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VARA-HF Waterfall Question

I recently downloaded VarAC and have it operational with my Flex-6000 transceiver.

From what I've gathered from how-to video's it is suggested to start calling CQ on a Calling Frequency, then QSY (up or down). My VARA-HF waterfall seems to show the approximate bandwidth of one VarAC QSO. Is there a way to widen the VARA-HF Waterfall to monitor a wider portion of this subband, to switch to monitoring different VarAC QSO's?

Butch, KF4HR

9 comments

Comments (9)

kf4hr3

Dec 06, 2022

Thanks again for the info Gary. No problem viewing a wide spectrum on my rig's spectrum diplay (Flex-6700), and tuning the rig through the tuning window. I was just curious if there was a way to monitor multiple VarAC QSO's at the same time. I guess I've gotten spoiled with FLDigi and CW Skimmer. :)

Butch, KF4HR

kf4hr3

Dec 06, 2022

Thank you for the QSY information Irad. Do you think some future version of VARA-HF might be able to decode multiple ongoing VarAC QSO's simultaneously, similar to how FLDigi decodes multiple PSK31 QSO's at the same time?

Butch, KF4HR

NC3Z Gary

Dec 06, 2022

Replying to

That is a VARA HF limitation, not VarAC unfortunately. I think I posted a solution somewhere here, I use SDR radios to do multiple decodes. Many SDR radios will do multiple, multiple virtual receivers that you can feed to multiple VARA HF and VarACs.

kf4hr3

Dec 06, 2022

I'm curious if some future version of VarAC might be able to have the capability to decode multiple VarAC QSO's (within a 3khz passband), similar to how FLDigi decodes multiple PSK31 QSO's at the same time.

irad d

Dec 06, 2022

Replying to

Me too :) curios I mean. This is up to the VARA modem developer to decide.

kf4hr3

Dec 06, 2022

Thanks for the info Gary. When VARA is in the Monitor Mode I do see text. Question is, if there are QSO's going on in multiple Slots, is there a way to select them? Or does it just require I tune my rig to center the QSO I want to see in between the vertical red lines?

Butch, KF4HR

NC3Z Gary

Dec 06, 2022

Replying to

VARA HF is fixed so you will have to tune the radio. I use a radio called a Flex and run 4 VarAC instances at once, although I do this on 4 different bans you could easily do this on the CF and +1 and -1 Slot.

NC3Z Gary

Dec 05, 2022

If you want to see a wider spectrum you may want to get a SDR radio with a good spectrum display. With mine I can easily see all the slots (and more).

irad d

Dec 05, 2022

The VARA waterfall shows your entire "hearable" spectrum = like ft8. approximately 2500HZ end to end. right in the middle you have the 500HZ section of where it decodes. so practically you can "see" up and down a Slot.

Look at this screenshot. the red lines are the original lines from the modem where it decodes. the other yellow were added by me for this illustration.

if you want to QSY to a slot out side of this - you have the QSY sniffer that temporarily does this while in a QSO.

To sniff:

on the QSY UP/DOWN button - right-click and hold.
on the QSY # button - you have a sniffer button

73s