Has anyone gotten this to work with packet or VaraFM? I saw a similar thread about the Digirig lite and WoAD and I emailed KB2HSH, he was nice enough to email me back. After a few back and forth emails, I am still unable to get it to work in packet, let alone VaraFM. I really bought the Digirig Lite to work with WoAD and VaraFM with my VX-7r and Samsung s23u. My TNC4 works fine for packet, but VaraFM was really was what I was trying to accomplish. Maybe I misunderstood was the digirig lite was for?
Following KB2HSH settings for packet, I can get the radio to transmit, but it stays locked in transmit mode. I have to disconnect my phone from the digirig lite. Also, I get a warning on phone saying I may miss a call because the radio is listening for audio. I also hear tones through phone.
I also followed KI6NAZ video on the Digirig lite, trying to get it to work on computer and couldn’t get the radio to transmit. Below are my settings.
vara, the vara modem, is a windows program.
there has been some success on linux boxes with wine and workarounds.
there is no linux and no android version of the vara modem.
so why is vara listed in woad?
it assumes you will connect VIA LOCAL LAN to a windows box running the aforementioned vara modem which is connected to a radio.
there is NO vara winlink solution for android phone/tablet + radio ONLY.
woad does NOT have a vara modem built in.
woad does have plain old ax.25 audio that can use a digirig for packet.
woad does support hardware tnc devices like mobilinkd and the tnc in a th-d72a etc for plain old packet.
i’ve used both with woad successfully.
problem is, my own bpq node is the closest gateway when i ride and it doesn’t have the greatest coverage (70cm)
i hope i’ve got the basics across.
sorry about the capitalizing, just wanted to make sure my explanation was clear.
the whole minimalist winlink field setup is a massive tail chasing event when terminology and technology are miss spoken or miss read or miss informed.
i’m speaking of my own personal experience. not pointing fingers at people
you can try googling:
varanny
to see what someone has created to use a cube pc to run the vara modem and radio.
you ‘connect’ to the cube pc modem with the phone then winlink away.
There are layers to making this work from audio and radio control to radio link quality, modems etc.
Start with the basics before you even connect Digirig: make sure your can hear the traffic on the frequency with the radio you are interfacing. Then make sure you can hear this traffic on the computer through Digirig. I understand that you want to use Android, but pre-testing the kit will make you not waste time troubleshooting multiple areas at the same time.
Next make sure your app can key up the radio. Digirig Lite supports PTT by GPIO and PTT by tone on right channel. The latest WoAD supports both, but keep in mind that the tone has to be at the maximum volume to work reliably. You may also need to play with the Noop prefix to give radio time to settle in with the transmission. Then make sure you can hear your station’s transmission on another local radio tuned to the same frequency. With that all working you still need to ensure the antenna and power is sufficient for the link, that digipeater supports the modem you are using etc.
Things locking up on transmit means that you are dealing with RFI. See troubleshooting guide for diagnostic and solutions.
I got it to work on packet with S23u. Webmonkey, thanks for the clarification, that’s is a real bummer. I misunderstood. And again a big thanks to KB2HSH for getting me on the right track and spending some email time with me.
K0TX, RFI was indeed the culprit, I appreciate your response. I swapped out to a small usb-a to usb-c adapter and no more RFI.
Volume knob was moved to full volume on VX-7R, and packet volume moved to 100. I don’t know if that is needed, but that’s where I had my settings at.
So to get the digirig lite to work with VaraFM we need a windows laptop or tablet?
Would you mind sharing the settings you used? I’m running a Samsung S-22 phone, the latest version of WOAD and the DR-891 connected to an FT-891. It works fine with the Winlink client on a windows laptop but I’d really like to get WOAD going with it for a smaller package. Thanks!
you create a new ‘session’ and define all the variables basically.
just keep in mind, WoAD and a radio will get you PACKET ONLY.
as i stated above, vara hf or fm REQUIRES a computer that can run a windows binary.
so when WoAD references anything other than packet, it is referring to connecting, via ‘network’ to a pc running those software modems which is connected to a radio.
ok?
so, if you want to move ahead, your choices are fm packet or hf packet.
there are still fm vhf/uhf packet stations running winlink/rms software.
hf packet, 300baud has been removed from winlink ‘brand’ stuff.
bpq32 nodes can still provide hf packet and connect to the winlink system.
so on to the WoAD session you’ll create:
AFSK, the digirig is not a tnc, so you choose afsk, not anything else.
1200bps for fm vhf/uhf
300bps for hf
the ‘rest’ of the settings should be pretty straight forward.
selecting channel (callsign to connect to) etc.
