Posted: 3/13/2012 7:34:41 AM EDT
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Do you use it?
What is your equipment setup for using it? Cable connections? RJ-45? What? Obviously with just laptops near each other you would do USB transfers, wifi ad-hoc networks or cross over cables. But when you want to reach out, this Winlink thingamabob sounds interdasting. QRZ search bring up a number of results that are essentially exploding head threads "QRM!!! WINLINK BASTAGES!!!! QRM!!!! QRM!!!!!! QRM!!!!!!!!" (Not much in the search results here) So before I make ears bleed over there I thought I'd get real info here 
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Yes I have used it. I initially set it up to use during the Hurricane, with most of my family on the west coast it would allow me to send them an email letting them know I was ok, even without power.
It is a neat program, the controversy stems from the bandwidth that is used. A lot of people think that it is over utilised, and that as long as the Internet is up that is what should be used. The EMCOMM guys use it a lot and claim to be "Practising" for EMCOMM work. There is no doubt that it is play a huge roll in EMCOMM work, and is heavily utilized in MARS, and has the ability to send messages on standard HF via sound card modes and also using the Pactor 3 or 4 protocol. Also the other part of the controversy is that there are nodes listening on a given frequency, when your winlink node is trying to establish a connection there is a huge chance that the frequency may be in use and you are basically QRM to any on going QSO. It is for this reason I do not use it much, but I keep the capability of using it for emergency purposes. I will fire it up every couple of months and send a test email to keep my web mail address active and that is it. I am using it with my Icom 706 and my homebrew interface, a signal link or any digi mode interface will work. I use RMS express for it, I have not set-up Air Mail yet but I need to. There are many things that piss off some of the old timer hams, change does not come easy for a lot of folks. They want to preserve amateur radio as they know it, but with technology comes change, and the main reason we are given the frequency spectrum that we have is to experiment and progress the art of radio communications. When we fail to invent and utilise the spectrum that we have we will loose it! Many inventions by amateur radio operators have been adopted by the government. In essence that is the spirit of ham radio, and it will always have resistance by many. We were not given billions of dollars worth of spectrum so we can rag chew with out radio buddies, we were given it to experiment and progress, the rag chewing and DX is the perks we get to enjoy. So I say experiment, enhance your capabilities. As long as you are not intentionally interfering, and using the best amateur practices you can then you are good to go. |
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I've used it with RMS express. It's not perfect and can be difficult to setup depending on your version of Windows, your radio and your interface. Lots of PDFs out there though that can walk you through it if there are problems.
The program autoupdates it if you use it occasionally which is nice but if a year went by and you turned it on you might be too far behind to have it autoupdate. The best thing about it is that it is still being actively developed which you can't say for a lot of radio software out there. So that's nice. I use it with an IC7000 and a Signalink. Winlink can also be used with APRS, PACTOR modems, and other stuff. They've added Robust Packet recently but I don't really understand that. Oh, one tricky thing is for people to send email to your Winlink email address they've got to be in your whitelist and add a tag to the subject line for the message to go through. Keeps out spam and whatnot but basically everyone you think might want to send you email one day needs to get an email from you that adds them to your whitelist. That's my understanding anyway. |
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The above is essentially correct. Choose your weapon: expensive Pactor hardware modem with Airmail software or el-cheapo sound card setup with RMS Express software implementing the Winmor waveform.
Pactor is the speed demon but also the bandwidth hog, 2-3K depending on mode. "Winmor", the sound card mode attempt to reach Pactor speeds without the cost and without infringing on Pactor patents, could have actually achieved that. However in an attempt to mollify the WL2K haters, Winmor in the form of RMS Express software only operates in either a 500Hz or a 1600Hz mode. Speed under ideal conditions approximates that of Pactor 2 in 1600Hz mode, Pactor 3 still beats it handily. However for short emails Winmor is eminently usable at any bandwidth. It's the offshore sailors who are downloading weather graphics that are the bandwidth hogs and most of them run Pactor 3. Senders to your WL2K email address only need to prepend their subject lines with "//WL2K" if the are NOT on your white-list already. I am a Winmor RMS (radio mail server) sysop, BTW. Please don't hesitate to ask questions. It's a good system. |
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I use it at least daily. Either via Pactor3 or just the Telnet (internet) side. Pactor 3 is the shizzle for coms in/out of an 'affected area'. Forward error correcting and fast. Considering a Pactor4 modem. Once the Airmail over HF message gets to a PMBO node it's 're-broadcast' onto the internet for delivery via regular e-mail. Works in reverse too. I also have RMS Express as a backup, but given a choice...it's Airmail via Pactor3.  |
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The Signallink USB seems pretty cut and dry though I'd like to hear more about the homebrew interfaces. Don't forget that with the Signalink you'll also need a separate radio control interface (C-IV or CAT) to get all of the features of the various sound card software programs to work. Tigertronics really needs to add that feature into their Signalink design so you don't have to get it sorted out separately. |
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The Signallink USB seems pretty cut and dry though I'd like to hear more about the homebrew interfaces. Don't forget that with the Signalink you'll also need a separate radio control interface (C-IV or CAT) to get all of the features of the various sound card software programs to work. Tigertronics really needs to add that feature into their Signalink design so you don't have to get it sorted out separately. ok, that's the info I'm looking for when it comes to hardware. Is there an all-in-one solution already? |
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The Signallink USB seems pretty cut and dry though I'd like to hear more about the homebrew interfaces. Don't forget that with the Signalink you'll also need a separate radio control interface (C-IV or CAT) to get all of the features of the various sound card software programs to work. Tigertronics really needs to add that feature into their Signalink design so you don't have to get it sorted out separately. ok, that's the info I'm looking for when it comes to hardware. Is there an all-in-one solution already? There are several. The following three are the ones I'm familiar with: I use a Microham USB III. It is very highly rated on eham.net and I like it a lot. I relegated my Signalink to monitoring APRS when I got my Microham. There is also the Rigexpert Standard. I don't know much about this interface, but it looks nearly identical to the Microham and it also gets excellent reviews. West Mountain now makes the Rigblaster Advantage. I've personally had bad experiences with West Mountain interfaces and that was the major reason I got the Microham. They are not highly rated on eham.net and I would not recommend it. There are probably others as well, but I'd call those "the big three". All of them instantiate a separate, dedicated sound card device for your radio, a C-IV or CAT interface, and use a single USB connection to your computer. They are a bit pricier than rolling your own or combining a Signalink with something else, however I can honestly say the Microham is completely bulletproof. The only thing I don't like about it is that on Windows 7 I have to set the levels for the sound interface to a very, very low level on the computer in order to get the knobs to center in their adjustment range. Apparently the pre-amp settings in Windows 7 are on by default and they Microham folks have provided no way to turn them off or adjust for this. I'd be very interested in people's opinions of the Rigexpert products, BTW. |