Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
And, are you seeing the red 'PTT' LED on the SignaLink light up during the latter part of the "Auto Tune" sequence, and is the transmitter keying on your DR-185?
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When using the SignaLink for VARA FM, it isn't unusual fo the PTT LED not to light up for the initial steps of the "Auto Tune" sequence. Also, the "Auto Tune" sequence is a series of data bursts at increasing audio levels. If the transmit audio level is set too high, most transceivers will unkey the transmitter at the highest levels, at the end of the sequence, regardless of the PTT signal being present.
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If the gateway station doesn't receive the bursts at the end of the "Auto Tune" sequence, it won't transmit any acknowledgement message.
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Mark - AD7EF
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
Smiley;
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When you perform the "Auto Tune", is the full call-sign of the gateway station (including the -nn extension) entered in the "Calibrate with:" field, on the VARA FM "Drive Level Calibration" screen?
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Mark - AD7EF
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 14:28, Mark Davis via groups.io <markad7ef@...> wrote: On Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM, SMILEY kz4zk wrote:
I'll check it with another radio....
Smiley;
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When you open the squelch on the DR-185 (in receive) is the needle on the VARA FM "VU" meter in the green zone of the scale?
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Mark - AD7EF
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
On Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM, SMILEY kz4zk wrote:
I'll check it with another radio....
Smiley;
?
When you open the squelch on the DR-185 (in receive) is the needle on the VARA FM "VU" meter in the green zone of the scale?
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Mark - AD7EF
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
I'll check it with another radio.... ?? 73
smiley - kz4zk
On Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 12:23, Bob W0EG via groups.io <morrisnc7@...> wrote: Can you listen to the gateway channel on another radio to see if the gateway is responding to your radio's initial connect request?? It seems? that you say your radio is now transmitting, different from before.? If your radio?is transmitting and the gateway replies but VARA says NO SIGNAl, then the issue may be with the received audio to your interface. Settings all seem to be what you guys have suggested. Radio is transmitting but still will not connecting to a gateway. I have tried several gateways and none will connect. Signalink tx and rx set to 1200, delay off.
When I autotest.....it counts down, sends a signal, but response is "no signal"
PTT is set to VOX, device input and output set to usb audio codec, channel L+R
TCP ports? ? command 8300? ? ?data 8301? ? ?kiss 8100? ? frequency properly set? ? narrow/wide properly set? ? tried both high power and low power
?????
On Sunday, February 9, 2025 at 08:16:48 AM EST, Bob W0EG via <morrisnc7= [email protected]> wrote:
Did you solve?this problem?? Please let us know. ?
I am unable to get vara fm to work using an Alinco DR-B185 and a Signalink. The system works fine sending and receiving winlink packet. I think I have tried every setting available. Computer is a Dell Latitude 6410.
?
Any ideas......
?
Smiley
Ellijay, Ga.
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
Can you listen to the gateway channel on another radio to see if the gateway is responding to your radio's initial connect request?? It seems? that you say your radio is now transmitting, different from before.? If your radio?is transmitting and the gateway replies but VARA says NO SIGNAl, then the issue may be with the received audio to your interface.
Settings all seem to be what you guys have suggested. Radio is transmitting but still will not connecting to a gateway. I have tried several gateways and none will connect. Signalink tx and rx set to 1200, delay off.
When I autotest.....it counts down, sends a signal, but response is "no signal"
PTT is set to VOX, device input and output set to usb audio codec, channel L+R
TCP ports? ? command 8300? ? ?data 8301? ? ?kiss 8100? ? frequency properly set? ? narrow/wide properly set? ? tried both high power and low power
?????
On Sunday, February 9, 2025 at 08:16:48 AM EST, Bob W0EG via <morrisnc7= [email protected]> wrote:
Did you solve?this problem?? Please let us know. ?
I am unable to get vara fm to work using an Alinco DR-B185 and a Signalink. The system works fine sending and receiving winlink packet. I think I have tried every setting available. Computer is a Dell Latitude 6410.
?
Any ideas......
?
Smiley
Ellijay, Ga.
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
Settings all seem to be what you guys have suggested. Radio is transmitting but still will not connecting to a gateway. I have tried several gateways and none will connect. Signalink tx and rx set to 1200, delay off.
When I autotest.....it counts down, sends a signal, but response is "no signal"
PTT is set to VOX, device input and output set to usb audio codec, channel L+R
TCP ports? ? command 8300? ? ?data 8301? ? ?kiss 8100? ? frequency properly set? ? narrow/wide properly set? ? tried both high power and low power
?????
Did you solve?this problem?? Please let us know.
?
I am unable to get vara fm to work using an Alinco DR-B185 and a Signalink. The system works fine sending and receiving winlink packet. I think I have tried every setting available. Computer is a Dell Latitude 6410.
?
Any ideas......
?
Smiley
Ellijay, Ga.
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Hello, I am sorry if this is not the right group but maybe some who know VARA protocol could give me a hint please?
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I am connecting to a Winlink RMS using VARA using our radio club callsign, registered about a week or two ago. What I can see in the panel is the first goes my sent ACK (probably start frame), then I can hear the other station responding, next from me is sent DATA packet, and then I can see repeated REQ being sent indicated in the panel (in red color) and there is no response from the RMS, although just a few seconds before it reacted to my sent ACK immediately and signal was loud and clear.
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Then I switch Winlink Express to another callsign, one I have been using a year or two, and call the same RMS on the same frequency using the same equipment. Connect happens instantly and the session is done perfectly in a matter of seconds (no mail to send or receive).
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Is it possible to see some VARA log or diagnostics to understand what happened?
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Jindra
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Re: VARA.exe in Linux on restricted machine (16 GB eMMC)
Hi, Lorrin,?
unfortunately, mine is Lenovo N23. It has no connectors and no replacable parts, everything is soldered on-board.
I lent it now to a friend to let him get familiar with Linux and JS8Call but when I have it back I will try to move some part of the system to an external USB flash top gain some more space. This chromebook has only two USB ports but it will be just OK - one for the flash disk and the other one for Digirig or QMX, so everything should be OK.
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73 Jindra
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Re: APRSdroid & VARA Modem over Bluetooth
Made a couple updates and bug fixes. Still in beta! But it works great!
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
Did you solve?this problem?? Please let us know.
?
I am unable to get vara fm to work using an Alinco DR-B185 and a Signalink. The system works fine sending and receiving winlink packet. I think I have tried every setting available. Computer is a Dell Latitude 6410.
?
Any ideas......
?
Smiley
Ellijay, Ga.
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Re: VARA.exe in Linux on restricted machine (16 GB eMMC)
I know it isn't exactly what you asked, but I was able to install cheap 128gb SSD's?in both of my Chromebooks and now run Linux on them. After taking the many screws out to split the case, just changing the SSD only took a minute.
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Re: Was: VARA FM over KISS TNC? Is now: BTECH UV Pro, Vero N76
Marek SP5ISZ
Going by what YouTubers say, "Radiomail" the author was working on getting the IOS cell to work. It would be a firmware update.?
73 Don Poaps
New Westminster, BC
VA7DGP DATA VA7QU ? VOICE Winlink:?va7dgp@...
Subject://wl2k ? ? ? ? ?
ALLSTAR ?530780
Hamshack Hotline5971
Mid-Island Phone Mesh 2210 2232
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
@Steven,
@Don,
?
Thanks for your replies re. Vara FM over Bluetooth KISS TNC. I continue to build an audio interface (600 Ohm transformers, optocoupler for PTT), so I should be able to proceed with the Vara anyway,? This message has a second point of interest for me. You mentioned 2 models of the same handheld radio. Just today I returned mine (VR-N76) to the seller. Reason: the radio did? not "pair" over Bluetooth with my iPhone. It did pair with Android phones, but refused to work with my Apple phone. We checked my phone with other Bluetooth devices, we checked 3 boxes of N76, the results are straightforward: this radio model does not work with this telephone. Visible symptom: in iPhone Settings => Bluetooth the radio is randomly either ignored completely, or found with proper name and then not paired.
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Does any of you use the iPhone and can verify my findings? The radio manufacturer states somewhere in a very fine print, that due to closed architecture of iPhone some features may be available on Android only. The problem is, that without paired Bluetooth connection no features are available? (:-().
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Cheers, Marek SP5ISZ
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Was: VARA FM over KISS TNC? Is now: BTECH UV Pro, Vero N76
@Steven,
@Don,
?
Thanks for your replies re. Vara FM over Bluetooth KISS TNC. I continue to build an audio interface (600 Ohm transformers, optocoupler for PTT), so I should be able to proceed with the Vara anyway,? This message has a second point of interest for me. You mentioned 2 models of the same handheld radio. Just today I returned mine (VR-N76) to the seller. Reason: the radio did? not "pair" over Bluetooth with my iPhone. It did pair with Android phones, but refused to work with my Apple phone. We checked my phone with other Bluetooth devices, we checked 3 boxes of N76, the results are straightforward: this radio model does not work with this telephone. Visible symptom: in iPhone Settings => Bluetooth the radio is randomly either ignored completely, or found with proper name and then not paired.
?
Does any of you use the iPhone and can verify my findings? The radio manufacturer states somewhere in a very fine print, that due to closed architecture of iPhone some features may be available on Android only. The problem is, that without paired Bluetooth connection no features are available? (:-().
?
Cheers, Marek SP5ISZ
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VARA (HF) on Linux & Wine not passing correct information
I have previously used VARA and VarAC on Lubuntu 24.04 LTS without any issues.? It was stable and working correctly. However, in the past week there has been a version upgrade of Wine 9.x to Wine 10.0, and subsequently the values being passed on by VARA is not being formatted correctly (by Wine).? The values for VU (audio level), SNR, and AFC are not being formatted correctly.  ?
 Using a special version of VARA - created by its developer, Jose - to verify the format of the parameter values, has confirmed that there is a formatting-error by Wine. The above image shows the test values (highlighted in green squares) are different to what is reported under the meters (highlighted by the red squares). Has anyone else encountered this error since upgrading to Wine Version 10 ?
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Re: Autostart VARA, Flrig and hamlib on Raspberry Pi 4
This is the method I use to execute bash commands within a .desktop file automatically at startup:
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https://www.linuxuprising.com/2020/11/how-to-launch-startup-applications-with.html?m=1
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
Make sure the SignalLink Delay is OFF
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Re: Autostart VARA, Flrig and hamlib on Raspberry Pi 4
Following is the terminal command that I use.
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wine c:/VARA/VARA.exe
My setup is a Pi4B runnin on 32-bit Bookworm.
This is my first attempt at a Bash script to start Vara and wait until it is running before exiting. Eventually, the script will start rigctld and FLRIG. If anyone has other ideas, I am open to suggestions. I'm not much of a coder and this is my first attempt at Bash beyond simple startup scripts.
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The script starts VARA in in new terminal window, checks to see if it started, waits 2 seconds and then checks again. If it doesn't start after 12 tries (arbitrary figure) it exits.
#!/bin/bash
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tries=0
lxterminal -t VARAHF -e wine c:/VARA/VARA.exe
while [ $tries -le 12 ]
do
?pgrep VARA.exe
?if [ $? = 0 ]
?then
?echo "VARA started"
?tries=111?
?else
?tries=$(( tries+1 ))
?sleep 2
?echo $tries
?fi
done
echo $tries
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All help and constructive comments are appreciated.?
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Dave
WB9TEN
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VARA.exe in Linux on restricted machine (16 GB eMMC)
Hello,
?
recently I purchased and reflashed Lenovo N23, 4GB RAM, 16 GB flash. Running JS8Call to my complete satisfaction, using QDX and/or QMX transceiver (both have built-in USB CDC's for serial and sound interface). The chromebook runs from full charge at least 9 hours, maybe more. With QMX, QDX except battery there are no extra boxes or parts to take in my backpack, such as digirig etc.
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I tried to install VARA, because it's a standard in one of emcomm groups I participate in, but no success. The reason is that VARA is available as Win32 app only and the necessary libraries don't fit into the 16 GB disk. Were it 32 GB or were VARA also a x64 app everything would be fine. I tried to convince the author, EA5HVK, to make a 64 bit build alongside the 32 bit version but he seems to be reluctant to accept any proposals. I wonder what will he do after 32-bit layer disappears from Windows (after 2025).
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I just received a used Dell Chromebook 11 3180 with 32 GB flash, reflashed it after some struggle and so far everything seems to work. I have not yet started installing the VARA stuff, but since identical setup on a Linux machine with normal-size hard disk shows about 27 GB used disk space, this would also be running at the edge. With a 32 GB eMMC the real disk space available for the system disk and data is about 27-28 GB.
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Would you know of another solution as alternative to hunting 32 gig chromebook in the 2nd hand market? "Install Windows to avoid headache" variant has already been taken by Jose (EA5HVK) but he doesn't know that due to various Windows quirks and unsolicited updates our radio club 24/7 JS8 is out of service every couple of days ;-)?
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73 Jindra OK4RM
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Re: Vara FM and Alinco DR-B185
On Thu, Feb 6, 2025 at 02:00 PM, SMILEY kz4zk wrote:
Ra board responds ra board not found. It is currently set on vox.
Smiley;
?
You made it clear in your original post that you're using a SignaLink as a rig-interface device with your Alinco DR-B185 radio. I don't know why people are giving you guidance relative to using a "digirig" or setting VARA FM to use "RA board" PTT.
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When using the SignaLink rig-interface device, you should configure the VARA FM program for "VOX PTT". Other PTT settings will probably work, because the SignaLink generates the PTT signal based on transmit audio being issued from the "virtual TNC / software modem" program (VARA FM in this case). However, when you do you the "VOX PTT" setting for VARA FM, the program gives you some additional guidance for setting the knobs on the SignaLink device.?
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I believe 'Stu -- N7QJP' was asking which "virtual TNC" (software modem) program you're using for packet operation. "DireWolf" or "SoundModem" are, by far, the most likely answer to that question.
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Whether you're using DireWolf or SoundModem, you should select the same TX and RX audio devices for the VARA FM "Settings -> SoundCard..." window as you have selected on the corresponding "Settings" window of your packet "virtual TNC / software modem" program.
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I've used SignaLinks, and a variety of other rig-interface devices, to run either packet or VARA FM with many different VHF / UHF radios... when using the SignaLink, I've found that is seldom necessary to change the Windows audio settings, or the SignaLink knob settings, when switching between packet and VARA FM modes.
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If the correct sound-card device is set for receive audio, when you open the squelch on your radio, empty-channel receive noise should move the needle on the "VU" meter, on the bottom left of the VARA FM screen, to somewhere around 1/2 to 2/3 of full-scale.
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If you're able to make packet connections, and you have the correct audio-device for transmit audio, clicking on the red "Tune" button, on the VARA FM "Settings -> SoundCard..." window should cause the red PTT LED on the SignaLink to light, and key the transmitter on your radio.
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Once you're able to key PTT on the radio, you should hear a buzzing "data" signal if you monitor the channel with a separate radio / hand-held.
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Mark - AD7EF
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Mark Davis
SMILEY kz4zk
Don Poaps
Marek Kaminski
Drew