[aprssig] Cross-County Road Trip Again Shows Overwhelming Superiority of VARA for HF APRS!

[Stephen H Smith]

In October 2024, I made a major road trip from my home QTH in central Michigan 
to Los Angeles and back.  On this trip, I made the most extensive test yet 
comparing the performance of classic 300-baud HF AX.25 packet vs the VARA 
high-performance software modem for 30-meters HF APRS.

I beaconed every 10 minutes, alternately on classic packet and on VARA,  on the 
30M APRS channel during the entire 6125 miles (9850 Km) of the roundtrip.  My 
home station in Haslett (near East Lansing) Michigan received and igated both 
modes. In addition, several other stations around the US also served as igates 
for the VARA mode.

The trip again confirmed again the overwhelming superiority of VARA, with it's 
built-in multiple levels of forward error correction, over classic HF packet. 
There were many days on the trip where I heard NOTHING in the car on classic 
packet APRS (lots of solar storms & disturbances), but copied multiple stations 
(including my own home station) on VARA.

Full details on the trip, the setup and the results here on my website:

<http://WA8LMF.net/RoadTrip/>

and click on the link for

RoadTrip-Oct-2024/index.htm 
<http://wa8lmf.net/RoadTrip/RoadTrip-Oct-2024/index.htm>

P.S My proselytizing for APRS-over-VARA seems to be catching on -- I am now 
seeing igates on both coasts and the midwest beaconing regularly on the 
APRS-over-VARA mode on 30M since the trip!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com

Skype:        WA8LMF
EchoLink:  Node #  14400  [Think bottom of the 2-meter band]
Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net

APRS-over-VARA igates now operating on 30 & 60 meters
<http://WA8LMF.net/map>

"Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels
<http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner>

-- APRS over VARA  --
<http://wa8lmf.net/APRSoverVARA.>


In October 2024, I made a major road trip from my home QTH in central Michigan 
to Los Angeles and back.  On this trip, I made the most extensive test yet 
comparing the performance of classic 300-baud HF AX.25 packet vs the VARA 
high-performance software modem for 30-meters HF APRS.

I beaconed every 10 minutes, alternately on classic packet and on VARA,  on the 
30M APRS channel during the entire 6125 miles (9850 Km) of the roundtrip.  My 
home station in Haslett (near East Lansing) Michigan received and igated both 
modes. In addition, several other stations around the US also served as igates 
for the VARA mode.

The trip again confirmed again the overwhelming superiority of VARA, with it's 
built-in multiple levels of forward error correction, over classic HF packet. 
There were many days on the trip where I heard NOTHING in the car on classic 
packet APRS (lots of solar storms & disturbances), but copied multiple stations 
(including my own home station) on VARA.

Full details on the trip, the setup and the results here on my website:

<http://WA8LMF.net/RoadTrip/>

and click on the link for

RoadTrip-Oct-2024/index.htm 
<http://wa8lmf.net/RoadTrip/RoadTrip-Oct-2024/index.htm>


P.S My proselytizing for APRS-over-VARA seems to be catching on -- I am now 
seeing igates on both coasts and the midwest beaconing regularly on the 
APRS-over-VARA mode on 30M since the trip!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com

Skype:        WA8LMF
EchoLink:  Node #  14400  [Think bottom of the 2-meter band]
Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net

APRS-over-VARA igates now operating on 30 & 60 meters
<http://WA8LMF.net/map>

"Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels
<http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner>

-- APRS over VARA  --
<http://wa8lmf.net/APRSoverVARA.>


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.tapr.org/pipermail/aprssig_lists.tapr.org/attachments/20241119/d2480b1d/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ltBEfISXuWak0Jb6.png
Type: image/png
Size: 4604 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.tapr.org/pipermail/aprssig_lists.tapr.org/attachments/20241119/d2480b1d/attachment.png>