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Any Comments on the Activity Level of VARAC vs JS8call

I have been an active off and on HAM since around 1959 when I was 12 (I’m a youthful 77 - I fly, I sail, I through caution to the wind - and I’m a Jimmy Buffett fan :). I have an IC7300 and would like to work remotely. I purchased ICOM’s RS-BA1 but I’ve had minimal success - receives fine but NG when trying to transmit. Then I discovered WSJT-X FT8. I control the laptop in my shack via an APP called JUMP. It works great. The downside is no opportunity for a QSO. Then I discovered JS8call (could that be a dirty word in this forum). I use the heartbeat function (HB) to confirm I’m getting out, then send a CQ. The downside is there seems to be limited activity (at least on 20 meters). So how active is VARAC?

2 comments

Comments (2)

Albert Kleyn

Sep 04

939fly & Gary

JS8CALL is a great digital application. HOWEVER... Jordon does not seem to actively update JS8CALL anymore ?? ( as opposed to Irad, the VARAC author) and his bunch of helpers.

There are 3 types of digital operators, as I see it:

Diehard folks like Gary and several others, they have real QSO's with others and probably run their station 24/7, are always there to help and advise others.
FT8 ops.... 5-9 QRZ Computer to Computer with a bit of human on the side.
People who want to have real QSO's but cannot do so for one reason of the other. ( I am in that category). See MY QRZ page for an explanation. Nutshell: working unpaid 80 hrs per week 52 weeks per year, running an animal sanctuary. Short of stopping eating..sleeping and going to the toilet, there is NO time for radio, last real holliday 1995, took grandchilderen to Disneyworld in FL.

JS8CALL is a wonderful app, but as you notice with both JS8 & VARAC.. the beacon to CQ ration would be 90-1. In my case see (3) above for the reason. I now seldom beacon to avoid annoying folks.

JS8CALL documentation is poor, compared to VARAC which is wonderfully documented.

VARAC is feature rich... and continues to be enhanced by Irad at every opportunity.

Do note that both modes differ in application...ARQ versus XXX... (can't remember name of other mode).

Where JS8CALL shines is in it "Who has heard me" implementation. *

Where FT8 and derivites shines (sadly) ... QSO after QSO with no effort. Suits many ops down to a T.

Folks, this is my 2 cents worth, As our cousins may say: Your opions may differ.

Albert

EI7II.