I have been using the AR-DV1 for several hours this weekend and am actually feeling more positive about this radio after further experience. First of all, I know I emphasized to Taka at AOR the importance of trunking, but seriously, I don't think we are going to get that with this radio. If you want that, use your Uniden/GRE/Whistler scanners.
That said, I can see that if the firmware updates can resolve some of the issues and the radio can do what it is supposed to do according to the brochure, it has real potential for many of us. I have to correct my initial impressions about sensitivity and receive function. I did quite a bit of HF/SW listening earlier today. Most of my amateur radio activity (not much recently) is CW. I'm an old DXer from the 1960s. So I go for SSB/CW stations, and when on HF, the utility stations.
My AR-DV1 seems quite sensitive across the HF spectrum. I have a 50 KW AM station (KFI) whose antenna is about 2 miles from my house. That pretty much overloads things with a dBm reading of about plus 2. That is more than one milliwatt right into all my receivers. With no filter, bam, the AR-DV1 is overloaded with my outside HF antennas. But with a high-pass filter in line, the 4 to 30 Mhz spectrum is quite sensitive. Pretty good CW, SSB reception, and strong SW broadcast reception. Even MW reception is not bad with the filter in place. That shows me that the radio itself is really sensitive on MW, prone to overload, but what else is new with a wide-band receiver. So all-in-all, OK.
Still not able to get search/scan working right on VHF/UHF. But when manually tune channels, not bad sensitivity. Quite good on Wx channels (3 of 7) with stock antenna, and with my outside antennas, 4 or 5 of 7 with reasonably good strength. Probably the same as my 536HP, but the sound quality sounds more like a receiver. Other VHF/UHF conventional channels sound pretty good. Airband and FM broadcast, OK.
The digital decode is quite good. I'm not looking for spectacular at this point, just reasonable decoding of all the modes it is supposed to decode. P25, NXDN, and DMR sound pretty good. Hear some motorboating on DMR, but we know that already and expect a firmware update.
So far you're probably asking "so what else is new Steve." Well I have been able find several new NXDN and a few DMR stations just manually searching with the AR-DV1. No decode info, but we know that too. But just being able to tune through the spectrum and pick up some new channels with a standalone radio, not dependent on a computer (as good as DSD+ is) is to me, a nice benefit of this radio.
My overall take at this early juncture is that this radio has some real potential for serious monitoring to detect new stuff. This will depend on 1) whether AOR can get firmware out to at least do what the radio is supposed to do, 2) if the radio can eventually give us some of the important P25, hopefully P25 P2, NXDN, and DMR parameters, and 3) if Gommert from Butel can develop some software for the radio (I mention Gommert because I know he is monitoring the AR-DV1 threads). Without computer control and some software to program this baby, it won't be much use. But if 1, 2, and 3 come to fruition, then I think the radio has potential.
With my experience today, I will probably keep the radio, and hopefully the firmware and software will be forthcoming. This radio will not replace your high end digital trunking scanners or a dedicated HF radio. But we all know that as well. No wide-band receiver will be ever able to replace higher end dedicated radios for HF vs VHF/UHF/800 (I know some might say the high end WinRadios can). But as a standalone radio from 100 Khz to 1300 Mhz, with all the modes, if AOR can get it working like it should, I thinkthe AR-DV1 has potential.
I will keep you posted on my experience.
That said, I can see that if the firmware updates can resolve some of the issues and the radio can do what it is supposed to do according to the brochure, it has real potential for many of us. I have to correct my initial impressions about sensitivity and receive function. I did quite a bit of HF/SW listening earlier today. Most of my amateur radio activity (not much recently) is CW. I'm an old DXer from the 1960s. So I go for SSB/CW stations, and when on HF, the utility stations.
My AR-DV1 seems quite sensitive across the HF spectrum. I have a 50 KW AM station (KFI) whose antenna is about 2 miles from my house. That pretty much overloads things with a dBm reading of about plus 2. That is more than one milliwatt right into all my receivers. With no filter, bam, the AR-DV1 is overloaded with my outside HF antennas. But with a high-pass filter in line, the 4 to 30 Mhz spectrum is quite sensitive. Pretty good CW, SSB reception, and strong SW broadcast reception. Even MW reception is not bad with the filter in place. That shows me that the radio itself is really sensitive on MW, prone to overload, but what else is new with a wide-band receiver. So all-in-all, OK.
Still not able to get search/scan working right on VHF/UHF. But when manually tune channels, not bad sensitivity. Quite good on Wx channels (3 of 7) with stock antenna, and with my outside antennas, 4 or 5 of 7 with reasonably good strength. Probably the same as my 536HP, but the sound quality sounds more like a receiver. Other VHF/UHF conventional channels sound pretty good. Airband and FM broadcast, OK.
The digital decode is quite good. I'm not looking for spectacular at this point, just reasonable decoding of all the modes it is supposed to decode. P25, NXDN, and DMR sound pretty good. Hear some motorboating on DMR, but we know that already and expect a firmware update.
So far you're probably asking "so what else is new Steve." Well I have been able find several new NXDN and a few DMR stations just manually searching with the AR-DV1. No decode info, but we know that too. But just being able to tune through the spectrum and pick up some new channels with a standalone radio, not dependent on a computer (as good as DSD+ is) is to me, a nice benefit of this radio.
My overall take at this early juncture is that this radio has some real potential for serious monitoring to detect new stuff. This will depend on 1) whether AOR can get firmware out to at least do what the radio is supposed to do, 2) if the radio can eventually give us some of the important P25, hopefully P25 P2, NXDN, and DMR parameters, and 3) if Gommert from Butel can develop some software for the radio (I mention Gommert because I know he is monitoring the AR-DV1 threads). Without computer control and some software to program this baby, it won't be much use. But if 1, 2, and 3 come to fruition, then I think the radio has potential.
With my experience today, I will probably keep the radio, and hopefully the firmware and software will be forthcoming. This radio will not replace your high end digital trunking scanners or a dedicated HF radio. But we all know that as well. No wide-band receiver will be ever able to replace higher end dedicated radios for HF vs VHF/UHF/800 (I know some might say the high end WinRadios can). But as a standalone radio from 100 Khz to 1300 Mhz, with all the modes, if AOR can get it working like it should, I thinkthe AR-DV1 has potential.
I will keep you posted on my experience.
