WICEN Vic: WICEN Digital Playground Sessions

Fri Sep 17 22:32:37 CDT 2021

Catching up on emails, looks like a lot of good stuff is going on.  VARA
is technologically interesting, but all this proprietary stuff has its
caveats - in this case, the need to use Windows for things like
digipeaters.  I'm not a fan of (consumer) versions of Windows running
infrastructure - a borked Windows update can bring the system down.

I've had parallels in my playground of VHF/UHF digital voice, where a
hardware AMBE dongle is often required to process audio - not the best
thing if you're building a server in the cloud!  There, M17 (being 100%
open source) is a refreshing change - vocoder hardware will never be
required, Codec2 is freely available for implementation however one feels.

And I'm seeing history repeat itself with Winlink data modes - we're
being forced to use form factors that the vendors are willing to
implement.   But still, it's worth exploring these issues in a real
world environment, and experimentation is a good thing.

Unfortunately, I'm not available during the evenings, and the
concentration of WICEN Vic's activity in the evenings is keeping me out
of the loop.

On 13/9/21 11:47 am, Mark Hudson wrote:
>
> Good morning,
>
>  
>
> Many thanks to those who were able to attend Friday evenings Winlink
> Emcomm Training Exercise. There were some interesting lessons learned.
> One that comes to mind was we found VARA HF Chat is less practical as
> a message handling tool as compared to a VARA P2P session which we had
> running concurrently on VHF FM.
>
>  
>
> Over the past few days several members have been further experimenting
> and this coming Thursday evening @ 2000hrs well open the digital
> playground up again.  On Thursday evening we’ll be playing with VARA
> FM as a digipeater.  Now you can’t run VARA FM through the current
> packet digi repeaters on 145.200 however you can run a station as a
> digi repeater. Rik VK3EQ will operate his station as a Vara FM digi.
> Rik has kindly provided below instructions on how to set your station
> as a digi and also how to send a message through a digi station.
>
>  
>
> So please join us via Zoom Thursday @ 2000hrs and we’ll see just how
> VARA FM behaves as a digi with those that can access Rik’s station
> sending messages to others. A good example is both Don VK3SP and
> myself can connect to Rik’s stations. Don and I have a poor path
> direct between our stations and have not been able to hold a
> successful connection. So I should be able to send Don a message via
> 3EQ. Thursday night we’ll see just how it all works.
>
>  
>
> So join us if you can this Thursday evening even if it’s just to catch
> up with other members. Remember Rik’s station is on the air if you
> wish to ping it and from a previous email from Rik  he is also
> available if you have any questions.
>
>  
>
>  
>
> Topic: WICEN Digital Playground
>
> Time: Sep 16, 2021 20:00 Australia/Melbourne
>
>  
>
> Join Zoom Meeting
>
> https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82921546634?pwd=cU1OMXoyZFhmMnhmZTlnR2ZOekt2Zz09
>
>  
>
> Meeting ID: 829 2154 6634
>
> Passcode: 324016
>
>  
>
>  
>
> Setup at the digipeater station
>
>   * Download and install v4.0.1 start Winlink** and in Winlink open a
>     VARA FM P2P session. In the Vara Modem box (the one with the
>     gauges) click on Settings, Vara Setup and put your callsign in the
>     box titled Digipeater, click on  CLOSE. That’s it, your station is
>     now a Vara FM digipeater. Make sure your radio is on the correct
>     frequency and follow the band plan please. Keep the squelch turned
>     to zero and volume turned down to a level you like.
>
> Passing traffic
>
>   * Use a Vara FM digipeater to pass traffic to another Vara FM
>     station that is out of my simplex range? Step number 3 above
>     should not have anything in the digipeater box at the initiating
>     station. In the Vara FM peer to peer session box on the second
>     line from the top where it says connection select digipeater, then
>     in the next box type in the stations callsign your want to pass
>     traffic to. After that is the word VIA and after that type in the
>     digipeater station callsign that you would like to connect.
>   * Turn the volume up on the radio and listen for other traffic, if
>     the frequency is not in use. Perform the drive level calibration
>     and use the digipeaters call sign. Make sure you get a reply back
>     from the digipeater station.
>   * In the Vara peer to peer session box….Click on START
>
> ·         All 3 stations must be on the same frequency. And all must
> be in Vara FM P2P mode.
>
> ·         ** Digipeaters don’t need open Winlink Express necessarily.
> You only need VARA FM, the FM Rig and the computer to create a
> Digipeater. 
>
> ·         Digipeaters can pass P2P traffic or Winlink traffic messages
> indistinctly. Using digipeaters you can connect with distant VARA FM
> Gateways too.
>
> ·         The digipeater doesn’t require a VARA license, but, *you
> need a VARA license* to connect via digipeaters.
>
>  
>
>  
>
> Cheers,
>
>  
>
> Mark
>
>  
>
>  
>
> *Mark Hudson*
> State Ordinary Member & Membership Officer
>
> WICEN Victoria
>
> *Mobile *+61 409 500 414  <tel:+61%20409%20500%20414>
>
>  
>
> *Email *vk3mdh at gmail.com  <mailto:vk3mdh at gmail.com >
>
>  
>
> *Website *www.vic.wicen.org.au  <http://www.vic.wicen.org.au/>
>
>  
>
>  
>
>
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-- 
73 de Tony VK3JED/VK3IRL
http://vkradio.com

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