AR-DV10 AR DV10

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Patrol1949

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Hi has the latest firmware solved the drifting .the reason I ask is

I have just bought a DV10 and after reading all the threds on drifting

I do not know whether to return the radio .

I do really like the DV10 but I am a little concerned about the drifting



Thanks.

Davie.
 

MStep

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I cannot answer for sure because I don't own the DV10, but there has been much posted here on Radio Reference which you should research immediately to help make a decision. Also, not sure what your retailer's window for return is, so you must find that out immediately also. It may also be dependent on the systems you monitor, as some digital may be more critical than some conventional.

Hopefully, within the next few hours, those with the DV10 will chime in with more solid advice.
 

marlbrook

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Once the information was posted about the temperature related Frequency drift, AOR denied it. However they then issued an addendum to the Manual, downgrading the stability specs, and a little later tried to apply a fix via firmware.

Strange since they deny the problem ever existed.

In fact the drift is caused by ineffective hardware temperature control. In the firmware they apply algorithms to try to compensate for the drift, but over the entire range covered by the DV10 which would be impossible to achieve. The problem could only have been fixed by component changes, and no modern Receiver should have been designed as the DV10 was.

It is a nice looking Radio. The alleged specs are great. It will pick up lots of signals. Although the drift will always be present, narrow and wide AM and FM signals will not be a problem, however Side Band and Digital signals will. With analogue Side Band you ca always re-tune the radio whenever you need to, but for such an expensive bit of kit I do not find that acceptable.

The DV10 will deal with strong Digital signals fine, but less strong ones are likely to be missed completely if the Radio is off frequency. Users will only notice this is they have a stable Digital receiver, like the AR-DV1 or one of the recent Icoms sitting next to the DV10, ideally 'sharing' the same antenna.

Digital signals are much less forgiving than analogue ones. Back in the days of analogue TV's, a weak signal could still be detected, albeit with a lot of interference on the screen. The same signal would just be totally ignored by a Digital TV.

That is the same for the DV10. Users have no idea a signal was ever present, if the radio has drifted too far and the signal is not strong enough to overcome that.

There are those that will tell you there never was a problem, some that the problem is definitely fixed, and others that 'know' their DV10 never misses a signal, no matter its strength.

However that cannot be 100% true, because the DV10 cannot be relied upon to be anywhere near 100% accurate because of the drift caused be inadequate temperature compensation in its hardware design. The key phrase here is literally with the DV10 'you do not know what you are missing'.

You must decide who to believe of course,.

My final solution was to buy a superb and stable Icom digital/analogue handheld, but because it did not have DMR, I also bought a cheap and cheerful Chines DMR hand held too (which works very well, despite AOR's special 'drifting' feature not being built into it). Both together were cheaper than the DV10.
 

marlbrook

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Awaiting delivery of my first China "cheap and cheerful" handheld to get on the DMR bandwagon.

Good decision. I eventually chose the Ailunce HD1 hand held transceiver, and am very impressed with it. It far exceeded my expectations, especially with full keyboard facilities to control everything. Earlier Chinese Radios, although relatively inexpensive, required computer programming.

There are a lot of obvious advantages to having both the HD1 and Icom handhelds, not just DMR., given the added ability to monitor more frequencies at the same time. Given the build quality of the Icom, its performance / price and extended frequency range (not to mention both Radios being temperature frequency stable) they represent (in my opinion) a much better 'deal' than the AR-DV10. A real shame, the DV10 should have been a world beater, even at its inflated cost.

With both other Radios together, the only missing mode that the DV10 has is Tetra, which for me is not much of a loss, given most of the interesting transmissions are likely to be firmly and totally encrypted.

Still a great pity though about the DV10. AOR have produced so many excellent Receivers over the years, especially the AR-DV1, it is so sad that their attitude towards really fixing the DV10 is so deficient. I fully realise that would have incurred a lot of expense to them, but by not doing so they have, and continue, to put their previously well deserved excellent reputation at risk.

It seems that to AOR, 'loss of face' is a bigger issue than risking their reputation, as further amplified by the recent USB issues with some new AR-DV1's. Deny everything, play the 'false news' ploy, and attack those who bring any problems to public notice seems to be the attitude, even those who praise AOR in other areas (SIGH).
 

palmerjrusa

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Oct 22, 2005
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Frederick
Good decision. I eventually chose the Ailunce HD1 hand held transceiver, and am very impressed with it. It far exceeded my expectations, especially with full keyboard facilities to control everything. Earlier Chinese Radios, although relatively inexpensive, required computer programming.

There are a lot of obvious advantages to having both the HD1 and Icom handhelds, not just DMR., given the added ability to monitor more frequencies at the same time. Given the build quality of the Icom, its performance / price and extended frequency range (not to mention both Radios being temperature frequency stable) they represent (in my opinion) a much better 'deal' than the AR-DV10. A real shame, the DV10 should have been a world beater, even at its inflated cost.

With both other Radios together, the only missing mode that the DV10 has is Tetra, which for me is not much of a loss, given most of the interesting transmissions are likely to be firmly and totally encrypted.

Still a great pity though about the DV10. AOR have produced so many excellent Receivers over the years, especially the AR-DV1, it is so sad that their attitude towards really fixing the DV10 is so deficient. I fully realise that would have incurred a lot of expense to them, but by not doing so they have, and continue, to put their previously well deserved excellent reputation at risk.

I decided on a TYT MD-UV380 GPS Dual Band.

Agree with you re Icom's gear, own an IC-R8600/IC-7300/IC-705 and a few other Icom models. Icom truly are the gold standard for quality of build, performance and reliability, their gear is state-of-the art.

Also concur re AOR these past few years.
Some of their older receivers were the best ever made. Have an AR5000+3 which still is a fantastic wide band radio, just lacks the newer features of recent receivers, and three AR-7030s (one back in the UK). The AR-7030 was/is probably the best HF receiver ever made for the radio amateur market.

My impression is AOR are likely suffering financially, they've closed their repair facility here in the US. It's been sad to witness their reputation taking a (justifiable) tumble these past few years. I was interested in the AR-DV10 but went with Icom's IC-R30 instead after reading about all the problems it suffered from. No DMR with the IC-R30 but it does what Icom says it should and does it very well, at a considerably lower price than the AR-DV10.
 

palmerjrusa

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Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Messages
1,171
Location
Frederick
Good decision. I eventually chose the Ailunce HD1 hand held transceiver, and am very impressed with it. It far exceeded my expectations, especially with full keyboard facilities to control everything. Earlier Chinese Radios, although relatively inexpensive, required computer programming.

There are a lot of obvious advantages to having both the HD1 and Icom handhelds, not just DMR., given the added ability to monitor more frequencies at the same time. Given the build quality of the Icom, its performance / price and extended frequency range (not to mention both Radios being temperature frequency stable) they represent (in my opinion) a much better 'deal' than the AR-DV10. A real shame, the DV10 should have been a world beater, even at its inflated cost.

With both other Radios together, the only missing mode that the DV10 has is Tetra, which for me is not much of a loss, given most of the interesting transmissions are likely to be firmly and totally encrypted.

Still a great pity though about the DV10. AOR have produced so many excellent Receivers over the years, especially the AR-DV1, it is so sad that their attitude towards really fixing the DV10 is so deficient. I fully realise that would have incurred a lot of expense to them, but by not doing so they have, and continue, to put their previously well deserved excellent reputation at risk.

It seems that to AOR, 'loss of face' is a bigger issue than risking their reputation, as further amplified by the recent USB issues with some new AR-DV1's. Deny everything, play the 'false news' ploy, and attack those who bring any problems to public notice seems to be the attitude, even those who praise AOR in other areas (SIGH).

I decided on a TYT MD-UV380 GPS Dual Band.

Agree with you re Icom's gear, own an IC-R8600/IC-7300/IC-705 and a few other Icom models. Icom truly are the gold standard for quality of build, performance and reliability, their gear is state-of-the art.

Also concur re AOR these past few years.
Some of their older receivers were the best ever made. Have an AR5000+3 which still is a fantastic wide band radio, just lacks the newer features of recent receivers, and three AR-7030s (one back in the UK). The AR-7030 was/is probably the best HF receiver ever made for the radio amateur market.

My impression is AOR are likely suffering financially, they've closed their repair facility here in the US. It's been sad to witness their reputation taking a (justifiable) tumble these past few years. I was interested in the AR-DV10 but went with Icom's IC-R30 instead after reading about all the problems it suffered from. No DMR with the IC-R30 but it does what Icom says it should and does it very well, at a considerably lower price than the AR-DV10.
 
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