A local operator had the same issue with his Kenwood HF radio and OMNIRIG. We resolved the issue but cannot recall at the moment. Is it possible to directly control your radio through CAT control in VARAC?

This happens when the audio codec for SignalLink is set as the default speaker in Windows. Any sound output from applications or Windows will trigger the VOX on SignalLink and it will be broadcast. Suggestions for preventing this from happening going forward: * digital applications signal transmission chain: go into the audio configuration of Vara HF/Vara 2M, WSJTX, FLDIGI, etc. and select the Output device to pick the CODEC of your SignalLink. * Digital, logging, helper applications audio alerts: go into the audio configuration and for any alert or voice announcements select the specific device of the “speaker” that you want to output. example apps would be : VARAC, Fldigi, Gridtracker, and your logging app. * Always check what Windows has selected as the default speaker before operating. Before you operate verify that Windows did not select the SignalLink as the “default speaker”. If it did change the output to the speaker you want Windows to output on. I hope this helps and let me know if you have any issues. Jason K3JSJ

I asked a couple of questions in my email. I'll forward yor the message.

Last feedback received was adding modes impacts awards. It sounded liked details were being worked. I just send a follow up email to W9JJ who is over radio sports at ARRL I would encourage others to contact him to express support for adding DYNAMIC mode (for VARA)

Thank you for that. That sounds like a good way to inform the user so they know the reason why the Vara modem closed.

Understand that VaraC was not designed to communicate with WINLINK. In most applications when windows close unexpectedly the user's perspective is that the program crashed. We are advocating for VaraC to the considered for EMMCOM use in MDC section. Aborting the Vara modem with no explanation of why the program aborted creates a barrier for adoption. WINLINK provides a standard banner string that is provided upon connection. Could VaraC be updated to check and then gracefully close the session (not closing Vara modem)? Could VaraC report this to the user in more plain language?

Thank you for this screen shot. I will talk with Milford about configuring OMNIRIG with these settings.

I am the operator, K3JSJ, helping Milford, N3WYG, troubleshoot VaraC and VARA HF for his Kenwood TS-480SAT. OMNIRIG has been configured to work with Milford's TS-480SAT and WSJTX works great. When the radio is keyed audio from WSJTX goes out to the Signalink which then goes into the DATA port of the radio and FT8 QSOs are successful. We configured VaraC to use OMNIRIG for CAT control (PTT and Frequency Control). The button to key the radio works. The button to switch modes works as well. We selected USB as the mode since that is what is supposed to be used for the TS-480SAT for digital modes (non RTTY). We saved and closed the Radio configuration settings and then clicked the BEACON button and the radio keyed but no audio was transmitted. The Kenwood TS-480SAT CAT commands has a TX0 and TX1 command. (See page 22 of [1]). The TX0 command tells the radio to take audio from the microphone input. The TX1 command tells the radio to take the audio from the DATA port (which comes from the SignalLink). What "TX" string does VaraC tell CAT control to use? @ptaa32 : Would it be possible to get a screen shot of your OMNIRIG and VaraC settings as well as version number of Vara HF? [1] - PC CONTROL COMMAND (kenwood.com)

Kim, Thank you for confirming that QRZ.com and eQSL now have support for VARA. I use N3FJP as my logging application with real time upload to eQSL and LOTW. I need to double check if it has been updated to handle Vara. I am going to revisit my current records and update them to reflect VARA.

Gary, Yes - for sure. I contacted them by submitting a ticket through LOTW. Maybe a standard message can be drafted and provided to VaraC users to encourage adoption of the mode.

@iradThank you for that explanation. I checked the URL provided in the email announcement and it appears to re-direct to the URL that Norton flagged. Appears Norton is flagging due to the file not being signed. Glad to hear you are working on obtaining a certificate to sign the application.

A ZIP file was downloaded. The Varac.exe file was extracted into the D:\Program Files (x86) folder to overwrite the older version. The Varac.exe file was run and the pop-up from Anti-virus (attached) showed. The URL that was used to download does not match this URL. Is Varac.exe reaching out to this URL to side load additional components? Is the URL used to download re-directing to the URL shown in the screen shot? Please explain exactly what is going on.