AR3030 is a great receiver, but its control method must be taken into account, although I give it a rating of 5 stars in terms of reception ability, but the human-machine control aspect requires Penalties. Really, this is crucial.
1. Advantages
This AR3030 in my hand is equipped with a Collins single sideband filter in addition to the standard Collins amplitude modulation filter and constant amplitude wave filter. The sound quality is great, especially the sound quality of the single sideband. does not tell you in the manual, but you can use 6KHz filters to receive AM and SSB signals. No matter which filter is used, the sound quality is very good, but when using a wide filter, the signal lock is not so reliable. Using the AR3030's Collins narrow filter to listen to weak single-sideband signals can make the speech intelligible better than most other receivers I have used. The music sound from bass to treble is full and clean. My Kenwood HS-4 headset has never been so beautiful.
Universal Radio has stated on its website that the AR3030 receiver can choose a 4KHz filter. I also found on Collins’ own website that they have built a 4KHz mechanical filter specifically for the AR3030, but after contacting AOR, they told me that this receiver has never had such an option. At first I was disappointed, because with such a large difference in filter bandwidth, a filter with a moderate bandwidth is still good. When I got the AR3030 receiver, I realized I didn't lose much. It is not common that the Collins wide filter cannot eliminate adjacent channel interference. The narrow filter is also great, but I won’t bother to do hard-core remote weak signal reception tests. The standard narrow ceramic filter is said to be excellent.
AOR AR3030 The sensitivity of receiving single sideband is very high. The amplitude modulation synchronous detection is slightly inferior. Although the amplitude modulation sensitivity is also quite good, it is slightly inferior. By the way, AR3030 cannot choose sidebands. Its synchronous detection function is not very helpful. Because the single sideband has good sound quality, high sensitivity and good stability, I want to know that besides using it as a marketing tool ( When the AR3030 was released, there were not many receivers on the market that were equipped with a synchronous detection function. Why did they bother with it?
2. Disadvantages
Having said so much, AR3030 looks like a perfect receiver, but there are still some problems that I cannot ignore. If all I do is enter the frequency and listen to the radio program all night, then there is no problem. Just when I wanted to search for frequencies and receive some remote weak-signal radio stations, something strange happened, which annoyed me.
First of all, this machine has no noise canceller or notch filter. If you set the antenna well to reduce interference, it can be tolerated without a noise canceller, but compared to the low-value synchronous detection function, the notch filter is quite useful.
When switching from AM to upper sideband or lower sideband, you must cycle through the other working modes in turn. You must use two buttons to switch between AM synchronous detection, constant amplitude wave, FM, and FAX in turn. It also depends on what working mode you are in. If you press the key quickly and quickly enter the FAX working mode, and you wear headphones, you can hear a harsh sound, which is very uncomfortable. It is also time-consuming to enter the most commonly used working modes in this way. If you can equip independent buttons for each working mode,That's good.
Mention the buttons, they are not wrong (but for friends with big fingers, the buttons are a bit small, which may be a problem), but because the body is relatively light, I made AR3030 easy to move on the table, unless I put my fingers on the top of the fuselage and press the buttons with my thumb. AR3030 will not be confused with the R390A on the shelf, that's for sure.
R390A
The tuning knob is too small, and it seems to me too tight. Use it to search the band becomes very difficult. The fingertip dimple on the surface of the knob is too shallow, but if you hold the top of the body with your hand to prevent your fingertips from slipping inside, you can also turn it. Another smaller knob is also tight, and as the night goes by, these two knobs become more and more disturbing.
AOR AR3030 The frequency display only puts a decimal point after the megahertz, For example, the frequency of Radio Australia is displayed as 15.51500MHz (the same receiver will display 15.515.00-translator's note), AR3030 can The frequency is tuned in 5 Hz steps, but only a frequency reading of 10 Hz is displayed. So, when you tune the frequency, in addition to the zero beat, you must get used to ignoring the last two readings.
I used the original AC power adapter of AOR , it will produce a harsh hum, is so loud, I decided to use only AA batteries (8 cells required) to power the AR3030. At this time, there is no buzzing sound, and the sound quality is clean, but the stability of the single sideband signal is lost. The more good news is that if you listen to a radio station for a long time and want to save battery power, you can turn off the screen display. Install a set of brand new batteries, and after 25 minutes, the machine will give out a "low battery" warning, but it depends on the volume of your listening.Generally it can last for 2 hours.
Sorry, AR3030 is really not perfect. There are still many shortcomings that need to be resolved. This is true. If the control of a radio is inconvenient for the user, then the chances of it being used in the future become less and less. This happened to me, finally I sold this machine. Do I miss its excellent receiving ability? Of course I will, but it is not enough for me to buy another AR3030.
Kenwood R-5000
If I have to compare the AR3030 with another device, I want to say it is comparable to Kenwood R-5000 receiver, which is also a boutique receiver. Although R-5000 has its own drawbacks, I find it more comfortable to use than AR3030, and it is also very good in terms of launch function.
3. Start AR3030 again
Recently, I seized the opportunity to buy another AR3030 receiver, and read other users’ introductions to this machine. Compared with the other two AR3030 I have used, I also want to explain a few things.
First of all, the reading of my first AR3030 's discernible frequency oscillator seems to be slightly off. The magnitude of the deviation is not large enough to be displayed on the screen, but it is enough to make the synchronous detector appear. The sound is distorted. My second AR3030 also has an offset frequency, but because the offset frequency is 30Hz, it can be displayed on the screen.Only when the frequency is lowered by 30Hz, the synchronous detection can lock the signal. Although it cannot select the sideband, it does have a great effect on eliminating the selective fading of extremely weak signals and can lock the signal firmly. I once read an article in which it said: A slight frequency offset will cause a lot of distortion of the sound quality, which is really true.
Secondly, AR3030 What bothers me is that the shuttle is too tight. The second AR3030 is completely different. Its shuttle is very smooth and comfortable to use. Ironically, the second one was purchased from a British seller (I am an American), and I learned from another British AR3030 owner that he did not encounter the problem of too tight the shuttle. However, another American user, like the problem I encountered on the "North American version" machine before, also reflected the problem of too tight shuttle. This may be just a coincidence, but I did notice something.
Finally, I want to evaluate its narrow filter. My first AR3030 has been upgraded to an excellent Collins 2.5 single sideband filter. This second AR3030 uses Murata filters. However, I can honestly say that I did not find any difference between the two during use. I once read an article claiming that Murata filters have great performance, and I totally agree with this. When these receivers were produced, it really didn't make sense to upgrade the AM narrowband/single sideband filter.
As the shortcomings of my original AR3030 receiver have been corrected on other machines, now I have to give this receiver a full score of 5 stars.
Evaluation: Anonymous Translation + Editing + Picture: Radio Review Translation Source: eham
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