Vara FM winlink with Kenwood D710g and DRA-50

Question

I'm trying to get this working for the first time on a vhf/uhf radio. PTT is working and it seems to be transmitting, but neither I nor the program can hear any response. I' ve tuned the radio to the correct frequency manually (i've tried a few gateways to be sure) and it's transmitting on the correct band.

So far I've only used winlink on a IC-7300, so I'm not sure what all might be different for this setup. What else should I check?

Answer 1

I'm not quite sure why things worked in today's testing, possibly I was just in a dead zone yesterday. Here's the setup that's working though:

DRA-50 is plugged into radio's "Data" port (on main body) and into laptop. This is the port for using an external TNC, which is indicated by a plain 'D' next to the power level indicator on whichever band it's set to. (The internal TNC's band is indicated by a black square with a light 'D' in it.) Tuning must be done manually.

Windows configuration:

Note: I renamed the input and output devices of the DRA-50 for easy identification. By default they show up as "USB PnP Sound Device". After connecting the first time, Windows may make both sides the default audio input/output devices. You do not want this. Make sure to change the default devices back to the built-in speakers and microphone or whatever else you want to use.

Sound control panel, DRA-50

• Speaker Level: 100
• Microphone Level: 50
• AGC: off (unchecked)
• Disable all enhancements
• Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device: checked
• Give exclusive mode applications priority: checked
• Spatial sound format: Off

Vara FM configuration:

Settings -> VARA Setup...

• Command: 8300
• Data: 8301
• FM System: Narrow
• Digipeater:
• Retries: 2
• callsign and registration key also filled in

Settings -> SoundCard...

• Device Input: DRA-50
• Device Output: DRA-50
• PTT: RA-Board
• Drive level: -5 dB

Settings -> PTT...

• PTT Via: RA-Board

Kenwood D-710G settings:

• internal TNC off
• set band to be used by external TNC in menu 918 (AUX -> EXT. DATA BAND)
• manually tune to desired winlink frequency
• adjust squelch just high enough to ignore background static
• power level medium -- I've heard running data modes on high may be too much duty cycle for the radio, and also distort your outgoing signal.
• 919 (AUX -> EXT. DATA SPEED): 1200 bps

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