®		AOR (UK) Ltd
			Unit 9, Dimple Road Business Centre, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 3JX, England Tel: +44 (0) 1629 581222  Fax: +44 (0) 1629 580070

Software page

AOR software downloads

• To download a demonstration of any of the packages below click on the hypertext link.
  All demo software have their "save" facilities disabled, and "Time Out" after 10 minutes.
  There is no restriction on the number of sessions.
  For retail packages, refer to the retail price list for details of media and pricing.
  There are a number of free packages available for download.
  

Many files here are compressed to save download times, you will need to expand them using a utility such as WINZIP. A Windows version of Winzip is available as a free evaluation download from http://www.winzip.com/

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Software sales leaflets and addendums

The PDF information on this page requires Acrobat Reader to view and print, a free copy is available from the
Adobe web site http://www.adobe.com/

Note: Spectrum-Master & Data-Master are now supplied on CD-ROM without a printed operating manual (this is reflected in the price).  The Data-Base has also been revised since generation of the hand books and is now available for free download (and supplied on the CR-ROM).  A key disk is still supplied for copy protection tokens.

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Third party software for AOR control

In addition to the software listed above, there are many internet sites offering free and commercial software packages for AOR equipment, if you know of others, please let us know, these include:

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A useful software listing can be found at http://www.dmasoftware.com/controlsoftware/ 

Telephone dial-up radio control

Although not strictly computer control, Philip Collins & Associates in Sydney Australia produce a hardware phone-radio interface for remote control of several radio types, the product is RADPHONE 2000
http://www.pca.cc/

Many organisations address the issue of remote control by placing a laptop PC with the remote radio.  They remotely dial into the set-up using PC ANYWHERE software, the PC also runs the software package specific to the radio, such as Searchlight for the AR3000A... audio is fed back down a second phone line.  Simple, but easy to deploy.

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Using RS-232 with AOR Radios

AOR have produced many receivers over the years having an RS-232 control capability and is probably the best for performance, features and ease of use.

Most of the models produced conform to the same ASCII (text) command interface with only minor differences between the AR3000/AR3000A, AR-3030, AR-2700, AR8000, AR8200 and AR5000. The AR7030 uses an innovative direct memory access technique and is binary in nature details of this interface are given on our website. The SDU-5000 spectrum display unit uses a combined ASCII and binary interface. The ARD-2 is AOR's ACARS and NAVTEX decoder; although it does not support RS-232 commands, it does output formatted text via RS-232.

Note: The remote control port on the rear of the AR2002 is NOT an RS232 but just access to the CPU, it requires all the clocking information to drive the receiver. Originally the RC-Pack GBP 255 STERLING was available to control the AR2002 but has not been available for many years. Another interface distributed by Garex (Scanmaster1) was also available many years ago.

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No RS232 port but USB adapters can be used

It is getting more regular for modern laptop and some desktop computers not to have RS232 (COM) ports fitted, in fact by 2005 the 'generic computer specification' will no-longer list an RS232 port at all. 

It is not cost effective to modify existing radio equipment of software, but RS232 / USB adapters are readily available and the software re-vectoring is getting much better (more compatible).  Operating systems typically from Win98 through to WinXP are supported by the third party driver software supplied with the RS232 / USB adapter... but compatibility can still be a bit hit-and-miss.

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AOR software re-mastering procedure

Software packages were originally supplied with COPY PROTECTION TOKENS and floppy disks. However, as computer operating systems have evolved (WinXP/W2000) we reached a position that many packages would still work, but the copy protection would not.  For this reason, the copy protection was stripped (a couple of years ago).

Software is  now supplied on CD-ROM with no floppy disk. There is no-longer any software copy protection tokens / keys, the software remains copyright. Minimum system requirements should be considered to be Pentium P133 running Win95. Documentation is on the CD-ROM in Acrobat PDF format, viewer provided. The software author has retired, although we can technically support the packages, there will be no more updates.

Its no-longer viable for us to re-master existing floppy disks, sorry.  However, if you would like to update your existing full version to the new format, the charge is GBP £ 9.95 for a CD-ROM shipped world-wide (usual price is GBP £19.95 plus carriage).  Proof of ownership is required (photo copy of floppy disk, serial number stamp on the inside rear cover of printed operating manual etc)... this applies to:

Data-Master
Spectrum-Master
Searchlight for Windows
PC-Manager for Windows
Concerto has not been revised at this time.

If you do not have a credit card, you may send proof of ownership along with any of the following bank notes:

• GBP £ 10.00
• EURO 15.00
• US$ 15.00

Note: If located outside of the UK, DO NOT send postal orders, money orders of international cheques, it will cost more to process the payment than the face value, only use a credit card or CASH !!!

If you have AOR software other than that stated above (such as AORSC, ACEPAC3, PC-Manager for DOS), please contact us to discuss the options.

Information correct at October 2005.

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AOR software install queries

The following suggestions are presented in case of installation difficulties with the full (copy protected) packages... DISCONTINUED, see above.

Try both disks (W95 + W98) as there is no difference in software between the W95 and W98 versions except that different copy protection drivers are applied to each disk set respectively... in reality either disk may be used (but do not mix sets).

The disks cannot be backed up and must not be write protected at the time of installation. If you attempt to install a write protected disk or a copy, the quoted error message will be given (or similar error).

1. Use the original master disk, not a copy.

2. Do not write protect the disk.

3. Ensure you have enough executable memory available during installation, see the addendum regarding MEM.

4. Installation must be to a hard drive with letter C, not a Jazz drive.

5. The master disk must be placed in a conventional floppy drive A, NOT a compound magneto-optical drive (such as an LS120) or similar networked device.

6. If you have a CD-ROM which used DMA (check the control panel / system / CD-ROM to view the DMA check box), temporarily disable DMA until the installation is complete.

Once the installation has taken place, the system criteria is not critical.

Re-mastering of the disk is possible, see above.

Macintosh - the copy protection tokens of full packages are not compatible with emulators running on the Mac, many people have tried unsuccessfully, the same applies to other computer emulators.  The install of full packages which are copy protected (apart from those available as free downloads, which are not copy protected) MUST find a standard floppy drive under a PC operating system and hardware arrangement.

Windows 2000

Although not officially supported, we have received reports from Win2000 users who are successfully operating our packages (as long as you have a standard floppy drive - not a LS120).

Here at AOR and with the developer we are not running Win2000 so cannot duplicate your set-up in respect of support.

Use the W98 disk, you will probably encounter an error message during install, click in IGNORE and wait, it will complete the install and will work fine. Occasionally the program group is not set-up, in this instance drop a short cut directly to the main EXE

If the copy protection has not transferred during install, call the MOVE utility from the target directory then transfer with the master disk in drive A, you should get it running.

Generally, operators have reported that most software packages install and operate perfectly without any error messages at all but there are a few exceptions.  One customer reports that running Data-Master under Win2000 is unstable, the timers cannot be set and the map projections are particularly unstable and slow, he is now running Windows-XP... run the maps in 256 colour and it appears okay.

One customer running Win2000 has reported file is missing or corrupt: \WINNT\system32\l_intl.nls messages on an otherwise solid machine.  Looking through the web, this appears to be a relatively common problem with all sorts of different well known software packages, especially on NT4 PCs after running a security roll-up patch.  The system would run okay but the error message would appear after boot-up when the AOR software package had been run.  A similar report may be viewed at http://geodsoft.com/about/making/ntdown.htm  This is probably unresolved (as no further feedback has been received) and only one such report has been received here at AOR.  We do not have a Win2000 platform to experiment with, we do have Win98/ME/XP as test beds.

Searchlight and Concerto software packages are probably not compatible with Windows 2000 (or NT) based on our testing with WindowsXP.  The RS232 API/VXD drivers are not compatible, we have even tried the 16-bit DIRECT I/O re-vectoring software without success.  You may consider making a FAT32 active partition on your hard drive and running W98 from the boot menu.

Windows XP

Most packages (except Searchlight & Concerto) have been tested using WinXP and appear to be okay.  The copy protection tokens can take quite some time to transfer on some computers (2 minutes) in which time rhythmical sounds are generated by the floppy drive - be patient.  NTFS file systems do not appear to cause problems but AREX8200 will not operate under WinXP or NTFS.

If the program group has been generated but the 'hour glass' is briefly displayed when the program icon is clicked, it suggests that the TOKEN has not transferred from the floppy to hard disk. Try moving the token using the MOVE utility in the target directory... ensure that the floppy is not write protected. Your disk may have run out of 'tokens'. See the install, queries page about floppy drives and re-mastering of the disk:

http://www.aoruk.com/software.htm#aor_software_install_queries 
http://www.aoruk.com/software.htm#aor_software_re-mastering_procedure 

If the program launches but you cannot establish communication with the radio, it may be is more difficult to resolve. Does your PC have serial ports or are you using a USB-to-RS232 hardware adapter ?? We find that the USB adapters are rather hit-and-hiss, some work and others do not.

Searchlight and Concerto software packages are not compatible with WindowsXP.  The RS232 API/VXD drivers are not compatible, we have even tried the 16-bit DIRECT I/O re-vectoring software without success.  You may consider making a FAT32 active partition on your hard drive and running W98 from the boot menu.

Previous PC operating systems have revolved around 16 interrupts (0-15) while the XP system supports ACPI where twice as many interrupts can be used / assigned with compliant systems.

This can mean that the RS232 ports (either hardware of via USB adapters) can appear at unusual addresses. Check in XP CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / HARDWARE / DEVICE MANAGER / PORTS to check the addresses of the COM RS232 ports. The software is looking for the following standard addresses:

• COM1 03F8 IRQ4 
• COM2 02F8 IRQ3
• COM3 03E8 IRQ4
• COM4 02E8 IRQ3

Make sure that the COMMUNICATIONS menu of software matches the COM port of your PC and the radio baud rate is correctly set. Exit and re-start the software after making changes to this menu as alterations are written to the INI file on exit and read on load.

Strange install error on WindowsXP

We have received a report that a PIF file was produced when trying to install PC Manager under WindowsXP.  It was not clear whether there were are any tokens left of the disk, if there are no tokens, an error message should be generated.

It is not clear why a PIF file is being accessed unless you are logged on as a USER with out administrative permissions to your XP system... I think this will be the problem ?? Unless each user of the XP system is assigned full permissions, it will prevent certain types (or all) software for being installed.

If you encounter a similar situation, log on as the primary user and try installing again, remember that the floppy disk must not be write protected.  We have the software running on a Dell P4M-1.7 laptop running XP with NTFS file system, no error message has been displayed.

The W95 version of disk is not suitable for later operating systems, for Win98 / WinME / XP use the W98 disk.


Communication RS232 opening /closing problems

Occasionally you may encounter problems opening or closing your RS232 communications port, maybe the radio cannot be 'seen' by the software irrespective of RS232 port or speed (baud rate) selection. Usually this is due to a conflict or resources within your computer such as a SHARED INTERRUPT (referred to as IRQ) with an internal modem.

Presuming that you are running Windows95 or Windows98, start by having a look at the resources allocated in the control panel of your software:

From the Windows START button move to SETTINGS and across to CONTROL PANEL, click to select. At the bottom of the program group is an icon labelled SYSTEM, double-click on the icon to open the application. Select DEVICE MANAGER from the tabs on the top of the new window, ensure the bullet VIEW DEVICES BY TYPE is selected.

If there is an obvious problem which your computer has identified, the list of computer components will have been branched out with a '-' (minus) sign next to it, you may also see an exclamation mark '!' indicating an error with certain hardware. Ideally, you should have a list of around 14 entries all showing '+' (plus) signs next to them and no exclamation marks.

Click on the '+' sign next to Ports (COM & LPT). A drop down list will appear displaying your computer COM (RS232) and LPT (printer) ports. For each of the COM ports, highlight the entry then select PROPERTIES or simply double-click the desired COM port. Select RESOURCES. Look for any mention of CONFLICTING DEVICES at the bottom of the current window and look what IRQ has been allocated. By default, COM1 usually employs an address of 03F8 IRQ4 with COM2 using 02F8 IRQ3.

Occasionally the BIOS of the motherboard selects COM port resources automatically, often this causes a conflict with the Windows operating system. It is strongly suggested that you manually set the COM port entries of the motherboard BIOS to match those quoted here.

When an internal MODEM has been fitted, it may be configured at default to COM2 02F8 IRQ3 which conflicts with the computer motherboard, if either the address or IRQ matches those already in use, a conflict will result - either the modem of RS232 will not function properly. The MODEM may appear in the PORTS list as an 'additional COM port such as COM3' or you may have to access it from the CONTROL PANEL MODEM icon (or MODEM list in the SYSTEM DEVICE LIST), it is important that you establish WHAT settings are employed by such an internal modem.

If the modem is plug-and-play (PNP), it may be possible to manually reassign new resources from the CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / DEVICE / RESOURCE menu, if the modem is 'jumper-selected', you will have to refer to the modem's operating manual or printing of the modem's PCB. Avoid IRQ addresses which are already in use, bear in mind that a printer usually uses IRQ7 but sometimes allows its interrupt to be shared by a check-box in the RESOURCE page, sound cards often default install to IRQ5 but can be 'persuaded' to move elsewhere! Interrupts of 9 or 11 are often vacant and are ideal for modem use, set them to COM3 or COM4.

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Windows 98 - invalid module specified

In April 1999 one operator reported 'INVALID WIN32 APPLICATION, INVALID MODULE' when running the AR8200 software on Win98.  He overcame the problem by running the utility called PMTSHOOT from the
Win98 upgrade disk... we never really worked out why this should have worked!  On the current Win-ME installation, there are files called PMST.EXE but there is no mention of them in the help files. 

At December 2000, information exists on the Microsoft site
http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/readme/98/w98pmtshoottxt.asp 

There have been problems where operators overwrite the existing installation with a later version before removing the original. As the INI files are newer than the software, they do not get updated and the lines are not parsed correctly as a result.

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Cannot get data from the radio ??

Some of the AOR packages will not enable the GET FROM RADIO icon unless you have a printer driver loaded (as you can print from the memory files), the icons are greyed out.  To address this issue, load a printer driver using the ADD wizard in the Windows printer section of software... you don't need to have a printer physically connected, just the drivers loaded - which only takes a few kb of disk space.  If you don't have a printer, select a generic printer such as the HP LasterJet II.

Also, make sure you use FILE / NEW and select MEMORY or SEARCH or AUTO... the GET FROM RADIO facility will not work unless you have a file open.

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Cannot establish communications with the radio ??

There may be many reasons for this , such as incorrect lead, computer port conflicts etc.  However, you will find that most packages default to COM2 (historically the spare COM port number has changed over the years to reflect current trends in computer manufacture).  Usually you can load the package and run it, then change the communication settings from a menu within the package. You must exit then re-start the package for the changes to take effect as they are written to an INI file and read only at start-up.  If the computer serial ports are full of junk data, re-boot the computer then re-start the package.

In the case of Data-Master for the AR7030, it may not be possible to operate the program when the radio has not been found.  To address this issue, manually EDIT the AR7030.INI file in the C:\DATAMAS directory using Windows NOTEPAD, look for the PORT section at the top of the file and set it appropriately COM1 / COM2 etc.  This work-around can also be used for other packages (AR8200.INI etc). 

Searchlight and Concerto software packages are probably not compatible with WindowsXP.  The RS232 API/VXD drivers are not compatible, we have even tried the 16-bit DIRECT I/O re-vectoring software without success.  You may consider making a FAT32 active partition on your hard drive and running W98 from the boot menu.

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Slow map drawing ??

If the maps are slow to draw on your screen (Data-Master), check that the screen resolution is not set to 32-bit, try 16-bit or even 256 colour depth as it will greatly speed up the screen draw process.

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Editing AOR software PC memory files

IF you do not wish to edit and sort the memory data within the specific software package, it is relatively easy to edit memory files produced by the following AOR software packages:

• Searchlight (AR3000 / AR3000A)
• Spectrum-Master (AR5000 / AR5000+3
• Data-Master (AR7030 / AR7030 PLUS / AR3030)
• PC-Manager (AR2700 / AR8000)
• Concerto (AR3030)
• Workshop (AR8200/1/2/3 / AR8600/1/2)

The memory files 'xxxxxxxx.MEM' are ASCII files and can be edited using Windows NOTEPAD or similar software.  Just ensure that the number of characters between the data fields are maintained (correct number of spaces) and word-wrap is turned off.  There are no comma separation, tab or other delimiter.  Generate an edit a COPY of the original data so that you do not destroy the format of the original... for later comparison.

A couple of flags are stated on specific lines, do not delete or modify them 'AR8200 extra memory data' and 'Label' for example.  Lines are separated with ASCII-11 and ASCII_13 (normal for DOS and Windows).

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PC-Manager for Windows, known issues

Crash at program exit: When in 1024x768 video mode, a bug occurs in the Borland object windows library that is built into the program at compile time. This bug is only invoked only if you have the memory window maximised on the application's desktop.

If you use another screen resolution or avoid using maximised memory windows on program exit, the problem will go away. Unfortunately, as this binary code is inaccessible and no longer supported by a more satisfactory solution cannot be offered at this time.

December 1999

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Spectrum Master, known issues

Bandscope report generator: The LOG produced by the bandscope feature looks fine, however when the log is opened and REPORT is executed, the data is not parsed correctly.  As the feature worked originally, we concluded that a bug had appeared on later versions of Spectrum Master - in this particular area.  To check this out, we started back-tracking over the last two years releases (but the bug was still present).  Finally we installed the DEMO version from the AOR UK web, this being V1.11.6 dated 10.03.1998... the REPORT generator works fine!

As re-working the original code would be a huge task (and only one report of the problem has been received to-date), another simple fix has been produced (lateral thought employed).  The EXE from the demo version 1.11.6 has been renamed to report.exe and placed in the working directory of Spectrum Master (by default c:\specmas).  When report.exe is then run from within the working directory, a new demo version of Spectrum Master is run, the original Spectrum Master installation is unaffected.

You can then open the LOG file and run the REPORT generator, the results will be fine.  Although the demo version has a time-out of ten minutes, the above process takes just a few seconds, so this is not a major issue.

Remember, the report.exe file MUST be copied to the working directory, it cannot operate as a stand-along program, do not have Spectrum Master running at the same time.

To operate the full version of Spectrum Master, simply click of the Spectrum Master icon or call ar5000.exe in the usual manner.

To download report.exe - click here.  The file is about 1.3MB in size, however, to keep things really simple, it has not been zipped... just save it to your Spectrum Master working directory and you are ready for action!

February 2002

Get from radio - memory bank: It appears that a bug has crept in with the GET FROM RADIO facility in respect of memory bank, particularly bank 2.  After 58% the progress bar shows a negative value and the procedure becomes confused.  Similar reports have been received regarding other memory banks

The software author retired some time ago, we contacted him to see if there is any chance of a 'fix' but he no-longer has the development software on his system... so we have to live with it.  The software package was re-packages in 2003 with revised install routines, documentation and removal of copy protection... the reduction in price to £19.95 inc VAT reflects the fact that no more updates are available.

September 2003

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AR8200 workshop software, known issues

Instability with screen resolution of 1024x768
There have been reports of instability or failure to close windows when running memory files maximised at 1024x768 screen resolutions... currently this is unresolved.
[March 2000]

Typo in AOR Workshop 2.0.6 - CTCSS list
A customer has reported a typo in one of the CTCSS dialog boxes:

I was working in AOR WORKSHOP (V2.0.6) with my AR8200b MK II and the typo is in the CTCSS dialog box.  It displays 131.9 where it should display 131.8. It enters it correctly as 131.8 to the radio so it's just a dialog box typo in the Group 1 list box.
[February 2002]

Maximum top frequency 2040MHz
Workshop software accepts a maximum top frequency input of 2040MHz (as per the AR8200MK1/MK2 and AR8600MK1).  It is possible to use the AR8200MK3 / AR8600MK2 but the maximum accepted frequency in VFO / MEMORY / SEARCH banks is 2040MHz, coverage to 3GHz is not supported in software.  Set the AR8200MK3 to AR8200MK2 and the AR8600MK2 to AR8600 in the setup menu.  As the software author has retired, we will not see further updates.

AOR WORKSHOP INSTABILITY with AR8200MK3
One report of the software crashing has been received with the AR8200MK3 while using the AOR WORKSHOP software and the 8200PC cable.  In particular the customer had a number of AFC flags set in memory channels... the same may apply where slot card flags are set.

Workshop tests were able to duplicate a program crash when AFC flags were encountered while uploading memory files from the receiver, the AR8200MK1 and AR8200MK2 appeared to operate correctly.  A similar error could be reproduced when using the AR8600 with AFC set… it is interesting to note that BUTEL and SACANCAT software worked fine with the same radio on the same computer.

AOR Japan confirmed that no change in command format has been made between versions and tests using HyperTerminal confirm this.  Further tests showed the problem to be machine specific, another identically specified PC (same CPU and operating system) worked fine.  This lead us to take a look at the transfer speeds.

AOR WORKSHOP has a global delay in the program INI file, but changing the value did not help.  We then looked at the UART timing of the PC and achieved success straight away.

It appears that the response from the AR8200MK3 and AR8600 may be slightly faster than the AR8200 MK1 / MK2 , this lead to instability (GPF).  Marginally slow down the UART (it wont affect system performance at all)…

On a Windows PC look at…
START / CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / DEVICE MANAGER / PORTS / select the appropriate COM port such as COM1 / PORT SETTINGS / ADVANCED

Now slow down the UART slightly.  At default the RECEIVE BUFFER is set to HIGH, change it to MEDIUM.  At default the TRANSMIT BUFFER is set to MAXIMUM, change it to MEDIUM.

On WinXP, the location is…
CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM (applet) / HARDWARE (tab) / DEVICE MANAGER (button) / PORTS (double click on appropriate comm. port) / PORT SETTING (tab) / ADVANCED (button).

Use slider control in dialog box to select slower port settings (does not show high/medium/low, but does show values 1-14 RX/1-16 TX… experiment with the values).

There should be no need to re-boot the computer.  The test machine now operates correctly using all versions of radio with or without the AFC flag set.

Note: if the squelch is OPEN, the radio freezes operation until the AFC tunes & settles.  In this AFC 'in progress' condition, no RS232 output is generated, so the timing of data collection may become upset and result in an error.  When transferring memory files, the squelch needs to be closed.  Butel software does not appear to be affected by the squelch status when transferring memory files which contain AFC flags.

[July 2003] 

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ARD-2 software and AirNav

The following comment has been made by the software author (Simon Collings) regarding the compatibility of the AR-2 software with AirNav:

The ARD-2 Display Tool software works with Airnav.  The compatibility issue which I resolved with the author, Andre Brandao, was a simple one.  Most ACARS decoders which write to disk use buffering so that the received data can lie latent in memory without actually being written to disk for quite some time.  I made sure that ARD-2 Display Tool flushes the disk buffer when each ACARS message is received so that Airnav could correctly monitor the log file and detect the change of datestamp by polling.  This means that when ARD-2 Display Tool is used with Airnav, each ACARS message is transferred immediately and the timing information should be accurate (provided the PC clock is correct).

At the time, the version of Airnav I was working with was V3. I understand that V4 is the current version - as far as I know it should still work (support for it is still there on the menus).

[Sept'02]

A few customers have experienced difficulty getting the two software packages to communicate (ARD-2 display and AirNav).  First run the ARD-2 software and enable the CAPTURE TO DISK facility (TOOLS/CAPTURE), remember the file name you have chosen and the path to this file on your disk.  Now run AirNav, select the ARD-2 from its list of supported ACARS decoders and point it at the file you have just nominated in the ARD-2 software.  One customer commented that by selecting 'ARD-2' in AirNav, it didn't work, so he selected 'other' (or it was 'unknown') and everything worked fine.  Remember, you are getting two pieces of software to communicate with each other... the ARD-2 software must first be running before you launch AirNav.

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Searchlight software, known issues

Searchlight (AR3000 / AR3000A) is not compatible with WindowsXP.  The RS232 API/VXD drivers are not compatible, we have even tried the 16-bit DIRECT I/O re-vectoring software without success.  You may consider making a FAT32 active partition on your hard drive and running W98 from the boot menu.

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Concerto software, known issues

Concerto (AR3030) is not compatible with WindowsXP.  The RS232 API/VXD drivers are not compatible, we have even tried the 16-bit DIRECT I/O re-vectoring software without success.  You may consider making a FAT32 active partition on your hard drive and running W98 from the boot menu.

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Data-Master software, known issues

We have had Data-Master running on a couple of PCs with WinXP. The copy protection takes about 2 minutes to transfer and thrashes the floppy drive for a while, but eventually does work (as long as its not a LS120 or network floppy or USB / PCMCIA etc).

If you do not have the radio connected and powered when launching the software, or have the wrong COM PORT nominated in the AR7030.INI file (located in the target directory c:\datamas by default), it will hang some PCs and cause others to freeze for about one or two minutes before generating an error message.

Make sure the radio is connected and powered, look in the target directory for the AR7030 INI file. Look to see what COM PORT is stated and edit it, use Windows NOTEPAD top do it...

[RS-232]
port=1

For COM1 set port=1, for COM2 set port=2. Save then exit NOTEPAD then re-launch the application.

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ACEPAC3 software (DOS)

Originally ACEPAC was released early in the 1990s as a DOS package for control of the AR3000, it was updated to
include support for the AR3000A around 1992 (the package was then titled ACEPAC3A)... shortly afterward the package was discontinued as faster PCs became available (which caused RS232 timing compatibility problems) and Windows started becoming increasingly popular.

Several utilities (such as ATSLOW) were employed by customers in the early days to marginally slow their computers down so that ACEPAC could still be used, however as the PC processor increased further in speed even this approach was unsuccessful. Of course when Windows95 appeared, things changed even further.

ACEPAC was produced by AOR Japan with the disks being mastered in Japan (we purchased and sold full packages). It is understood that the disk had a laser-lockout sector for copy protection security, as a result we cannot master / re-
master or provide replacement disks here in the UK.

The current Windows package for the AR3000 and AR3000A is SEARCHLIGHT FOR WINDOWS. Product information and a download demo is available from the following:

• Leaflet in HTML format
• Leaflet in Acrobat PDF format
• Download demo

Searchlight has copy control, please view INSTALL QUERIES page to check compatibility:

Each Searchlight package contains FIVE copy protection tokens, this means that if you have a disk crash / system re-build and lose the original token, you can still re-install another 4 times before the disk needs re-mastering, alternatively you can run a total of FIVE simultaneous installations (if you are careful not to lose tokens, the MOVE utility allows them to me
moved from hard drive to floppy and back again)... LS120 floppy drives are not compatible.

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Why is some software free and others are not

Originally AOR provided computer capability to the AOR receiver range in order to provide flexibility and an 'edge' over the competition. 

However, only a very small percentage of operators at that time (from mid 1980s) were using computer control, so AOR produced independently authored packages. The development and production cost was clawed back through sales of the
software. When AOR UK specifically became involved in producing software, the development cost was covered by the author and re-paid as a royalty of sales with copyright retained by the author.

As PC control has become increasingly popular, the development costs for software has been included in the total development budget of the radio... so the software licence has been purchased from the author and production costs minimised by making the software available free via the internet as a service to customers.

Unfortunately we cannot retrospectively alter the software licence, payment in the form of royalty is still payable for each package sold (control of AR8000, AR2700, AR3030, AR3000, AR3000A, AR5000, SDU5000, AR7030).

To complicate matters further, the software author has retired from the part-time freelance authoring market (mid 2000) to concentrate on his full time government job.  So far, we have experienced on-going support from him in respect of debugging but no new packages or features are anticipated, sorry. While it is a tempting thought for AOR to negotiate the purchase of licences for the previous packages so that they could be provided free, it would alienate existing customers who's 'financial investment' would be destroyed (lose / lose situation).

Several 3rd part authors have produced software for various AOR receivers, some of which have been made available as free downloads from the internet. Please refer to the software page links, for example, specifically for the AR8000 use the following address:

http://www.aoruk.com/software.htm
http://www.aoruk.com/software.htm#ar8000

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