Hello and thanks for all your effort - great work! I have both cables with and without CAT control and have tested them with my setup. The setup is an AnyTone AT-D578UV PLUS, Digirig (logical levels) and Windows 10 with VARA FM. The PTT is activated on both cables with the corresponding configuration from this thread and the TRX transmits correctly. However, I have the following problems:
with the cable with CAT control, the frequency should be set when the device is in VFO mode - correct, or have I misunderstood something? Is there something else that needs to be set on the TRX? That doesnât work for me at least.
After the signal has been sent, the Winlink repeater responds to my request. However, the reply comes so quickly that the AT-D578UV PLUS âoverhearsâ it and does not respond, instead sending another connection attempt. This is the same for both cables. Can I influence this, or is this a setting on the Winlink repeater?
Do you have squelch turned off? Have you tried going through the autotune setup in Vara FM modem? Vara FM modem tries to set TX delays through automatic negotiation.
Also, there is a guide, Troubleshooting Digital Modes â digirig which will give you a step-by-step approach to separate the CAT issue from the more important TX/RX issue.
Yes, the squelch is set to 0. I can neither send a ping nor use the autotune, as these responses from the repeater are also âoverheardâ by the TRX. However, I can hear the repeaterâs response in the speaker. Unfortunately, the guide doesnât say anything new either. The USB interface is recognized correctly, the driver is correct, audio is set correctly and the transmission is executed as expected. With other TRX such as FT-818, IC-706, FT-857, FT-65,⌠the exact same setup works without any problems. I also have the same behavior with the Motorola GP3x0 - but this is an old device and therefore explainable. Any other ideas?
what i forgot to mention ⌠from time to time, 1 in 10, i can connect to the repeater but then lose the connection because of the leak.
Maybe RFI on TX interfering with USB. In this case, try reduced power, remote antenna, ferrite beads on the USB cable, if you are not already doing this.
it is quite possible that the radio in question has too long of tx/rx switching time.
i donât have that radio but this more common than it should be with some âlinesâ of radios.
the only menu option iâve found that âinfluencesâ this (as you put) is the STE option i found in a uv-5r
squelch tail elimination
keeps the ptt active AFTER closing mic/audio circuit.
turning this OFF, eliminated the âhang timeâ.
my hg-uv98 aprs radio, weirdly, does not have this menu option and cannot be used to query aprs auto responders correctly. just like you outlined.
now, frequency setting via cat.
vara-fm does NOT do remote control âstuffâ via cat so even a properly configured setup will not âchange the channelâ for you. (as opposed to vara-hf)
Roger that - well done, sir, and thank you very very much!
That was exactly what I was looking for . The STE option can be set down to 50ms (100ms is also sufficient). However, it is unclear whether this was really the solution - the switching time still feels like forever. But it has certainly helped, as the successful connections with the repeater are now 9 out of 10 (automatic negotiation certainly helps here too). However, Ping and AutoTune still have the same problem - the result from the repeater is âoverheardâ. This is not a big deal, but it is a bit unpleasant.
And yes, webmonkey, thanks for pointing out the frequency change thing in VARA FM - I forgot about that in the heat of the moment - embarrassing
A general thank you for the help to everyone involved - 73 and good luck!
- well done, sir, and thank you very very much! 