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Can anyone either explain or perhaps point me to a paper that explains the graphical display within Vara? I see lots of different colors and patterns at different times depending on who I'm contacting. I haven't yet figured out what pattern/color we want in that space? Vs what patterns are problematic.
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30 Meter activity was good today as received in Atlanta. Bob, KN4HH-1
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PinPoint with Vara HF problem.
3
I have two stations running PinPoint with Vara on 30M. Both are acting the same. I noticed that when PinPoint is connected to APRS-IS all I see on raw data are position reports through the internet. When APRS-IS is not connected I see stations all over the country I-Gating my position. My station is sending position reports on APRS-IS and over RF at the same time. I verified this but with Vara I have no idea what is sent with the internet connected. I have been in communication with Frank, AB0WV, PinPoint developer, about this. I would appreciate hearing from anyone else running PinPoint with Vara about this problem. Are you seeing the same thing on your station? Example below. Wayne WA5LUY 2025-01-07 02:02:19 CST: WA5LUY-11>APIN21,TCPIP*,qAC,T2USANW:!3428.23N\09307.26W-VARA I-Gate 2025-01-07 02:22:19 CST: WA5LUY-11>APIN21,TCPIP*,qAC,T2USANW:!3428.23N\09307.26W-VARA I-Gate 2025-01-07 02:42:19 CST: WA5LUY-11>APIN21,TCPIP*,qAC,T2USANW:!3428.23N\09307.26W-VARA I-Gate 2025-01-07 03:02:39 CST: WA5LUY-11>APIN21,APRS,qAR,WA7GMX-8:!3428.23N\09307.26W-VARA I-Gate 2025-01-07 03:22:39 CST: WA5LUY-11>APIN21,APRS,qAR,WA7GMX-8:!3428.23N\09307.26W-VARA I-Gate 2025-01-07 03:23:28 CST: WA5LUY-11>APIN21,APRS,qAR,VK5RR-10:!3428.23N\09307.26W-VARA I-Gate
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FT-DX10 WJST Hamlib error
2
In setting up radio in WJST I get HAMLIB error when I try to connect. Using Windows 10.
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[14:30 Eastern Time / 1930 UTC 5 January 2025 We've just had yet another solar eruption that disrupted HF propagation. Once again, VARA vastly outperformed classic AX.25 packet. Compare the real-time mapping displays show the two modes as received at WA8LMF's QTH in central Michigan. <http://wa8lmf.ddns.net:14439/index.htm> (APRS over classic AX.25 Packet on 30M) <http://wa8lmf.ddns.net:14447/index2.htm> (APRS over VARA on 30M) Graph from NOAA/NIST Space Weather Center Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com Skype: WA8LMF EchoLink: Node # 14400 [Think bottom of the 2-meter band] Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net New 30 Meter APRS-over VARA Frequency As of 1 Jan 2025. Details Here: <http://WA8LMF.net/VARA/NewFrequency.htm> - APRS over VARA -- <http://wa8lmf.net/VARA/APRSoverVARA> "Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels <http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner> -
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These two screen caps of APRS-over-VARA activity and conventional AX.25 APRS activity on 30 meters were just taken. Both were received on the same antenna, radio and sound card. The only difference was one decoded by VARA-HF and the other by the UZ7HO Soundmodem. And the overwhelmingly superior weak-signal performance of VARA during really mediocre propagation. What I am seeing on 30-meter VARA What I am seeing on conventional AX.25 at the same time: (The green "blobs" and red overlays are National Weather Service warnings and alerts.) Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com Skype: WA8LMF EchoLink: Node # 14400 [Think bottom of the 2-meter band] Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net New 30 Meter APRS-over VARA Frequency As of 1 Jan 2025. Details Here: <http://WA8LMF.net/VARA/NewFrequency.htm> - APRS over VARA -- <http://wa8lmf.net/VARA/APRSoverVARA> "Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels <http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner> -
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There has been considerable discussion of the relative merits of APRS-over-VARA on 30 meters vs 40 meters recently on several mailing lists. On February 8th, I will be traveling from my home QTH in central Michigan (Meridian Twp east of East Lansing) to Traverse City, MI for the annual Cherryland Amateur Radio Club Swap-N-Shop. This is about a two-hundred mile (360 Km) drive. I plan to conduct a test of 30M vs 40M APRS-over-VARA on this trip. I have TWO HF rigs in the car with separate antennas. One is a Yaesu FT-891 with a mono-band hamstick on a fender split-ball mount, dedicated full-time to 30M HF APRS. The other is a Yaesu FT-857 with an ATAS-120A screwdriver antenna hard-mounted to the trunk lid is used for general operating on bands other than 30M -- usually for my "Mobile SSTV LiveCAM" on 15 or 10 meters. For this trip, I will put the 857 and ATAS-120 on 40 meters APRS. I will run two instances of UIview, two instances of the VARA-HF modem, and two interfaces on the mobile laptop, one for 30 meters and one for 40 meters side-by-side. The Panasonic Toughbook CF-53 quad-core computer with 16GB RAM has no trouble running all this, along with a third instance of UIview for two-meter packet APRS on my Kenwood TM-D700. The departure to the ham fest will be in darkness around 3:00 AM local (Eastern) time, so as to arrive at the venue by 7:30 AM (around sunrise) in time to setup. The return trip will be in full daylight, problably starting around 1:30 PM local. As in previous packet vs VARA tests, I will be using different SSIDs for the 30 and 40 meter beacons -- WA8LMF-2 for 30 meters and WA8LMF-3 for 40 meters so one will able to generate different tracks on APRS-fi for the two bands. WA8LMF (no SSID) is always my two-meters FM + internet beacons. This trip will probably be in the skip zone for my own igate in central MI (once I get out of town) on 30 meters, and probably also on 40. I will be depending on other's igates on both bands to reach the Internet on HF. Any thoughts about this before I set out next month?? I'm already planning to do this also on next summer's annual road trip to Evergreen Colorado for the Evergreen Jazz Festival always the last weekend of July. This will involve full-summer long-days HF propagation on both bands. Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com Skype: WA8LMF EchoLink: Node # 14400 [Think bottom of the 2-meter band] Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net New 30 Meter APRS-over VARA Frequency As of 1 Jan 2025. Details Here: <http://WA8LMF.net/VARA/NewFrequency.htm> - APRS over VARA -- <http://wa8lmf.net/VARA/APRSoverVARA> "Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels <http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner> -
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Vara HF Console Information
5
Hi, my name is Mike and my call sign is VA1KMA. I¡¯m a relatively new user of Winlink/Vara HF and a brand new member of this group. Everything appears to be working well so far (messages are being sent and received) but I don¡¯t have a good understanding of all the information shown on the Vara HF console. The 4 gauges, the waterfall, the graphic display of what I assume is digital info in box display at the top right and whatever else I¡¯m missing are all providing information. It would be nice to understand exactly what that info is. Lots of videos and print tell how to set up Winlink/Vara HF, but I haven¡¯t been able to find anything that explains the console and the real time status of what is happening with the messages. If anybody has any suggestions where I may be able to find such material , I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks Mike VA1KMA
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Vara HF on FT-DX10 no recieve
3
FT8 works but in VARA HF I cannot receive, have been through setting dsp, notch and contur off , new radio to me any help appreciated
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Decoding robust packet APRS data on the new 30m APRS over VARA frequency
With the recent frequency change of 30m APRS over VARA traffic to 10.1482 MHz I have figured out a way to be able to decode robust packet as well as AX.25 and VARA APRS traffic with one radio. Usually robust packet APRS uses a transceiver tuned to a dial frequency of 10.1473 MHz with the robust packet audio centred at 1500 Hz. The new APRS over VARA frequency now means that the robust packet traffic can be heard in the same receiver but the audio is centred 900 Hz lower at 600 Hz. Here's how I worked out a way to mix the frequency up to 1500 Hz using HDSDR SDR software. This may be useful for other applications. The receiver audio from the transceiver appears on a USB sound card connected to the transceiver. This audio is applied to the VARA HF modem, UZ7HO sound card modem for 300 bd AX.25 packet and HDSDR. In HDSDR select the USB sound card connected to the transceiver as the input sound card. As it's a mono audio signal you will see two sidebands on the main display centred at 0 Hz on the HDSDR display. In HDSDR set Options/Misc Options/set LO <-> Tune Offset to -900 Hz. In HDSDR select Options/Misc Options/Tune Fixed to 'LO <-> Tune Offset'. Select the output sondcard in HDSDR. I use the LoopBeAudio virtual audio cable as it has near zero latency. The popular VB-Audio virtual audio cable has nearly has a latency of nearly 0.5 second so it is unsuitable for data operations. In WinRPR select LoopBeAudio as the input sound card. The original audio centred at 600 Hz now appears at 1500 Hz and WinRPR will now decode robust packet data. You can go into HDSDR and tighten up the filter on the robust packet data. To do all this you will need a fast PC to handle the three decode programs and the SDR program but it will work reliably. Mine has run for 4 hours so far and I'll leave it running for the next few days. I'm using a Tentec Corsair II with a synthesiser I originally developed for a SDR transceiver that we never put into production. This has a 1.8 kHz crystal filter originally used for SSB DXing and contests which allows all three APRS data streams through. If you want to check on APRS.FI I'm running GM4HYG-1 for 300 bd AX25 and robust packet and GM4HYG-2 for APRS over VARA. Regards, Chris GM4HYG
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VARA and APRS via 30m. My gated signal results from NorCent Missouri. 30W into attic antenna.
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I have been promoting the change-over to the new 30-meters APRS-over-VARA channel for several weeks now. I had previously proposed the switch-over for New Years Eve UTC. However, I am already seeing numerous stations on the new 10.148.200 MHz USB channel. And virtually no one on the old 10.147.600 MHz channel. Should I consider this migration a "done deal" and move the WA8LMF APRS-over-VARA main igate and UI-mapping-webserver infrastructure over to the new channel early? View of the new 30M APRS-over-VARAchannel as I write this... Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com Skype: WA8LMF EchoLink: Node # 14400 [Think bottom of the 2-meter band] Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net 30 Meter APRS-over VARA Frequency Change Coming 1 Jan 2025. Details Here: <http://WA8LMF.net/VARA/NewFrequency.htm> - APRS over VARA -- <http://wa8lmf.net/VARA/APRSoverVARA> "Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels <http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner> -
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WA8LMF UIwebserver & Igate Now Operating on New 30M APRS-over-VARA Freq
As of 0000 Hrs UTC 1 January, the WA8LMF APRS-over-VARA igate and webserver has moved from the old APRS-over-VARA channel (10.147.60 MHz USB) to the new channel at "dial frequency" of 10.148.200 MHz USB . This corresponds to an actual RF center frequency for VARA of 10.149.700 MHz . You can view the real-time mapping anytime on my webserver at <http://wa8lmf.ddns.net:14439/index2.htm> Note that the new VARA map spans the Atlantic because we ARE hearing stations from the UK and Europe here in Michigan, USA on APRS-over-VARA. Or visit the gateway page for all the WA8LMF igate/webservers at: <http://WA8LMF.net/map> Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com Skype: WA8LMF EchoLink: Node # 14400 [Think bottom of the 2-meter band] Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net 30 Meter APRS-over VARA Frequency Change As of 1 Jan 2025. Details Here: <http://WA8LMF.net/VARA/NewFrequency.htm> - APRS over VARA -- <http://wa8lmf.net/VARA/APRSoverVARA> "Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels <http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner> -
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Happy New Year all, I can't get Winlink/Vara FM to work on my mobile rig. I've been through the Digirig setup guide now 3 times. I far as I can see everything is set up as recommended, but the Vara FM app is both deaf and dumb - The Vara FM Audio input display is not registering any input, though I have noticed that with the USB unplugged the display shows -96 db, and with the USB plugged in it's showing -75db, but whether I move the speaker control up/down via the Win11 PC or using the pot on the rig (yes Squelch is off) the meter display doesn't budge, In addition when I start a Vara FM Winlink session, it fails to trigger xmit on the rig. Note also that the Digirig supplied interface cable is plugged into the back of the control head. I've attached some screen shots here of the settings. Anybody else here who has gotten Winlink to work with Vara FM on this radio? I'm at a loss as to what to try next.
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Latest screen cap from my 30-meter APRS-over-VARA test setup -- less than 1 day before the main WA8LMF 30-meters APRS igate and UIweb-server switches to the new 10.148.200 MHz channel at 0000 UTC New Years Day. Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com Skype: WA8LMF EchoLink: Node # 14400 [Think bottom of the 2-meter band] Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net 30 Meter APRS-over VARA Frequency Change Coming 1 Jan 2025. Details Here: <http://WA8LMF.net/VARA/NewFrequency.htm> - APRS over VARA -- <http://wa8lmf.net/VARA/APRSoverVARA> "Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels <http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner> -
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FT710: Enabling Internal Tuner w/ Auto-Connect
2
Is there a way to add the internal tuner feature for the FT 710? Thanks, jim/K2JJK
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Need help interfacing VARA hf modem with Pinpoint
3
I have been using my licensed VARA hf modem with VarAC for some time. I have not been able to get the VARA modem to talk to Pinpoint. I have followed the set up instructions. Pinpoint works fine for showing stations via internet. However, no luck with radio positions. Both pinpoint and VARA kiss ports are set to 8100. When I click on ¡°Connect TNC¡±, I get an error message saying unable to connect. I suspect I am using the wrong up address. I used the default ip 127.0.0.1 and get the no connect message. I tried the ip of the PC that both VARA and Pinpoint are running on and still no connection. I would appreciate any assistance. Bob, KN4HH
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VARA APRS Facebook Group
If you have Facebook, please join our VARA APRS group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/355264387119488 There are a lot of discussions on which bands and frequencies are best for reliability and coverage for your region. If you're in the US and the especially the PNW, we operate on 7.083.50 USB! With 99% coverage across the BC, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, and other outlying areas. When there's no extreme sun activity of course. It's not often 40M doesn't work for us.
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Please explain APRS related
7
I am interested in using and joining this mode of operation but fail to fully understand the basics of operation. I have used and currently have installed Winlink RMS client software and have completely operational. I access my local RMS VARA high speed Vara FM and also use VarAC HF mode. I also have have FLdigi latest version installed and using for sitorB monitoring and other modes. Can someone please explain to me what use does APRS and fundamental operation use do (other than location) and explain thoroughly give example of all software combined actually do? How are messages sent? What SW are you using? FLdigi? I like to utilize 30 meters but fail to find others who use this band for much of any mode other than FT8, which I have no interest in whatsoever. Todd AL7PX
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Yaesu FTM-7250 Setup
4
Hi Has anyone setup a FTM-7250 on VARA FM 4.3.8? If so, which Yaseu model did you select for PTT? And is either of the RTS or DTR boxes checked? I have a Soundlink that I would like to configure with it. Thanks and Happy Holidays Doug Friedt N8FRJ
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Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am