VarAC question

[jazzboypro]

Hello all,

Since yesterday i started to to experiment in using VarAC. The software is installed and i can transmit and receive. A few minutes ago i had my first QSO with a station located in Virginia. The QSO lasted for about 12 minutes when i decided to politely end the QSO (explaining why of course)

During the whole QSO my rig was alternating between tx and rx mode every few seconds, sometimes it would go into tx as i was typing the message i wanted to send. I found it to be a bit annoying but mainly i was thinking that this must not be very good for the rig.

My setup is the same that i am using for FT8 only the software is different. Is this normal behavior with VarAC or is there a problem somewhere ?

Many thanks
73 de VA2FCS

 

[popnokick]

Normal. It buffers and transmits when the buffer is full and when the connection conditions permit.

 

[jazzboypro]

Normal. It buffers and transmits when the buffer is full and when the connection conditions permit.

Thanks for the info. I looked back at the conversation and i noticed i was using complete words/sentences as opposed to him who was using lots of abbreviations and shorter messages, i guess this can explain in part the behavior i saw.

I sent a email to the guy i had a QSO with just to explain that i did not mean to be rude ending the conversation.

I'll pay attention to what i type in the future and try to keep it short.

 

[popnokick]

In the early days of radio teletype communications, airtime was more precious and every character sent / recvd was carefully doled out. Hence you have a number of former (and current) military and civilian Morse and circuit operators very accustomed to RTTY / CW "shorthand". Not really dissimilar to nowadays' "LOL" "BFF" and other texting shorthand. Different reasons behind it today though.

 

[jazzboypro]

In the early days of radio teletype communications, airtime was more precious and every character sent / recvd was carefully doled out. Hence you have a number of former (and current) military and civilian Morse and circuit operators very accustomed to RTTY / CW "shorthand". Not really dissimilar to nowadays' "LOL" "BFF" and other texting shorthand. Different reasons behind it today though.

I understand, I must admit that apart from a few exceptions I never develop the habit of using "shorthand" especially in a casual conversation.

 

[AK9R]

In addition to the buffering, Vara-HF, the digital protocol upon which VarAC is based, does a lot of handshaking to continuously evaluate the communications path quality. "Are you still there?" "Yeah, I'm still here."

 

[jazzboypro]

In addition to the buffering, Vara-HF, the digital protocol upon which VarAC is based, does a lot of handshaking to continuously evaluate the communications path quality. "Are you still there?" "Yeah, I'm still here."

I tried another QSO, very short messages. At some point the other guy stopped typing and so did i but we were still connected. There was an idle period of about 5 minutes where there was no activity at all and still my radio when to tx mode at regular interval. I started counting the seconds between each tx and i found that the rig goes to tx mode every 12 seconds for a duration of about 3-5 seconds. This went on until i disconnected. Is this suppose to work that way ?

 

[popnokick]

Yes again. And that is the communications handshaking that AK9R described. In addition to nearly continuously evaluating the communications path quality ("You still there?") it also reports back whether the station is typing, even before the msg buffer is full and transmitted. Would this go forever if you didn't disconnect? Probably not. There is likely an idle timeout... which may even be adjustable but I've never had reason to look for it.

 

[jazzboypro]

Yes again. And that is the communications handshaking that AK9R described. In addition to nearly continuously evaluating the communications path quality ("You still there?") it also reports back whether the station is typing, even before the msg buffer is full and transmitted. Would this go forever if you didn't disconnect? Probably not. There is likely an idle timeout... which may even be adjustable but I've never had reason to look for it.

Thanks, i had a third qso last night and it went fine. Seems to me that VarAC is harder on the rig than FT8

 

[popnokick]

With a well engineered and built quality radio operating within the mfr's specs.... it is not something to be concerned about

 

[jazzboypro]

With a well engineered and built quality radio operating within the mfr's specs.... it is not something to be concerned about

I sure hope the 7610 is in this category