Hey, everyone, newish ham here, and this is a double of a post in the AOR section, but it's not strictly AOR so I want to get everyone's thoughts. I'm trying help a friend who's currently serving in Afghanistan. I've got an AOR 8200 mk III B, and I'm going to send it over to him along with some other equipment I plan on acquiring, the overall idea being to build a small radio search system he can carry in his humvee. I'm still unsure of what other components I need to build the system for him, though, and I'd love some recommendations or directin
He'd like to be able to identify and track certain frequencies being used around him while he's traveling in his humvee, though he doesn't necessarily know exactly what those frequencies are (though they're generally in 100mHz, I understand). Once he identifies them, he'd like to be able to monitor the identified frequencies actively, without losing the ability to identify new frequencies if they begin being used. He'd also like the ability to record any transmissions he does manage to acquire. It would also be good if he could sync this system up with a computer.
Starting with that mkIII, I have discussed with another (much more experienced) ham about frequency sniffers. I understand that Optoelectronics makes a few, and that they can link up with the AOR and drop any acquired frequencies into the AOR to track as a channel. Anyone know much about this, or anything equivalent? Also, is a sniffer even worthwhile to use out there? He'd be tracking lower-power radios over at least some distance, so I don't know if he'd even pick anything up. But, on the other hand there's little vegetation and I suspect the overall noise floor is pretty low in the 100mHz region where I understand their radios are generally operating. So a sniffer might be able to suss things out, I don't know
Then there's the matter of recording. AOR doesn't seem to have many good built in options for storage, so he'll need a digital voice recorder. Any suggestions of something that can handle the desert and a humvee, and with decent battery life?
Antenna considerations for the device(s)?
Also, his laptop does not have a DB-9 port, while the proprietary port on the AOR is serial. Can I just get a USB-to-serial converter and get by with that?
I firmly welcome any assistance whatsoever, whether answers to this question or things I might not have thought about. I'd also love more info or recommendations on using this AOR for this purpose. It's a complex device, so I'd like to give him a "cheat sheet" of sorts so that he doesn't have to spend too much time on the learning curve on this device before he can deploy it.
Thanks in advance. This could be a good help to my friend, not to mention a potential help to his safety, and I'm trying to move as quickly on this as I can.
He'd like to be able to identify and track certain frequencies being used around him while he's traveling in his humvee, though he doesn't necessarily know exactly what those frequencies are (though they're generally in 100mHz, I understand). Once he identifies them, he'd like to be able to monitor the identified frequencies actively, without losing the ability to identify new frequencies if they begin being used. He'd also like the ability to record any transmissions he does manage to acquire. It would also be good if he could sync this system up with a computer.
Starting with that mkIII, I have discussed with another (much more experienced) ham about frequency sniffers. I understand that Optoelectronics makes a few, and that they can link up with the AOR and drop any acquired frequencies into the AOR to track as a channel. Anyone know much about this, or anything equivalent? Also, is a sniffer even worthwhile to use out there? He'd be tracking lower-power radios over at least some distance, so I don't know if he'd even pick anything up. But, on the other hand there's little vegetation and I suspect the overall noise floor is pretty low in the 100mHz region where I understand their radios are generally operating. So a sniffer might be able to suss things out, I don't know
Then there's the matter of recording. AOR doesn't seem to have many good built in options for storage, so he'll need a digital voice recorder. Any suggestions of something that can handle the desert and a humvee, and with decent battery life?
Antenna considerations for the device(s)?
Also, his laptop does not have a DB-9 port, while the proprietary port on the AOR is serial. Can I just get a USB-to-serial converter and get by with that?
I firmly welcome any assistance whatsoever, whether answers to this question or things I might not have thought about. I'd also love more info or recommendations on using this AOR for this purpose. It's a complex device, so I'd like to give him a "cheat sheet" of sorts so that he doesn't have to spend too much time on the learning curve on this device before he can deploy it.
Thanks in advance. This could be a good help to my friend, not to mention a potential help to his safety, and I'm trying to move as quickly on this as I can.