AOR AR-DV1

[KC1UA]

Offended me? That's funny...it takes a great deal to do that, especially after 27 years in the law enforcement profession!

No, of course not...I'm just speaking out loud regarding this product, which is so near and yet so far. It needs to do "something" with this data, and yes, I know I can use the Aux Out jack and derive this data from DSD+, but the size of this receiver makes for portability and it should at least be able to present some of this data on those two empty display lines.

On a completely different note, has anyone else noticed a great deal of overload with strong signals in the 800 MHz band? I have a strong Motorola control channel at 855.5375 that shows up all over the place. I can't provide specifics right now as I'm not in front of the receiver but when using UniTrunker with it I confirmed it was indeed the same system. Ironically this was while using an antenna that is not cut for the 800 MHz band.

 

[DSC45]

after 27 years in the law enforcement profession!

Never would have guessed it! 28 years myself...

 

[theoldcop]

I had no idea either! 32+ years.

 

[N9JIG]

Got you all beat with 36+ !!!

BTW, I should have a DV-1 in hand later this week and will post my findings!

 

[KC1UA]

A new version of firmware has been released for this receiver.

Firmware Updates | Download Area | Support | AOR U.S.A., INC. Authority On Radio Communications

I'm not in a position to try it right now but I'll be downloading and applying it tonight. The list does not address any of the gripes I've made, but the last firmware update had changes in it that were not on the list at the above page either.

On the surface this looks like it will be the final straw for me. It is unfortunate that AOR has not or won't establish a presence here at RR. It's been noted that perhaps Taka or someone there has been following these threads. That list leads me to believe that we may not be taken seriously. I could well be wrong, but some communication that acknowledges the issues we have presented along with a "yeah, we're working on that and it'll be available at some point" or "no, go pound sand, you're never getting that" would be nice. I've always been one that would rather be told to go screw instead of being left wondering if I should....

In any event, the few of you that have this receiver may beat me to the punch on the update, so I'll look forward to hearing what you have to say. I was hoping for a fix to the DCS problem and maybe some rudimentary implementation of DMR and/or NXDN data on those two blank lines I've whined about...you know, the ones that show information from an amateur radio digital protocol...ugh.

 

[DSC45]

1507F Update

Downloaded latest firmware, went flawlessly. Now will observe for performance.

 

[tom01]

Downloaded latest firmware, went flawlessly. Now will observe for performance.

Let us know what you think?

 

[KC1UA]

It would appear that CTCSS decode is broken with this "upgrade". DCS, which never worked properly, still shows the incorrect code.

It occurs to me that North America would be the primary market for this receiver. It also occurs to me that we are being paid zero attention to.

AOR has become a disaster. This radio is going back to Jeff on Monday, and I've confirmed that SDR is the only way to fly in 2015.

Best of luck to those of you that will suffer through this idiocy. I'll cheer for you if these problems are solved, but beyond a doubt, I will never buy a hardware based receiver again.

 

[tom01]

It would appear that CTCSS decode is broken with this "upgrade". DCS, which never worked properly, still shows the incorrect code.

It occurs to me that North America would be the primary market for this receiver. It also occurs to me that we are being paid zero attention to.

AOR has become a disaster. This radio is going back to Jeff on Monday, and I've confirmed that SDR is the only way to fly in 2015.

Best of luck to those of you that will suffer through this idiocy. I'll cheer for you if these problems are solved, but beyond a doubt, I will never buy a hardware based receiver again.

The first DMR capable radio, more portability than a SDR setup could ever be.and less difficult to set up and work with or use. I wanted to hear how the DMR D-star,and NXDN on this radio sounded and what everyone thought of that. Instead i hear CTCSS,DCS and analogue chat. Yes SDR,DSD+ have their place and is another great aspect of the hobby. I think we should have focused more digital less analogue.

 

[KC1UA]

I've commented - several times - that the digital audio quality from this receiver is quite good overall.

As a receiver that receives both analog and digital communications, why would I not talk about analog reception?

I'm not sure how DMR and NXDN operates in the UK, Tom, but here in the United States a good portion of it is trunked radio systems. This receiver does nothing with trunking, the representative of the company that is in the US has had direct conversation with an owner of this radio and tells him that it NEVER will. Further, the receiver as of yet does not even provide any information that can be derived from the datastream of either of the protocols, or P25 for that manner. Yet, as I've stated, for some reason they chose to extract that data from the amateur radio DSTAR mode. Without that data being available, other than demodulating the digital signal, one frequency at a time, the receiver is useless on any of the digital modes. Like I said maybe it's different in the UK and other parts of the world and you'll get far more pleasure than I ever will.

Regarding portability, there are other alternatives for listening to DMR or NXDN.

1. The ADCR25 receivers as discussed in other threads at this website.
2. DMR portable and/or mobile radios.
3. NXDN portable and/or mobile radios.

All of the above require no computer (the ADCR needs initial setup but will run standalone thereafter) and are probably roughly 1/5th of the cost of the DV1.

Or...there's always a laptop/tablet and two RTL dongles, which if you're a fast lane member of DSD+, provide a pretty darned effective trunked system receiver for NXDN and DMR. Install UniTrunker and you now have a 9600 baud P25 capable system.

I'm EXTREMELY disappointed in some of the aspects of the DV1, and I won't spend $1200 to "crapshoot" whether or not AOR takes some of the suggestions made at this website and incorporates them into future firmware.

 

[KC1UA]

Something may have gone amok with adjacent channel rejection on this firmware update as well. I have a DMR system that uses two frequencies, 938.1125 and 938.1250. The CC alternates daily. Even in 6 KHz IF BW the adjacent frequency is getting clobbered by the CC which is pretty much killing any voice traffic on the voice frequency. I do not recall noticing this before. It's doing the same thing on my local NOAA weather station at 162.550; garbage is clearly evident at 162.5375 and 162.5625.

 

[AA6IO]

Tom,
I have also stated quite often that the DMR, NXDN, and P25 decode on the AR-DV1 is pretty good. For your situation in the UK, especially if no trunking is involved, and if you just want to listen (and not concerned too much with talk group numbers, IDs, slots being used (on DMR) etc), then the AR-DV1 may be worthwhile for you. There are some here in the US that seem satisfied with the receiver, and it their criteria for choosing the receiver is as I mentioned above, then they are probably satisfied.
I have been upfront with the fact that I paid less than the asking price of this receiver to AOR. This was offered to me because I did some of the early beta-testing. However, my interests probably are closer to Scott's in terms of needing trunking, want the digital data information, better scan/search speeds, etc. It seems obvious to me, now with firmware updates, that this is not going to happen.
I'm sure you read my much earlier post of a conversation I had with Taka at AOR regarding trunking, scan speeds, and other scanner-like features. And if you remember, or perhaps never saw, Taka's response was that "our president says this is a wideband receiver, not a scanner, and if you want some of those features, then the radio is not for you."
With the firmware updates, I have seen no real improvements of significance to me, and now with what Scott describes, especially in post #331, things may be going backward. This radio may be very useful to a limited group of persons, perhaps like you Tom, if you keep the limitations in mind. Certainly, having DMR, NXDN, and P25 all in one standalone radio (without the need for DSD+) is groundbreaking, and for that, I give AOR credit.
But I would not pay the full price for this receiver considering my interests. I cannot get away with a radio here in So. Calif. that searches and scans like a snail. If I park on one or two frequencies, then it's fine, but for VHF/UHF, where DMR, NXDN, and P25 obviously are used, I need scanner-like features that rival the current high-end scanners. The absence of trunking and fast search/scan is useless for most monitoring of VHF/UHF/800 in most larger metropolitan areas of the United States.

 

[AA6IO]

I see that Butel has had the AR-DV1 programming software pending for several weeks. The sites says due in July. I'm wondering if the delay has to do with Gommert not being able to get the codes he needs from AOR. Gommert, if you read this, any news on the software.
Steve AA6IO

 

[Butelsoftware]

I do have the codebook and Taka from AOR USA has been very co-operative in this. But they still need to work on the firmware since it behaves different from the book.

Gommert
Butel Software

 

[RadioPatriots]

I'm EXTREMELY disappointed in some of the aspects of the DV1, and I won't spend $1200 to "crapshoot" whether or not AOR takes some of the suggestions made at this website and incorporates them into future firmware.

Perhaps it would be wise to enumerate all of the problems and things that need to be fixed, clearly and succinctly, all in one post. It is difficult to sort through a 17+ page thread to sift out the real issues from the opinions.

And,

Be realistic about this receiver. It's the first of its kind; in essence, nearly a prototype. It will have glitches that will be ironed out gradually with firmware upgrades, or at least 99% so. And as has been stated from the start, it is a wideband receiver as opposed to a scanner; it is no more a scanner than, say, the Icom IC-R20 wideband receiver, nor is it supposed to be. So don't look for any ultra fast "scanning" or "trunking" abilities. Do not look at it as the "perfect" receiver. It isn't.

The price. Given the circumstances, I think the price is "fair." I had it pegged much higher, closer to $1800.00, and was surprised when it wasn't.

As another gentleman here said, it vastly beats toting around a laptop and dongle/USRP running an SDR application, DSD, etc. everywhere you go.
-

 

[KC1UA]

You know, I've pretty much agreed with just about everything you say above, first and by far foremost of which is that I am well aware of the difference between a scanner and a receiver.

That said I'm not entirely thrilled with spending $1.2 K on a prototype that I will be providing free beta-testing to an international company that in the past has been renowned for building absolutely fantastic receivers.

Mine is back in the box and going back to Jeff (with many thanks to him for letting me test it out) either tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on when I can get it to UPS.

It is a good receiver, as Eric has said very similar to the AR8600. It performs well. The latest firmware update broke some analog features but I expect eventually they will fix them. That said as I stated previously, not spending the $$ on a receiver that may never suit me. As there are no DMR or NXDN systems here that I MUST monitor, I'm quite happy with my NetSDR, Airspy, and RTL dongles, which currently destroy the DV1 performance-wise on these systems. For the benefit of those that keep the radio, I hope AOR in some way shape or form catches up.

If someone would like to start a specific "Hey AOR, here's what needs to be fixed in the DV1" thread, I'll gladly itemize my findings. I've already sent direct emails to Taka (never acknowledged) and commented at great length here.

 

[slicerwizard]

"our president says this is a wideband receiver, not a scanner, and if you want some of those features, then the radio is not for you."

I guess it's the old geezer's call. I wonder why he doesn't want to make some money selling to the vast North American market?

As another gentleman here said, it vastly beats toting around a laptop and dongle/USRP running an SDR application, DSD, etc. everywhere you go.

For NXDN and DMR trunking, it's pretty much completely useless. Sure, if you happen to live somewhere out in the trunk-free sticks, that's one thing, but the urban areas are filling up with these digital trunking systems and guess what? They're full of listeners who are just waiting to throw money at a vendor who gives them what they want.

"Take my money! Give me an NXDN/DMR/P25 trunk tracker!"

That's what they're saying. Is any vendor listening?

 

[KA2ZEY]

I


For NXDN and DMR trunking, it's pretty much completely useless. Sure, if you happen to live somewhere out in the trunk-free sticks, that's one thing, but the urban areas are filling up with these digital trunking systems and guess what? They're full of listeners who are just waiting to throw money at a vendor who gives them what they want.

"Take my money! Give me an NXDN/DMR/P25 trunk tracker!"

That's what they're saying. Is any vendor listening?

Here here!! Do these guys actually take part in the hobby? I would pay a lot of money for a scanner that does P25 1 and 2, DMR, NXDN, etc.

 

[DSC45]

Perhaps it would be wise to enumerate all of the problems and things that need to be fixed, clearly and succinctly, all in one post. It is difficult to sort through a 17+ page thread to sift out the real issues from the opinions.

And,

Be realistic about this receiver. It's the first of its kind; in essence, nearly a prototype. It will have glitches that will be ironed out gradually with firmware upgrades, or at least 99% so. And as has been stated from the start, it is a wideband receiver as opposed to a scanner; it is no more a scanner than, say, the Icom IC-R20 wideband receiver, nor is it supposed to be. So don't look for any ultra fast "scanning" or "trunking" abilities. Do not look at it as the "perfect" receiver. It isn't.

The price. Given the circumstances, I think the price is "fair." I had it pegged much higher, closer to $1800.00, and was surprised when it wasn't.

As another gentleman here said, it vastly beats toting around a laptop and dongle/USRP running an SDR application, DSD, etc. everywhere you go.
-

Great idea! Doing so would make it easier for AOR and RR members to review.

 

[DSC45]

LA400 Loop

I am buying the AR-DV1. Of course, I've had it for a few weeks, but finally decided to purchase it.
What changed my mind is getting the concept of the AR-DV1 as a scanner out of my mind, and realizing what it is, a wideband receiver. And as a wideband receiver, it is really quite good.
What convinced me in the last couple of days was using this receiver with my AOR LA-400 loop all throughout the house and in my wife's medical office. The sensitivity of the receiver on MW/SW/HF is pretty amazing. Most powerhouse SW broadcast like WWV, Radio Havana, Radio Japan, Radio Australia, Radio New Zealand, etc were S9+ with just the loop on my kitchen table. The audio was great.

Steve,

Been thinking of purchasing the loop.

A couple questions if I may, how does the loop get its power?

Any other accessories necessary to get it up and running?

Thank you.