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Edited: Aug 13, 2022

Using VARAC for EMCOMM

I'm enjoying using VARAC v5.1.8 very much, including full QSO, but also the beacon/vmail feature. I'm involved with the local ARES and EMCOMM here in Washington state and I just heard a presentation on how little the Winlink P2P feature is used. A catastrophic event may take out much of the communication infrastructure and leave the Emcomm ham with limited options. Connection to an out of impacted area Winlink RMS can be hit or miss, depending on propagation and even then, a message may sit for several hours, depending on the RMS station's connectivity. A Winlink Peer to Peer (P2P) connection would be of great advantage in getting a message through, but the mode and frequency would need to be decided ahead of time. That's not going to be possible in most cases.

This is where VARAC shines. If there is a catastrophic event and I'm out of the impacted area, I could start sending a beacon with an "I'm away" message saying "I'm an EMCOMM Winlink capable station, leave a short vmail message and email address for forwarding". The station in need would be able to see beacons with good SNR, connect and leave a vmail with their emergency traffic. My home QTH station has a dedicated vhf winlink station with several local VARA FM Radio Message Servers I can connect to, plus Winlink Telnet, both capable of message forwarding. I'd like to set up a proof of concept in the near future using the current VARAC beacon frequency and have VARAC stations send me an email request via vmail that I would forward. I could send the message and then send an Ack back to the station via VARAC vmail. They would check their internet email and verify it went through and how long it took.

In the future, maybe would could allocate one of the other slots, say slot 15, as an Emcomm beacon slot, only used for emergency situations. Also, establish a couple new Emcomm, 2300 BW slots up the band when higher throughput is needed for emergency traffic.

If there are enough folks who think this is an idea worth exploring and the concepts works well, perhaps we could add some of these features to VARAC for EMCOMM. I really think it would greatly augment the Winlink P2P mode. What say you?

14 comments

Comments (14)

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Bob Minton

Dec 06, 2022

VARAC has massive potential for EMCOMM but the reality is that Winlink is what a lot of ham EMCOMM groups are going to use as their software of choice no matter what. Mostly because it has the integrated ICS forms and has nodes all over the world. If Winlink could be integrated with VARAC so they can run side-by-side better, then we would have the best of both worlds. I can run them separately by setting up an additional instance of VARA FM in another directory, but there is no way to gatekeep which program is going to do what. For example both of them could try to RX or TX at the same time. Maybe too tall of an order I don't know, I'm not a programmer. Keep up the good work.

Bob NU7L

irad d

Dec 04, 2022

My pleasure Brian.

2300HZ BW works great. As long as you pick your own frequency for your Emcomm activity/drills. You can set your own 2300HZ frequency for emcomm and take the lead on this if you want. I have enough on my plate managing this community :)

73s.

Irad

kb6hoh

Dec 04, 2022

I believe VarAC/VARA would be a great benefit to Emcom BUT as it stands right now, NO! I believe you can TX files up to 1mb in size if I understood Irad correctly.

What I don't understand is why VMail went from 500 characters down to 300.

Also the Broadcast feature that was recently added only will handle 92characters.

It seems to me we have taken steps backwards.

I love the program BUT it doesn't seem to me very viable for Emcom work.

The lack of decent file sizes seems to be it's short comings. Just my opinion!

Irad tnx for the work you have put into this program.

73 de Steve KB6HOH

ka3bqe

Dec 04, 2022

Replying to

There are some things VarAC can still help fill the gaps with. For one, broadcasting callsign and frequency for Winlink P2P stations. A little harder with HF as it would require another rig and antenna. But for those of us that can swing it very handy. It would be nice if there was a standard format in VarAC to have a specific Winlink P2P tag for broadcasts.

irad d

Dec 04, 2022

Replying to

Dear Steve.

VarAC bring something new to the table. A table where old systems and protocols were used for decades.

Who said the "is typing" modern experience can not find it self into the ham radio. we just got used to more of the same.

Winlink P2P in crisis mode is like sending emails where what you really need is a super live, super responsive chat with someone on the other side. In the 90s, we used only emails to send messages. Nowadays - 90% of the message we send out are Instant messages... especially when we need something urgent from out wife, or worrying about our daughter.

The fact that the emcomm community have built protocols over protocols for dozens of years, doesn't mean you can not disrupt this every one and then with new modern protocols. My 2 cents :) One just have to find the use cases where old protocol can be replaced with a new one.

Good or not, VarAC is here to change the way we conceive digital hamradio. One can decide to keep driving his good old automobile, or get a new electric car. Its a matter of personal preferences and desires. 73s. Irad

irad d

Dec 04, 2022

Replying to

About file size the limitations.

VARA-HF 500HZ file size limit is 100K

VARA-HF 2300HZ file size limit is 1M

VARA FM file size limit: NONE.

In my whole experience with VARA HF (which is quite vast as you can imagine) I have never seen a real use case for sending a 1M file in a reasonable amount of time. This is not practical for VARAHF. VaraFM is a different story though and this is why there is no limit there.

Vmails - these were reduced to 300 but I can certainly take them higher for a 2300HZ and VARAFM. for our 500HZ SLOT system I want people to be emission effective. Think about every word they type.

As for broadcasts - I do not understand your comment about "going backwards". This is a new feature. It does not take anything you had already and made it worst. Group chat / Net for the first time using VARA is going backwards ?

The 92 limit in the Broadcast is the limit in the AX25 packet size the VARA KISS modem provides. more data means longer transmissions means lower decode chances. Its was written for the APRS system in the first place. I took advantage of it in a different way. Not going to apologize for this :) one of the coolest features ever introduced in VarAC.

73s

Irad

KRvW

Oct 01, 2022

I too see potential for VarAC during emergencies. Protocol question: Does the underlying VARA HF/FM require the same kind of time synch precision that FT8 does? It is my understanding it does NOT, but wanted to verify.

If I'm correct in that assumption, it elevates VarAC for emergency use, IMHO. Protocols that require rigid time synch are not likely to be much help during gridless emergencies, IMHO.

In any case, I've been really enjoying learning about VarAC. It's the most meaningful digital comms I've encountered so far.

73 de K0RvW

irad d

Oct 01, 2022

Replying to

Thank you for your feedback.

Your are correct. NO time sync is required for VarAC.

73s

Irad 4Z1AC

Victor Rivera

Sep 20, 2022

Plus 1 on the idea of dedicating a slot for EMCOMM use and establishing higher bandwidth slots.

irad d

Aug 26, 2022

Hi there

Indeed VarAC has a potential for EmComm. I am actually working on some feature to allow this. But most of the EmComm drills are leveraging the VARA FM and not HF as most Emcomm needs are more of a local characteristics.

I hope you find more partners here to explore this on HF. I will be happy to assist. So if you have and ideas feel free to submit them.

I am now working on a store/forward mailbox feature that will serve this well as you can turn your station to a Emcomm mailbox so one can leave a message to 3rd party. once they check in, they will receive the vmail

73s

Mike Mandell

Dec 03, 2022

Replying to

I am an Emergency Coordinator in PA. We use several digital modes for emcomm practice, and have used, with great success, VARA FM. The issue is that is only peer to peer chat. The only software "front end" for VARA with files/messages is WinLink Express. Var AC could make VARA FM useful as another tool for emcomm with relay, store/forward, and actual file transfer. I'm brand new at VAR AC, so don't know yet all the relay/parking stuff and whether that can work unattended.

irad d

Dec 03, 2022

Replying to

U can forward files unattended. There are Vmails with relay notificationz. lately also group chat and broadcasts. New version will support group chat through digipeaters (up to 2 with vara fm). Defenitly a all in one toolbox for emcomm. 73s.

k7rut

Dec 04, 2022

Replying to

Irad,

Awesome new features! File forwarding and Vmail notifications are very useful adds for the Emcomm toolbox. Now if we could crack the 2300 BW Emcomm slot feature for HF. I've been a digital station for local ARES drills here in Washington state and the amount of traffic I'm passing makes having the higher bandwidth capability very useful... almost essential. For example, when sending the ARES team's consolidated activation reports to the EOC, time is of the essence. Also, we have drills specifically for Earthquake preparedness (Cascadia Fault) where we assume local infrastructure will not be available. Using an NVIS antenna configuration and 40M or 80M HF, I connect with a station 150-300 Miles away using Winlink/VARA HF. This will be the most likely P2P scenario in the event of a large Earthquake.

73s and again, thank you for VARA AC! It will save lives.

Brian, K7RUT