By Pat N3AYW Lewis

Recently a local served agency asked if there was a way to connect two cities (in Virginia ) for keyboard to keyboard emergency “comms” .   

     BUT      without any infrastructure in between….. no links, no internet, no satellites, no packet modems 

      AND     this mode would allow humans to talk to humans almost real time but have the weak signal and error correction just like the proven programs used for sending messages via Winlink.  

       Turns out…

Vara Chat ( Varac or VarAC ) already does an incredible job of many things hams like to do. Even QSO ing…. Actually communicating directly… just like CW or voice at a distance.  But Vara Chat has many more secrets….even beyond hams texting ( hi hi ) 

 So.    If you are up to the challenge, you should load the free program and try it. It looks complicated at first. Runs on the same computers as Winlink  ( either windows 10 or 11 at my shack with ICOM 7300 , 9700, and 705 so far ) 

My hope is that some more local hams will adopt Vara Chat, and help me learn how to use it ( both of VHF and HF ).    And sometime this year live testing between two Red Cross teams in different towns can be supported by a communication technique that doesn’t require cell phones, satellites, or internet ( or even repeaters).   Human to human in effect.      But for now we can experiment and play and learn locally too.