My AOR DV1 Now Has "Channel Alerts" !!!

[MStep]

Well, I now have channel alerts--- actually, they are frequency alerts--- this is a new and powerful feature that has been added to the DV1's capability through Ash-By Product's DV1 software package. This is the story about how we got this feature, what these alerts do, and also provides some insights about this very unique DV1 usage.

Last week, I asked Ash-By Products if it was possible to customize his DV1 program, not only for my own use, but also for some highly specialized DV1 users that I work with, and come up with a system of channel alerts. For those that are unfamiliar, these are special audible alerts that sound when certain frequencies on the DV1 become active.

"Alerts" serve a dual purpose. First, if you are not in front of the radio or the program, the specific alert sound that you have associated with a particular programmed frequency helps to identify who is speaking at any given time. I listen to a number of security services on my own DV1, but sometimes it's hard to distinguish what service I'm listening to without getting back to the display. These unique alerts, working much like the custom ringers on your cell phone, tell you in essence, who is calling. Very neat feature. Secondly, they can serve as a notification for "ears-up", when they are used to precede communications on channels that you are especially interested in.

Within just a few days, I got a beta package of "Frequency Alerts", that notify the user when specific frequencies activate on the DV1 receiver. I now have up to 10 individually switchable programmable alerts--- I can use the supplied WAV files, but I opted to import my own favorites into the program. Many of us are familiar with channel alerts from the Uniden series of scanners---- these "Frequency Alerts" are even more powerful than channel alerts, because they operate across all banks within the radio, playing the designated sound file ANYTIME your specifically programmed frequencies become active and break squelch.

That is the basic mode and intent of the package, but Jeff at Ash-By once again went above and beyond, and created a complete "alert system". The portion of the program that I use allows you to set the radio to sound an alert at the beginning of the desired transmission, and the radio will then continue to scan or search when the transmission ends. Or you can set the alert sound to "loop" up to ten times, in the event that you are out of the room and need time to get back to the program. In this portion of the program, the radio itself will then pause on that frequency for approximately 120 seconds, depending on various settings, with the option of pressing the ESC key during this pause period to return the radio back to its scanning or search sequence.

There is also an “SR” button, which will sound an alert ANYTIME the squelch opens during search or scan. This is a particularly useful addition for anyone who wants to be alerted to activity on any stored Memory Channel, or within a frequency range, but wants to be getting on with other things and is not near the PC or receiver.

For example, instead of having to program in ALL Military Aircraft Band frequencies as memories, set your Search parameters for the frequency range you want to monitor, and the program will alert you when a frequency opens the squelch.

Any frequency that last triggered an alert is automatically stored in VFO-Z and can be accessed with just one click. In addition, you can temporarily disable all the alerts you have programmed with a single click, another nice feature

As mentioned previously, if you don't like the tones that are supplied by Ash-By, you can select any WAV file to play, providing that you copy these into the Alerts Folder within the program's main folder, and then rename them in order to associate them with the designated alerts. More technical information about the alerting function is contained within the very comprehensive PDF document that Jeff at Ash-By provides with is program.

Later today or tomorrow, I will publish here in this thread, more detailed information about the philosophy and technique of using channel alerts with the DV1. Although originally designed for a group of highly specialized DV1 users, and because I feel that the potential for use of this Alerting System will be of such great benefit to other DV1 users and enthusiasts, I told Jeff to go ahead and incorporate it into a public release update of his software package.

Insofar as this exciting new feature is concerned, Jeff at Ash-By is still tweaking the program, so it should be considered to be in "late-Beta", but has worked very well in the somewhat limited but various configurations I have tried, so it is now integrated into the latest version of the program (Version 5.037). Fellow DV1 enthusiasts and users are encouraged to try the latest functionality and report any issues or bugs that they may find. It's fair the mention that here in NYC, the program has been subjected to extreme "battlefield" conditions--- radio traffic is non-stop here, and the program, in its originally designed alert mode, has worked very well.

By the way, in the latest version of his DV1 program, along with frequency alerts, Jeff has also incorporated his enhancements to the analog and digital descrambling function of the radio for those who use audio inversion. (This is for users outside the United States--- by law, AOR does not incorporate this feature into the U.S. versions of the DV1.)

I would suggest anyone interested in the alerting feature for the DV1 download and test out the trial version of this program, although the software is so reasonably priced, everyone with a DV1 should have their own full version "at the ready". I also want to mention that if you run into any issues with the alerts function, wait for my next post here in about a day regarding the "philosophy" of the incorporation of alerts in the DV1 package--- it will likely answer some of the question you may have.

You can download the program here:

ardv1

 

[MStep]

Additional Alert Sounds

An an addendum to my previous post--- version 5.037 of the Ash-By package was released with one simple alert sound, more as a testing, or "proof of concept" version. I understand that a package of other alert sounds (likely very similar to my attached ZIP file here) will be made available in future versions.

Nevertheless, because folks like to "play" around with their new toys, I have attached this ZIP file to this post, and it includes some of the alert sound WAV files that I like to use. Remember that after unzipping, you have to rename these files to associate them with the proper alert numbers, and then place them into the ALERTS folder within the program's main folder.

I will post more information with philosophy and tips for using the alerts function sometime tomorrow.

 

[MStep]

More About Channel Alerts -- Strictly For Techies

As promised yesterday, I want to expand upon my comments about the philosophy and technical aspects of using channel alerts (or more accurately,”frequency” alerts) with the DV1 receiver. It's probably a good idea to print out this post, grab your yellow marker, and start highlighting specific areas of interest.

You shouldn't get the idea that the program is complicated or hard to set up, in fact, the Ash-By program is fairly easy to get up and running--- I've really prepared these comments strictly for the techno-geeks among us (I admit to being one, and I'm sure that there are at least a few more out there), who want to get “under the hood” so to speak, and look at some of the different facets of the Alerts function.

Some of the more common scanner radios that we have become familiar with over the years have provided for programmable channel alerts---- a system in which you append the setting of certain channels and associate them with sounds that play when the radio stops at one of those chosen channels. These alerts generally allow for the listener to identify the user that a specific agency or service is transmitting, or that the channel has become active with any activity at all. Very similar to how your cell phone works. You assign some of your friends specific rings to denote that they are calling--- you know without looking at the phone exactly who is calling, just by the sound of the ring. For other callers, who are not assigned their own rings, the phone just sounds its standard ring. This alerts you that someone is calling, but doesn't distinguish who, until you view the display.

I hope by this time you have had the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the latest version of the Ash-By software. Alerts functions have become part of the package, starting with release version 5.037. It's important to read through the entire PDF file that accompanies the package download when using the software for the first time. Those who are updating to new version should pay special attention to the addendum notes that address changes from version to version. Jeff at Ash-By is very good at documenting the changes that he makes in each new version. These are important to understand because they affect the interaction of the software with the radio.

Understand that the Ash-By Products software, like the radio itself, is a work in progress. As such, one should expect some anomalies to occasionally occur. As with any program of this nature, the combination of the algorithms in the program and the firmware in the radio may occasionally misbehave. This is why I prefer to use a very simple alerting pattern--- SR OFF, right-click SR and set “0” parameter, and use the individual settings in the lower left hand quadrant of the program window.

In most cases, I've found that they alerts function performs as designed, but if you run into issues, consider that some of this “misbehaving” is due in part to AOR's failure to release the entire code-set to control the DV1. As owners and operators of the DV1, we understand that the existing AOR firmware has itself, at times, been extremely quirky. One tip that I have for Alerts function users is to allow the radio a few minutes after turning on alerts for the package to correctly sync-up with the radio. Occasionally, I've had to turn the main alerts button on and off a couple of times, or put the program into “Manual Mode” and then back into computer control once or twice, for everything in alerts to start working properly.

Jeff at Ash-By advises that though much work has already gone into the Alerts functions of his program, it should still be considered Beta (albeit late-Beta), and he wants to hear your comments about its operation. Whether you are using the radio by itself, or if you are participating in the work that is being done by Jeff at Ash-By, you are on the forefront in pioneering these new technologies.

It's also important to consider that Alerts should be used wisely and judiciously. You really don't want to overwhelm your senses with alert sounds for every specific frequency that you monitor. In that regard, the program provides for 10 individual frequencies, although, because the program is “frequency” oriented and not channel oriented, these alerts work across all banks of the radio. You can use the function not only when scanning single banks, but also when using the radio's “bank linking” function, but more on that later.

If you are just getting started with the Alerts function, it's probably good to begin by identifying several frequencies in a single bank within the radio for testing purposes. That basic configuration is primarily what I use the alerts portion of the software to accomplish. You want each frequency to have its own specific alerting sound. For reasons that I don't understand, Ash-By released this version of the software with the same WAV file associated with each of the 10 individual alerts. Perhaps that is just part of the initial demo, or “proof of concept” package, but in order to be effective, we want each of the 10 alert frequencies to have their own WAV file with different sounds. I have attached to my previous post here a ZIP file with 10 different sounds--- you can try these or you may use your own favorites.

There is a main switch, which turns on or off all alerts, regardless of the status of the individual alert buttons. The main switch is located in the top right quadrant of the program window. When the program first opens, that button should have a yellow/orange background with the words “Alerts Off” in the display. One left-click on that button turns on the alert function and opens the individual display window in the left lower quadrant of the program which controls individual alerts along with the “SR” function.

One of the important settings for alerts is operated by right-clicking on the SR button within the program. Even when the SR button shows “OFF”, the right click allows you to set an essential parameter in the program.

These “parameters” are settings, and are numbered from 0 – 10. Most users, like myself, will start out by using the “0” parameter. This instructs the program to sound a wav file twice, when a designated frequency becomes active during scan (or search). In addition, the ten buttons located in the AUDIO ALERTS quadrant of the program window each turn on or off that specific alert function by left-clicking. Right clicking on the buttons allows you to enter the specific frequency associated with that button. A very nice confirmation window appears which shows the frequency which has been entered.

I use the “0” option because I am generally within range of my computer and I just want to use the sound to identify the specific frequency that has become active. I listen to many police and fire channels, some business and security frequencies, and some city, state and federal agencies, and several ham radio repeaters. Many times, the radio will stop on the frequency, but I don't recognize the voice or the terminology, so I don't really know what I am listening to unless I look at the radio or program display. But now, by hearing the unique alert sound assigned to that specific frequency, I know exactly what I am listening to.

The other advantage that I find with the “0” option is that generally no operator intervention is required. As soon as the transmission ends and the carrier drops (squelch closes), the radio goes on it's merry way.

Settings 1-10 in the right-click of the SR button make the radio behave a bit differently. When these choices are selected, the radio will pause for approximately 2 minutes and then resume scanning (or searching). This gives a person who may be working on some other project enough time to get to the radio to listen. But if you don't want to wait the whole 2 minutes of pause time, you can simply hit the computer keyboard's ESC key and the radio will resume. Remember, all we have spoken about thus far is accomplished with the SR button in the “Off” mode.

I would really recommend that those who want experiment with the program start of with the aforementioned settings.

The “0” setting seems to be very dependable, even when banks are linked. Bank linking has to be done at the radio--- there is no provision for setting this in the program. After linking banks in the radio, I recommend that you make sure you view Page 2 of the bank links window in the radio, and set the Delay Time to “Off” and the Free Time to “Off”. (“Delay Time” is AOR terminology for pause time after a transmission is complete. “Free Time” is AOR's terminology for forced resume, even if a station is still transmitting.) I have not experimented thus far with the radio in these modes in anything but “OFF”--- users of the radio with the Ash-By program should experiment to see what configuration works for them.

So if all of the above, including right clicking on the SR key to set the 0-10 parameter is done with the SR button in the OFF position, then what the heck does the SR button do when it's in the “ON” position you may ask?

SR “ON” was primarily designed for SEARCH function, although you can use it in scan mode as well. SR “ON” tells the program to sound an alert every time the radio stops on ANY frequency, in either the search OR scan modes. The right click parameters of 0-10 still control whether the radio should sound 2 alerts and then resume (that's the “0” parameter), or if it should sound 1 – 10 alerts and then pause for 120 seconds.

There may be some very valid applications for SR ON in scan mode, although they may be rare. For example, there could be a situation where you have a bank or banks of frequencies which are RARELY active, thus would warrant an alert when ANY of them become active. But I can see the SR ON function more readily being used in search mode, perhaps at parameter setting “10”. You might be out of earshot of the radio itself, but you can crank up the volume of your computer's speaker to high. In this case, if you are searching between and upper and lower limit and the radio hits a signal (squelch opens), you get 10 very loud alarms followed by a 2 minute pause before resuming search---- enough time to get back to the radio to see exactly what you've hit on.

It is important to note that the alert sound used for SR ON mode is the same alert sound used for individual scan frequency alert # 1.

Confused yet? I hope not, but the bottom line is that you really need to fully experiment with the Ash-By program and with different alert settings to see what works for you.

Even with any of the alerts on (individual or SR mode), you can still stop all alerts by going to the ALERTS button in the upper right hand quadrant of the program by right-clicking--- that will set it back to Alerts Off, but all of your special alert settings will be saved, so it is very easy to resume them.

Alerts adds a very powerful function for users of the DV1--- whether for casual use at specified times, or for very specific types of monitoring, the package can be very useful. This is not the first time that Jeff at Ash-By has equipped his software package with functions that the radio alone can not do. Another example would be the “Mute” function he added to his program. Simple, but very effective. And the ability to WRITE to the radio's actual memory to make changes in real-time and “on-the-fly” is something that even AOR has not been able to accomplish to this point in time.

Work with the alerts function and see how you can work it into the routine of using your DV1 during very specific or special applications. Finally, let me say that I feel that there is even more potential available to harvest from the DV1 receiver. Along with some creative thinking and clever programming, I think we're in store for other features and functions through the further development of software packages that are especially designed for the DV1.