VarAC - HF discussion forum

But first, I'd like to introduce Pat ON2AD @on2ad.pat to all the VarAC users who joined us over the past year and may not know how much he has contributed to our community.

Pat was one of the early VarAC pioneers. Back then, he realized something was missing, something developers like me often overlook: a comprehensive user manual.

Being a top-notch technical writer, Pat volunteered to create the official VarAC User Manual. Not just in one language, but in three: English, German, and Dutch.

Since then, he has updated the manuals for every single VarAC release. Year after year, release after release, the manuals kept growing, improving, and becoming more comprehensive. Today, they stand at 158 pages of pure gold.

So why am I taking my hat off to Pat today?

The latest VarAC release introduced a significant UI refresh. Many of the screenshots in the manual no longer matched…

Setup: VarAC 16.1.8 and VARA HF 4.9.0 under CrossOver 26.3 (Wine 11) on macOS 27, Apple Silicon. The bottle uses WPF software rendering (Avalon.Graphics DisableHWAcceleration=1), which is the usual setting for WPF under Wine.

The map opens and draws, but none of its controls respond. The CQs, Broadcasts and Lines checkboxes and the band drop-down ignore both the mouse and the keyboard, and turning Always on top off makes no difference. While the map is open, VarAC uses 100–120% CPU; the rest of VarAC then stops responding as well, and in the end the map cannot be closed, so VarAC has to be force-quit.

The problem then repeats on every start. Because MapOpenOnStartup has been saved as ON, VarAC reopens the map and hangs again, until the setting is changed to OFF in VarAC.ini by hand.

Map settings at the time were MapHours=1440 (60 days), MapType=Terrain and a window of…

Hello, VarACiers!

As always, our dear team member Pat, ON2AD, @on2ad.pat has released updated versions of the VarAC User Manual in three languages!

A huge thank you to Pat for his continued dedication and hard work in keeping our documentation up to date.

You can find all three versions on our VarAC User Manual page:

www.varac-hamradio.com

Please note: Many of these manuals were created by dedicated VarAC users who generously contributed their time to help the community. While some may be slightly outdated, they remain incredibly helpful resources.A heartfelt thank you to all the VarAC users who took the time to put these manuals together!Here is a summary of the manuals available on this page (click to scroll to the relevant section): • The complete end-to-end VarAC manual • Quick start guides • VarAC high level overview presenta

IMPORTANT NOTE: VarAC 16.1.8 and VarAC Wednesday check-in messages

VarAC version 16.1.8 added a feature that allows you to remove VarAC metadata from VMAIL messages.  VarAC Wednesday requires this metadata for weekly check-in processing.  Operators should continue to send check-in messages as normal and should not use the RAW mode feature.

Below is screen shot of VMAIL compose window for version 16.1.8. Operators who use the template from our check-in generator can continue to use the message without any changes.

Mark (KB0US)