Hi all.
I'm loving VarAC. And if I had a rig with CAT control I'd love it more.
I've come to terms (mostly) with the VarAC program with no CAT control in my rig, but there's some easy program changes that would allow those of us with this dissability to operate better. It's those horrible modal "OK" dialog boxes that are hindering my use of the software! I really don't need a modal (meaning the dialog box window won't go away until I click "OK" on it) dialog box to tell me I need to change frequency manually on my radio. I already know that!
Here's where it gets totally difficult to use...say I want to QSY to "slot 14" from slot 0 (calling freq.). I have to select the QSY UP button, which gives me a modal dialog box saying I need to change frequency manually to 14.105.750 for slot 11. That's not what I want, I want slot 14. So I have to move the mouse over to the OK button to dismiss the dialog box, then select the QSY UP botton again, which now gives me a dialog box saying I need to manually tune my radio to 14.106.500 and hit the OK button again to get rid of the nuisance dialog box, then repeat that sequence 2 more times to get to slot 14. Now that I've done all that mouse movement and clicking, now I need to go to my radio and select VFO 2 which is already set to the frequency I need for slot 14 (14.108.000).
But, you may say, I can just select the # QSY button to pick the frequency I want. But that presents a problem too. I select QSY #, and nicely enough, I can choose the radio button for my desired slot, slot 14 in this case. But now I get that @#$@# dialog box again telling me I have to tune to the frequency manually (which I already did on my 2nd VFO), and hitting OK once is not enough, another dialog box shows up saying the same thing, so I have to click I think 3 times on various dialog boxes before my QSO partner gets the QSY message sent.
But the issue does not stop there. My QSO partner now gets a message, not to QSY to slot 14 as one would expect (since that's what I chose), it instead tells them to QSY to 14.108.000 Mhz. My QSO partner is like "What? I QSY to Slots". So now I get a QSY was refused message back from my QSO partner ... and that my QSO partner's radio is unable to tune to the desired frequency because it's out of range of his/her allowable frequencies. What? It's slot 14!
At this point, the QSO it totally lost. 😣
If the modal dialog boxes were just eliminated, and a message popped up on the main window suggesting that I manually change frequency without forcing me to confirm that I will and that I did, then I can just hit the QSY UP or DOWN button as many times as I want until I get to the desired slot. At which time I just select my 2nd VFO which I already set to the right frequency (because I know what it is before I go there).
To see what I'm talking about, if you dare, disable CAT control settings temporarily in your VarAC program and try a QSY to like slot 5 or slot 15 with your QSO partner during an ongoing QSO. It won't go well I predict.
I'm not complaining here, just suggesting an important usability change (and attempting to illustrate why it's important) for those of us who don't have CAT control. Other than that, the program is working AWESOME for me!!! 😃 Calling or responding to a CQ call on any specific slot is not that bad (but still get one nasty modal dialog box). It's when a call drops for some reason and trying to reconnect and asking or responding to a QSY request is when things fall apart badly for non-CAT controlled stations.
Side note: My 40 yr old Ten-Tec Omni-D runs cool as a cucumber in Alaska (and here in Colorado) while running 100 Watts (it's maximum) at (near) 100% digital duty cycle using VarAC. And I'm fine with manual tuning. I use an SDR Play Rx to monitor so I know which "slots" are available and which are in use, so that's not an issue for me.
Thanks for listening (was I ranting?? sorry!). 73!
Roy - KI0ER
Littleton, Colorado
For these ini only settings you will find them pointed out in the release notes if you want to see what else is there. https://www.varac-hamradio.com/forum/manuals-troubleshooting/varac-releases-list
I am sorry you had to write so much while tou have a simple feature in place already :) that disables those no-cat-popups.
Look in the varac.ini file for:
ShowNoCatQSYPopup