¿ªÔÆÌåÓýThanks for the heads-up. I did see that earlier today and from it got an idea of what it does. In my case the antenna situation is in a bit of a limbo. I stepped away from the hobby for about 10 years and got into it again about 2 years ago. The difference from now and back then was, earlier I had a good assortment of dipole antennas plus more room.? For the last year I¡¯ve been operating solely on 20M and more recently played with a 10 M dipole. I¡¯m in the process of changing that with the purchase of an end-fed 40 M to 10 M. I got mine from HFkits in Holland. It¡¯s the same one being sold by ARRL. I can¡¯t use 80 M anymore because, in this location, I just don¡¯t have the room (Trees/lot size/wires. I¡¯m trying to get my hands on a couple of parts to use in a small circuit as described by WA7ARK. He did extensive work to see if the ARRL kit did what they said it could do. Seems it didn¡¯t quite live up to the promotion. I¡¯m also planning a vertical. It¡¯s all a great bit of fun and good to be back.. While the FT8 and a couple of its buddy modes are now working fine for me, the VARA/WinLink is proving more challenging. I appreciate the help fellow HAMs have given me. In the meantime, I will certainly wean out the frequencies, as you described. 73s for now. ? [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian - W7OWO ? The Winlink Express in a VARA HF session mode has an Auto-connect feature that is great for finding a workable frequency.? ? ?Within the VARA HF session window Settings, you can modify the Auto-Connect Settings to tailor it to your wants.? ?I usually try for stations in the 17 meter to 10 meter frequencies as they usually aren't as busy.? To ensure a good connection limit the Maximum VARA SNR to -9.? Make sure you also have a minimum bandwidth for VARA at 500.? There are other parameters such as minimum distance if you wish for a station further away, though that may limit you success.?? ? Expect to find HF frequencies busy.? FCC rules and regulations pertaining to amateur radio, Part 97, limits the HF operations of automatically controlled Stations? (a station that can transmit with no human intervention) to a small subset of the digital frequencies.? This only applies to automatically controlled stations that have a bandwidth > 500 Hz. ?
? Considering that the standard bandwidth of a VARA transmission is 2300 Hz and on 40 meters the whole allowed bandwidth is 5000 Hz, only two connections in propagation distance to each other can operate.? If a 2750 bandwidth Vara session is chosen, only one can operate if one was trying not to impact another connection.? Fortunately VARA HF also has a narrow mode (500 Hz) that can operate most anywhere digital modes can operate.? Since there are many other digital modes that have standard locations or watering holes that like transmissions can be found, so prior to? attempting a connection.? ?WSJTX modes all have a short period of quiescence within their timed signal periods or other modes may be communicating with a station you can't hear, so listen for a period before attempting a connection on what at first listening sounds like an open band.? ? While a VARA 500 connection is a bit slower,? I find the time waiting for a clear frequency for those using wider modes usually take way more time and usually use VARA 500 for most of my contacts.? ?Also on some digital contest weekends, you may find it is best to use Winlink on the WARC bands or VARA FM on UHF/VHF FM gateways.? I am often surprised how well a connection I can get with a some of the gateways on the higher frequencies and will use them during busy periods.? ? Brian - W7OWO? |
KeithP