functionality. I would be willing to help with testing if that will sway your decision to do so. I have two laptop PC's with touch screens. Both have the latest Windows 10, one with an I7 and the other with an I5 processor. If you are willing to consider my assistance, please let me know and I will send you my contact info through the eSPYonARD website.

ScanCHS
 
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scanchs

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The Band Scope is Amazing!

@marlbrook,

As requested, here are my first impressions. I'm really having fun with this band scope! It works very well, considering it's being done entirely through software. I can confirm that the bottleneck appears to be the USB connection, because a 1 MHz sweep takes approximately 4 seconds on my I5 processor laptop, the same time as the I7. So, it's not the processor that's setting the speed limit, it's the communications. A 2 MHz sweep takes roughly twice as long at about 8 seconds. I tested VHF (146 MHz), UHF (443 MHz) and HF (6 MHz), all with similar results. The HF took a little longer because I used 5 KHz channel steps instead of 12.5 KHz.

This functionality is amazing, and the interface with Q only makes it that much better. So far, I haven't noted any bugs, as you seem to have thought about pretty much everything. One more thing I need to mention is that I'm running the latest firmware in the AR-DV1 (1710C) which seems to work fine with this version of eSPYonARD. I didn't bother to roll back to the older version of firmware, because the issues some folks were having with the new version didn't really affect the way I use the receiver.

I think that's about all I have for now. I hope to have more time to spend with the software today, and I'll let you know if I discover anything new. Thanks for allowing me to participate in the testing process. It's a lot of fun! :D

ScanCHS
 

dlwtrunked

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Ah right ....................

And funny how a spell checker somewhere changed my "mHz" to "MHz" with it being at the beginning of a sentence. I have tried changing it back in the post.
 
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