# A R TALK v4.1 By Ian Spencer (DJ0HF/G3ULO)

This Windows program was written by me DJ0HF and designed to allow simple operation of the AOR AR8600 scanner for the sighted or blind using a windows PC and using single key presses to select most options and doesn’t need any libraries etc. just one single exe file to run. It should run on any Windows PC XP/7/8/10/11 but has only been tested on Windows 10 and 11. I wrote this program because even for a sighted person operating the radio with the buttons on the front panel is far from easy.

## The Config file

First you need to set the com port and speed in the configuration file. The default speed for the A R 8600 is 9600Baud. Corr is not used at the moment and Voice should be set to 1 for voicing and 0 for no voicing.

## Starting A R Talk

Now when you start A R Talk it announces the version number and then it will announce the frequency and mode and say connected if it doesn't say connected then probably there is something wrong with the com port or speed in the config file or the cable. Hitting any key when the radio is not connected will close the program.

Note when the A R 8600 is being controlled from a computer all the buttons and tuning knob are disabled this is a fixed feature of the A R 8600.

A R Talk does not contain any commands for adjusting the AF gain or the squelch.

The power on/off and A F gain is controlled by the top knob on the left hand side of the front panel of the radio.

The Squelch is controlled by the bottom knob on the left hand side of the front panel.

## First time you use A R Talk

AR Talk can use 100 banks of channels on your computer, each bank can hold up to 90 channels. Bank00 to Bank99 and Bank00 is the special search bank used to store channels while searching between two frequencies.

This program also uses 10 banks in the radio itself labelled A to J and they need to be set to 90 channels per bank and although you can use the program immediately if you want to use commands which use the banks of channels in the radio then you need to configure them first to 90 channels each.

You do this by hitting Z. The program will then check which banks are already set to 90 channels and those which are not will be re-configured to 90 channels. The radio needs quite a lot of time to do this, about 2 to 3 minutes per bank and while this operation is being carried out then about every 10 seconds or so there will be a beep from the program. When finished A R Talk will voice checking configuration okay and the beeps will stop. If you have already configured all the banks to 90 channels then the program will only need about 10 seconds of time to check the configuration is correct when you hit Z.

## Direct frequency Entry

Simply type a frequency such as 7 or 14.2 or 145.5 and hit the Enter key, with the MK1 scanner you can select any frequency between 500Khz and 2400Mhz and with the MK2/3 between 100Khz and 3000Mhz.

## Mode selection

The modes are selected with the function keys.

F1 is FM, F2 is AM, F3 is LSB, F4 is USB, F5 is CW, F6 is WFM, F7 is Auto.

## Tuning

You can tune with the cursor keys up and down arrow change frequency by 1Khz and the right and left cursor keys in 100Hz steps. Page Up and Page down change the frequency by the value stored as the increment/step (voice with I then Enter as explained below)

## Frequency/Mode/S-Meter voicing

You can voice the frequency and mode by hitting the F key.

So you can easily check to what frequency the radio is tuned for any frequency and mode within the 8600's range.

If a signal is being received then the S meter reading can be voiced by hitting M for meter which is the S meter.

## Putting a frequency into a bank

If you have the radio set to a frequency you can store this in any bank between 00 and 99 by hitting P for put vfo into a bank and then a 2 digit bank number between 00 and 99 followed by the Enter key. If the bank does not exist it will be automatically created and the mode set to whichever mode is selected in the program currently. Duplicate frequencies will not be stored.

## Searching between two frequencies

This is a high speed search.

First you need to set up the AR8600 to begin a search.

Type S for start frequency and then a frequency for example 145.5 and hit Enter.

Type E for the end frequency and then a frequency for example 146.0 and hit Enter.

Type I for the increment/step then the value in khz for example 12.5 and hit Enter.

If you forget the settings you can voice the Start frequency with S then Enter, the End frequency with E then Enter or the Increment/step with I then Enter.

Now you have to make a decision about what to do when the radio is searching and finds a signal/frequency. There are two options the first is called stop mode which means when the radio finds a signal searching stops and it stays on that frequency until the signal disappears or you hit the space bar to force the radio to continue searching or you hit Enter to exit search mode. Or you can use continue mode where the program registers the frequency and then continues scanning automatically. Each time a new frequency is identified the count of frequencies found so far is voiced.

Each frequency found in the scan is automatically saved to bank00, no duplicates are saved or voiced.

So for example in continue mode you can leave the radio scanning for example 2 metres FM for an hour or so and at the end you will have a list of all the signals found stored in bank00.

You choose whether to run the search in stop or continue mode with the C key before starting the search (default is continue mode).

So now you are ready to run the search by hitting R. The program will announce the mode and that search mode is active. As each active frequency is found it will not only be stored in bank00 (unless it is a duplicate) but also the number of frequencies found so far will be announced. If the search tries to save a frequency after 90 entries then bank full will be announced.

To exit the scan mode hit Enter this stops the scan and announces how many frequencies it has found.

## Moving Channels to another bank

Now you should add the channels you have found to another bank with the T transfer command (for example T09 to add the new channels to bank09) because when you start a new search bank00 will be automatically cleared.

You can use the T command to transfer any banks channels to any other bank but if you only enter 2 digits then bank00 will be transferred to that bank but if for example you enter T0208 then all the channels in bank 2 will be added to bank 8. Any duplicate frequencies will not be stored.

## Removing channels from a program bank

It is a good idea the first time you do this with a bank to check for any permanent signals, for example beacons on an amateur band or a weather broadcast on an aeronautical or marine band because if you scan using this bank the scan will stop on the permanent signal/frequency and will only continue if you hit the space bar.

So you can select the bank by hitting B and then a 2 digit bank number followed by the Enter key. Once selected you can step through the bank with the up and down cursor keys and if you cycle through the bank when the first channel is selected then a beep will sound to tell you that you are on channel 1. If you find a frequency with a permanent signal on it that you want to remove then hit K for kill channel and the Enter key and that frequency will be removed from the bank.

## Adding frequencies to a bank

You can also put any frequency into any bank.

if you have for example typed 145.7 and hit Enter the scanner is on 145.7Mhz.

Now if you type P for put and a bank number for example P03 then 145.7 will be added to bank 03.If you enter a bank number which doesn't yet exist it will be automatically created.

Or you can do the entries with a text editor simply open for example bank03.dat on your computer and overwrite the 9999 entry with 145.7 and then have a blank line after that and then in the next line type 9999 and save the file. Remember each entry is two lines the frequency and a name for the channel (not fully used at the moment). This is a good way to enter a number of new channels you know such as local repeaters into a bank.

## Organise a bank

You can organise a bank 00 to 99 in frequency order by typing O followed by the 2 digit bank number.

## Scan or select a bank of memory channels

there are two types of scan. The first using the banks stored in the radio, banks A to J and the second using the banks stored on your computer banks 00 to 99.

Selecting to scan a bank of channels in the radio runs more quickly because the channels are already in the radio and it is a high speed scan but you must transfer the channels from a computer bank 00 to 99 into one of the radio banks A to J first. After you have transferred them then you can use then as often as you want as they stay stored in the radio.

## Writing a bank to the radio

So to write the channels to the radio bank hit W for write bank and the program will ask for the bank number so type a 2 digit bank number 00 to 99 then the program will ask for the radio bank so type a letter between A and J (there are 10 radio banks), then hit Enter. You do not have to wait for the voicing so you can just type W01B and hit Enter to write bank 01 into radio bank B as all keys are buffered. However the radio takes time to do the write so the program will say please wait and after every 10 channels written there will be a beep. When finished the program says okay.

## Scanning with a radio bank

Now to start a scan of a radio bank just type G for go to radio bank and the ID letter A to J and when you hit Enter the scan will start. The scan is very fast. When you stop on a signal hitting F will announce the frequency but if the radio is still scanning it will just say scanning. If the scan stops on a signal you can make it continue the scan by hitting the space bar or wait for the signal to disappear. If you continue the scan with the space bar then the next time round it will stop of this signal again, if you want this frequency/signal to be ignored then hit P for pass while stopped on the signal and it will be ignored and the radio will not stop on this frequency/signal again. You can exit the scan with the Enter key and when you exit the scan all the pass frequencies will be reset and they will become available again.

## Selecting or scanning a bank within my program

If you have channels in a bank within the program 00 to 99 then you can select that bank by hitting B for bank and then for example 01 to select bank 01 and if you hit Enter then the bank is selected, and you can move up and down the channels in the bank using the cursor up and down keys, when on channel 1 there will be a beep.

To begin a scan just hit the R key.

Remember my program has to transfer each frequency individually to the radio so this type of scan is much slower than scanning using a bank of channels in the radio, as described above.

## Stopping on a signal

if the radio has stopped on a channel/frequency you can hit F and it will announce the frequency this works for both radio bank and program bank scanning and you can continue the scan by hitting the space bar.

When you are using one of the scan modes then if it is a band with very short transmissions then it can be annoying that the program voices the words stopped and scanning quite often. You can toggle this voicing either on or off at any time with the N for no scan voicing.

## Other key choices

some things can be set while not in search or scan Mode!

You can switch the Noise limiter on or off with L

You can switch the Attenuator on or off with A

You voice Help with H.

You exit the program with Q.