Re: 30 Meters APRS-over-VARA NVIS
I’m assuming that the Colo based KD0LEG-10 is still functioning as a digipeater. He was doing so in the past. ? Just confirmed the above. 
?
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of WA8LMF via groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2025 11:45 AM
To: Stephen Smith <wa8lmf@...>
Subject: [VARA-MODEM] 30 Meters APRS-over-VARA NVIS? I have been monitoring/igating 40-meters APRS-over-VARA for about two weeks now. ?? [The WA8LMF 40-meters APRS-over-VARA igate/mapping webserver is now monitoring 7.083.5 USB full-time 24/7/365 .] Most of the 40M activity has been long-haul at night from the west coast.? In the daytime, when the useful range on 40 is typically 500 miles (800 km) or so, I have seen few if any stations in the mid-west (my QTH is in central Michigan).? This is now slowly changing.... Today I am copying a short-haul NVIS station on 40 for the first time.??? N5AMD-1 near Battle Creek, MI is only about 50 miles (80 km) from me This screencap is from my 40M APRS-over-VARA igate, taken just now at 12:36 EST (1736 UTC).? (You are seeing UIview32 running in a virtual machine on a Win7 host running on an Acer E3-111 "netbook" 11.8" mini-laptop.)?? You can see this map display anytime at: ??? ?? Choose the 40 meters APRS-over-VARA link. 
Stephen H. Smith??? wa8lmf (at) aol.com
Skype:??????? WA8LMF
EchoLink:? Node #? 14400? [Think bottom of the 2-meter band]
Home Page:?????????
New? 30 Meter?? APRS-over VARA? Frequency
As of 1 Jan 2025.?? Details Here:
????
- APRS over VARA? --
??
"Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels
??
-
? ?
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30 Meters APRS-over-VARA NVIS
I have been monitoring/igating 40-meters
APRS-over-VARA for about two weeks now. ??
[The WA8LMF 40-meters APRS-over-VARA
igate/mapping webserver is now monitoring 7.083.5 USB full-time
24/7/365 .]
Most of the 40M activity has been long-haul at
night from the west coast.? In the daytime, when the useful
range on 40 is typically 500 miles (800 km) or so, I have seen
few if any stations in the mid-west (my QTH is in central
Michigan).? This is now slowly changing....
Today I am copying a short-haul NVIS station
on 40 for the first time.??? N5AMD-1 near Battle Creek, MI is
only about 50 miles (80 km) from me
This screencap is from my 40M APRS-over-VARA
igate, taken just now at 12:36 EST (1736 UTC).? (You are seeing
UIview32 running in a virtual machine on a Win7 host running on
an Acer E3-111 "netbook" 11.8" mini-laptop.)??
You can see this map display anytime at:
??? ?? Choose the
40 meters APRS-over-VARA link.
Stephen H. Smith???
wa8lmf (at) aol.com
Skype:??????? WA8LMF
EchoLink:? Node #? 14400? [Think bottom of the 2-meter band]
Home Page:?????????
New? 30 Meter?? APRS-over VARA? Frequency
As of 1 Jan 2025.?? Details Here:
????
- APRS over VARA? --
??
"Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels
??
-
?
|
Thanks Stephen!
73, Josef De DE3JGA
On 1/29/2025 8:10 AM, Josef Garcia via
wrote:
Hello
everyone,
?
does
anyone here use the VARA-HF Decoder
() as SWL? What settings do you
have to make just for the receiver?
?
Thanks
and 73
Josef
DE3JGA
|
On 1/29/2025 8:10 AM, Josef Garcia via
groups.io wrote:
Hello
everyone,
?
does
anyone here use the VARA-HF Decoder
() as SWL? What settings do you
have to make just for the receiver?
?
Thanks
and 73
Josef
DE3JGA
_._,_._,_
This would not be practical, since nearly all uses of VARA use a
two-way hand-shaking ARQ type of operation.????
The only receive-only modes that an SWL could use are APRS, or
the monitor mode of VarAC Chat. These are applications that run on
top of the VARA modem.? These modes use? one-way beacon-type
transmissions that don't expect a reply.
Stephen H. Smith??? wa8lmf (at) aol.com
Skype:??????? WA8LMF
EchoLink:? Node #? 14400? [Think bottom of the 2-meter band]
Home Page:?????????
New? 30 Meter?? APRS-over VARA? Frequency
As of 1 Jan 2025.?? Details Here:
????
- APRS over VARA? --
??
"Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels
??
-
?
?
|
Hello everyone,
?
does anyone here use the VARA-HF Decoder (https://rosmodem.wordpress.com/) as SWL? What settings do you have to make just for the receiver?
?
Thanks and 73
Josef
DE3JGA
|
You are an absolute life saver. I was pulling my hair out. But dropping the mic gain down to 2 and like you said, tx drive way way low .. did the trick. Thank you a million times over!
?Matt 73 / de N2NFG
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 21:50, John Denison via groups.io <kd5you@...> wrote:
? I have mine set at default which I think is 5. I don't think I ever thought to change the mic gain, but it might help to reduce it on your station.
?
73
John Denison
KD5YOU
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I have mine set at default which I think is 5. I don't think I ever thought to change the mic gain, but it might help to reduce it on your station.
?
73
John Denison
KD5YOU
|
Out of curiosity what do you keep your mic gain at with the 2980?
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 20:40, Matt N2NFG via groups.io <matthewlangone@...> wrote:
? This could be it. Thanks so much John. I’m going to make some adjustments when I get home from work and see what happens? On Jan 27, 2025, at 19:55, John Denison via groups.io <kd5you@...> wrote:
? Since you are using a Yaesu FT-2980, you might be driving it with too much audio into the microphone jack. When I had my FT-2980 in my go kit, I had a Signalink USB, but I had to keep the TX volume very low to keep from overdriving the transmitted signal. My VARA gateways use Digirigs but they are going into the 6 pin data plugs on their respective radios. Also the FT-2980 will do most of the VARA Wide speeds. I've achieved 19k bps when I had mine set up for Winlink/VARA connections. I always get confused with which set of Ping values are for which station.
?
73
John Denison
KD5YOU
|
This could be it. Thanks so much John. I’m going to make some adjustments when I get home from work and see what happens?
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 19:55, John Denison via groups.io <kd5you@...> wrote:
? Since you are using a Yaesu FT-2980, you might be driving it with too much audio into the microphone jack. When I had my FT-2980 in my go kit, I had a Signalink USB, but I had to keep the TX volume very low to keep from overdriving the transmitted signal. My VARA gateways use Digirigs but they are going into the 6 pin data plugs on their respective radios. Also the FT-2980 will do most of the VARA Wide speeds. I've achieved 19k bps when I had mine set up for Winlink/VARA connections. I always get confused with which set of Ping values are for which station.
?
73
John Denison
KD5YOU
|
Since you are using a Yaesu FT-2980, you might be driving it with too much audio into the microphone jack. When I had my FT-2980 in my go kit, I had a Signalink USB, but I had to keep the TX volume very low to keep from overdriving the transmitted signal. My VARA gateways use Digirigs but they are going into the 6 pin data plugs on their respective radios. Also the FT-2980 will do most of the VARA Wide speeds. I've achieved 19k bps when I had mine set up for Winlink/VARA connections. I always get confused with which set of Ping values are for which station.
?
73
John Denison
KD5YOU
|
Here is some discussion specific to VARA FM
?
?
David, KE7RGP
|
Great idea. I have a few rtl-sdrs I could put to use?
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 19:28, David Lowry via groups.io <huskyrunnr@...> wrote:
? Yeah, never mind the dummy load comment. That is for at home. Your distance was fine.
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Yeah, never mind the dummy load comment. That is for at home. Your distance was fine.
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I use a dummy load rather than an antenna on my client radio to periodically test my gateway. I use an rtl-Sdr to set deviation on the gateway, not auto tune.
?
David, KE7RGP?
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Thank you Mike! The screenshots I’m sending are pings from my gateway remotely to my client station at work. 9-10 miles LOS. Client is a 705, pa-500 and comet SBB 25 with a direct drill NMO roof mount in my mobile. Car is fully bonded and grounded and talks great. My QTH and job are directly across the Long Island sound from each other. Map attached.?
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 18:34, VA3MCT via groups.io <va3mct@...> wrote:
? Matt,
I also run an RMS and when I test between my Winlink Express and the RMS using VARA FM, I also see results I do not always like.
However, I have to take into account power and audio settings which are not suitable for testing across my backyard. I have set the RMS to work with some of our ham radio club colleagues that live 5-10KM away and so fine tuning is set that way. That obviously is not the same Autotuning that works across my backyard.
To get good tuning of VARAFM I suggest testing against other operators several KM's away.
I hope I have understood the issues you are facing and this proves useful.
73, Mike Crabtree - VA3MCT On Mon, 27 Jan 2025 at 18:11, Matt N2NFG via <matthewlangone= [email protected]> wrote: Wait a dang second. When I ping my client station with my gateway remotely, these are my numbers. Is the bad S/N coming from my client station? (On the right)? <image0.jpeg> ? Thanks for the reply Ken! I’ve been following these guidelines to a T, unfortunately no luck. Connections are working fine I’m just not understanding why my SNR is so terrible? ? Do both radios have to be on narrow?
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I get similarly weird ping readings if I test my WE VARA FM client against my RMS at close range. Signals are just too strong and upset various readings (some are strong green and one or more are red, making no sense). ? I can verify this by taking my WE rig mobile and things settle down once I’m half a mile or so away.
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 6:34?PM, VA3MCT via groups.io <va3mct@...> wrote: ? Matt,
I also run an RMS and when I test between my Winlink Express and the RMS using VARA FM, I also see results I do not always like.
However, I have to take into account power and audio settings which are not suitable for testing across my backyard. I have set the RMS to work with some of our ham radio club colleagues that live 5-10KM away and so fine tuning is set that way. That obviously is not the same Autotuning that works across my backyard.
To get good tuning of VARAFM I suggest testing against other operators several KM's away.
I hope I have understood the issues you are facing and this proves useful.
73, Mike Crabtree - VA3MCT On Mon, 27 Jan 2025 at 18:11, Matt N2NFG via <matthewlangone= [email protected]> wrote: Wait a dang second. When I ping my client station with my gateway remotely, these are my numbers. Is the bad S/N coming from my client station? (On the right)? <image0.jpeg> ? Thanks for the reply Ken! I’ve been following these guidelines to a T, unfortunately no luck. Connections are working fine I’m just not understanding why my SNR is so terrible? ? Do both radios have to be on narrow?
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Matt,
I also run an RMS and when I test between my Winlink Express and the RMS using VARA FM, I also see results I do not always like.
However, I have to take into account power and audio settings which are not suitable for testing across my backyard. I have set the RMS to work with some of our ham radio club colleagues that live 5-10KM away and so fine tuning is set that way. That obviously is not the same Autotuning that works across my backyard.
To get good tuning of VARAFM I suggest testing against other operators several KM's away.
I hope I have understood the issues you are facing and this proves useful.
73, Mike Crabtree - VA3MCT
On Mon, 27 Jan 2025 at 18:11, Matt N2NFG via <matthewlangone= [email protected]> wrote: Wait a dang second. When I ping my client station with my gateway remotely, these are my numbers. Is the bad S/N coming from my client station? (On the right)?  ? Thanks for the reply Ken! I’ve been following these guidelines to a T, unfortunately no luck. Connections are working fine I’m just not understanding why my SNR is so terrible? ? Do both radios have to be on narrow?
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Wait a dang second. When I ping my client station with my gateway remotely, these are my numbers. Is the bad S/N coming from my client station? (On the right)? 
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 18:06, Matt N2NFG via groups.io <matthewlangone@...> wrote:
? Thanks for the reply Ken! I’ve been following these guidelines to a T, unfortunately no luck. Connections are working fine I’m just not understanding why my SNR is so terrible? On Jan 27, 2025, at 17:37, David Lowry via groups.io <huskyrunnr@...> wrote:
? Do both radios have to be on narrow?
|
Thanks for the reply Ken! I’ve been following these guidelines to a T, unfortunately no luck. Connections are working fine I’m just not understanding why my SNR is so terrible?
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 17:37, David Lowry via groups.io <huskyrunnr@...> wrote:
? Do both radios have to be on narrow?
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They’ll work on wide but I dont think it makes much, I f any difference, at least for the ft-2980 because it doesn’t have the capability. The 705 and my d75 I’m sure can do 9600
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On Jan 27, 2025, at 17:37, David Lowry via groups.io <huskyrunnr@...> wrote:
? Do both radios have to be on narrow?
|
Matt N2NFG