AOR AR-IQ-III User manual

AR-IQ-III
Receiver control, I/Q recording & playback
for AR2300/AR5001 /AR6000 receivers
Operating manual
AOR Ltd.
Authority On Radio Communications
®

Table of contents:
1 Introduction and software description ··················································································· 1
2 PC requirements················································································································· 1
3 Connecting the receiver to the PC························································································· 2
Installing the drivers ··········································································································· 2
4-1 I/Q output driver install procedure ·························································································· 3
4-2 Receiver control driver install procedure ················································································· 4
5 License dongle ··················································································································· 5
6 AR-IQ III software operation ································································································· 6
6-1 Frequency tuning ··············································································································· 6
6-1-1 Frequency tuning with mouse wheel···················································································· 6
6-1-2 Frequency tuning by ten-key input ······················································································ 7
6-1-3 Frequency tuning by CF Step ···························································································· 7
6-1-4 Frequency tuning with the frequency bar ·············································································· 7
6-1-5 Frequency tuning with the secondary spectrum window ··························································· 8
a ) PBT mode ············································································································ 8
b ) Notch mode ·········································································································· 8
c ) ANotch (auto-notch) mode ······················································································· 8
d ) CWPeak filter ········································································································ 8
6-2 The main spectrum / waterfall window ···················································································· 9
6-2-1 Wheel step ···················································································································· 9
6-2-2 Frequency tuning by double click on spectrum ···································································· 10
6-2-3 Frequency tuning by mouse drag on spectrum ···································································· 10
6-2-4 Frequency tuning with “center” button ON ·········································································· 10
6-2-5 Frequency tuning with “center” button OFF ········································································· 11
6-2-6 Span ·························································································································· 11
6-2-7 Waterfall control ············································································································ 11
a ) speed, brightness, contrast ···················································································· 11
b ) Color palette ······································································································· 12
c ) FFT resolution ····································································································· 12
6-3 Marker ·························································································································· 12
6-4 Spectrum average (AVG) ·································································································· 14
7 I/Q recording & playback ··································································································· 1
7-1 Recording ······················································································································ 15
7-2 Playback ························································································································ 15
7-3 Fast forward & rewind ······································································································· 15
8 Other controls ·················································································································· 16
8-1 Antenna input ················································································································· 16
8-2 Pre-amp ························································································································ 16
8-3 Attenuator ······················································································································ 16
8-4 Amplitude (reference level & scale) ······················································································ 16
8-5 emodulation modes ········································································································ 17
8-6 Volume & mute ··············································································································· 17
8-7 Noise reduction ··············································································································· 17
8-8 Noise blanker (NB)··········································································································· 17
8-9 S-meter ························································································································· 17
8-10 Squelch & auto-mute ······································································································ 18
8-11 AGC (automatic gain control) ···························································································· 19
8-12 AGC spike rejection ········································································································ 19
9 Advanced parameters & reset ···························································································· 20

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1. Introduction and software description
Thank you for purchasing the AR2300/AR5001 /AR6000 receiver with the optional IQ5001 I/Q board and AR-IQ-III
software.
To obtain the best possible results from your receiver, we strongly recommend that you read this manual and familiarize
yourself with the receiver. Every effort has been made to make this manual correct and up to date. ue to continuous
developments of the receivers and this software, we acknowledge that there might be some changes, errors or
omissions.
The AR-IQ-III software allows direct control of the receiver through a graphical interface. The I/Q digital output of the
IQ5001 board represents the actual signal used after digital processing in the receiver. The digital I/Q output interface
streams I/Q data to the PC through USB2.0 isochronous mode, at 72Mbit/sec with a sampling rate of
1.125Msample/sec. All commands are sent to the receiver through the receiver’s remote control USB port.
Compared to a regular AF, which only allows recording one frequency at a time, I/Q allows you to store and playback a
full 0.9MHz bandwidth with no loss of quality!
This 0.9MHz bandwidth can be anywhere within the receiving range of the receiver.
Off-line, you can listen and decode within the recorded 0.9MHz range, tuning any frequency as you would in real time.
You can even loop a particular time frame to listen repeatedly to a signal received in difficult conditions, or search for
and analyze hard to catch signals bursts.
It is also possible to move the I/Q data to another PC and to listen/decode it off line, provided the USB license dongle is
inserted into that PC.
Please note that there is no inter-compatibility of wav files recorded with AR-IQ I, AR-IQ II and AR-IQ III, as they all use
different headers.
2. PC requirements
Suggested PC system:
Supported OS: Win 7/8.1/10
Intel I7 CPU
16 GHz RAM
H MI resolution monitor
Large size H for record/playback operations
Three available USB 2.0 ports are required (one for the I/Q stream, one for receiver control, one for the license dongle)
If you notice “audio stuttering” due to insufficient PC resources, it is possible to adjust the software’s “Buffer
Reads/Interval” to match your PC’s specifications, as described in chapter 9 “A VANCE PARAMETERS”.

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3. Connecting the receiver to the PC
Connect the two supplied USB cables as pictured here. One cable is for the I/Q data output and the other for receiver
control.
• Make sure to connect the I/Q stream USB cable to a direct USB socket connection on your PC. Avoid using a
USB hub.
• Some type of USB 3 ports can be incompatible due to the particular chipset they use. If that occurs, use a USB
2.0 port instead.
（
（（
（AR2300 rear panel）
））
）
（
（（
（AR5001D/AR6000 rear panel）
））
）
. Installing the drivers
There are 2 drivers to install: One for the I/Q output and one for the receiver control.
(All following instructions and screenshots are based on the Windows 10 operating system)
• Switch the receiver ON.
epending on your Windows version and whether or not you have already installed the drivers on your PC before, it is
possible that Windows automatically installs the drivers for you.
• To check the driver status, open WIN OWS EVICE MANAGER (press simultaneously the Windows key and
the X key, then select “ evice Manager”)
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3
-1 I/Q OUTPUT DRIVER INSTALL PROCEDURE:
The I/Q connection will
first be detected as an
“unknown device”.
Right-click it and select
“update driver”
Insert the supplied driver C into your computer and select the
corresponding drive.
“Next” will load and install the driver.
This is how the
I/Q driver will
appear in device
manager, once
the driver is
installed.

4
-2 RECEIVER CONTROL DRIVER INSTALL PROCEDURE:
Only necessary if for some reason the USB SERIAL PORT driver has not been automatically installed by
Windows or your PC is not connected to Internet and you need to manually install the driver from the supplied
C .
The connection has been
flagged with a yellow
exclamation mark under
“Other devices”
Right-click it and select
“update driver”
Insert the supplied driver C into your computer and select the
corresponding drive.
“Next” will load and install the driver.
This is how the USB SERIAL
PORT driver will appear in device
manager, once the driver is
installed. The COM number (4 in
this example) is automatically
assigned by Windows

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5. License dongle
① Insert the supplied USB dongle in an available USB port of
your PC. Windows will automatically install a driver,
recognize it as a common USB flash drive and assign a drive
letter such as “ :”, “E:” etc.
WARNING: Our USB dongles are guaranteed without virus infection, nevertheless some virus detection
software may incorrectly detect some of its files as a virus (or Trojan). This is called a false-positive alarm
and does not mean that files are indeed infected. Whenever your virus detection software informs you
about a possible threat, it usually gives you a choice of options about what to do next. Be sure to flag
those files as SAFE files, otherwise the dongle’s files might be rendered unusable or even deleted by the
virus detection software, and the AR-IQ III software will not run.
It is your responsibility to make sure that your virus detection software does not accidentally render the
USB license dongle and I/Q software unusable. The license information data inside the USB dongle is
unique and cannot be copied or backed-up. If you damage the USB license dongle, a new one needs to
be purchased.
② Inside the USB dongle, locate the software’s executable “ariq3.exe” and double click it to start the
software. The software runs directly from the USB dongle.
③ When you start the software for the first time, Windows will ask you to which COM PORT the receiver is
connected. Providing the correct number is entered, it will be saved in the registry, therefore you should
not need to enter it again. Nevertheless, after connecting the receiver to a different USB port on your PC,
the COM port number will change. If the com port number you entered is incorrect, the following error
message will appear:
The COM PORT number is the one Windows automatically assigned in EVICE MANAGER.
Note:  The license information data inside the USB dongle is unique and cannot be backed-up, copied or
moved. If you lose or damage the USB dongle, a new USB dongle needs to be purchased.
 o not record I/Q data to this dongle and do not use the dongle to store any data.
 Formatting the USB dongle, overwriting or deleting its content will destroy the licensing system, and
another USB dongle would have to be purchased.

6
6. AR-IQ III software operation
AR-IQ III interface:
6-1 Frequency tuning
6-1-1 Frequency tuning with mouse wheel
Tuning with mouse wheel while hovering on the digits of the frequency indicator panel. The digit of the currently tuned
frequency will be shifted upwards or downwards depending on wheel rotation direction.
Example: Let’s say you are tuned to 101.756 MHz and you hover the mouse over the third digit “1”. Then by scrolling up
or down you will change the tuned frequency of 1 MHz for each scroll increment.
If you wish to tune by increments of 100 kHz, hover the mouse over
the digit “7”. Then by scrolling up or down you will change the tuned
frequency of 100 kHz for each scroll increment.
To tune by increments of 10 kHz, hover the mouse over the digit “5”.
Then by scrolling up or down you will change the tuned frequency of
10 kHz for each scroll increment.

7
6-1-2 Frequency tuning by ten-key input
• ouble click on the marked frequency indicator panel to display the ten-key
window. This allows direct frequency input.
• Enter the desired frequency by clicking on the digits of the ten-key, including the
[.] if necessary.
• Select [kHz] or [MHz]. The receiver will then be tuned to this frequency.
• Click on “Close” when that panel is not needed anymore.
.
6-1-3 Frequency tuning by CF step
Clicking on the buttons with the white triangle, on either side of the main spectrum control bar does increment or
decrement the frequency by the step size set in the CF STEP indicator panel.
(Main spectrum control bar)
(Span, CF Step, Wheel Step indicator panel)
6-1- Frequency tuning with the frequency bar
A) rag the frequency bar left or right while pressing the left mouse button.
B) Hover with the mouse over the frequency bar and scroll the mouse wheel up or down, at increments as set in the
WHEEL STEP indicator panel.

8
6-1-5 Frequency tuning with the secondary spectrum window
Allows to fine-tune the filter passband in 3 modes: PBT, NOTCH and AMREJ.
a) PBT mode (Passband tuning)
Centers the carrier frequency you have double clicked on
the secondary spectrum.
Press the left mouse button while dragging left or right
does retune the center frequency.
Adjust the filter bandwidth with the mouse scroll. (30 Hz to
225 kHz, IF mode and BW dependent.)
rag either filter edge. Hover with the mouse over the
filter edge until a horizontal double arrow appears, then
drag the filter edge while left-clicking.
Clicking on the white arrows does increase/decrease the
frequency by the value set in WHEEL STEP.
Shift the entire filter by dragging it left or right, while
pressing the right mouse button. This is an actual software emulation, therefore the received frequency and the
frequency on the frequency panel do not change. Convenient for co-channel interference removal.
b) Notch mode (not active in WFM mode)
The notch function is effective for cycle noise on the
receive signal.
To activate it, double click the offending signal on the
spectrum.
Attenuation is tunable using the mouse wheel.
Filter signal can be dragged with the left mouse button.
The notch function is also accessible in the PBT mode, by
pressing the CTRL key.
eactivate the notch by right clicking on it.
The vertical yellow bar does mark the place where the
notch has been applied. The frequency is displayed at the
top of the bar (5.00 kHz in this example)
c) ANotch (auto-notch) mode (not active in WFM mode)
Automatically detects cycle noise and applies a notch on it. The slider with “Slow” to “Fast” markings determines the
speed at which the notch is applied.
d) CWPeak filter
This is an adaptive filter for CW signals. It only works if there is a carrier. The slider with “Slow” to “Fast” markings
determines the speed at which the filter adaptation takes place.

9
6-2 The main spectrum / waterfall window
isplays the spectrum with a bandwidth of up to 900 kHz. (+/- 450 kHz around the center frequency).
You can chose between spectrum view and waterfall view.
(Main spectrum view)
(Waterfall view)
6-2-1 Wheel step
This is the value by which the spectrum will be shifted by scrolling the
mouse wheel, when the mouse is hovered anywhere over the spectrum
or waterfall.
Possible steps are:
500kHz, 100, 50, 25, 12.5, 10, 9, 5, 1kHz, 100, 10Hz, 1Hz.

10
6-2-2 Frequency tuning by double click on spectrum
It is possible to “visually” decide to which frequency you would like to tune the receiver by double-clicking directly on the
spectrum or waterfall. The minimum resolution is 1 kHz.
6-2-3 Frequency tuning by mouse drag on spectrum
Note: CENTER button in TUNING panel must be unchecked.
A faster way to quickly change frequencies ”visually” on the spectrum is to hover your mouse inside the grayed out
range of the IF filter until the mouse pointer changes to a horizontal double arrow, then drag the mouse either left or
right on to the spectrum while pressing the left mouse button.
(Tuning by mouse drag)
6-2- Frequency tuning with “center” button ON
With this setting, the yellow tuning dial line will always represent the
center of the frequency scale. ouble clicking somewhere on the
spectrum will shift the whole spectrum to the double-clicked frequency
being the new center of the frequency scale. oing so while in waterfall
mode, will be the easiest way to understand the procedure.

11
6-2-5 Frequency tuning with “center” button OFF
With this setting, the spectrum remains fixed, whereas the yellow tuning
dial will jump to whatever frequency you double clicked on the spectrum.
This mode is convenient if you want to search through frequencies
between a fixed start and end frequency. Also, in the waterfall mode
(see image below), you can keep track of active frequencies (vertical lines) no matter what frequency you are actually
listening to.
6-2-6 Span
The span is the width of the main spectrum window. You can chose
between 900.9kHz, 450.4kHz, 225.2kHz, 112.6kHz, 56.3kHz, 28.2kHz,
14.1kHz, 7.0kHz, 3.5kHz.
Used in both live reception and playback.
Please note that in order to provide the best possible spectrum accuracy, as per the rule 1FFT bin = 1 pixel, and to
avoid resampling the spectral data, the full bandwidth of 900kHz can only be displayed when the program window is
shrinked to its minimum width.
6-2-7 Waterfall control
a) Speed, brightness, contrast
The 3 sliders on the far
right side of the spectrum
window allow adjusting of
the waterfall’s speed,
brightness and contrast
for optimal viewing.

12
b) Color palette
Here you can decide which colors are displayed depending on the signal strength. Not active for regular spectrum view.
c) FFT resolution
The FFT sharpness (spectral resolution) can be improved at the expense of refresh rate. This function is particularly
useful when analyzing strong carrier signals and carrier feed-through on adjacent bins has to be reduced at minimum.
Freq: offers the best performance at the expense of a slight degradation of the signal amplitude accuracy and
refresh rate.
Time: Selects the FFT algorithm of previous software versions (FFT with Hann window)
Mix: Selects a polyphase FFT analysis with increasing window length (Polyphase FFT with quasi-flat-top
amplitude response)
6-3 Marker
A right mouse click feature is available within the spectrum / waterfall panel. Right click on up to eight frequencies, and
a small arrow appears. In waterfall mode, the arrow is situated where the signal waveform would be on the spectrum

13
view. On the spectrum view, the arrows are located where the mouse was right clicked. The screenshot below shows
the numbered arrows, relating to Mkr1-Mkr8 in small text on the top right. The frequency and signal intensity in dBm is
also given.
(Spectrum view with MARKER function enabled)
【Clr】button: Clears the marker arrows from the spectrum / waterfall display.
【elta】button: This button changes the values from the markers 2 to 8 to delta values (different
from MRK 1)
【Labels】button: Activates a vertical scale at the left side of the
spectrum window. When the scale is activated, the value of the
frequency and of the amplitude of the signal at the frequency
pointed by the mouse (indicated by the reference red line) will be
shown.
【PeakSrc 】button: When activated, the frequency and the
amplitude of the signal peak nearest to the reference line will be
shown.

14
6- Spectrum average (AVG)
AVG Main: Stabilizes the spectrum waveform in the main spectrum / waterfall display. Will also
stabilize the waterfall mode. The main spectrum average function and its slider control are active only
when the enable button above the slider is enabled.
AVG Sec: Stabilizes the spectrum waveform in the secondary “bandwidth” display/panel. The
secondary spectrum average function and its slider control are active only when the enable button
above the slider is enabled.
7. I/Q recording & playback
AR-IQ III allows to record 900kHz of the RF spectrum directly to the PC’s hard drive, and to play back the file at a
convenient time, while having all features such as bandwidth, mode, passband tuning, etc.available as in a live
reception situation.
The software will automatically divide the recording into “wav” files of approx. 2GB, which corresponds to approx. 4
minutes of recording. Although a recording is divided into multiple files, the playback will be without any interruptions.
Every 4 minutes, a new .wav file will be created of which the 3 last digits will be automatically incremented.
For example:
XXX_000.wav
XXX is the file name you chose
After 4 minutes, the next file will be:
XXX_001.wav
And then every 4 minutes:
XXXXXX_002.wav
XXXXXX_003.wav etc.
• The resulting .wav file can only be played back with the AR-IQ III software! It will not work in other media player
software.
Controls:
Recording date Recording time (UTC)
Stop Play Record Progress bar File location & name Available disk space
The recording date is based on your PC’s system date, however the recording time is UTC.

15
7-1 Recording
To record, first select the center frequency of your choice.
Click on the record button at the bottom left of the window.
A new window pops up asking for a user defined file name and folder location to store the file. For ease of use it is
advised to create a file name which includes the date, such as 180622 for June 22, 2018. The software will amend this
file name with _000 to become 180622_000.
Note: uring recording and playback, the frequency range (start and end frequency) cannot be changed.
7-2 Playback
To play back a file which has been recorded at an earlier time, click on the "Wav" button, within the "INPUT SELECT"
panel.
The receiver stops receiving live signals and the "Wav" and "File" buttons are now activated. Click "File" and browse on
the PC to the location of the pre-recorded file(s).
If your previous recording has created numerous automatically named files, the software will playback the
whole series of files if required. This playback should be continuous and flawless, even during track / file change.
uring playback, the software will display date and time in the same format as during recording.
Note: Playback of a .wav file will also work if the receiver is not connected to the PC.
• Playback will only work properly if the data is read off an internal H , or SS . It is unlikely to function well off
a USB key, USB hard-drive, V disk, or any networked storage device.
7-3 Fast forward & rewind
Left click anywhere on the progress bar to advance to a chosen point of the recording.
To loop the playback over a smaller selection, simply left click and hold at the desired spot on the progress bar. rag
the mouse pointer along to the right to create a new line, which will be a much paler shade of yellow. Release the
mouse button to start playback immediately from the new desired spot. This should be flawless and instant. The player
will repeat the new selected section only, over and over, until manually stopped. This may be useful if the user wishes
Actual playback point
Looped selection

16
to repeat a possible station I over and over again.
A left click on the line cancels the new selection, and continues playback normally.
Troubleshooting: If the user fails to create a new line, but only "clicks" to attempt to advance playback by a few
minutes, the software may seem to "stick". The player is probably only playing back a very small selected area over
and over again, hence the impression of "stuttering and jamming".
8. Other controls
8-1 Antenna input
Allows manual or automatic antenna selection.
• Note regarding HF reception:
When receiving frequencies below 25MHz through the AR-IQ3 software,
the HF antenna should be physically connected to the antenna socket #1,
even though it’s usually #2 when the receiver is used “stand-alone”. This is due to the fact that the receiver’s internal
antenna wiring is different when used “stand-alone” vs controlled by software.
8-2 Pre-amp
Switches the receiver’s front-end pre-amplification on. When in the ON
position, the attenuator level is set to 0dB.
8-3 Attenuator
Like on a conventional receiver, the attenuator reduces signal input. This
may be useful if a user has problems with strong local signals appearing on
frequencies other than their own.
Possible selections:【0dB】【10dB】【20dB】
Whichever selected, the “Pre-amp” is switched off.
8- Amplitude (reference level & scale)
Both "Ref Level" and "Scale" alter the height and position of the spectrum
waveform displayed when the spectrum mode on the main panel is
selected, as well as the spectrum waveform in the secondary “bandwidth”
window.

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8-5 Demodulation modes
The following modes can be used:
AM, SAM (SYNC AM), CW, RTTY, LSB, USB, FM, WFM, USER
8-6 Volume & mute
Volume control is on the bottom right of the software, though many users prefer to use the volume on their external
amplifiers. The button above the volume slider enables the audio output and mutes it when disabled.
8-7 Noise reduction
The NR control reduces background noise and is activated by the button above its slider control. The NR slider controls
the amount of noise reduction. The noise reduction can be activated in all modes except with the USER demodulator.
8-8 Noise blanker (NB)
The NB control reduces impulsive noise and is activated by the button above its slider control. The NB slider sets the
threshold of the noise blanker. Care should be exercised when strong signals are present in the band where the
receiver is tuned. A too low NB threshold (NB slider at or near its maximum position) may affect the quality of the tuned
signal and introduce intermodulation distortions.
Two noise blankers can be selected with the two buttons "NBW" (Wide) and "NBN" (Narrow).
The Narrow NB, operates on the bandwidth selected with the BW buttons (50 kHz, 25 kHz, 12 kHz, etc.).
The Wide NB is more effective when there are no strong signals in the bandwidth the C is tuned to.
The Narrow NB is more effective in all other cases.
8-9 S-meter
The signal strength meter (S-meter) is marked in both S points and dBm (S9=-73 dBm input). The S-meter response is
very linear thorough all its scale and accurate to within less than 1 dB across the range.
LOCK indication: When operating in Sync AM mode (SAM), a small "LOCK" display appears at the top right of the
meter, when the demodulator locks on to the AM carrier.