AR-DV10 It's a gamble I'm glad I took

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Whiskey3JMC

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Well I did it! I bit the bullet, went against the nay sayers, negative reviews (and my own negative comments here before ever getting my hands on one) and bought me a DV10 at a sweet price. Man am I glad I did! No drifting, nice solid decodes on all digital modes, it's pretty decent on HF/SWL too. It's like a Swiss army knife of radios. Analog VHF/UHF is OK, my cheaper HTs can outperform it but hey, it's all good. Guess I lucked out with mine, it's a gamble I'm glad I took!20190727_232318.jpg
 

wb4sqi

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Well I did it! I bit the bullet, went against the nay sayers, negative reviews (and my own negative comments here before ever getting my hands on one) and bought me a DV10 at a sweet price. Man am I glad I did! No drifting, nice solid decodes on all digital modes, it's pretty decent on HF/SWL too. It's like a Swiss army knife of radios. Analog VHF/UHF is OK, my cheaper HTs can outperform it but hey, it's all good. Guess I lucked out with mine, it's a gamble I'm glad I took!

Where did you find a sweet price? HRO has a demo unit they have lowered the price to $799 but not seeing any prices lower anywhere else.
 

marlbrook

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Well I did it! I bit the bullet

Really pleased you are pleased.

I would be delighted if AOR have actually 'fixed' the main concern, frequency drift, at component level, not 'papering over the cracks' with firmware.

Thereby lies the dilemma. AOR may have actually started to produce, Units with updated components, but refuse to admit that.

Of course from the start they never openly admitted that problem existed, and as such would not announce a MK2 because that would open the door to 'doing the decent thing' and recalling the original DV10's that had been sold. Even at a bargain price, not an insignificant gamble though.

So the dilemma is, we do not know, so 'IF' a newer hardware version exists it is still 'pot luck' as to which DV10's are being sold.

In any case, the original DV10's are not without their positive sides. Indeed except for weakish Digital signals that being 'off frequency' would be undetectably missed, many people may not notice the drift at all, most of the time that is.

Unless of course they had another similar receiver running side by side, like Icom's IC30, or indeed AOR's own excellent AR-DV1.

From the beginning I hoped AOR would 'see the light', really fix the DV10, and eventually reap the rewards for producing a unique Receiver that areally matched their claims in all respects.

Such as shame that 'commerce' was chosen over 'honesty', leaving actual and potential Customers to still wonder.
 

wb4sqi

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I also have a DV1 and ARC DV1PRO so should be good to go. Been a pretty busy few weeks and have a couple more before I'll get back to having radio play time.
 

Ubbe

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Analog VHF/UHF is OK, my cheaper HTs can outperform it but hey, it's all good.
I wouldn't regards it as being good if a $700 receiver are being outperformed by cheaper HT's. And switching from analog to a digital modulation type doesn't suddenly make a reciever perform better.

/Ubbe
 

palmerjrusa

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It's weird, HRO has only a demo AR-DV10 or "open box" unit for sale with no other stock listed at its outlets, DX Engineering has it listed as "unavailable" and Gigaparts will sell you one for for $1099.00 with shipping in 7-14 days (I can't imagine there's many takers at that price point). I wonder if this receiver is still even being manufactured.
 

wb4sqi

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I got one of the HRO "demo" units this week. Overall the radio feels like a Motorola unit, solid, heavy, well constructed. ARC DV1 Pro software works with it to some degree which makes it a bit easier to load up memory channels. P25 decoding is pretty much non-existent on mine, maybe 10%. DMR works good on my hotspot, not tested on external signals. Battery life initially has been poor, not much more than 4 hours but I'm hoping that's due to it being a new battery.

If it performed as well as stated on AOR brochures it would be one hell of a radio. Time will tell.
 

palmerjrusa

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Something's up with AOR. Their AR-DV1 is not in stock at any HRO outlet, at Universal Radio it's "temporarily unavailable" and Scanner Master has it listed as "discontinued".
 

palmerjrusa

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Just my opinion but it looks to me like AOR are circling the drain.

It doesn't look good.
At Universal Radio they would list AOR receivers that are forthcoming...years would pass and nothing ever appears.
At one point AOR were cutting edge and set the gold standard.
I have an AR5000+3 and for basic functionality/performance it's outstanding and probably could go head to head to head with my Icom IC-r8600.
The AR7030 from AOR UK is one of the best HF receivers ever made.
 

wb4sqi

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Well, I took the same gamble but my luck wasn't as good as W3JMC. Had the "demo" unit four days and will be returning it to HRO Salem as soon as the paperwork arrives. Monitored 50 analog FM frequencies yesterday and heard nothing. Battery died after 4 hours of use. Tried four different antennas including the AOR rubber duck, nothing seemed to work. I was hoping I might get a good one as there are users who are happy with their purchase but it was not to be for me.
 
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