From: fireman@wam.umd.edu (Aaron Joseph Peterson)
Subject: Re: AOR-900 Purchase
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 02:19:14 GMT

Newsgroups: alt.radio.scanner
Subject: Re: AOR-900 Purchase
Summary: 
Expires: 
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Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Keywords: 


I have an AOR-900 that I am COMPLETELY satisfied with. It has some
features that are unique to AOR, but then my other 5 scanners also
have there own peculiarities.
What I like:
The Display backlight can be turned on and left on. (Bearcat handheld
can't do that.
5 SEPERATE search banks A-E. I can set one to scan marine freqs, one
for cordless phones, and have several for search bands (low,high,uhf)
NO MODS REQUIRED FOR CELLULAR ACCESS
Programmable AM/FM on any band (800 mhz AM anyone?)
I can charge it and listen to it at the same time (with backlighting)
with the optional 12v adapter.
Receives 10 meter ham band and 3/4 of CB band. I can listen to the
Virgin Is. repeater on 29.66 FM!!!

What I dislike:
The battery back is not Easily removed. It is SIX AA batteries with
shrink wrap around them and a connector to the PC board that is tough
to work without a pair of tweezers. However the battery lasts a good
8 hours and can be easily replaced by any store that sells cordless
phone batteries (standard SANYO part number). I have had mine 4 years and
the batteries are still OK.
The scanner, when turned on, goes into "SCAN with all banks in" which
means you have to lock out all of the unwanted banks every time you turn
it on.
The squelch, if set to hair-trigger on one band (vhf low for example)
may need to be readjusted higher for a different band. I keep mine most
of the way up anyway.
The unit emits alot of RF energy which tends to wipe out other scanners in
the same room/block. People can tell when I pull into the driveway because
their scanners stop scanning or click. This is a comman problem that I
have with multiple scanners in the same room, however this unit has it
the worst. BTW this only happens when both scanners are on frequencies which 
are close to each other or the same. I think it has to do with the fact
that the AOR-900 has very little metal at all in it (not much shielding).
The instruction manual sucks, but I usually don't read them anyway.
(After your first 3 or 4 scanners it all becomes intuitive.)

Why did I buy the AOR-900? Continous 800 Mhz coverage right out of the
box with no micro-surgery required! At the time I bought mine the 
Bearcat 800mhz handheld and the AOR-900 were 10 dollars difference. So
I got the AOR (it was more expensive)...
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Fireman - it's not what I do, it is what I am.
Member - College Park Volunteer Fire Dept. P.G. MD
Member - Level Volunteer Fire Dept. Harford Co  MD
 "My hobby is saving lives. What's yours?"
 Ham Radio Callsign - N3JVP   Prodigy address  - NKNJ38C

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