Rick;

I mis-read your original question, and posted a couple responses regarding remote operation of VHF/UHF radios used for VARA FM data-comm. I deleted those posts.

I recalled seeing "Wireless USB extenders" a while back, but when I researched these they were all "no longer available". Unless you were willing to spend > $1000, the upper limit on range was 100ft.?

There are plenty of reasonably-priced "USB over ethernet" setups that would get you out to over 300ft, if you're willing to run a stretch of CAT-6 cable.

Mark - AD7EF

So sorry for an incomplete ??
(1) DRA-30
(1) DRA-36

Kevin
KD7DFV?

I am getting out of the business for now. My life's trajectory has changed dramatically.?

I bought, assembled and tested two DRAs. I will sell one or both @ <cheap>, thinking 25 for both plus shipping.?

Other gear, inquire...
kd7dfv@...?
619-537-8853?
Kevin?
KD7DFV?

I have a Winlink VARA FM setup using a DRA-36 and would like to a remote 2 Meter Tranciever/Amp? with a wireless connection to the controlling computer.? What is a good way to have the DRA-36 and radio remote (say about 100 ft) from the controlling computer (a Brick CPU running Win 11).? I have 2.4 and 5 |GHz Wifi.? Thanks,

Rick KN6KB??

--
Mitch
AB4MW

Vara Chat also seems to build an AX.25 UI frame from "MYCALL" to "ALL".? The resulting bytes seem incorrect to me, based on the AX.25 address specs.? 6 chars for the call sign and one char for the SSID, total of 7 each for Source and Destination call signs.? There are 7 chars for the call sign + 1 for the SSID each in this implementation.

After all that is sorted out, I am wondering why the KISS implementation is evaluating AX.25 at all????? A KISS modem should dutifully transmit whatever bytes comes its way for a Command Frame type of DATA.? The modem should not care what is inside, just transmit it.? No matter what I send it via the KISS port, I get the FSK tones that start the transmission, some garbled stuff on the status bar of VARA and it stops sending audio, but PTT remains ON for a long while until some timeout happens.

Does anyone know what's going on here?

--
Mitch
AB4MW

And why does VARAChat send a TXDELAY Frame type to the modem via KISS instead of a Data Frame type???

0xC0 0x01 <data here> 0xC0

Is there no documentation on how to use this feature?? ?I can't find any on the rosmodem site.
--
Mitch
AB4MW

Seems to be to send a KISS frame on the KISS port.
--
Mitch
AB4MW

Does anyone know the command sequence to send a block of text in broadcast mode?? It doesn't appear in the remote control documentation.
--
Mitch
AB4MW

Our Club's Technical chair put together a very nice VARA Digipeater for our nearby high level hilltop. Lots of RF activity on that hill but the digipeater works very well. I believe it is comprised of a late model Yaesu radio, Intel NUC mini computer, and a Master's Communication DRA-50 interface.

Sent from Ed's iPad

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Getting ready to build a Stand Alone VARA FM Digipeater at a high location....no RMS WinLink just Digi.

This will help in filling in holes that need coverage to a VaraFM RMS Gateway.

Has anyone done this in a remote Mountain site or other high spot and ran into issues ? I can always get to the site easily to update software when needed.

Thanks Lee WB4QOJ

_._,_._,_

---

?

Soiftware/firmware updates are the least of your problems!

It this is truly a high location, the real issue is very low path loss to other adjacent mountain tops; i.e. "high-to-high" paths.? You may be dealing with VERY strong signals from other VHF ham / commercial / public-safety radio systems on the same mountain top or adjacent ones. The signal levels will be FAR FAR higher than you encounter on the ground. You almost never have literal "line-of-sight" paths between points on the ground - something is almost always in the way such as trees, buildings,the earth's own horizon, etc to attenuate the signal.

The result on high mountain top locations is truly brutal receiver overload problems from other mountain-top transmitters -- unless you use highly-selective commercial cavity filters to keep other frequencies from reaching your receiver's front end.? You may be familiar with cavity-filter-based "duplexers" on repeaters, but on busy mountain tops, you need this kind of filtering even on a simple single-frequency transceiver. You receiver will suffer from a nearly constant mishmash of other frequencies mixed together (inter-modulation) that prevents your receiver from hearing weak signals on your own frequency. ? You will want to use retired Motorola or GE/Harris commercial base stations rather than ham gear to get the receiver strong-signal overload immunity you need. Don't even think of using hand-helds or low-end ham mobile gear, especially if there are any other radio-active mountain tops within 10-15 miles of you.

Further, if their are other users on the same mountain top as you, you may unwittingly become a bad neighbor to them.? Strong signals from their transmitters a few hundred or few thousand feet away get picked up by your antenna, come down your coax and mix in your receiver front-end or transmitter power amplifier. The mix of "crud" then get re-radiated by your own antenna, reating a kind of "RF smog" that interferes with their receivers.? Responsible multi-user site managers now require all tenants to equip their systems with ferrite isolaters or circulators and cavity filters to prevent these problems.of on-site IMD generation.

Another problem at super-high sites is that you may able to hear TOO MUCH. Distant signals from 50-100 miles away,? on your own channel, may hold your receiver squelch open nearly constantly, preventing your own transmitter from ever transmitting. ?

- - From one who spent nearly 30 years field-engineering public safety and utility radio systems on mountain-tops all over California.

---

Stephen H. Smith??? wa8lmf (at) aol.com
Skype:??????? WA8LMF
EchoLink:? Node #? 14400? [Think bottom of the 2-meter band]
Home Page:?????????

"Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels
??

-- APRS over FLdigi Modes? --
??

60-Meter APRS!?? HF NVIS APRS Igate Now Operating
??

Flying Digipeater!
??

?

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I ordered an industrial usb hub. It has a 12vdc input, metal case and is solid. Bad part is it uses the little green pcb power connector. Ok for fixed install, not as robust as I would like in the go box.?

Any computer equipment for radio work I now only buy 12 volt DC powered devices. I then make a power cable with a Power Pole connectors along with the the appropriate barrel connector so I easily get power from either power supply in the shack and not a have one more wall wart, or battery when I am in the field.? So far it it seems 12 volt powered electronics mostly come with the same center positive, outside diameter 5.5mm barrel connectors.? Many Mini PC's and Powered Hubs may be 5 Volt.

Getting ready to build a Stand Alone VARA FM Digipeater at a high location....no RMS WinLink just Digi.

This will help in filling in holes that need coverage to a VaraFM RMS Gateway.

Has anyone done this in a remote Mountain site or other high spot and ran into issues ? I can always get to the site easily to update software when needed.

Thanks Lee WB4QOJ

The advice about using a hub with a metal case is good advice. And absolutely a powered hub. If you stick with certain brands you are less likely to encounter the odd dodgey problem like ports disappearing. Belkin and Startech are names I would trust. Asus and Logitech as well. And you should probably only bother with a USB 3 hub, and make sure it connects to a USB 3 port on the host PC. I have two different hubs on different host systems.One has buttons for each port to turn it on or off. The other that I use for rig does not have buttons. I didn't see a need for buttons on that host.

If the problem persists, it could well be a driver issue for the USB adapter on the motherboard. Not all motherboards are made the same. It might be worth the time to look for an unpublished driver update for the USB controller on the motherboard. Just because Windows Updates doesn't offer a driver update doesn't mean that a newer driver isn't on the manufacturer's site.

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Hi Dick

There is a file called RMSExpress.ini in your RMS EXpress folder. You might not see the .ini extension, but this file is one of the configuration settings files. Double click on the file to view it in something like Notepad. Scroll down to the section titled [Session form]. There should be a set of numbers for top, left, width, and height. You might check to see if those numbers are so large that they are putting the VARA HF Session Window beyond the visible part of the screen.

Mine are as follows:

Vara HF top=273
Vara HF left=450
Vara HF width=775
Vara HF height=400

I installed Winlink Express on my new Windows 11 laptop (HP) and didn't have any issues with seeing the session windows for any of the different protocols, but who knows... strange things can sometimes happen.

73
John Denison
KD5YOU

Check your CI-V address in Winlink and on your radio.? They need to match.? The only time I've had issues with Winlink/VARA on the 7300 was when I was in MARS and had to use the IC 7100 setup to run their modems.? To do that I had to change the CI-V to emulate the 7100.