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I hear a strong hum in the recording.? Wonder if that might be going out over the air, and causing issues?

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Patricia,

The vagaries of HF propagation may be at work, here.

1) When you go to any band on your IC-7300, you should see activity in the FT8 channel.? If not, then the band for your location is really closed, as I've found that FT8 activity is about the last to go as a band shuts down.? The FT8 frequencies on the HF bands are:

• 160m 1.84 MHz
• 80m? ?3.573 MHz
• 40m? ?7.074 MHz
• 30m 10.136 MHz
• 20m 14.074 MHz
• 17M 18.1 MHz
• 15M 21.074 MHz
• 12M 24.915 MHz
• 10M 28.074 MHz
• 6M? ?50.313 MHz

all on USB/Digital, 4 kHz bandwidth channels.? You'll notice that for all the non-WARC bands 40m, 20m, 15m, and 10M, the FT8 channel is always 74 kHz from the bottom of the band.

I purposefully left 60m out, as it is technically illegal to use FT8 on 60m, unless you lock your transmit frequency to 1500 Hz above your dial frequency, centering it in the 2.8 kHz passband, which is required for CW or any digital modes on 60m.? That means that everyone would be piling on the same offset, which makes it difficult to make any contacts on 60m if the frequency is congested.? Of course, there are a great many miscreants that are using the whole 2.8 kHz channel there for FT8, but I would advise against it, as various government services share those channels, and we really don't want to look like we don't know what the rules are there.

2) We've had some solar flare activity over the past few days, which can create a total blackout on the lower bands for several hours on the daylight side of the planet. I keep this page open on a tab on my browser and check it often:

Currently, over the past day and a half, I see four M-class flares and a handful of C-class flares.? If these occur during the day, they will cause excessive attenuation on the low HF bands for an hour or so.? An X-class flare can cause a complete blackout for several hours.

3) Also, be sure that you have not moved your USB cable to your IC-7300 to a different port on your PC or USB hub, as that will cause Windows to assign a different COM port(s) and assume that the audio codec from the IC-7300 is now your default PC microphone and speakers.

Do a Windows-R and then type mmsys.cpl in the Open: prompt and click OK.? This will launch the legacy Windows sound control panel, and then you can ensure that your IC-7300 audio codec is NOT marked with any green checkmarks.? Green checkmarks should only be on your PC Mic and Speakers, to make them the default Windows sound source and sink.

Check the Playback and Recording tabs on the Windows sound control panel to get everything set up.? On the Communications tab, check 'Do nothing' to prevent Windows from tinkering with your volume controls if it 'detects communications activity'.

It's helpful to go into the properties for your IC-7300 audio codec on the Windows sound control panel, and rename the input/output to an easily recognized name that will be easy to distinguish when selecting the audio codec in various digital programs, like WSJT-X and VARA HF.? Remember that those names will only show up if your IC-7300 is connected to your PC and the radio must be turned on.? WSJT-X in particular, has a bad habit of returning your audio selection to the Windows default in its preference panel, if it doesn't find your IC-7300 audio codec when you open the WSJT-X preferences panel with the radio off or disconnected.

Also, make sure that for your IC-7300 audio codec device properties in the Windows sound control panel that all compression and other sound enhancements are turned off, as they will interfere with your digital encoding/decoding.? Likewise, use the USB/digital mode on your radio, instead of just plain USB.? That should turn off any compression or Tx/Rx equalization that you may have set up for SSB audio modes on your radio.

Hope that helps.

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I am seeing more stations today on the new 30-Meters APRS-over-VARA channel at 10.148.20 MHz USB "dial frequency".? The screen capture below from UIview shows what I was seeing here in central Michigan as of about 09:54 US Eastern (1454 UTC) 6 Dec 24.

Note GM4HYG in northern Scotland in the upper-right corner. The green circle is the radio footprint, on the ground, of the Space station.? KJ4ERJ's hamshack computer system generates the space station object and inserts it into the APRS Internet System? Apparently it is still running on "autopilot" even though KJ4ERJ passed away several days ago.

This is a temporary second 30m APRS-over-VARA? receive/igate setup running at WA8LMF-6? --? until my main VARA APRS receive/igate on the currrent 10.147.60 USB channel moves to this new channel on 1 January 2025.???

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I'm starting to see stations on the new 30-meters APRS-over-VARA channel already.??

I've setup a temporary second radio/computer setup to monitor and igate the new channel? on 10.148.200 MHz USB "dial frequency" until the main igate switches over on Jan 1st, 2025.??

The setup is my TS-2000, an Acer 11.8" "netbook" mini-laptop and a SignaLink USB interface connected to a 40' tuner-fed vertical.

The screencap below shows UIview and VARA running as of 10:50 AM US Eastern Time (15:50 UTC) on 5 Dec 2024.?? Note the narrowed noise bandwidth in the VARA waterfall.? I have set the DSP variable IF of the TS-2000 to 900 Hz - wide enough to pass both the APRS-over-VARA channel and the classic packet APRS channel just below the VARA channel.?
??? In this cap, a classic 300-baud AX.25 packet APRS transmission has just been made just below the VARA channel.

About 4 hours earlier this morning, I was seeing G4HYG at the tip of the UK in the far upper-right of this screen.?

[Once the switch-over to the new channel becomes complete on Jan 1st, you will be seeing this map on my main 30M VARA APRS webserver.? I suspect that due to VARA's? --VASTLY-- superior performance compared to classic AX.25 packet, we will be seeing far more stations from the other side of the Atlantic.

?

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Stephen,

Thank you for clearing that up. I should have said bandwidth but when I got into ham radio the fastest data speed bandwidth was a good CW operator.

I copy both of your Vara stations all day here in Arkansas. S7 to S9 most of the time during the day.?

Another question.

I have set up a HF mobile station, WA5LUY-5, on a Bmax Windows 10 computer running Pinpoint and Vara. It works fine but the location beacon takes 20 seconds to send. I suspect Pinpoint is not using a compressed format.

For a change I set up the same station on a XP laptop using U-View, VSPE Emulator and Vara. The beacon sends but is not decoded.? Listening to the beacon it starts out at the 500 bandwidth, then switches to a higher bandwidth.

That's essentially the same setup as my mobile, except that I am running a Panasonic Toughbook CF-53 laptop with Windows 7.????

[Note that "under the hood" Windows 2000 and XP are both variants of Windows 5.x.? While Windows Vista, 7, 8.x, 10 and 11 are all variants of Windows 6.x.]

Your mobile station does not do this switch. What am I missing in the configuration? Is it something in Ui-View?

You can see which bandwidth mode VARA is in by noting the position of the vertical red bandwidth markers in the waterfall display.??

In the screencap below of UIview and VARA on a TS-2000 at home with an Acer "netbook" 11.8" mini-laptop and Win 7, you can see the position of the markers for the 500 Hz mode.?
??? Also note the narrowed noise bandwidth of about 1000 Hz from using the DSP variable IF bandwidth? controls on the TS-2000.?
??? I could have narrowed it even more, but I was trying to allow the normal AX.25 signals through, on their slightly-lower frequency,? as well.?? In the waterfall, you can see a just-made 300-baud AX.25 transmission just to the left of the VARA channel.?? This is on the classic 10.149.200/10.149.400 MHz packet APRS FSK channel pair.?

(By the way, this is a display of the NEW? 10.148.200 APRS-over-VARA channel, screen-capped at 10:55 US Eastern time 5 Dec 24. Earlier this morning I was seeing G4HYG at the top of the UK in the upper-right corner of the picture.)

I've never had to fuss with the bandwidth settings.? When VARA is started by itself, it defaults to the 2300 Hz pair.? When I then start up the connection with VSPE and UIview, it narrows to the 500 Hz bandwidth.? This happens automatically when a KISS-over-IP connection is made to the VARA KISS port.? By default, the VARA KISS port is IP port 8100, set in the VARA? "Settings..", "VARA Settings:" dialog.? This can be changed if needed.
???? This DOES NOT happen when a non-KISS connection is made, such as with WinLink, VARA Chat, etc. In these cases, the narrow mode has to be set explicitly with a command sent over the VARA command channel, normally IP port 8300. ? ?

---

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

APRS-over-VARA igates now operating on 30 & 60 meters
??

"Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels
??

-- APRS over VARA? --
??

?

My local RACES team is helping to stand up winlink between hospitals in the county. We've succeeeded passing ICS forms during two SET exercises this year. The served hospitals are 20 miles apart separated by terrain that made direct line of sight communication unreliable. We used VARA FM on mobile, portable, and fixed stations in various combinations to test various configurations. We learned a lot from the exercises which involved a mixed bag of win 10/11 computers and various modems (Signalink and Digirig mostly).

Here's a compilation of our lessons learned:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows 11 is moving towards more locked down systems, and seems to adopt a "it just works" design philosophy like apple. Like if you plug a usb sound device in it hasn't seen before, you must want to play tunes through it, so it makes it default, and makes it the current device. 10 did this. But 11 has changed the Settings GUI to make it even harder for us hobby schlubs to bend it to our will.

I had written pages of notes, trying to makes sense of of the new sound settings I finished building a new Win 11 system this week, so I had to make the home Winlink work again. I'd heard about Windows 10/11 "God Mode" while researching the build and decided to look at it. It exposes all of the old-style control panels and settings you'd ever need, and many I'd never heard of. We need this, and it's built into win 10/11 already. We only need to enable it.

Here's a good link to learn more:

Use "Manage Sound Devices" in God Mode to:
Rename your sound device, both input and output, so you can find it.
Turn off AGC
Turn off enhancements
Turn off Spatial Sound
Turn off System Sounds
Set levels
On Input, you can click "Listen" and route it to your speakers to make sure it's working. Also verifies that you've got the right device.
Probably more..
Next, in device manager, use the COM port properties/Advanced/Assign Port number to set a default port number to your PTT com port, to make it obvious when you look. Use a high enough port number to keep it away from the automatically assigned one for headsets, flash drives and the like. Win 11 supports up to 256 USB ports, but VARA only offers up to 16, so I assigned ports 11 and 12 to my two Digirigs. Yes, it can tell them apart.

-------------------------
We had problems with Windows lost on a virtual desktop that was available at home when we had the laptop at home connected to another monitor. Here's how to fix:
"To move a window that is off screen, hover over its taskbar icon, right click on the window thumbnail, select ‘Move’ and use the arrow keys to move it. Left click to release it."


-----------------------------
Finally, If you're using a Digirig, by all means go in and cut the jumper to add 20 db of attenuation. It helps a lot to bring all the level settings into midrange.
Great overview for an FT-891 here:
Just the mod:
Don't forget to rename the soundcard side!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hope this helps!
73, Jeff KN8A

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Does anyone know what sets the modem speed for Vara??

I suspect it is something in the connected client software. For example, Winlink changes the speed when connecting to various stations.

I have been experimenting with Pinpoint with Vara for a mobile station. I don't see a way to change the speed from 500 to 2300. The position report works at 500 but takes 20 seconds which I think is way too long.

?

Looking at WA8LMF's stations -6 is beaconing at 2300 and -5 is beaconing at 500.

Stephen, please chime in here and tell me if I am correct. Also, I would like to know what is running -6.

?

Wayne?

WA5LUY

?

_._,_.

Just got back from a road trip to northern Michigan.

The 500 vs 2300 setting is NOT the speed.? It's the occupied bandwidth.? In either bandwidth, a variety of data rates are possible.? The wider 2300-hz bandwidth DOES allow higher maximum data rates --BUT-- APRS-over-VARA always uses the lowest data rate.

Applications can command (select) the bandwidth to use, but the speed is determined automatically by VARA based on it's experience with a given station.

Normally, VARA starts out using a slow speed to initiate a contact with a station.? VARA then gradually increases speed based on it's experience with ACKs/NAKs/retries on successive packets to a given station. This behavior happens automatically on WinLink, VarAC Chat or any other app where you establish a two-way hand-shaking "connected" relationship with another station, especially when transferring larger files.

However, APRS is a non-connected? one-to-many? broadcast mode. There IS NO connection or interchange with a given station. Each transmission is just "blasted out" over the air to anyone who might hear it.? Since there is no two-way ACK/NAK interchange with a given station, there is no way for transmit speed to automatically increment.? It remains at the default lowest starting speed each time.?

Since APRS beacons (especially if you use the compressed or Mic-E format) are short, (if you don't load them up with frivolous comments like your location name when the beacon is already sending your lat/long, or announcing you are an igate when the symbol already says this) the low speed is not really an issue.? The low speed is partly why APRS-over-VARA beacons are so incredibly robust.??

All my APRS beacon/igate/webserver stations on 2M / 30M / 60M, both fixed and mobile, are running multiple copies of UIview32.??

When VARA starts up with the KISS connection to UIview on my end, it automatically switches to the 500 Hz bandwidth.? VarAC Chat also defaults to commanding the 500 Hz bandwidth.
??? If you are seeing a 2300-Hz bandwidth in your display, it must be because some app on your end left it in the 2300 mode.?? [I am receiving through 600 Hz-wide DSP filters on my FT-891s and TS-2000.]

Note that the moment, I an operating the old (10.147.600 MHz USB "dial freq") 30M APRS frequency, and also transmitting test beacons every 5 mins on the new 30M channel (10.148.200 MHz USB "dial freq) at the same time. ? G4HYG is also beaconing on the new frequency from the far northern UK.?

---

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

APRS-over-VARA igates now operating on 30 & 60 meters
??

"Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels
??

-- APRS over VARA? --
??

?