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No Output from VARA HF
6
I have a setup on my PC (Win 10) that works. I have another PC (Win 10) that I am setting up. All settings on the second system are the same (except comm port). And I have checked that the drivers are the same on both machines. Im talking to an IC-7300. When I use the 1st system, no problems. But when I use the second system there is no output. Im unplugging the data cable from the 1st machine and plugging it into the second machine. Note that input works and Im can set the input level to 1PM for the VARA HF View Meter. When I try to "TUNE", no output. I can switch the output device to the speakers and hear the tone. HELP Mr. Wizard!
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New LOCAL Winlink CMS Gateway for VARA RM on 145.060 #VARAFM,#CMS Gateway
3
Hello, I have just setup a temporary CMS Gateway on 145.060, Simplex, 1200 Baud ( Narrow) for the local area. It is located in the RV Park at 4313 FM 2004, La Marque, TX 77568 and the antenna is mounted at about 12 ft above Ground Level (AGL) So the range is unknown. This is a temporary setup while we are in the local area. Since I join the 2 PM ragchew and use the same radio Winlink will not be available from 14:00-15:30. Please let me know via email if you have problems connecting and I will try to assist. 73 NB5C
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Transmit Problem on VARA FM Modem Using Ubuntu and WINE
10
I am running Winlink Express and VARA FM using Wine 9.0 on Ubuntu 24.04. VARA FM shows signals on the waterfall, and triggers PTT on my Yaesu FTM-400 using either a SignalLink (using VOX), or a Digirig Mobile (using a COM port). Since the SignalLink performs PTT using VOX I know there is audio coming in/out to the radio (there is 40W coming out but I have no easy way of checking the FM modulation.) The problem is that no Winlink station responds to my transmission. If I switch the Linux laptop for a Windows PC then a local station immediately responds using VARA FM, so the problem is on the Ubuntu laptop, not with the cables, Signalink, or Digirig. FYI, VARA HF works fine on the Linux laptop using the USB cable from an ICOM 7300. Any direction on where to start is greatly appreciated. Ron/K2RAS
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1) May I try out mobile 40m VARA APRS on your West coast network? 2) APRS client is Pinpoint APRS. If you folks do not mind me trying this out on the West coast network, what beaconing interval would you allow or suggest to not perturb the network? Just messing around at home, it has been impressive to say the least.
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VarAC
3
Other than using VaraHF for Winlink, I am new to using Vara for VarAC. I cannot find a group for VarAC, so is this group for info and questions on the AC software? Kevin, K3VIN
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Hello, I moved temporarily to a new grid block. How do I change it so my channel selection is based on the new grid block? thank you, -- Yigal Rechtman /K2EFG
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Need help with a FTM-300 using the data jack
12
Hi all. I know it's not VARA related on the face of this question but I'm trying to get a FTM-300 using a CT-167 cable to decode packets with a KAM+. I have all the connections right, but I've seen behavior from the lines from the 300 which seems to either conflict with the operation of the TNC which would be the 300's PK SQL to KAM+ XCD, or abnormal behavior of the RX1200 line from the 300 with squelch on. The PK SQL line goes high instead of bringing the KAM XCD line low, so I disconnected that line from the KAM. The TNC will not decode packets at all UNLESS the squelch is left open. I monitored the RX1200 and RX9600 lines with a scope and found that with squelch on, the 1200 line jumps +1.4 V before quickly settling down to the signal level of 40ish mV when a signal opens the squelch, and then drops -2.0 volts and quickly rises to zero on squelch release. RX9600 line does not, it remains at signal level. Leaving squelch open, the 1200 line doesn't have this issue with the voltage rise and fall, and behaves the same as the 9600 line. I assume 9600 comes straight from the discriminator, and 1200 comes from audio frequency section, but that still doesn't really make sense why Yaesu would design this circuit to behave like that, unless I have a failure in the rig? I hope I haven't messed the rig up by connecting the KAM+ XCD line which is at +5V to the 300 PK SQL line which apparently goes high to 3.3 volts on a received signal. I can't get any answers from Yaesu. IDK if the LA fires have them out of the office or what. Can anyone help?
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Winlink Account deleted after inactivity
3
Hello! My winlink account from winlink.org expired and has been deleted obviously. How can I set up a new one? If I do as proposed, namely use the "winlink express application", it does not work because it doesn't let me delete the existing account. Thanks!
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I'll be doing a mobile test this morning and this late afternoon PST on 30M VARA APRS. It begins in about 20 minutes! I will be on a 35 minute drive going west from my location this morning. https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FNA7Q-4 I'll be using a 30M ham stick for the task, just like I do on 40M. Roof mounted antenna, with 50W of power. I did a pre-test, and 40M propagation looks great, but 30M seems to be struggling at the moment. I can get out on 40M from my based and mobile, but not 30M either way. So I'm hoping that once I get mobile 30M will pick up. Let the games begin! NA7Q
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Hello everyone! I¡®m trying to connect my Icom IC-M802 to Vara HF (licensed) in Winlink. My preference is to avoid using any additional device, such an external soundcard. Fewer hardware and cables, more reliability. I¡®m almost there. I¡®ve connected my Windows 11 laptop to Remote connector on M802 via USB-to-RS232 cable. This way VARA on my laptop seems to properly control the radio (the "Select Radio Model" dropbox in VARA HF Winlink settings is set to "Icom HF Marine Radios"). VARA Winlink wakes M802 up on its launch, it changes the frequency as I go through the channels, etc. I have also made a TRRS jack-to-DB9 male cable which seems to properly deliver audio from the radio AF/MOD connector to the laptop¡¯s internal sound card and back. My only problem remains Push-To-Talk. VARA Winlink just fails to put the M802 into TX mode in the course of sending, without giving any error message. I¡®ve tried to manually send the ?$PICOA TRX, TX¡° command to the radio via Hyperterminal, and ithis command reliably switches it into TX mode. Why wouldn¡®t VARA HF Winlink do it, as it sends other NMEA commands (setting the frequency etc) just fine? I could probably work around the problem by installing one more Usb-to-RS232 cable, inserting its RTS/DTR lines into the ACC connector on the radio, and configuring "PTT Port" in VARA Winlink accordingly. But having the third cable between the radio and the laptop just for PTT looks unnecessarily messy. Any ideas on how to configure VARA HF Winlink into using the ?$PICOA TRX¡° command to drive the PTT function of M802? Or is there any other proven PTT method in my setup? Many thanks for any advice! Myro DO1MY
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I have a Yaesu FTdx10. I have noticed that, when I use VARA HF, it changes the display settings on the frequency Bands it tries out. For example: When looking for a gateway on the 40 Meter Band, I noticed that VARA changed my frequency span display from approx. 7.124 MHz - 7.300 MHz with a Mode setting of "USB" to a frequency span display of approx. 6.977 MHz - 7.177 MHz with a Mode setting of "Data-U". Similar results took place when VARA HF looked for available gateways on the other Meter Bands, as well. I then had to manually re-set the frequency span displays and modes on the Bands that VARA HF tried. My question is this: Is this a normal happening when VARA HF is in use or am I the only one this happens to? Why doesn't VARA HF "clean up after itself" and leave my settings on my rig as they were originally? Is there some way to stop these involuntary display changes from happening? Thanks for any help with this, George Mason KE8TSL
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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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Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am