[bars] VarAC with IC-7300

[David Marcucci]

Check your Windows "device manager" for COM ports for your rig and an entry
for the soundcard. I am pretty sure the 7300 has an internal sound card
that should show up under soundcards. For my FT-710 I have a soundcard
called "USB Audio Device" and two COM ports called "Silicon Labs Dual
CP2105 USB to UART Bridge: Enhanced COM Port". This will be an indicator
that your 7300 is talking to your computer. If you don't see the ports and
soundcard (which may be different than mine), you are likely missing
drivers.

Once you confirm that, make sure your VarAC PTT, CAT, and Frequency Control
settings are correct. With the FT-710, I just needed to select the right
RIG under PTT and Frequency Control, then select the correct COM port under
CAT. All the default settings worked otherwise. Since then, I did set the
"read frequency every" to 5 seconds to slow it down because I was
troubleshooting an issue but I think it was RF on my shield coming back
into the rig. I just never changed that back. you can test the PTT within
VarAC, but no tone will go out; that's okay. If your radio switches to TX
you are good.

In VARA HF make sure the correct sound cards are selected for the 7300. On
my FT-710 the names are the same for input and output but they are properly
identified as "microphone" and "headphone" outputs. Make sure your PC did
not switch your default audio to your RIG; otherwise, if you are
transmitting and you get a notification on your PC or play music or a
video, it will send the sound out over the air. Press the red "tune" button
in VARA HF and see if your rig switches to TX and shows a tone going out.
Make sure your power is as low as it will go on the 7300.

Good luck,
Dave KC1TLF



On Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 12:46 PM Andy Wallace via bars <bars at w1hh.org>
wrote:

> I have yet to do digital with mine but - did you install the Icom 7300
> drivers?
>
> https://www.icomjapan.com/support/firmware_driver/2417/
>
> Andy
>
>
> On Sep 26, 2025, at 12:28 PM, Ron Zeheb via bars <bars at w1hh.org> wrote:
>
> 
> I am dipping my toes into digital mode for the first time, but having
> difficulty setting up VarAC with my IC-7300.  It should be easy, but.....
>
> I have VarAC and VARA HF modem downloaded and launched just fine.  My rig
> is connected to the computer using a USB cable and the computer is running
> Windows10.
> However it appears that the rig and computer are not talking to each other.
> When I go to VarAC Settings/Rig Control & VARA Configurations with the COM
> Port radio button on: the Port pull down menu is blank (no port options are
> available to select).
> Also, when I push the PTT test button on I get an error message in the log
> that reads, "Object reference not set to an instance of an object."
>
> I have tried two different USB cables, and all three available USB sockets
> on my computer all with the same result.  I suspect that the issue resides
> in settings on the IC-7300 but I don't know
> which ones or how to set them correctly.
>
> Any help and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>   Ron
>   NJ1W
>
> P.S. I have also watched several Youtube videos on this subject but they
> were not helpful.
> _______________________________________________
> bars mailing list
> bars at w1hh.org
> http://mail.w1hh.org/mailman/listinfo/bars_w1hh.org
> _______________________________________________
> bars mailing list
> bars at w1hh.org
> http://mail.w1hh.org/mailman/listinfo/bars_w1hh.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.w1hh.org/pipermail/bars_w1hh.org/attachments/20250926/05e7482c/attachment.htm>