On Sep 13, 2020, at 2:33 PM, Paul Butzi (W7PFB) <w7pfb@...> wrote:

Ok, so this is very interesting. I got the email which I think you sent as a test. Gettysburg Address?

I just did a little experiment, sending from one laptop thru a DRA-36 and a Kenwood TM-D710G, sending an email that contains a 10k byte word english word list. (winlink compresses email, I wanted some representative text and this was a handy way to get it about 10kilobytes of text.

Sending with VARA set to wide mode, it transferred the email in 7 seconds. In VARA wide mode, it transferred an identical email in 15 seconds. Call it a factor of two difference in speed.

The problem here is that the overhead is large relative to the time needed to transfer the email. Improving the transport speed does not do much to cut overall time unless the overhead is small relative to the data transfer time.

Anyway it would be interesting if you could repeat the experiment with a longer text and see what you get.

There’s a lot to learn about VARA and how the wide/narrow thing works.

And probably also about the 9700 built in sound card.

-p W7PFB
73, Don’t forget to smile and have fun!

On Sep 12, 2020, at 5:33 PM, Howard E. Mahran / WA1HEM <wa1hem@...> wrote:

Ok I just tested both FM Narrow and Wide using just my IC9700 (no external sound card)

The NARROW setting was twice as fast and the WIDE. See attached images. So my guess is that Im not really sending wide even though VARA FM is set to WIDE... maybe some type of stepping down when connected causing a slower transmission. Im not sure... regardless... even in NARROW mode, the speed was awesomely fast (Compared to Vara on HF)




-----Original Message-----
From: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io <snovarc@snovarc.groups.io> On Behalf Of Howard E. Mahran / WA1HEM
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2020 4:57 PM
To: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io; 'Lynn Burlingame' <n7cfo@...>
Subject: Re: [SnoVARC] W7PFB-10 Winlink RMS changes

Cool. Sounds like you were busy. I will give this a try later.

Question - is there a way to disable the Narrow VARA FM to "temporarily" test FM WIDE only?

-----Original Message-----
From: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io <snovarc@snovarc.groups.io> On Behalf Of Paul Butzi (W7PFB)
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2020 4:23 PM
To: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io; Lynn Burlingame <n7cfo@...>
Subject: [SnoVARC] W7PFB-10 Winlink RMS changes

If you’re not using my Winlink RMS stations W7PFB-10, you can ignore this email.

If you’re using W7PFB-10 to connect to Winlink, but are not interested in the details, all you need to know is that I’ve made a bunch of changes, so if you run into trouble or have other feedback, please let me know.

If you’re interested in the nitty gritty, read on:

The station used to be:
Kenwood TM-D710G dualband radio
Windows Laptop running the RMS software configured to use the TNC built in to the Kenwood radio to do 1200 baud packet VARA FM software using a Masters Communications DRA-50 sound card connected to the data port on the Kenwood to do VARA FM WIDE.

The station is now:
Alinco DR-135T 2m radio
The same Windows laptop using the RMS software Masters Communications DRA-50 soundcard connected to the data port of the DR-135T Soundmodem software using the DRA-50 to do 1200 baud packet VARA FM software using the DRA-50 to do VARA FM WIDE

Please send any questions or comments you might have!

-p W7PFB
73, Don’t forget to smile and have fun!







--
*************************
Howard E. Mahran
WA1HEM
(425) 864 - 5104
*************************





--
*************************
Howard E. Mahran
WA1HEM
(425) 864 - 5104
*************************



<Vara FM Narrow.PNG><Vara FM Wide.PNG>

On Sep 13, 2020, at 2:33 PM, Paul Butzi (W7PFB) <w7pfb@...> wrote:

Ok, so this is very interesting. I got the email which I think you sent as a test. Gettysburg Address?

I just did a little experiment, sending from one laptop thru a DRA-36 and a Kenwood TM-D710G, sending an email that contains a 10k byte word english word list. (winlink compresses email, I wanted some representative text and this was a handy way to get it about 10kilobytes of text.

Sending with VARA set to wide mode, it transferred the email in 7 seconds. In VARA wide mode, it transferred an identical email in 15 seconds. Call it a factor of two difference in speed.

The problem here is that the overhead is large relative to the time needed to transfer the email. Improving the transport speed does not do much to cut overall time unless the overhead is small relative to the data transfer time.

Anyway it would be interesting if you could repeat the experiment with a longer text and see what you get.

There’s a lot to learn about VARA and how the wide/narrow thing works.

And probably also about the 9700 built in sound card.

-p W7PFB
73, Don’t forget to smile and have fun!

On Sep 12, 2020, at 5:33 PM, Howard E. Mahran / WA1HEM <wa1hem@...> wrote:

Ok I just tested both FM Narrow and Wide using just my IC9700 (no external sound card)

The NARROW setting was twice as fast and the WIDE. See attached images. So my guess is that Im not really sending wide even though VARA FM is set to WIDE... maybe some type of stepping down when connected causing a slower transmission. Im not sure... regardless... even in NARROW mode, the speed was awesomely fast (Compared to Vara on HF)




-----Original Message-----
From: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io <snovarc@snovarc.groups.io> On Behalf Of Howard E. Mahran / WA1HEM
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2020 4:57 PM
To: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io; 'Lynn Burlingame' <n7cfo@...>
Subject: Re: [SnoVARC] W7PFB-10 Winlink RMS changes

Cool. Sounds like you were busy. I will give this a try later.

Question - is there a way to disable the Narrow VARA FM to "temporarily" test FM WIDE only?

-----Original Message-----
From: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io <snovarc@snovarc.groups.io> On Behalf Of Paul Butzi (W7PFB)
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2020 4:23 PM
To: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io; Lynn Burlingame <n7cfo@...>
Subject: [SnoVARC] W7PFB-10 Winlink RMS changes

If you’re not using my Winlink RMS stations W7PFB-10, you can ignore this email.

If you’re using W7PFB-10 to connect to Winlink, but are not interested in the details, all you need to know is that I’ve made a bunch of changes, so if you run into trouble or have other feedback, please let me know.

If you’re interested in the nitty gritty, read on:

The station used to be:
Kenwood TM-D710G dualband radio
Windows Laptop running the RMS software configured to use the TNC built in to the Kenwood radio to do 1200 baud packet VARA FM software using a Masters Communications DRA-50 sound card connected to the data port on the Kenwood to do VARA FM WIDE.

The station is now:
Alinco DR-135T 2m radio
The same Windows laptop using the RMS software Masters Communications DRA-50 soundcard connected to the data port of the DR-135T Soundmodem software using the DRA-50 to do 1200 baud packet VARA FM software using the DRA-50 to do VARA FM WIDE

Please send any questions or comments you might have!

-p W7PFB
73, Don’t forget to smile and have fun!







--
*************************
Howard E. Mahran
WA1HEM
(425) 864 - 5104
*************************





--
*************************
Howard E. Mahran
WA1HEM
(425) 864 - 5104
*************************



<Vara FM Narrow.PNG><Vara FM Wide.PNG>

On Sep 12, 2020, at 5:33 PM, Howard E. Mahran / WA1HEM <wa1hem@...> wrote:

Ok I just tested both FM Narrow and Wide using just my IC9700 (no external sound card)

The NARROW setting was twice as fast and the WIDE. See attached images. So my guess is that Im not really sending wide even though VARA FM is set to WIDE... maybe some type of stepping down when connected causing a slower transmission. Im not sure... regardless... even in NARROW mode, the speed was awesomely fast (Compared to Vara on HF)




-----Original Message-----
From: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io <snovarc@snovarc.groups.io> On Behalf Of Howard E. Mahran / WA1HEM
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2020 4:57 PM
To: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io; 'Lynn Burlingame' <n7cfo@...>
Subject: Re: [SnoVARC] W7PFB-10 Winlink RMS changes

Cool. Sounds like you were busy. I will give this a try later.

Question - is there a way to disable the Narrow VARA FM to "temporarily" test FM WIDE only?

-----Original Message-----
From: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io <snovarc@snovarc.groups.io> On Behalf Of Paul Butzi (W7PFB)
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2020 4:23 PM
To: snovarc@snovarc.groups.io; Lynn Burlingame <n7cfo@...>
Subject: [SnoVARC] W7PFB-10 Winlink RMS changes

If you’re not using my Winlink RMS stations W7PFB-10, you can ignore this email.

If you’re using W7PFB-10 to connect to Winlink, but are not interested in the details, all you need to know is that I’ve made a bunch of changes, so if you run into trouble or have other feedback, please let me know.

If you’re interested in the nitty gritty, read on:

The station used to be:
Kenwood TM-D710G dualband radio
Windows Laptop running the RMS software configured to use the TNC built in to the Kenwood radio to do 1200 baud packet VARA FM software using a Masters Communications DRA-50 sound card connected to the data port on the Kenwood to do VARA FM WIDE.

The station is now:
Alinco DR-135T 2m radio
The same Windows laptop using the RMS software Masters Communications DRA-50 soundcard connected to the data port of the DR-135T Soundmodem software using the DRA-50 to do 1200 baud packet VARA FM software using the DRA-50 to do VARA FM WIDE

Please send any questions or comments you might have!

-p W7PFB
73, Don’t forget to smile and have fun!







--
*************************
Howard E. Mahran
WA1HEM
(425) 864 - 5104
*************************





--
*************************
Howard E. Mahran
WA1HEM
(425) 864 - 5104
*************************



<Vara FM Narrow.PNG><Vara FM Wide.PNG>

I use this for gmail:  https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/

It's free for home use and it works fine for me.  It's made by a company that makes an enterprise product.  Can search the backup, etc.

That said, I use gmail less and protonmail more these days because of privacy / security reasons.  I won't go into details as to why so as not to distract from your question, but if you want to know I'll be happy to discuss that as well.

-Lou

Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

On Saturday, September 12, 2020 11:43 AM, Rowland <rowland.brasch@...> wrote:

For all of you that use gmail do you use a backup app to make sure you do not lose data?  If you do please let me know what and why.

Thanks,

Rowland

For all of you that use gmail do you use a backup app to make sure you do not lose data?  If you do please let me know what and why.

Thanks,

Rowland

SNOVARC members:

It is with deep sadness that I must inform all of you that Jim Meyers, W7ABD, became a silent key Wednesday or Thursday of this week. As many of you know, Jim's health hadn't been the best for the past several years. We have all benefited from Jim's willingness to Elmer operators old and new, keeping our repeaters up and running, teaching classes and being a great source of information for so many things. 

 

At this point in time, I do not have information about a memorial service. As soon as I get any information, I will be sure to pass on the details. Please keep Jim's family and other friends in your thoughts and prayers. If the family reaches outs for help, I will be sure to pass along that information as well. 

 

Please remember Jim's willingness to Elmer others by offering to be an Elmer yourself. I am sure Jim would appreciate that. 

 

73, Jim, we will miss hearing W7ABD on the air.

 

If you have any questions, please e-mail me or call my cell, 206-714-8646.

 

Take care,

 

Tom, WA7TBP

 

 

I don't really have words to describe what I'm feeling so I'll just describe the first time I met W7ABD. Hopefully, it sums up one of the many reasons he'll be missed.

I first met Jim during the 2019 SnoVARC HAM Radio Tech Class. Walking into the fire station I was met with a sea of unfamiliar faces. A demographic of mostly men with radios on their hips and faces that revealed a tenured texture of hard-work and experience. This met my expectation of what "radio people" should look like. But, Jim stood-out from the crowd. He had a smile and charisma that one gravitates to in such a sea of unknowns. I'd later find out that Jim was teaching the antenna and feed-line portion of the course. His passion for this topic was contagious. If pictures are worth 1000 words then the arsenal of antennas and test equipment he brought to share with the class was a library archive worth of immediate familiarization. He had a Buddipole, one or two j-poles, a wire dipole, SWR meter, a rigExpert, and probably a dozen other things I cannot remember. His knowledge of all this gear was endless and he encouraged one to keep engaging in discussion about it! Who wants to talk about antennas and feed lines all day? Jim, that's who! What makes a good Elmer and teacher? Approachability. That is, to be an individual for which others feel immensely comfortable engaging with. In Jim this seemed like a natural and effortless quality. And, in Jim, I found the face of SnoVARC and, ultimately, a sense of what kind of Elmer I wanted to be as I made my journey through the hobby. A truly unique individual with an effortless passion to share and interact with other hams. I can only imagine that this quality extended to everything Jim did. I will certainly miss him and what he meant for me in my personal journey as a ham.

On Sep 11, 2020, at 4:06 PM, Ken Kosters <kenkosters@...> wrote:



Jim was a good friend and resource for all of us and shocking news to say the least. I always enjoyed our chats via the radio and always so positive and upbeat willing to dig into some one of my crazy ideas.

Jim will be missed dearly. 

Sorry but I have a lack of words at this time.

Ken W7ECK

On Fri, Sep 11, 2020 at 3:34 PM AA7Z <AA7Z@...> wrote:

RIP Jim. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. Great guy and will be sorely missed. 

Dick

AA7Z

On Sep 11, 2020, at 1:49 PM, Tom WA7TBP via groups.io <tomwa7tbp=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:



SNOVARC members:

It is with deep sadness that I must inform all of you that Jim Meyers, W7ABD, became a silent key Wednesday or Thursday of this week. As many of you know, Jim's health hadn't been the best for the past several years. We have all benefited from Jim's willingness to Elmer operators old and new, keeping our repeaters up and running, teaching classes and being a great source of information for so many things. 

 

At this point in time, I do not have information about a memorial service. As soon as I get any information, I will be sure to pass on the details. Please keep Jim's family and other friends in your thoughts and prayers. If the family reaches outs for help, I will be sure to pass along that information as well. 

 

Please remember Jim's willingness to Elmer others by offering to be an Elmer yourself. I am sure Jim would appreciate that. 

 

73, Jim, we will miss hearing W7ABD on the air.

 

If you have any questions, please e-mail me or call my cell, 206-714-8646.

 

Take care,

 

Tom, WA7TBP

 

 

On Sep 11, 2020, at 1:49 PM, Tom WA7TBP via groups.io <tomwa7tbp@...> wrote:



SNOVARC members:

It is with deep sadness that I must inform all of you that Jim Meyers, W7ABD, became a silent key Wednesday or Thursday of this week. As many of you know, Jim's health hadn't been the best for the past several years. We have all benefited from Jim's willingness to Elmer operators old and new, keeping our repeaters up and running, teaching classes and being a great source of information for so many things. 

 

At this point in time, I do not have information about a memorial service. As soon as I get any information, I will be sure to pass on the details. Please keep Jim's family and other friends in your thoughts and prayers. If the family reaches outs for help, I will be sure to pass along that information as well. 

 

Please remember Jim's willingness to Elmer others by offering to be an Elmer yourself. I am sure Jim would appreciate that. 

 

73, Jim, we will miss hearing W7ABD on the air.

 

If you have any questions, please e-mail me or call my cell, 206-714-8646.

 

Take care,

 

Tom, WA7TBP