Seeking VARA Enthusiasts for Beta Testing of New RadioMail Companion

RadioMail
1

Aloha VARA enthusiasts!

I'm excited to introduce [varanny](https://github.com/islandmagic/varanny), a new companion to RadioMail that's designed to enhance your VARA experience on a headless computer.

I'm looking for a few dedicated VARA users who'd like to help me test and refine this feature before its official launch.

Here's a brief overview of what varanny brings to the table:

**Service Announcement for Zeroconf:**
varanny uses DNS Service Discovery to announce the VARA modem services, making it easier for clients to find an active VARA instance and automatically fetch the IP and command port configured for it. This is similar to how the mobilinkd gets discovered. No more clumsy IP/port configuration required in RadioMail.

**Remote Management:**
With varanny, RadioMail can remotely start and stop the VARA program. This is especially handy for headless applications when VARA FM and VARA HF share the same sound card interface. It also resolves the issue of VARA failing to rebind its ports after a connection closes when running on a *nix system via Wine.

**Multiple VARA Configurations Management:**
Since VARA doesn't provide command line configuration options, varanny steps in to handle multiple configurations for you. It switches the .ini configuration file that VARA reads, allowing for smooth configuration changes before each session and restoring default settings afterward.

**Audio Level Monitor:**
varanny enables RadioMail to show an audio level meter that reflects the audio level from the input sound card connected to the remote computer. This helps you set the radio volume at the optimal level.

If you're interested in participating, you should:

- Be comfortable reviewing and following the steps on [GitHub](https://github.com/islandmagic/varanny)
- Be able to run VARA or VARA FM on a Windows or Linux (x86_64 only for now) computer
- Be familiar with command line operations and editing configuration files
- Have basic understanding of TCP/IP networking concepts
- Have experience with telnet for troubleshooting

If you'd like to join the beta test on TestFlight, please reply **directly** to me.

I'm excited about this new addition and I'd love your help in making it the best it can be.

2

I’m interested

3

I am interested. Please let me know what you need tested. Thanks

David Casteel
KX8U

4

This will be really useful, thanks Georges. I did have to smile when I saw some people showing that they don’t always carefully read and follow directions, perhaps putting themselves low on the list of prospective beta users. :slight_smile:

5

Aloha Georges,

the VARA HF configuration is two-fold:
- configuring VARA
- configuring rigctld

I don't worry so much about configuring both just once, but It's the latter/rigctld that I typically forget to start, so I'm curious, and branching this subject off, whether we can skip rigctld in some way (asking everyone here) ?

6

Not sure I fully follow what you’re asking. By specifying rigctrl command in varanny config it will be both advertised for RadioMail to be discovered, and also for varan y to start it and stop it as necessary

7

Will be mentioned in Zero Retries 0126 today.

Thanks,

Steve N8GNJ

8

Please add me to your list of beta testers.

9

Please add me as well. Thanks !!