Ar86ctrl

FREE control software for the AR8600 and AR8200 radio scanners

The AR8600/8200 communications receivers can be controlled via a serial port of your computer, using a standard RS-232 cable.

Ar86ctrl is a control program for the AOR® AR8600 and AR8200 communications receivers. Please note that there was no further development since 2004, and that there will be no updates. Anyway, it runs well under Windows® versions up to Windows 7, and it may run also on newer versions.

You can not choose COM-Ports with numbers greater than 4 from inside the program. If you want to do so, you have to edit the configuration file AR86.ini found in the installation directory. Use a text editor (e.g. Notepad) and set the entry COMPortNum in the [RS232] section to the number of the COM-Port used.

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DISCLAIMER

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. USE AR86CTRL AT YOUR OWN RISK! IN NO WAY CAN THE AUTHOR OF AR86CTRL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE OR LOSS OF DATA RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE. AR86CTRL COMES AS IS WITH NO GUARANTEES WHATSOEVER.

Features

General

• a "front panel like" dialogbar which is always visible gives quick access to the main functions. There's no need to navigate through awkward menus to control the receiver
• below the "front panel", there's a table in which either a memory bank, the search banks list, the pass frequencies list or the select scan list can be displayed. Alternatively the list of the currently opened logfile can be shown
• all lists are sortable by simply clicking on the column headers, by frequency, number, mode, date, ...
• possibility to generate a squelch controlled logfile. An entry is made when squelch opens for a certain time (configurable) with date, time, frequency, duration and an optionally generated wave-file
• audio recording, either manually or squelch controlled
• play recorded audio files (using external player) with a doubleclick in the log list view
• instead of the list view, a high resolution bandscope can be started. Three different modes are offered: normal, peak hold and statistic
• tune to a frequency from within the bandscope by clicking on the graphical trace.
• you can use long filenames and context menus
• set beep volume, welcome message and LCD contrast
• power off, optionally power off on program exit
• search for text in the listview
• jump to the best matching VFO frequency in the listview
• level squelch slider that can be used instead of the squelch at the receiver. Works for VFO's and in all scan and search modes.

VFO / Search

• see frequencies of all three VFO's at a glance
• easily switch between VFO's
• set VFO parameters with checkboxes and dropdown lists
• numeric frequency input (comma and dot are accepted as decimal point)
• display search banks in a table, rename, edit, delete or start a search via context menu
• dialog based configuration of search banks and search groups (including bank links)
• add unwanted frequencies during search to the search pass list with a mouseclick
• view and modify the search pass list in a table via context menu
• edit searchgroup settings while searching

Memory Channels / Scan

• tune to a memory channel by doubleclicking in the list
• simply add settings made in the VFO-mode to a memory bank via context menu
• fast readout of all memory channels in a bank
• rename, edit, delete memory channels
• dialog based configuration of scan banks and scan groups (including bank links)
• skip over currently unwanted channels during scan by setting the pass flag
• easily build up a select scan list and start a select scan
• save memory contents to text files in AOR's ".mem" file format
• restore memory contents from ".mem" files, even if the file is from another bank or smaller than the target bank
• cut or copy and paste a memory channel from a bank and move it to another location in the same or a different bank, using Ctrl-c, Ctrl-x, Ctrl-v
• memory bank resizing supported
• edit scan group settings while scanning

Databases

• basic database support for Excel and dBASE files
• choose up to 9 columns from your existing Excel/dBASE files
• up to three databases configurable, simply loaded by a button click
• column widths can be stored for each of the three databases
• tune from your database
• add active VFO frequency plus comments to your database
• search for text or frequencies in the listview