AOR AR8200 Receiver Manual
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1 (1) AR8200 Index (1) Index ............................................................................................................................ 1 1-1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. . 5 1-2 Take care of your radio ................................................................................................ 5 1-3 Attention while operating ............................................................................................. 6 1-4 Accessories supplied ................................................................................................... 7 1-5 Controls & functions .....................................................................................................8 1-5-1 Keypad ..................................................................................................................... 9 1-5-2 Summary of keys ...................................................................................................... 10 1-5-3 Side panel ................................................................................................................. 15 1-6 Power supply and battery charging ............................................................................. 16 1-6-1 Internal batteries ....................................................................................................... 16 1-6-2 Charging the NiCads ................................................................................................ 18 1-6-3 Cigar lighter lead ...................................................................................................... 18 1-6-4 Battery considerations .............................................................................................. 19 (2) Making the AR8200 ready for operation ................................................................... 20 2-1 LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) ....................................................................................... 20 2-2 Connect the aerial (antenna) ....................................................................................... 21 2-3 Fit the batteries ............................................................................................................ 21 2-4 Keypad and knobs... what you need to know ‘most’ .................................................... 22 2-4-1 ENTER key ............................................................................................................... 22 2-4-2 FUNCTION key ......................................................................................................... 22 2-4-3 PASS key .................................................................................................................. 22 2-4-4 CLEAR key ............................................................................................................... 23 2-4-5 MONITOR key .......................................................................................................... 23 2-4-6 KEY lock ................................................................................................................... 23 (3) Basic manual operation of the receiver .................................................................... 24 3-1 Switching On ............................................................................................................... 24 3-2 2VFO twin VFO selection ............................................................................................ 24 3-3 Entering a frequency using the numeric keypad ......................................................... 26 3-4 Correcting frequency input .......................................................................................... 27 3-5 Changing frequency using the ñ and ò keys .............................................................. 28 3-6 Changing frequency using the main dial ..................................................................... 28 3-7 Changing receive mode ............................................................................................... 29 3-7-1 Auto-mode selection ................................................................................................. 29 3-7-2 Receive mode selection menu ................................................................................. 29 3-8 Changing tuning STEP size ......................................................................................... 31 3-9 STEP-adjust ................................................................................................................ 33 3-9-1 Automatic calculation of step adjust ......................................................................... 33 3-9-2 Cancelling step adjust .............................................................................................. 34 3-9-3 Manual setting of step adjust .................................................................................... 34 3-10 FREQUENCY OFFSET .............................................................................................. 36 3-10-1 Using pre-programmed frequency offset data ........................................................ 36 3-10-2 Entering new frequency offset data ........................................................................ 37 3-11 Attenuator .................................................................................................................. 38 3-12 Noise limiter ............................................................................................................... 38 3-13 AFC - Automatic Frequency Control .......................................................................... 39 (4) VFO enhanced facilities ............................................................................................. 41 4-1 Quick memories ...........................................................................................................41 4-1-1 Saving quick memory data ....................................................................................... 41 4-1-2 Recalling quick memories ........................................................................................ 42 4-2 VFO scan .................................................................................................................... 42 4-2-1 VFO SCAN sampling time ........................................................................................ 43 4-3 VFO Search ................................................................................................................. 43 4-3-1 Defining VFO search ................................................................................................ 43 Section 1
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2 4-3-2 Starting VFO search ................................................................................................. 43 4-3-3 Forcing VFO search to resume & changing search direction ................................... 44 4-3-4 Locking out unwanted frequencies (PASS) .............................................................. 44 4-3-5 Saving active frequencies to memory ...................................................................... 45 4-3-6 Exiting VFO search .................................................................................................. 46 4-4 VFO environment menu .............................................................................................. 46 4-4-1 VFO SCAN ...............................................................................................................46 4-4-2 VFO search DELAY environment ............................................................................. 46 4-4-3 VFO search LEVEL squelch environment ................................................................ 47 4-4-4 VFO search VOICE squelch environment ................................................................ 48 4-4-5 VFO FREE search environment ............................................................................... 48 4-4-6 VFO AUTO STORE environment ............................................................................. 49 4-4-7 VFO DELETE bank “J” environment ......................................................................... 49 4-4-8 VFO QUICK MEMORY environment ........................................................................ 50 (5) Memory channels & banks ........................................................................................ 51 5-1 Memory channel overview ........................................................................................... 51 5-2 Storing VFO frequencies & data into memory ............................................................. 52 5-2-1 Another example of memory write ............................................................................ 54 5-2-2 Automatic memory allocation ................................................................................... 55 5-3 Memory write protect ................................................................................................... 55 5-4 Memory read “M.RD” ................................................................................................... 56 5-4-1 Memory channel review / hunt ................................................................................. 57 5-5 Deleting memory channels .......................................................................................... 57 5-5-1 Memory channel editing ........................................................................................... 58 5-5-2 Adding text names to memory banks ....................................................................... 58 5-6 Transfer of memory channel to VFO ........................................................................... 58 5-7 Dynamic memory bank resizing .................................................................................. 58 (6) Priority operation ........................................................................................................ 59 6-1 Engaging PRIORITY channel ...................................................................................... 60 6-2 Changing PRIORITY channel data .............................................................................. 60 6-2-1 Changing the priority channel data pickup channel .................................................. 61 6-2-2 Changing priority interval time .................................................................................. 61 (7) SCAN - scanning memory channels & banks .......................................................... 62 7-1 SCAN - outline introduction ......................................................................................... 62 7-2 SCAN considerations .................................................................................................. 62 7-3 Starting to SCAN .........................................................................................................63 7-3-1 Transfer of active memory to VFO ........................................................................... 64 7-4 Selecting a scan bank ................................................................................................. 64 7-5 Channel PASS .............................................................................................................64 7-5-1 Toggling memory channel PASS .............................................................................. 65 7-5-2 Removing ALL memory PASS tags in one go .......................................................... 65 7-6 Deleting memory channels .......................................................................................... 66 7-6-1 Deleting single memory channels ............................................................................ 66 7-6-2 Deleting whole memory banks in one go .................................................................. 66 7-7 Scan bank link (scan group) ........................................................................................ 66 7-8 Additional scan facilities ...............................................................................................67 7-8-1 Scan DELAY .............................................................................................................68 7-8-2 Scan LEVEL .............................................................................................................68 7-8-3 Scan VOICE .............................................................................................................69 7-8-4 Scan FREE ............................................................................................................... 70 7-8-5 Scan (receive) MODE .............................................................................................. 70 7-8-6 Write protect of memory channels & banks .............................................................. 71 7-9 Select scan .................................................................................................................. 71 7-9-1 Adding select scan channels in memory read .......................................................... 71 7-9-2 Starting / stopping select scan ................................................................................ 71 7-9-3 Select scan environment .......................................................................................... 72
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3 7-9-4 Editing the contents of the select scan list ............................................................... 72 7-9-5 Deleting all select scan channels ............................................................................. 73 (8) Search mode ............................................................................................................... 74 8-1 Search types ................................................................................................................ 74 8-1-1 Program search overview ......................................................................................... 74 8-2 Starting program search .............................................................................................. 75 8-2-1 Reversing the direction of search ............................................................................. 75 8-2-2 Forcing the search to resume ................................................................................... 75 8-2-3 Stopping the search ................................................................................................. 75 8-2-4 Copying an active frequency to the VFO or memory location .................................. 76 8-3 Selection of search bank ............................................................................................. 76 8-4 Programming a search bank ....................................................................................... 78 8-5 Locking out unwanted active frequencies (PASS) ...................................................... 80 8-5-1 Search pass menu ................................................................................................... 80 8-6 Search bank link .......................................................................................................... 81 8-7 Additional search facilities ........................................................................................... 82 8-7-1 Search DELAY ......................................................................................................... 83 8-7-2 Search LEVEL ..........................................................................................................84 8-7-3 Search VOICE ..........................................................................................................84 8-7-4 Search FREE ............................................................................................................85 8-7-5 AUTO STORE .......................................................................................................... 86 8-7-6 DELETE bank “J” ..................................................................................................... 86 8-7-7 Deleting search banks .............................................................................................. 87 8-7-8 Write protect and copying search banks .................................................................. 87 (9) EDIT menu ................................................................................................................... 88 9-1 EDIT COPY memory channel ...................................................................................... 88 9-2 EDIT COPY memory bank ........................................................................................... 89 9-3 EDIT COPY search bank ............................................................................................. 90 9-4 EDIT MOVE memory channel ...................................................................................... 90 9-5 EDIT SWAP memory channel ..................................................................................... 91 9-6 EDIT memory channel ................................................................................................. 92 9-7 EDIT Search protect .................................................................................................... 93 (10) DELETE menu facilities ............................................................................................ 94 10-1 DELETE search banks and search PASS frequencies ............................................. 94 10-2 DELETE VFO PASS .................................................................................................. 95 10-3 DELETE memory bank .............................................................................................. 95 10-4 DELETE select scan channels .................................................................................. 96 10-5 DELETE memory channel protect ............................................................................. 96 10-6 DELETE memory channel pass ................................................................................ 97 (11) Write protect ............................................................................................................. 98 11-1 Memory CHANNEL write protect ............................................................................... 98 11-2 Write protect during memory input ............................................................................ 98 11-3 Channel protect status for existing memory channels ............................................... 98 11-4 Channel protect delete ............................................................................................... 99 11-5 Memory BANK write protect ...................................................................................... 99 11-6 Search bank write protect .......................................................................................... 100 11-7 Global write protect .................................................................................................... 100 (12) TEXT search and input ............................................................................................. 101 12-1 Text input menus .......................................................................................................101 12-2 Text search ................................................................................................................ 102 (13) SHORT CUT keys ...................................................................................................... 103 13-1 Short cut menu access .............................................................................................. 103 13-2 Short cut text entry .................................................................................................... 104 13-3 Short cut text entry, keypad with ïðñò keys .......................................................... 105
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4 (14) Configuration menu ................................................................................................. 106 14-1 CONFIG BEEP .......................................................................................................... 106 14-2 CONFIG LAMP .......................................................................................................... 106 14-3 CONFIG CONTRAST ................................................................................................ 107 14-4 CONFIG Power save ................................................................................................. 108 14-5 CONFIG Auto power off ............................................................................................. 109 14-6 CONFIG REMOTE BPS ............................................................................................. 109 14-7 CONFIG FREQ DISP ................................................................................................. 110 14-8 CONFIG GLOBAL write protect ................................................................................. 110 14-9 CONFIG Opening message ...................................................................................... 111 (15) Band scope ............................................................................................................... 112 15-1 Starting the band scope ............................................................................................. 112 15-2 Exit from band scope ................................................................................................. 113 15-3 Setting frequency span width (waveform enlargement) ............................................ 113 15-4 Moving the marker ..................................................................................................... 113 15-5 Marker to strongest signal (peak search) .................................................................. 113 15-6 Entering a new centre frequency ............................................................................... 114 15-7 Transfer of marker frequency to VFO ........................................................................ 114 15-8 Peak hold ................................................................................................................... 114 15-9 Saving active trace to memory .................................................................................. 114 15-10 Loading stored band scope traces from memory .................................................... 115 (16) Sleep .......................................................................................................................... 116 (17) Option socket ............................................................................................................ 117 17-1 RS232 operation ........................................................................................................118 17-2 CLONE of data via the option socket ......................................................................... 118 17-2-1 How to clone data ................................................................................................... 119 (18) Slot card socket ........................................................................................................ 121 18-1 Optional slot cards ..................................................................................................... 121 18-1-1 Fitting the slot card ................................................................................................. 121 18-1-2 Removing the slot card ........................................................................................... 122 18-2 VI8200 optional voice inverter slot card ..................................................................... 122 18-3 CT8200 optional CTCSS slot card ............................................................................. 123 18-3-1 CTCSS tone squelch .............................................................................................. 123 18-3-2 CTCSS search ........................................................................................................ 124 18-4 TE8200 optional tone eliminator slot card ................................................................. 125 18-5 RU8200 optional record & playback slot card ............................................................ 126 18-5-1 Recording ............................................................................................................... 126 18-5-2 Playback ................................................................................................................. 127 18-6 EM8200 optional external extended memory slot card .............................................. 127 18-6-1 Initialising (formatting) the EM8200 before use ...................................................... 128 18-6-2 EM8200 ALL-DATA save and load ......................................................................... 129 18-6-3 EM8200 ALL-MEM save and load .......................................................................... 130 18-6-4 EM8200 MEMORY BANK save and load ............................................................... 131 18-6-5 EM8200 ALL-SRCH save and load ........................................................................ 132 18-6-6 EM8200 SEARCH BANK save and load ................................................................ 132 18-6-7 EM8200 internally stored band scope save and load .............................................. 133 (19) Trouble shooting .......................................................................................................136 19-1 Soft reset of microprocessor ...................................................................................... 136 19-2 Other trouble shooting suggestions ........................................................................... 136 19-3 Trouble shooting - Take note of the following ............................................................ 137 (20) Optional accessories ................................................................................................ 138 (21) Aerial (antenna), earths & propagation ................................................................... 139 (22) Specification ............................................................................................................. 140
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5 1-1 Introduction Thank you for purchasing the AR8200 hand held wide band all mode receiver. The AR8200 is designed using the very latest technology to ensure the highest levels of performance and reliability. To get the best possible results from your AR8200 we recommend that you read this manual and familiarise yourself with the receiver. Although carefully designed, this receiver (like all receivers) suffers from a degree of internal noises known as spurii. They are a product of the receiver’s circuitry and do not represent a fault. Apparent faults may be due to accidental misoperation of the receiver, if you think there is a problem, carefully read all of the manual before deciding to contact your equipment supplier for advice. It is acknowledged that sections of this manual are repetitive, this is to enable the manual to be used as a reference book (you don’t have to read it all from cover to cover in one go). Due to the international nature of the product, some graphics contain Japanese characters. Every effort has been made to make this manual correct and up to date. Due to continuous development of the receiver and by error or omission anomalies may be found and this is acknowledged. © This manual is protected by copyright AOR Ltd 1998. No information contained in this manual may be copied or transferred by any means without the prior written consent of AOR Ltd. AOR and the AOR logo are trade marks of AOR Ltd. All other trade marks and names are acknowledged. E&OE 1-2 Take care of your radio There are no internal operator adjustments. In the unlikely event of servicing being required, please contact your dealer for technical assistance. Do not use or leave the receiver in direct sunlight (especially the LCD). It is best to avoid locations where excessive heat, humidity, dust and vibration are expected. Always keep the AR8200 free from dust and moisture. Use a soft, dry cloth to gently wipe the set clean, never use abrasive cleaners or organic solvents which may damage certain parts. Treat the AR8200 with care, avoid spillage or leakage of liquids into the receiver and a.c. charger. Special care should be taken to avoid liquid entering around the controls, through the speaker grille or via the connection jacks. The AR8200 is designed for operation from internal batteries or from its supplied a.c.-to-d.c. charger. Operation is possible from any good quality regulated d.c. supply of 12 to 14V, which should be capable of supplying 300mA. Never connect the AR8200 directly to the a.c. supply. The d.c. input socket uses a mini 1.3mm power connector. This connector is configured CENTRE POSITIVE, the chassis of the receiver is at negative ground. The charger supplied is pre-wired and provides a nominal 12V d.c. output with suitable connectors being fitted as standard for the a.c. power input and connection to the AR8200. SAFETY NOTICE - Always disconnect the charger from the a.c. socket when not in use. If using the AR8200 in a base station situation, the best short wave reception is usually achieved by the fitting of a separate external earth rod, however consider the implications carefully if your a.c. building supply uses a Protective Multiple Earth (PME) system. If in doubt consult an expert electrician. Never earth to a gas pipe! The AR8200 has a single BNC aerial socket for all frequencies. This is intended for connection to its supplied whip aerial or a 50 OHM (unbalanced) coaxial fed aerial such as a discone, dipole, unipole, yagis etc. When sighting the aerial, avoid power cables. Section 1-1, 1-2
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6 Operating anomalies Should the AR8200 appear to behave strangely, normal operation may be easily achieved by resetting the microprocessor. Two scenarios may be encountered due to power transients etc: 1. Symptom: LCD remains on, no control of the keypad.Action: Remove any connection to external power such as the charger or cigar lead, remove one NiCad battery and count to thirty! Re-fit the battery and press the power switch again. Normal operation should be restored but the last used frequency will be lost, the AR8200 will restore the last but one frequency to display. 2. Symptom: The AR8200 fails to power up. Action: Try the suggestion given in (1) then hold the key while powering up the AR8200 to ‘Soft reset’ the microprocessor. 1-3 Attention while operating 1. Certain key operations are acted upon when the key is RELEASED, not while it is pressed. Allow time for the AR8200 to register such actions before pressing another key. 2. The keylock is intentionally made to be difficult to operate to prevent accidental operation. To release keylock, the key has to be held for more than one second, the key legend on the LCD confirms operation. The key is disabled during keying sequences (such as when entering frequencies). 3. If a key sequence is not completed, the microprocessor will automatically abort most operations after about 90 seconds of keypad inactivity. 4. Currently displayed VFO data is saved at power down (to increase speed of operation and to reduce write cycles). For this reason, if the AR8200 is powered down by removing external supply (without internal batteries in place or when the batteries become exhausted), the last displayed frequency will be lost and the frequency used prior to this will be displayed when next powered up. Terminology - Search & Scan If you have not used a wide range monitor before or are not familiar with the terminology used, it is very important to understand the difference between SEARCH and SCAN modes. SEARCH: The AR8200 provides several operations where transmissions (active frequencies) may be automatically located by sweeping the receiver over a wide frequency range, either from the currently displayed frequency travelling upwards (or downwards) in a specified tuning increment (step) or by sweeping over-and-over between two specified frequency limits. This process is known as SEARCHING, as the title implies, it can take a long time to find transmissions due to their ‘often intermittent’ and brief nature. For this reason it is best to slice large frequency ranges into smaller, more manageable pieces where they may be intensively studied. When examining large frequency bands, it is common to find that 90% of frequencies are inactive and only a small number of the remaining constitute what you really want. Searching still remains the best way to initially locate active and interesting transmissions (in conjunction with a good frequency listing and band plan). SCAN: Once active transmissions have been identified (either by searching or by using a good frequency guide), it is more efficient to store the data into memories which can be rapidly and automatically monitored in succession stopping when activity is encountered. This forms a much Section 1-2, 1-3
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7 more efficient means of monitoring the most wanted frequencies as you have targeted 100% what you most want to hear, by contrast searching is very inefficient for day-to-day monitoring. &Note: It is very important that the squelch is advanced to cancel background noise for the search & scan facilities to operate. This is because the AR8200 believes that it has found an active frequency when the squelch opens and “S” ‘squelch open’ legend is displayed to the left of the signal meter. Advance the squelch control clockwise until the background noise is just cancelled, this is known as the threshold position. If the squelch control is advanced too far, weaker signals may be missed. No noise and no “S” legend (with squelch advanced clockwise passed threshold) = squelch closed. Signal received or ‘noise’ emanating from speaker (squelch fully anti-clockwise, below threshold) with no “S” legend = squelch open. 1-4 Accessories supplied The following items are provided in the carton box: 1 x AR8200 receiver 1 x Whip aerial in BNC connector 1 x Medium Wave (MW) bar aerial 4 x AA NiCad batteries 1 x Charger (may be supplied in a separate cartons in some world market areas) 1 x Cigar adapter lead (containing internal 1A fuse) 1 x Hand strap 1 x Belt hook with two screws 1 x Operating manual (this booklet) How to fit the hand strap The hand strap anchor is located on the right hand side of the AR8200 cabinet. The hand strap comprises of two loops, one large and one small. Feed the small loop through the anchor then feed the large loop through the small loop and gently pull until tight. This strap is designed to be looped over your wrist to prevent the AR8200 from contacting the ground if accidentally dropped, it is not intended as a hard wearing utility… do not swing the set or abuse the set using this hand strap. The MW bar also has a fixing hole so that you may tie it down to prevent loss. How to fit the belt hook The belt hook is a shaped metal plate with two fixing holes on the top edge, two fixing screws are provided. Do not use any other screws… if you attempt to use longer screws, the internal parts may be permanently damaged rendering the AR8200 inoperative. Offer the belt hook to the rear of the AR8200, locate and align the fixing holes then carefully fit the two supplied screws, fit both screws before tightening with a cross-head screwdriver. Section 1-3, 1-4
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8 1-5 Controls & functions Controls are located on the top, front and left hand side of the AR8200, a brief identification is given here: 1. Rotary volume control 2. Rotary squelch control 3. BNC aerial socket 4. Function key 5. Main dial (thumb rotary) 6. Key Lock key 7. Monitor key 8. Arrow keys 9. Eject slider for optional SLOT CARD 10. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 11. Keypad 12. Loudspeaker 13. Lid for optional SLOT CARD Section 1-5 14. Hand strap anchor 15. Earphone / external speaker socket 16. External power / charging socket 17. Option socket 18. Medium Wave (MW) bar aerial 19. Battery compartment cover 20. Battery compartment release slider
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9 1-5-1 Keypad Keypad conventions Most keys have multiple functions, their functions are printed on the cabinet. However due the restriction of available size, not all facilities can be shown on the keypad printing. To ease access to the many facilities, two formats are employed:- Push and release the key quickly to access the required facility. This applies to primary facilities of keys such as numeric 1, 2, 3 etc. Also for example, quickly the key while in 2VFO mode to toggle between the two VFOs VFO-A and VFO-B. Press and HOLD the key for more than one second to access the second function, sometimes this is in conjunction with the key. Function key manipulation The key also may be used by PUSH and PRESS depending upon the specific requirement, in most cases however the key will require a simple PUSH. “FUNC” LCD legend solid= “FUNC” LCD legend flashing= Section 1-5-1
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10 1-5-2 Summary of keys The main keypad is located on the front cabinet of the AR8200 with other keys located on the left hand side. When powered from internal batteries with the lamp configured to AUTO, the lamp will automatically illuminate when keys are pressed and will stay illuminated for five seconds after the last key press. An optional CC8200 RS232 lead is required for computer control, the optional CO8200 lead is required for copying data between two AR8200 radios, various optional SLOT CARDS are available which further extend the AR8200 facilities (and menus). PUSH this key to place the AR8200 into SEARCH mode, the LCD “SRCH” legend confirms operation. to access the bank link menu where up to ten different selections of linked search banks may be grouped, this is useful where a large frequency band has been split up into smaller more manageable sizes for close scrutiny. Additional search related parameters may be set up to optimise each search group independently using this menu:- DELAY OFF / HOLD / 0.1s to 9.9s (default = OFF) LEVEL OFF / 1 to 255 (default = OFF) VOICE OFF / 1 to 255 (default = OFF) FREE OFF / 1s to 60s (default = OFF) AUTOSTORE ON / OFF (default = OFF) DELETE J (deletes the current data from bank J) PUSH this key to place the AR8200 into MEMORY READ mode, the LCD legend “M.RD” confirms selection. again to initiate SCAN, the LCD legend “SCAN” confirms selection to access the bank link menu where up to ten groups of memories may be selected to be scanned in succession, effectively forming one large scan bank. Additional scan related parameters may be set up to optimise each scan group independently using this menu:- DELAY OFF / HOLD / 0.1s to 9.9s (default = OFF) LEVEL OFF / 1 to 255 (default = OFF) VOICE OFF / 1 to 255 (default = OFF) FREE OFF / 1s to 60s (default = OFF) MODE SCAN ALL / WFM / NFM / SFM / WAM / AM / NAM / USB / LSB / CW (default = ALL) to set the ratio of bank size between memory channels sharing a common letter in upper and lower case. Section 1-5-2