WOW! That's all I can say. This new Airband Receiver from AOR is top-flight and I want one! But sadly I can't have one - yet. The AR-7400 was unveiled at the Tokyo HamFest in 2019 but the Corona Virus has obviously put paid to a 2020 launch.
Hopefully, the Japanese manufacturer will soon be able to provide us with an expected delivery date in the UK and I've got my name on one already.
This stunning new scanner appears to be set in an AR-DV1 case and shares all the DV1's buttons and dials. The screen is split into 4 readouts, showing the frequency (and other information) of each of the receivers 4 VFOs. Both Civil and Military bands are covered (plus they've thrown in the Broadcast band).
Apparently, the receiver can scan the entire civil-airband in less than 1 second!!! Now that's fast by anyone's standards. As you can see in the photo, it has an SDCARD slot and a record button just like the DV-1.
I have no idea, but I'm kinda hoping that you can program the scanner to record a particular VFO when the squelch is broken. That would be handy for monitoring the emergency channel and recording any event that occurs even when you're not within ear shot.
Being able to monitor 4 separate channels at the same time is a real boon and on the back of the receiver you'll find 4 sockets for 4 separate speakers - one per VFO (obviously). It also has a line-out. The only negative I can see about this airband scanner is the fact that it only has one antenna socket (BNC) 😓
No prices have been announced or even hinted at, but I'm guessing that it's gonna be pretty damned expensive.
Unconfirmed Specs...
Coverage: VHF band 108 ~ 137MHz (AM), UHF band 225 ~ 400MHz (AM), WFM 76 ~ 108MHz;<
IF Bandwidth : AM mode 6kHz (5.5kHz);
Reception: VHF / UHF 4-wave simultaneous reception;Speed: Ultra-high-speed 1-second scan / search. Example: The time required to scan the range of 108 ~ 137MHz is about 1 second (when the signal on all channels was not out).
Antenna Connector: 1 x BNC (Female);
Speaker: 1 x top mounted internal (assumed based on image) AND 4 x 3.5mm rear speaker output jacks
Other: 1 x Micro USB (front) 1 x Line 3.5mm jack (rear), 1 x SD/SDHC card reader (front), 1 x Auxiliary socket (rear) (assumed based on image).
UPDATE 1: I heard from someone on FaceBook (Rick King) that AOR have been having issues with harmonics and the SDR chip and that's contributed to the delays too. Rick further commented that he felt the 10 character alpha-tag restriction was a let-down. Personally it wouldn't bother me too much because I'd be using tags such as EGCC-TWR1 but I suppose longer tags would be helpful. The small screen comes in for some criticism too.
5 comments:
any idea of price and where I can order one from please ?
Sadly not Ian. I've just received an email from Waters & Stanton saying that the radio might be delayed to 2021 even!
Wondering if AOR might produce a hand held portable version of the 7400 using four independent AM VFO’s with the same proposed band-scan speed. Can’t wait to learn the release date and price point for the 7400… and want desperately to see the retail box graphics and receive sensitivity specs.
KC9TSR
KC9TSR - Hi Mark, thanks for dropping by. I've no idea if AOR will produce a handheld version - they can't even finish this one! They seem to have lost the plot a bit in recent years. I bought the £1,000 DV-10 and it was very, very lacking. I sent it back. My 30yr old AR3000A was better!
In all fairness though, the global shortage of semiconductors is causing havoc with everyone though.
73, Tom, M7MCQ
Well, now that we are certain AOR has abandoned production of the AR-7400 Quad Screen Air Band Receiver,.. let’s try the new Kenwood TH-D75(a) in dual watch with both VFOs in scan mode. Also, the older ICOM IC-R20 and R30 are still fair competition for other receivers on the Market. These all support 8.33KHz and the TH-D75a has customized steps for any new surprises by the FCC of imposing future mode or rebanding mandates! ICOM has a new offering as well, not to mention the older tiny R6 which still blows expectations away! 73’s, KC9TSR •
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