AOR AR-8000 Scanner

Before buying this scanner I read so many reviews and was convinced I would love this radio. Almost everyone only had really good things to say about it. Oh, what a scanner. Picks up so much, works great etc. Considered legendary, It's got a bit of a cult following. So when I got it and started using it, to say I was disappointed was an understatement. It turned out to be the worst receiver I have ever owned. It was so frustrating to use. The squelch was terrible, scanner keeps resetting itself to tiny kHz steps size and the mode kept resetting also. Speaker was muffled and didn't sound good at all.

Every action required a lot of work. This was a scanner that really showed its age. Not in condition, but with its long drawn out and annoying way of operating. Worst Auto mode ever. Battery life wasn't great either. AA batteries [it takes 4 AA] didn't last long. Even my rechargeable batteries which are 2500mAh didn't last very long. I ended up buying a mains adapter from eBay [pictured]. I got lucky and managed to find a cheap original AOR adapter. But still, it didn't really make my experience using the scanner any better. It was just too frustrating to use.

I have to say, this is the only AOR receiver I have ever had, and going on my experience with the AR8000, it will be my last. Specs were good on paper, and reviews were great, but using this scanner in real life was a pain. Comparing the AOR8000 to my Quansheng K6 [upgraded with Egzumer software] was a real eye opener. Like night and day. The Quansheng was 10 times better. So much easier and hassle free to use. Functions and settings are easy to perform, screen is excellent, squelch is good overall, and the speaker is much clearer.

Receive Strength

This surprised me the most. After reading all the reviews about how good the AOR8000's receive strength was, I expected it to pick up signals that my upgraded Quansheng had no chance of receiving. This was not the case at all. The AOR and Quansheng K6 were nose to nose at picking up signals. The only difference was that the signals on the Quansheng were much clearer and had a better quality about them overall. Now, I know that the AOR8000 is old tech by today's standards but still, I never thought for a second that a cheap [but great] radio from China would basically outperform one of the legends of the scanner industry. I expected the complete opposite.

I think it just shows how far radio technology has come, and how cheap a good performing radio can be once you strip away all the marketing hype and over the top profit margins. I sold my AOR AR-8000 handheld for a cheap price to a guy on Gumtree who already had one but needed another one for parts. He was very happy with it. But I think he had owned his AR8000 for a long time and was so used to using it that he'd rather fix his old one than buy something else. Good on him. But for me, I couldn't get used to it and I would never buy another one. 

Baofeng 1701 Inverted Screen + More

The Baofeng 1701 screen can be changed to almost any colour combination that you can think of. But for the colour changes to save permanently, it needs to be programmed with the CPS software and cable. Without that, the changes made to the screen will look like they have been saved while the radio is still on. But turn the radio off, then back on, and you will see the screen has gone back to its default white setting. If the user has the CPS software and cable this is not an issue as all display changes are done through the software and permanently saved.

I didn't buy the cable with my radio, so none of the changes I make with the screen colours can be permanently saved. But there is still one way to change the screen colour that will be permanently saved, even without the cable and software. And that is inverting the screen colours. This is easy to do from the radios menu. And I think I prefer it to the full on white.

Image: My Baofeng DMR with its new inverted display

To do this follow the instructions below. Please note. My Baofeng 1701 has OpenGD77 installed. So the menus might be a bit different if your model does not have OpenGD77 installed.

How to make the screen inverted [with openGD77 installed]

Click on the highest green button on the left to go to the menu. From there select "options". Click on "display options". Scroll down until you see "Screen: Normal". Use the scroller wheel knob at the top of the radio and select "Inverted". Press the green button on the left [above the P1 button] to save changes. And that's it, the screen is now inverted to white writing with a black background rather than the other way round.

DMR: Leveling Out The Audio

In another post about the 1701 I talked about how one of the things that was quite annoying about this radio, and maybe DMR in general, I'm not sure, was the fact that the audio levels were totally out of whack. Like, when listening, [RX / receiving] one side of the conversation would be at a nice volume, while the other side of the conversation would come through so loud and almost blow my ears and the speaker up. After a bit of research it turns out there is an option in OpenGD77 that somewhat addresses this issue. 

It's called DMR Rx AGC. While the developers of OpenGD77 do state that its not perfect, turning this setting on can help level out the audio levels so they are more balanced on each side. I am testing this out right now but first impressions are that it is making a difference. This is great because the difference in audio volume levels from either side of a received signal was ridiculous and required constant adjustment of the volume knob to keep the volumes at a reasonable level from both sides.

If you want to turn this feature on please follow these instructions. Press the top green button [above the P1 button] to go to the main menu. Click "options". Then "sound options". Find DMR Rx AGC and use the top scroller wheel knob to select one of the dB options. Mine is set to 0dB and that seems to be working well, so I would recommend you use that to begin with.

You can always test / change it to something else in the future. Once 0dB is selected press the top left green button to save the changes. And that's it. Hopefully you should hear a change, making the audio volumes more balanced from each side.

Baofeng UV-28 Plus Tri-Band First Look

Quick first look at a new analogue radio from Baofeng. The Tri-band Baofeng UV-28 Plus Transceiver, with GPS, Bluetooth and App Programable radio is a really nice, well equipped radio for the price. The App is basic but can be used to program the radio not only with the Windows operating system, but also with Android and Apple iOS. This opens up the programming abilities for a lot of people and should make the radio easier to live with. The frequency range is as follows: 76 - 108MHz, 136-174MHz, 220-260MHz and 400-520MHz. It's a 10Watt radio and Transmit power seems good in real-time.

 

Good screen colours, nice audio, well-lit display and keypad. Average build quality. Airband reception seems a bit poor, with some scratchy / choppy signals, but could be decent enough with the right antenna. PTT button is a bit different to what we see on a lot of other radios in that it's quite flexible when pressed or messed with on every angle. Most PTT's are solid and don't move other than in and out when pressed. This one is more flexible / wobbly. But secure and intended to be that way [wobbly] by design. Some might like it, and some might not. Anyway, for a full in-depth review of the Baofeng UV-28 Plus, please watch the YouTube review video above. It's a long video but worth a watch if you're considering buying this radio.