Hello all,
New to VarAC. Been licensed since 1999 and have been very active with digital modes however hadn't heard of this mode until I heard the tones and was able to figure this out. Installed yesterday and trying to put it all together.
Is it true that a ping isn't considered a QSO? If I know the signal report from the Beacons screen and I ping the contact, connect and receive my signal report wouldn't that be considered a QSO? FT8 can be run automatically so I'm not sure what the difference would be.
Thanks
Terry / K8TJM
As others noted it's up to you what you consider a QSO, me personally if I am not at the keyboard and have direct response it is not logged. With the Tools > QSO Log you can filter out PINGS. PINGS serve a purpose in VarAC that is not QSO. So if the other station does not confirm the connection then no QSO.
Thanks for the comments. I figured that the FT8 comment was tongue in cheek Marek.
I do quite a bit of FT8 but most of it is for DX and countries that I still need. Also DXpeditions uses FT8 a lot. I also like to chase POTA as well.
Terry, The emoji at the end of my frivolous question about FT8 should have suggested my attitude towards this mode. I must admit that, together with PSK Reporter, it is a fantastic tool to verify propagation. I think that the SNR value is good enough in lieu of a RST report.
Interesting. Better folks than me should reply here.... Gary ??? I run Whisper mode round the clock and whisper is strictly a one way connection, where the return is recorded on a universal database,
Yes... a VARAC PING is an interesting situation, and instead of a signal report SNR values are exchanged, but it is indeed a twoway communication as i see it, but i would never count a ping as such. A bit like a JS8Call heartbeat
Marek..... do read up on FT8, you might find it interesting. There are numerous YouTube vids on FT8.
Some love it, some hate it. but you should be able to understand and operate it as a radio amateur.
Enjoy VARAC, it is a wonderful mode, as are so many others.
Albert. EI7II.
Hello Terry,
In my humble opinion:
It is entirely up to you what you consider a QSO (unless you are in a contest which has its own requirements); classic QSO would have required callsigns, reports and preferably names
There is a command "log" in right hand bottom corner of the main screen, which should generate a record in your log. Never tried to log a ping, it is worth a test
What is FT8 😬?
Cheers / 73 Marek sp5isz