Radio control settings for Winlink/Vara HF

[KQ4DFV]

CQ CQ! My first post here! Can someone point me to the correct radio settings for Winlink/Vara HF?

I tried the USB driver but have been unable to get it to work with Winlink/Vara HF on my Windows 10 computer. So I bought a cable to use with my Digirig for the time being, yet I can't seem to figure out the radio settings in Winlink for use with Vara HF. They are presumably the same with either the USB driver or the Digirig, but nothing I've tried works.

TS-480 is not an option, so which other radio works? Then there is the radio control port. I presume the port assigned to the Digirig is correct (COM7 in my case). Baud = 115200 for firmware version 2.00u? Enable RTS, but not DTR? What about the PTT Port? Same as the radio model or the same as the radio control port? The baud rate here is grayed out at 38400 and I can't figure out how to change it if necessary.

Any tips would be appreciated.

73 de KQ4DFV, Mike

[KG7YSX]

https://oh8stn.org/blog/2023/03/24/qrp- ... it-trusdx/

This website was helpful for me. Let me know if you still have any issues and I'll post my settings (julian used omnirig, which I don't have, so I had to adapt from his omnirig settings).

Digirig is the way to go.

[KG7YSX]

Here is a video that clearly shows the settings for micro usb interface. But
you can see his driver drops out during winlink too.

https://youtu.be/2RHfv8xpqlE?si=zS-MQlydeGvigm13

[KG7YSX]

Use 115200 for your baud rate instead of 38400 with later firmware updates.

[KQ4DFV]

Thanks for the tips! That video from OH8STN is what got me interested in the (tr)uSDX in the first place. I had forgotten about that video and Julian's detailed blog post. I'll report back once I've had a chance to play with the radio again.

[Constrainted]

If you can get audio over USB working, great.

Another approach to Vara HF is:

1. external sound card
2. RTS PTT
3. cable to Audio
4. cable to Mic/PTT

I do this with a Digirig and cables from K0TX.

73 Constrainted

[KQ4DFV]

Here is a video that clearly shows the settings for micro usb interface.
https://youtu.be/2RHfv8xpqlE?si=zS-MQlydeGvigm13

I briefly got the driver/USB interface to work using the Winlink settings shown in that video. PTT via CAT control even worked for the first time and I tried a few digipeaters on 40m but was unable to make a connection. Then the screen went black and my computer crashed. I would have tried with the Digirig, but watching Julian OH8STN's video I suddenly realized it would require two USB cables: one for audio settings via the Digirig and one for CAT control plugged into the radio. My computer, however, only has one USB jack. And my USB hub requires AC power (or so I thought), which shouldn't be a problem, except that I don't have an indoor shack. I normally operate in my front or back yard and didn't want to use an extension cord to power the hub. As it turns out, the hub also works powered via USB bus. But it didn't matter, as propagation on 40m was poor and horrible on 20m at the time, so I didn't have much chance of hitting a digipeater anyway. I'll try again tomorrow with the Digirig, hopefully under better conditions.

Should the PTT port also be set to 115200 baud like the radio control port? It is currently set at 38400 and grayed out so I can't change it. Though as I mentioned, CAT control worked briefly. I'm positive I changed it to 38400 at one point, but I don't remember how I did it. Julian had the PPT port set at 9600, so maybe it doesn't make much difference with that port.

[KQ4DFV]

I tried again this evening and couldn't get PTT to work correctly using the USB hub to connect both the micro-USB from the radio as well as the USB-C cable from the Digirig. Some control was happening, as Winlink was able to change the dial freq on the radio when selecting channels. But the radio would not switch to transmit when attempting to connect to a station. Digirig is handling PTT, right? I have RTS checked for the COM port assigned to the Digirig under Winlink's radio settings and "Digirig" is selected as input/output under VARA HF's soundcard settings. What's left to set? Is it just a matter of finding the perfect audio levels to get PTT to engage?

[KQ4DFV]

I was able to get PTT to engage at my desk with TX drive set to 0. So I went back outside and tried again connected to my 40m antenna (NVIS). PTT worked this time, but once again, propagation was poor for all stations within range. Nothing to do but try "try again" tomorrow - earlier in the day if possible.

Could intermittent RF interference possibly be a factor? I have shielded data and usb cables for the Digirig side, but a non-shielded micro-USB cable for the radio side.

[KQ4DFV]

I gave it another go yesterday and everything appeared to be working properly. Winlink was able to control the frequency on the radio and PTT worked fine. Yet I wasn't able to connect to any stations despite good path reliability and decent propagation on 40m. Maybe the stations I tried weren't up and running. Or maybe my audio settings are incorrect. I experimented a bit with the audio levels, but to no avail. It would be nice if Vara HF included the test function that Vara FM has or used to have. That way you could be sure your audio settings were "approved". I'll keep trying and get it to work eventually...

[k4djg]

Mike, if you use mode FT8 with the same settings, there will be more chances of making contacts. Then when you get things right Winlink should work.
I find that QRP to winlink is sometimes very difficult.
de K4DJG

[KQ4DFV]

Starting with something simpler is a good idea. I could use a break from Winlink on HF, as I feel like I'm chasing too many variables at once. Getting the audio settings right on Vara FM was also frustrating, but once I got them right, it was "set and forget" and Winlink works like a charm on VHF.

[KG7YSX]

Here is a video that clearly shows the settings for micro usb interface.
https://youtu.be/2RHfv8xpqlE?si=zS-MQlydeGvigm13

I briefly got the driver/USB interface to work using the Winlink settings shown in that video. PTT via CAT control even worked for the first time and I tried a few digipeaters on 40m but was unable to make a connection. Then the screen went black and my computer crashed. I would have tried with the Digirig, but watching Julian OH8STN's video I suddenly realized it would require two USB cables: one for audio settings via the Digirig and one for CAT control plugged into the radio. My computer, however, only has one USB jack. And my USB hub requires AC power (or so I thought), which shouldn't be a problem, except that I don't have an indoor shack. I normally operate in my front or back yard and didn't want to use an extension cord to power the hub. As it turns out, the hub also works powered via USB bus. But it didn't matter, as propagation on 40m was poor and horrible on 20m at the time, so I didn't have much chance of hitting a digipeater anyway. I'll try again tomorrow with the Digirig, hopefully under better conditions.

Should the PTT port also be set to 115200 baud like the radio control port? It is currently set at 38400 and grayed out so I can't change it. Though as I mentioned, CAT control worked briefly. I'm positive I changed it to 38400 at one point, but I don't remember how I did it. Julian had the PPT port set at 9600, so maybe it doesn't make much difference with that port.

Terribly sorry for the delay. I don't log on here often.

I use an unpowered USB hub to run both the digirig and the micro USB cable for cat control to the computer. It doesn't require any external power. Sounds like you also had success with this. This is very stable; the CAT resets itself every couple hours while using JS8Call, but I find that rate of error acceptable for what I'm doing.

If a setting is grayed out, it's likely you don't have to worry about it, but I'm not seeing what you're seeing on your screen, so I can't confirm.

Username Constrainted has posted photos of his settings for the TruSDX and Digirig over on the Digirig forum. That might be a good place to research.

[KG7YSX]

Starting with something simpler is a good idea. I could use a break from Winlink on HF, as I feel like I'm chasing too many variables at once. Getting the audio settings right on Vara FM was also frustrating, but once I got them right, it was "set and forget" and Winlink works like a charm on VHF.

40 Meter seems like it's going really long in the evenings lately. I'm in Idaho and I'll often have to reach out to Winlink gateways in California when using my TruSDX after dark.

[KQ4DFV]

Thanks for getting back to me! I haven't made any progress on this since my last post due to a combination of poor weather and a busy schedule. I've been so busy that I hadn't realized how long it has been since I last tried to get digital modes working. I'm confident that I will eventually figure it out, though. Searching the Digirig forum for related posts by Constrainted, I came across a comment he made about making sure the radio has been calibrated to ensure success with digital modes (or something to that effect) ... which reminds me that I have never calibrated my (tr)uSDX and should take care of that. I'll post a comment on my progress once I have any to speak of.

73 de KQ4DFV

[K1IMD]

Good Evening!
I too am trying to get my (tr)uSDX radio working on soundcard/digital modes. I am testing with a Lo board loaded with Beta ver 2.00x with my Windows 10 desktop for the PC. I have not made any contacts yet but and just trying to control the radio and transmit audio first. I am using the single USB cable method as I want to avoid all the cabling when operating portable with my tablet.

My setup using the truSDX driver which selects com 8 on my system. I first attempted WSJTx it seemed to work FB. It did not like the TS-480 radio selection but works fine with TS-440S. After that I moved on to Winlink/VARA HF. Setting all the parameters and it sort of worked. For radio I tried all the Kenwood choices and Kenwood Ham sort of works, for PTT I select RTS DTS on the same com port ( com 8). Cat selection of USB (not USBD) on com 8. Basically thus far VARA HF is a fail because when changing frequencies from the table the VARA software does change frequency BUT also sends some other garbage that put the radio in some odd mode where the rvcr is running yet the display shows that the radio is in transmit but is isn't. When you attempt to connect to a station depending it may go into transmit and cycle through a connection attempt.

I am guessing that VARA HF needs to supply a driver for (tr)uSDX or support the flrig database which works on WSJTx.

Has anyone else had better luck making VARA HF control & audio to work on (tr)uSDX?

[ag6aq]

I have got vara HF to work with truSDX last week after I watched settings from this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RHfv8x ... dex=3&t=4s

73,Wei, AG6AQ

[QuantumRadio]

Wei,
Glad it helped. Note that I did have a bit of a hard time getting the Winlink HF repeaters to answer me. It was a lot easier with the Xiegu G90 but of course that radio was running 20W as opposed to the (tr)uSDX running 5W.

Best of luck w/your project.

73,
Stephen (W2WF)