AOR vs. Uniden

[Scanner-geek]

I was wondering where AOR and ICOM fit into my scanning hobby. I'm pretty much a uniden and radio shack guy, and am quite happy with my 250D and 796D. I listen almost exclusively to public safety (fire/police/ems). I'm interested in federal/gov/shortwave utilities (but not really Dx'ing), but have never found or heard anything interesting.

I've been scanning for about 25 years. I started with a 6 channel Radio Shack crystal scanner when I was about 9. Those were the days when locating a hard-to-find crystal was a big deal. I remember my first upgrade to the programmable BC210XL. Very exciting.

I'm ready for another upgrade, and am considering the BC996t due out this spring, vs. and AOR or ICOM. I really know very little about AOR or ICOM.

The AOR and ICOM radios look nice and are quite expensive. I'm trying to figure out what they might add that the more mainstream scanners don't have. They seem to be designed more for industry use, but I'm curious. Would it be worth adding one to the shack?

Thanks.

Scanner-geek

 

[n4voxgill]

If your interested in hearing commercial AM radio stations from around the world, including a lot of religeous stations, then the BC996 would be a good addition.

If you are more interested in hearing military airplanes, civilian over the ocean flights, navy ships and things like that, they all use single side band. The BC996 will not do SSB. So if these are what you want to hear, you will need icom or AOR type receivers.

 

[h8tdigitalradio]

If your interested in hearing commercial AM radio stations from around the world, including a lot of religeous stations, then the BC996 would be a good addition.

Hello,

According to Page 129 of the BCD996T Manual which lists specifications, the unit does not cover .1 to 24.990 MHz. The BR330T covers this band, however, no SSB.

HTHs

73

Dave AKA Thye Tripzter

 

[n4voxgill]

you are 100% correct, I sure confused the 996 with the 330. The BC996 would offer him none of the functions of icom and AOR.

 

[Declared_Hostile]

Unidens with HF:
If they're not going to add SSB why bother putting HF capability in these radios to begin with? If you're going to go to the trouble and expense of of extending the coverage why wouldn't you add USB and LSB capability? Especially for a scanning radio. It is designed to listed to utility type transmissions and yet can't monitor those types of transmissions in that range. That just never made sense to me.


To Scanner-geeks question:

If you're interested in monitoring HF federal/gov/shortwave utilities then you would probably be better off with a dedicated HF rig. The above HF stuff can usually be handled cheaper and usually as well, probably better with higher quality scanners.

What do those Icoms and AOR fit into your scanning hobby? That depends. I know when friends have asked me when or if they should purchase a radio like my Icom R8500 or AR-5000+3 I have always said if you have to ask you probably shouldn't. When you need one you know. I know if I would have bought one when I first got into scanning (and even for some time after) I would have been very disappointed for one thing and for another I would have been simply lost. They're a very specialized and complex beasts with some very annoying quirks and limitations. The truth is that for most of your average scanning tasks a run of the mill scanner like your top of the line Unidens work better and are easier to work with. However, for certain other tasks those 2 kilobuck + class receivers are a joy to work with and really come into their own and you see where that money went.

Even the more moderately priced Icoms and AOR receivers like their hand held models are pretty specialized. If you have trunking or digital in your area you're not going to be happy with them. Again, they're very specialized radios and in most cases your top of the line Uniden or even RS will do a better job for you.

Hope that helps you a little.

 

[DaveIN]

you are 100% correct, I sure confused the 996 with the 330. The BC996 would offer him none of the functions of icom and AOR.

The 996 coverage is listed to start at 25MHz as is the BCT15.
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BCD996T

The 330 is the only Uniden so far with that low of coverage. No USB/LSB or BFO and no 1KHz step size. For that you would want a dedicated receiver like an Icom or AOR.

 

[Scanner-geek]

I understand the band coverage advantages for shortwave, etc. For general public safety scanning, are there any real advantages to AOR or ICOM (i.e., superior sensitivity, etc.)?

Why would one really want one of these expensive scanners?

 

[h8tdigitalradio]

For general public safety scanning, are there any real advantages to AOR or ICOM (i.e., superior sensitivity, etc.)?

AOR and iCOM make communication receivers, not scanners. While sensitivity or selectivity equals or exceeds scanners, communication receivers make poor scanners due to complexity and slow scan speed. It is too much receiver for general purpose scanning, and very expensive.

Why would one really want one of these expensive scanners?

For features not found on ordinary scanners (wideband receive, multi-mode support, and multi-step sizes). Also, communication receivers can be used for dedicated monitoring tasks (HF, MilAir, Digital Signals Decoding). Communication Receivers are for the serious monitoring enthusiast. That is not to say ordinary scanners are not in the same league.

HTH's

73

Dave AKA The Tripzter

 

[Scanner-geek]

Thanks. That makes sense. An important distinction between scanners and communications receivers. Got it.

 

[yuiop]

I found a function on the AOR 8000 that most scanners won't do. AOR calls it "free scan" which makes the radio search with the squelch open. You can set the radio to search and step to a new freq. after a programed delay. For very weak signals it approximates the sensitivity of a radio able to get -120 dBm. I used it to find radio telemetry collars on animals. The AOR has lots of capability that most scanner users don't need.

 

[EricCottrell]

I found a function on the AOR 8000 that most scanners won't do. AOR calls it "free scan" which makes the radio search with the squelch open. You can set the radio to search and step to a new freq. after a programed delay. For very weak signals it approximates the sensitivity of a radio able to get -120 dBm. I used it to find radio telemetry collars on animals. The AOR has lots of capability that most scanner users don't need.

Hello,

The Uniden 780 had a similar feature. You select negative delay times and the scanner will resume scanning after so many seconds.

I find the AOR very flexible as to the delays and squelch types. You can set both a delay and free scan and the times can be up to 99 seconds for some of the time settings. I do band scans looking for LTR signals. The AOR is nice because I set the free scan to 5 seconds which is long enough for LTRDump to log a couple of seconds worth of data. The radio will not hang up on dead carriers, spurs, busy channels, etc.

The down side of the AOR is the options can be overwhelming and it tends to take a while to figure out all the functions.

73 Eric

 

[gcgrotz]

If you have a '996 or '396 plus an Icom R75, with seperate HF and VHF/UHF antennas you will pretty much be able to hear anything. Add some PC control and digital mode software and you could easily become a radio hermit. Believe me, I know

 

[yaesumofo]

I hav a aor 8000 x2 an r20 and aro8200 and r75 bc 250 bc396 bc780 and others
The only radio that see ay real use are the bc780 R75 on a (long wire I love it)and the bct396d.
The 396 has taken over 90% of scanning. The old bc250 is my backuo digital scaner, It also works freat it is oo big for edc.
Yaesumofo

 

[DaveIN]

The down side of the AOR is the options can be overwhelming and it tends to take a while to figure out all the functions.

73 Eric

True, even with a cheat sheet.

I have always had great luck with Trunker and AOR radios for Trunked DX. The 8000 was the greatest for that and the 8200 is no slouch neather. I'll have to try it on LTR search.

 

[buffalogoat]

I really like the newer AOR receivers but they are a nightmare to program! They are definitely NOT "user friendly".

 

[n4voxgill]

i program my AR8200 MK3 with software and have no problems. I have ScanCar Gold and another program that works on the 8200. I would not try to program any modern scanner or receiver without software.

 

[Declared_Hostile]

I really like the newer AOR receivers but they are a nightmare to program! They are definitely NOT "user friendly".

Just the other day I was trying to change the setting in a sub sub sub sub menu of my AOR 5K and had got everything so fouled up I had to power everything off and restart. Had to drag out the manual and figure out how I had so thoroughly hosed everything.

The best thing I did with my more complicated receivers like the AOR 5000+3/SDU5500 and my Icom R8500 and even the more complicated trunking scanners is to get the manuals on PDF. Especially for the AOR and Icom and the replacement paper manuals are expensive. I then print out the manuals and place the pages in plastic sheet protectors and put the whole manual in a big 3 ring binder. You can have the whole thing at your fingertips at the radio and you don't get the paper manual all torn up and dog eared form constantly referring to it. Plus you can use those nice chapter dividers and stuff to customize the manual to suit your tastes. I use the "view" binders so I can print an exterior to look just like outside of the manual to make it distinctive so I know which manual is which. It looks just like the regular paper manual but in hard binder format with plastic sheets instead of paper, operation notes, purchase invoice and records, service history etc and chapter dividers to make finding each section easier and faster.

Just a hint for anyone who might be interested. Makes the shack a little more organized and operating those complicated radios a little easier.

 

[Turbo68]

Hello,I am from Australia and a lot off people in this country by Uniden but you cannot compare Uniden to AOR or Icom the reason is the Uniden does not have a wideband coverage and the AOR and Icom got a lot off features and are harder to program and more fun to use and they pull in the signal very clean not like the Uniden where you can hear a lot off hiss in the backgruond and the saying is you get wht you pay for.

AOR-3000A,AOR-8200MK3,ICOM-R20,ICOM-PCR1000,ICOM-R2500,REALISTIC-PRO97,UNIDEN-UBC245,UNIDEN-UBC780,YAESU-VR500,YAESU-VR-5000.

 

[Sinager]

totally agree with the "more specialistic" kind of usage, the biggest drawback to me is lack of selectivity with my Uniden

close to city center there's plenaty of STRONG signals
2 stations spaced 12.5MHz sound almost as on the same channel on the UBC780XLT
no leaking at all on the AORs (8200 and 8600)

260MHz satcom, with dedicated antenna and preamplifiers
780 swamped with tv images
8200 some interferences
8600 crystal clear

Sinager

 

[DaveIN]

What versions of 8200 and 8600 are you using?