From: schuster@panix.uucp (Michael Schuster) Subject: Reprogramming the AR1000 Keywords: AR1000 AOR SCANNER RESET REPROGRAM Date: 4 Jun 91 00:22:30 GMT Organization: PANIX - Public Access Unix Systems of NY Lines: 191 Xref: west rec.radio.amateur.misc:3326 rec.radio.shortwave:7938 There seems to be renewed interest in this, so I thought I'd post Lionel's article once more. After reading this I tried it on my older vintage AR1000 and successfully moved the low frequency limit from 8 to 0.5 mHz. Your mileage may vary. Anything which results from implementing the instructions below is AT YOUR OWN RISK. Lionel copied these instructions from a factory set up sheet, sent to him by his dealer when the CPU locked up (a rare event), rendering his radio dead. It is also reproduced in the service manual, available from AOR Japan (no, I don't have the address). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================= AR-1000 Reset Procedure ======================= * What you need : - A small Philips screwdriver - A soldering iron (30 W max) * What to do : - Remove the antenna - Remove the batteries - Remove the tuning, volume, and squelch buttons - Remove the back cover (4 black screws), and disconnect it from the rest - Lay the unit flat on the table, keyboard and display below, antenna connector away from you - Unsolder the black wire from the lower right corner of the upper board - Unsolder the brown wire from the upper left corner of the same board - Remove the 3 screws that hold this board - Pull GENTLY this board out of the upper panel (volume, squelch, and tune rods come with the board - not the antenna connector) - Unsolder the black wire from the upper left corner of the middle board - Unscrew the 3 copper columns that hold this board - To get a better access on the lower board, you may wish to remove some of the connectors that link the upper and middle boards to the power supply board (the one that hides the speaker) --- don't forget to take note of which connector goes where !!! - Now take a look at the lower board. It looks like this : (X) green led +--------------------------------------------------------+ | | | LCD display | | | +--------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------+ | NEC | | chip | | D75308GF651 | +-----------------+ o (A) o | | R1 R2 | | o o +---------------+ +--------+ | | | diodes | | | +--------+ | | | Hitachi chip | +--------+ | HN58C65FP-25T | | diodes | | | +--------+ | | | | +--------+ | | | diodes | +---------------+ +--------+ (B) - Solder a piece of wire (wrapping wire is a good candidate) between points (A) and (B). - Reconnect ALL wires (solder unsoldered wires and connect dis- connected ones) - Place batteries back - Turn unit on : the display should be blank. - Now type the following : BANK 1 PROG 8 LIMIT 49.995 SEARCH 561.225 ENTER 2 PROG 50 LIMIT 107.995 SEARCH 561.225 ENTER 3 PROG 108 LIMIT 169.995 SEARCH 561.225 ENTER 4 PROG 170 LIMIT 296.995 SEARCH 561.225 ENTER 5 PROG 297 LIMIT 600 SEARCH 251.575 ENTER 6 PROG 805 LIMIT 1109995 [down arrow] 251.575 ENTER 7 PROG 1110 LIMIT 1300 [down arrow] 561.225 ENTER - Turn unit off - Unsolder the piece of wrapping wire - Mount the unit back (wires, connectors, screws...) - Turn unit on : it should be working !!! * My comments : DO NOT TRY THIS BY YOURSELF IF YOU DON'T FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT USING A SOLDERING IRON ON SUCH A MINIATURIZED DEVICE !!! DON'T FORGET THAT, IF YOU FAIL, THE WARRANTY WILL BE VOID !!! Now, let's relax. From the programming procedure, it is obvious that you enter 7 sub-bands in the unit : 8 to 49.995 MHz 50 to 107.995 MHz 108 to 169.995 MHz 170 to 296.995 MHz 297 to 600.000 MHz 805 to 1109.995 MHz 1110 to 1300.000 MHz These are the values for the AR-1000 as sold in France. The values may be different for the units sold in Northern America (there may be other gaps, especially for cellular phone frequencies). I don't know what the following parameters (561.225 and 251.575) mean. I guess they indicate which RF subcircuit, which step, and which modulation mode to use. Anyway, since the sub-bands limits appear so clearly, it might be fun to experiment. See what I mean ? But, if we are to experiment, let's make things easier. Instead of dismounting-soldering-programming-unsoldering-mounting the unit each time, let's solder a 5" piece of wrapping wire to point (A), a 5" piece of wrapping wire to point (B). Now we have 2 free ends : let's solder a microswitch to them. We can glue the microswitch at the bottom end of the unit, near the power supply board. Resetting the AR-1000 is now much simpler : just open the unit (4 screws), flip the switch, turn the unit on, reprogram it, turn it off, flip the switch back, close the unit. First of all, if you replace the first "8" with "0.5", you get an AR-1000 with coverage extended down to 500 kHz. This may not work on older units. My unit didn't let me program any frequency lower than 0.5 MHz, or higher than 1300 MHz. Anyway, my aim was to try to get rid of the 600-805 MHz gap. I tried the following sub-bands : 0.5 - 29.995 30.0 - 219.995 220.0 - 409.995 410.0 - 599.995 600.0 - 904.995 905.0 - 1209.995 1210.0 - 1300.000 To choose these values, I made the following assumptions : the original values never exceed a 190 MHz span for the "561.225" series, and never exceed a 304.995 MHz for the "251.575" series. I was careful not to exceed these ranges, because of the necessarily limited span of the internal VFO. These values did seem to work, since I was able to hear some TV signals near 620 MHz, that is, in the previous gap ! However, when I programmed some search banks, it sometimes refused to search, even on "authorized" frequencies (around 450 MHz). And, since there is nothing but TV channels between 600 and 805 MHz (at least in France), I restored the original values (except for the 0.5 MHz lower limit). Now, if you find something interesting, please keep me informed ! Lionel ANCELET BIX : lanc CompuServe : 71641,1340 INTERNET : 71641.1340@compuserve.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Mike Schuster | CIS: 70346,1745 NY Public Access UNIX: ...cmcl2!panix!schuster | MCI Mail, GENIE: The Portal (R) System: schuster@cup.portal.com | MSCHUSTER