new AOR AR7400

[Air490]

To put this receiver in context, police and fire comms have been mostly encrypted in Japan since the late 1980’s. Airband, marine, and railway monitoring are all popular. This receiver would be squarely aimed at Japanese aviation enthusiasts.

 

[questnz]

That's a lot of receiver just for airband... AOR must be going after a specific government contract or narrow commercial need.
Somewhere, someone said they need something like this.
AOR has a pretty long history of working with the US Government. I remember seeing photos of AOR Wideband receivers installed in Navy EA-6 Growlers...

Yes Lyndsay seen this photo as well a long time ago, this was AOR 3000A mounted in the cabin. Than another photo with AOR 3000A in the ship Radio Room used as a secondary emergency receiver. Always regretting selling 3000A, great receiver. Obvious AOR done some good work in the past, they drop the ball with AR-DV10.

 

[questnz]

Found old picture

 

[Xray]

To put this receiver in context, police and fire comms have been mostly encrypted in Japan since the late 1980’s. Airband, marine, and railway monitoring are all popular. This receiver would be squarely aimed at Japanese aviation enthusiasts.

Why is the faceplate lettering and LCD in English then ?

 

[Air490]

Why is the faceplate lettering and LCD in English then ?

Japanese manufacturers have always used English labelling even for domestic products e.g. various Yupiteru domestic receivers with English labels. Most Japanese people can read English even if they can't speak it very well. There is usually an option to change the display language to Japanese.

 

[nanZor]

Show me the bandpass filter specs - *especially* if the receiver includes WFM broadcast 88-108mhz.

That's a red-flag for attention if wfm broadcast and vhf air share the same bpf filter spectrum. Even better, leave out WFM broadcast capability. I surely don't want to pay for that in either cash, or poor bandpass filtering. If I want broadcast wideband fm, I already have that capability.

And I surely wouldn't want to be hanging extra-cost fm broadcast notch filters on it. Less is more - demand the REMOVAL of FM broadcast reception and look carefully for tight airband filtering.

If it comes with 88-108 wfm capability - that will be a total PASS for me.

 

[iMONITOR]

Show me the bandpass filter specs - *especially* if the receiver includes WFM broadcast 88-108mhz.

That's a red-flag for attention if wfm broadcast and vhf air share the same bpf filter spectrum. Even better, leave out WFM broadcast capability. I surely don't want to pay for that in either cash, or poor bandpass filtering. If I want broadcast wideband fm, I already have that capability.

And I surely wouldn't want to be hanging extra-cost fm broadcast notch filters on it. Less is more - demand the REMOVAL of FM broadcast reception and look carefully for tight airband filtering.

If it comes with 88-108 wfm capability - that will be a total PASS for me.

Not to worry. An aircraft receiver in this class will meet your expectations in that regard, I can assure you.

 

[questnz]

Prototype, clearly it is marketed as Air Band Receiver, Wide FM broadcast neither here or there.

From the web site:
AR7400 of Agent O Earl is obtained by using the company's AR-DV1 equivalent of housing, specializing in the reception of VHF / UHF band air bands, air bands of the VHF / UHF total of four waves can be received simultaneously on a single . They are as follows published specifications at the venue. It should be noted that cover the frequency range might change in the future.
◆ receiving frequency range: VHF band 108 ~ 137MHz (AM), UHF band 225 ~ 400MHz (AM), WFM 76 ~ 108MHz
◆ AM mode of the IF bandwidth: 6kHz (5.5kHz)
◆ air band VHF / UHF 4-wave simultaneous reception. The combination of four-wave free. For example VHF4 wave simultaneous reception also possible
◆ ultra-high-speed 1-second scan / search. For example the time required to scan the range of 108 ~ 137MHz is about 1 second (when the signal on all channels was not out)

 

[nanZor]

We'll see if they push features over performance ...

Bring it to the states, and test for two of the biggest problems - FM broadcast AND NOAA weather desense / overload. Quality bandpass filtering is a must. Tight mil-air bpf's would also be nice. If an accessory inline filter is an option, well, we know what that means.

With only one antenna connector, that also means many are going to use a wideband discone, which can aggravate the problem.

 

[mrkelso]

It's going to be pricey i bet.

 

[iMONITOR]

It's going to be pricey i bet.

No doubt! Does the high cost of AOR gear have something to do with where it's made and shipping from?

 

[palmerjrusa]

No doubt! Does the high cost of AOR gear have something to do with where it's made and shipping from?

I think government agencies constitute a significant segment of their customer base where "price" is not a deciding factor...in fact, why not buy two of each just to be on the safe side.

 

[hamradionl]

On horizon and still far away very slowly coming up, i see a 4 slot Tetra trunk ..... beta test ..... as Christmas gift?

 

[questnz]

Someway to go yet, looks like next year

 

[iMONITOR]

Someway to go yet, looks like next year.

Well hopefully AOR learned from the mistake they made with the AR-DV10 and they don't rush the AR-7400 to market before it's ready. Seems to be a lot of that going on these days. A dedicated airband receiver isn't rocket science even if it does for channels simultaniously. So no excuses this time AOR guys please! Especially because AOR dealers DO NOT allow returns!

 

[kruser]

Well hopefully AOR learned from the mistake they made with the AR-DV10 and they don't rush the AR-7400 to market before it's ready. Seems to be a lot of that going on these days. A dedicated airband receiver isn't rocket science even if it does for channels simultaniously. So no excuses this time AOR guys please! Especially because AOR dealers DO NOT allow returns!

I'd like to see it with at least dual antenna inputs where the user can select which one is used for a given VFO.
That would come in handy for those that make use of band specific antennas.
Who knows, maybe the final release version will have some nice changes.

 

[iMONITOR]

I'd like to see it with at least dual antenna inputs where the user can select which one is used for a given VFO.
That would come in handy for those that make use of band specific antennas.
Who knows, maybe the final release version will have some nice changes.

Being that it is a dual-band intended to be used simutaniously I agree they should.

 

[rumcajs_tr]

I hope that the EU version will cover also 138-144MHz - this is the VHF military AIR band in Europe.
I also don't understand why AOR included the FM broadcast band (useless).
Regarding the tiny monochrome display - wake up AOR, it is year 2019!

 

[flametamer]

That's ... odd. Neat idea though. Unfortunately it will be way more expensive than it's worth.

That fits with either model.

Dt

 

[w4amp]

I paid 35$ for my used BC780XLT. It covers my aviation needs well.