Mark,

This is what we found through experiments and looking at schematics. ?I think Vara is a great program. ?We have done a good amount experimenting and training in our ARES group. ?For the most part, it is easy to set-up and get people running in a short amount of time.

My only criticism is that the initial handshake and S/N checks for Vara Wide are only done in the lower 3 kHz, not the whole 6 kHz. ?This makes operators think their set-up is Vara Wide capable, when it isn’t. ?This can give performance that is highly variable as the title of this thread implies. ?There are free programs and SDR receivers that can be used to verify radios are capable of the full 6 kHz with a flat profile.

I think a future Vara feature that would be nice is a Vara Wide check to ensure the whole 6 kHz is being sent and received.

Jeff
WX7OR

On Fri, Jun 14, 2024 at 07:37 PM, Jeff WX7OR wrote:

We tried to get the FT-991A running Vara Wide with the internal soundcard

Jeff;

There currently isn't any "all ?band" (HF + VHF/UHF FM) transceiver that will support full-throughput 'WIDE' mode VARA FM (or 9600bps PACKET), on 2M or 70cm, using the internal USB sound-card system.

Studying the schematics and/or block diagrams of these radios, I've found that the same tx audio channel is used both for HF operation (SSB or FM) and VHF/UHF FM operation. It seems that manufacturers have limited the bandwidth of the tx audio channel their transceivers to 3KHz, to ensure compliance with FCC HF bandwidth restrictions.

Keep in mind that VARA FM first came on the scene in early 2019, after most of the current crop of "all ?band" transceivers were being developed. I believe that, from the manufacturer's perspective, there wasn't any justification for the additional design effort to support wider bandwidth tx audio, exclusively when the radio was being used for VHF/UHF FM data communication... particularly when this capability -was- supported with external hardware connected to the miniDIN-6 "DATA" (or similar) connector.

Mark - AD7EF

Phil,

We tried to get the FT-991A running Vara Wide with the internal soundcard by changing the different settings.? We could not find any settings that would produce a flat signal with a ~6 KHz bandwidth.? Here is the what the output looked like:

?


With a DRA-SR and the set-up described by Mark with the radio in DATA-FM, here is the output:


We didn't find settings to get a flat response across 6 kHz with the internal soundcard.

Jeff

Jeff,
Using the 991 usb sound device the audio passed through the USB is not emphasized.? ?I don't know why you might be using an external sound card.? I connect audio and CAT through the USB on the FT-991 running VARA HF or FM with no issues.? I use varAC as user interface and do not run under WINLINK.? The first casualty in to many ECOMM situation is ISP failure so don't consider the internet as a reliable emergency comm tool.? ?We all now mostly depend on VOIP for our phone services cell or otherwise.? The days when often the last thing to go silent was ma bell are gone.? Regards, Phil?

Chris,

I just tested the FT-991 today to confirm it is capable of Vara Wide and it is.? It wasn't mentioned before, but make sure the radio is in DATA-FM mode.? It will appear to work in FM mode, but the emphasis/de-emphasis circuitry is not bypassed.? Vara Wide will have variable and less than optimum results in this mode.

Jeff

Hi Stuart and others,

Yes you can use a phone repeater BUT you have to set in VARA-FM program via "Settings" and "VARA setup" at "FM system" in NARROW and not in WIDE.
This is for the all users of VARA-FM via a phone repeater.
Nothing have to change in the repeater itself.

This all means that the the audio-bandwidth is less and thus the level speed is max 11
I did some testing here and NARROW versus NARROW works OK.
NARROW versus WIDE and WIDE versus WIDE is terrible and slow.

Good luck with testing!
' 73
Peter, PE1DCD

Thanks, Wheez.
That may be the piece I need. I am still muddling my way through Linux but I cut my computer teeth in CP/M on Z80s.

Dave
WB9TEN

Chris, et.al. Lots of lessons learned in preparation for the actual exercise.? I look forward to the after action report of the event.??

Another option you may wish to test is using a VHF repeater to act as the P2P repeater.? I think you have an FM repeater in that location that may be used.? Talk to the repeater owner, as you may need to turn off a few functions such as the repeater timer length.? The nice thing about using the repeater, is you can carry on both voice and digital communications on the same channel.?

VARA FM when set up as a digipeater can really extend the range. In the Ottawa region, we have set up most of the RMS Gateways to operate both as RMS Gateways AND as VARA FM Digipeaters.? Home stations can also be set up as VARA FM FM Digipeaters.? Licensed VARA FM digipeaters can be linked for up to two digipeaters.?

Please write up your complete report so that other can benefit from your hard work.?

As we collectively move from using Winlink and VARA FM from established home stations and move to being deployed and setting up temporary stations, there is a new set of skills to be developed.?

Thanks for sharing you lessons learned in live time.?

Have fun

Stuart VE3SMF

开云体育

John. Congratulations on getting VARA Running. I didn’t think of the antivirus firewall.?

Today we tested again. We moved to a less desirable site at the request of the Fire Chief. Unfortunately a large metal building was in the way which impeded signals sufficiently to make file transfer impossible (between north and south). So we tried using west as a digipeater and it worked quite well, giving us about 20kB/minute transfer rate. I thought that was a slow but the Fire Chief was pleased and that's good enough for me.

We will have a Yagi at north as well as south for the final test on Friday. We are also thinking about using Wi-Fi (or derivative like AREDN) for short range communications at any site where we can't otherwise locate near to the client due to obstructions like the metal building. The idea would be to put a router in between the Winink operator and the operator working with the client. We might get a chance to experiment with that a little on Friday.

Thank you for all the suggestions. They've been very helpful. P2P is the most efficient for us at this location, and provides the ability to exceed the 120kb file limit.?

One anecdote from today was that our south operator created a 100kB text file by repeating the same text over and over. It transmitted in a few seconds. We concluded that the data compression for repeated text is quite good.

73,
Chris

If it would be of any benefit to this test, I can operate a VARA Igate along with my Robust and HF packet Igates on 30 meters.
Ron
WA7GMX

I am in the planning stages of adding VARA to an up and running LinBPQ site that is using Direwolf for VHF. Our intention is to use a CAT controlled HF radio that has yet to be acquired for an RMS port. On my test system at home, I have been successful with LinBPQ, VARA, Flrig, hamlib and of course Wine on a Pi 4B. What I am looking for is a method to autostart VARA, Flrig and hamlib. LinBPQ and Direwolf are autostarting with "systemd" scripts.

Dave
WB9TEN

Hi John,
Congratulations!? Which antivirus are you using if I may ask?
--
Roy Dugger, KD6R

开云体育

On Sunday 16 June 2024, I will be departing from entral Michigan on a cross-country road trip to Los Angeles.? I will have "Studio B" (my mobile hamshack and radio operations trailer) in tow.??

Once again, I will be doing side-by-side comparisons of classic HF AX.25 packet APRS and APRS-over-VARA-HF.? I will alternate beacons on AX.25 and VARA, each mode on a 10-minute cycle while enroute.? Both modes are originated from the same computer, interface, radio (Yaesu FT-891) and antennas (Quicksilver Radio ham sticks for 60 and 30m) in the car.?
??? Note that because this is being run as a full laptop-based APRS setup (not a dumb transmit-only tracker), I should be able to receive/send APRS messages on any of the three modes (VHF, HF packet, HF VARA).
??? Three instances of UIview will be running side-by-side from separate folders to generate the three modes.

For the first day out (Sunday 0-500 miles / 800 km), I will be operating on 60 meters "Channel 5" (5.403.5 USB).? Plans are for the first overnight in Des Moines IA.? For the rest of the trip (too far away from my home igate/webserver for 60M), I will be on the? usual 30 meters APRS frequency -- 10.147.600 USB with standard 1600/1800 Hz "KAM" tones on 300-baud AX.25 and standard VARA-HF tones.

I will be using WA8LMF (no SSID) for 2M and direct-to-Internet beaconing via cellular,?? WA8LMF-2 for the HF AX.25 mode,?? and WA8LMF-3 for the HF VARA beacons.? Thus you can distinguish the posits from the three modes on sites like findu.FI or my own personal APRS webservers at?

???

I also have a dedicated Road Trip Tracker up at my web site:

???

This tracker plots all three modes with their three different SSIDs. It plots only what is heard? off-the-air? on HF RF, as heard from my home QTH? (no Internet).near East Lansing MI.? (The two-meter WA8LMF [no SSID] is plotted from both off-the-air and the APRS-IS Internet feed.) ?? The road trip tracker plots posits on 3D-looking relief maps, so once I get to Denver and the beginning of the "real west" (the Rocky Mountains), the map display should be quite interesting.

The outbound trip will be on I-80 across Iowa and Nebraska, I-70 across Colorado and Utah, and I-15 Utah to L.A. ? The return trip about a week later will be along the lay of the old Route 66 (I-40 Barstow, CA - Arizona - New Mexico onward to the eastern US.?

As an added "side-show" to this trip, I will be running my "Mobile SSTV LiveCAM" from a second? HF rig in the car on 15 or 10 meters if the higher HF bands are open.? I have a web cam pointed out the front window that automatically grabs and beacons a live SSTV image every ten minutes. This gets especially interesting when I get west of Denver into the Colorado Rockies and the Utah red rocks desert.

---

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? --
??

?

On Mon, Jun 10, 2024 at 07:51 PM, CalOES SOCC Officer - Jim Price wrote:

This is exactly why we don't recommend using P-P Winlink.? Too much coordination required and too much unpredictability.? The best thing is to find some reasonable RMS stations that you can use.

Jim -

Our local ARES groups regularly practice Winlink P2P operation over VARA FM links, and have very little trouble coordinating these sessions, using voice, over the same channel that is used for the data session.

Also, don't overlook the benefits of VARA FM digipeater stations for addressing signal path issues for P2P sessions.

The rationale for our practicing P2P data communications over VHF/UHF FM links is that we need to be able to achieve efficient error-free data communications between field operators and our served agencies & EOCs even if internet service is disrupted regionally. There are more than a few examples of how that has actually happened. It's hard to see how email data communications through a VHF/UHF FM RMS gateway station, or for that matter VARA HF links to gateway stations outside the affected area, would be effective in that situation.

Mark - AD7EF

Chris,

I apologize. ?Mark is correct. ?You can do Vara Wide with the FT-991A. ?Just use the cabling and jumpers as he describes.

Jeff
WX7OR

That's the behaviour I saw. The west station (I was at north) sending a file to us said the 6-pin data port was being used with the correct settings, but perhaps it needs to be checked further. I've heard about the 991A problem but as far as I know the 991 is OK, then again I will check with the south operator to make sure he doesn't have the A model, although I've seen reports that it can be made to work in wide mode with some counter-intuitive fiddling.

We've generally been using 50W for testing.? It worked fine with the North antenna at 10'. We started having trouble when we elevated it to 25', although it seems south swapped radios at about the same time. Going back to 10' didn't help.?

I'm glad we've been doing this testing. It's better to discover the issues before we need them.

73,

Chris

Jeff WX7OR wrote:
… the FT-991A isn't VARA Wide capable even with an external sound card.

Not so!…

?

You’re right about the FT-991(A) not outputting “9600bps receive” audio on the corresponding pin of the miniDIN-6 “DATA” connector.

?

However, Yaesu has provided a mechanism for supporting “high speed” VHF/UHF FM data, with an external TNC or rig-interface device, by switching the unfiltered receive discriminator output to the miniDIN-6 “1200bps receive” pin when the radio is set for “9600 bps data” operation.

?

The key to making this work is making sure that the external rig-interface device, and/or radio cable is jumpered (and/or wired) -only- for 1200bps operation, regardless of whether the radio is set in the 1200bps or 9600bps configuration, or whether VARA FM is running in “WIDE” or “NARROW” mode.

Mark - AD7EF