I'm the training officer for our local Emergency Communications Service. We cover the local city and the eastern portion of the county. We are building our membership and developing training for our local area. Your videos give me many great training idea. Thank you.
+Don Evans thanks for the feedback Don. I'm definitely no expert, so these videos more than anything else are presenting learning experiences. I hope you share your training material with a community, we need as much good material out there as we can get.
I enjoyed your video so much that I watched twice. I am a WinLink fan. I think the WinLink community could greatly benefit from watching your video. My main interest to get me started with WinLink was to be able to communicate with my son who lives on the Gulf Coast of Alabama that is prone to hurricane disasters. We have set up a plan for P2P as well. On the topic of finding a WinLink station with no internet, I have been successful when I would listen to an active WinLink session and noting the frequency. Then I would use the list to narrow down the station after doing the math with the dial frequency. It also gave me an idea of the propagation at that time. Outstanding video. I look forward to the next one. ~73 Ron (KF4UPI)
+Ron Langner thank you very much Ron. I hope the current hurricane situation and the Gulf Coast isn't affecting your son. I don't know if they'll benefit from my feedback. There are more experienced operators than myself using winlink. Like you I enjoy the idea of sending for receiving email two people outside of the ham radio ecosystem. Other than the issues with propagation the thing I missed the most was having a real time chat system in parallel with winlink. The ARDOP project certainly trying to answer that question, but I wonder why they haven't adopted This Magnificent system called fsq. It's open source and it's already been developed and proven. Anyway like I said that many more operators having more experience with winlink than myself. Thanks for reaching out and for the kindness, It's very much appreciated
Great video, Julian! Thanks for sharing. I feel your frustration with trying to connect to some of the HF stations. Being that I'm in the lower center of the US I tend to try to connect to stations on either the east or west coasts. Sometimes I get lucky, other times not so much. I've got several VHF packet WinLink stations; near my house; but I can't seem to catch any of the up when I'm trying to connect. I'll definitely be interested in seeing how you set up your own WinLink station. I've been thinking about putting together one of my own.
+Richard Slusher thanks for this message Richard, it's always good to get your input. What you're talking about is exactly the gateway density problem mentioned in the video. I don't have any experience with VHF packet winlink stations yet, but you know I'm all about over-the-horizon comms. So I think I'm going to do two different Builds on the channel. An ALE pilot station build, and a RMS Gateway build. Bboth running on 30 or 40m. The trick is going to be getting both of those to run on a Raspberry Pi.
Excellent video! Several comments (not criticisms) . The author complains about QRM. Then he states Winlink needs ALE. Nuff sed. Secondly, physical location replacement of volunteer RMS operators in different countries is a difficult plan. Rather than play the guessing game on the Ham bands, perhaps Hams in Finland would petition their governments like Australia, Austria, the UK, Canada, Micronesia, and the US have done, and obtain specifically designated HF channels from their respective governments exclusively dedicated to EmComm ( and Winlink Hybrid activities). Real-life EmComm without government relationships, sponsorship, participation and support will always be a strong deterrent with Hams participating in emergency communications. Interoperability with officials in any country is paramount to a successful operation. Steve Waterman, K4CJX, Winlink Network Administrator
+Steve Waterman hi Steve thanks for the reply. I don't really understand the sarcasm with the winlink/ale. I'm testing and evaluating all types of tools, and I don't wave the flag for any of them. All of the systems are simply tools in the toolbox. Anyway I had a blast with this emergency communications exercise and I actually like the one thing that winlink does extremely well. I don't know if you found the follow-up video, using qrp powering less-than-optimal antennas. I think from my channels perspective in the feedback that I get from viewers people are more interested in Practical Communications not necessarily in support of a government agency during a disaster. The idea that I can send and receive email to someone outside of the amateur radio ecosystem is magnificent, and winlink does that extremely well. Actually if I completely ignore the qrm from some of the silly contesters, and finding the proper station and frequencies to connect up one the only thing I would wish for is a keyboard to keyboard track mode running in parallel with winlink. I don't mean the peer-to-peer connections which are actually cool. But I mean something like fsq, for proper keyboard to keyboard Station to Station or group chat. Anyway I had a blast with this emergency communications exercise end I'm certainly going to do more with winlink and the ARDOP project. Thanks again for the reply 73 Julian oh8stn
Thank you for another great video. Winlink is like other modes and configurations. You must practice it to understand the capability and limits. Your observation that your knowledge of your own propagation experience was a better prediction of contact success is similar to my own testing. I do a weekly winlink test and always try different RMS nodes. Over the last six months I know what bands and stations work best depending on the time of day. I encourage anyone truly interested in using this mode for emergencies undertake such practice. It also keeps your propitiation lists up to date. I do have some serious concerns about the capacity of the existing RMS stations to handle a regional grid down scenario. Here on the east coast of the US it is often hard to find one of my go to RMS stations on a clear frequency during the evening hours. Just a half dozen operators trying to use the network during the same time could stop anyone else from getting messages through - for half the country! A published comms plan establishing temporary peer to peer networks would help, but the number of clear 2.5khz channels is limited considering the number of other users handling SSB and PSK31 emergency traffic. It would seem that your drill used a limited number of stations operating in a coordinated way. An uncoordinated emergency network with dozens of stations might grind to a QRM gridlock. Kind of what happens every year with field day during peak times, or pile ups for rare DX stations. Eventually there are too many callers and the calling station can't understand anyone. This will be doubly true for the RMS stations were everyone is operating nearly the same power levels and it is a computer trying to pick out a clear station instead of a human asking "something ending in sierra tango November???" I think more work needs to go into the planning for using winlink in the case of a real regional disaster and some re-engineering might be in order as well. At the very least a kind of universal comms plan, to let operators prioritize traffic and access. Great video on an important topic. 73 Charlie KM4ZZ
Great video, Julian. Keep it up. I'm a fan of Winlink, as you know. If you can get an ALE/Winlink network established you are going to be cutting edge. 73, Al
+KM4DYX you know it's astonishing I don't know why ALE winlink aren't used to augment one another more commonly. I don't mean that they should be integrated, but each system has magnificent features which the other is lacking. I think I'm going to do a couple of build videos next of course those are the most fun but in parallel I'm going to do some research and plan how I might implement 40 meters system I talked about in the video. Thanks for commenting, it's very encouraging and appreciate it.
I am an ARES county EC. Our section recently had a wide area Simulated Emergency Test based on a grid down scenario caused by terrorist operations. If you don't mind I will show your video to my group at our monthly meeting tomorrow evening. Well done, thank you. Randall K9ANF
Sorry for the slow response Randy your message was in the spam folder for some reason. Definitely are welcome to show this video. Unfortunately it's not my best but you are welcome. 73 Julian oh8stn
Mark Griffin in Flordia has a Pi Gate www.pigate.net/ The PiGate is a small piece of hardware that can be brought into a disaster area, connected to an already existing VHF or HF amateur radio and antenna (like in your car or truck), and used to send e-mail to the global Winlink2000 system through a Radio Message Server (RMS) station. I hope to be getting one of these to see how it works from a call out site.Coming out from a disaster area would be the issue as you had a problem with QRM etc. HF Propagation is another issue what with solar flares etc
Ok. So I looked hard for a way to contact you to ask you this. I am sure you won’t answer this question, because you can’t. Because there is no answer. Who’s and what traffic are you planning to send in the event of an emergency? Government officials look at hams as a bunch of propeller hat wearing nerds and probably won’t even talk to you. And if someone local to you asked you to send a message, how on earth is it going to be delivered at the far end? This notion of ham radio communications during an emergency is ridiculous. You’re just gonna talk to other hams? Like what. 59 and 73’s ? This is ridiculous. Seriously. I get wanting off grid communication but in an actual emergency ham radio is completely useless.
This is really awesome and well done!!
I'm the training officer for our local Emergency Communications Service. We cover the local city and the eastern portion of the county. We are building our membership and developing training for our local area. Your videos give me many great training idea. Thank you.
+Don Evans thanks for the feedback Don. I'm definitely no expert, so these videos more than anything else are presenting learning experiences. I hope you share your training material with a community, we need as much good material out there as we can get.
I enjoyed your video so much that I watched twice. I am a WinLink fan. I think the WinLink community could greatly benefit from watching your video. My main interest to get me started with WinLink was to be able to communicate with my son who lives on the Gulf Coast of Alabama that is prone to hurricane disasters. We have set up a plan for P2P as well. On the topic of finding a WinLink station with no internet, I have been successful when I would listen to an active WinLink session and noting the frequency. Then I would use the list to narrow down the station after doing the math with the dial frequency. It also gave me an idea of the propagation at that time. Outstanding video. I look forward to the next one. ~73 Ron (KF4UPI)
+Ron Langner thank you very much Ron. I hope the current hurricane situation and the Gulf Coast isn't affecting your son. I don't know if they'll benefit from my feedback. There are more experienced operators than myself using winlink. Like you I enjoy the idea of sending for receiving email two people outside of the ham radio ecosystem. Other than the issues with propagation the thing I missed the most was having a real time chat system in parallel with winlink. The ARDOP project certainly trying to answer that question, but I wonder why they haven't adopted This Magnificent system called fsq. It's open source and it's already been developed and proven. Anyway like I said that many more operators having more experience with winlink than myself.
Thanks for reaching out and for the kindness, It's very much appreciated
Another great video
Great video, Julian! Thanks for sharing. I feel your frustration with trying to connect to some of the HF stations. Being that I'm in the lower center of the US I tend to try to connect to stations on either the east or west coasts. Sometimes I get lucky, other times not so much. I've got several VHF packet WinLink stations; near my house; but I can't seem to catch any of the up when I'm trying to connect. I'll definitely be interested in seeing how you set up your own WinLink station. I've been thinking about putting together one of my own.
+Richard Slusher thanks for this message Richard, it's always good to get your input. What you're talking about is exactly the gateway density problem mentioned in the video. I don't have any experience with VHF packet winlink stations yet, but you know I'm all about over-the-horizon comms. So I think I'm going to do two different Builds on the channel. An ALE pilot station build, and a RMS Gateway build. Bboth running on 30 or 40m.
The trick is going to be getting both of those to run on a Raspberry Pi.
I'll definitely be watching for those! :)
Always enjoy and learn from your work. Thank you. WV9X
Very cool, well done!
Excellent video!
Several comments (not criticisms) . The author complains about QRM. Then he states Winlink needs ALE. Nuff sed.
Secondly, physical location replacement of volunteer RMS operators in different countries is a difficult plan. Rather than play the guessing game on the Ham bands, perhaps Hams in Finland would petition their governments like Australia, Austria, the UK, Canada, Micronesia, and the US have done, and obtain specifically designated HF channels from their respective governments exclusively dedicated to EmComm ( and Winlink Hybrid activities). Real-life EmComm without government relationships, sponsorship, participation and support will always be a strong deterrent with Hams participating in emergency communications. Interoperability with officials in any country is paramount to a successful operation.
Steve Waterman, K4CJX, Winlink Network Administrator
+Steve Waterman hi Steve thanks for the reply.
I don't really understand the sarcasm with the winlink/ale. I'm testing and evaluating all types of tools, and I don't wave the flag for any of them. All of the systems are simply tools in the toolbox.
Anyway I had a blast with this emergency communications exercise and I actually like the one thing that winlink does extremely well. I don't know if you found the follow-up video, using qrp powering less-than-optimal antennas. I think from my channels perspective in the feedback that I get from viewers people are more interested in Practical Communications not necessarily in support of a government agency during a disaster. The idea that I can send and receive email to someone outside of the amateur radio ecosystem is magnificent, and winlink does that extremely well.
Actually if I completely ignore the qrm from some of the silly contesters, and finding the proper station and frequencies to connect up one the only thing I would wish for is a keyboard to keyboard track mode running in parallel with winlink. I don't mean the peer-to-peer connections which are actually cool. But I mean something like fsq, for proper keyboard to keyboard Station to Station or group chat.
Anyway I had a blast with this emergency communications exercise end I'm certainly going to do more with winlink and the ARDOP project.
Thanks again for the reply
73
Julian oh8stn
very good info thank you
Thank you for another great video. Winlink is like other modes and configurations. You must practice it to understand the capability and limits. Your observation that your knowledge of your own propagation experience was a better prediction of contact success is similar to my own testing. I do a weekly winlink test and always try different RMS nodes. Over the last six months I know what bands and stations work best depending on the time of day. I encourage anyone truly interested in using this mode for emergencies undertake such practice. It also keeps your propitiation lists up to date.
I do have some serious concerns about the capacity of the existing RMS stations to handle a regional grid down scenario. Here on the east coast of the US it is often hard to find one of my go to RMS stations on a clear frequency during the evening hours. Just a half dozen operators trying to use the network during the same time could stop anyone else from getting messages through - for half the country! A published comms plan establishing temporary peer to peer networks would help, but the number of clear 2.5khz channels is limited considering the number of other users handling SSB and PSK31 emergency traffic. It would seem that your drill used a limited number of stations operating in a coordinated way. An uncoordinated emergency network with dozens of stations might grind to a QRM gridlock. Kind of what happens every year with field day during peak times, or pile ups for rare DX stations. Eventually there are too many callers and the calling station can't understand anyone. This will be doubly true for the RMS stations were everyone is operating nearly the same power levels and it is a computer trying to pick out a clear station instead of a human asking "something ending in sierra tango November???"
I think more work needs to go into the planning for using winlink in the case of a real regional disaster and some re-engineering might be in order as well. At the very least a kind of universal comms plan, to let operators prioritize traffic and access.
Great video on an important topic. 73 Charlie KM4ZZ
Great video, Julian. Keep it up. I'm a fan of Winlink, as you know. If you can get an ALE/Winlink network established you are going to be cutting edge.
73,
Al
+KM4DYX you know it's astonishing I don't know why ALE winlink aren't used to augment one another more commonly. I don't mean that they should be integrated, but each system has magnificent features which the other is lacking. I think I'm going to do a couple of build videos next of course those are the most fun but in parallel I'm going to do some research and plan how I might implement 40 meters system I talked about in the video.
Thanks for commenting, it's very encouraging and appreciate it.
HF Gateways use SCS-PTC tnc. Winmor is not that robust however with ARDOP it is supposed to work. Only thing is dead HF from solar flare de va7dgp
I am an ARES county EC. Our section recently had a wide area Simulated Emergency Test based on a grid down scenario caused by terrorist operations. If you don't mind I will show your video to my group at our monthly meeting tomorrow evening. Well done, thank you. Randall K9ANF
Sorry for the slow response Randy your message was in the spam folder for some reason. Definitely are welcome to show this video. Unfortunately it's not my best but you are welcome.
73
Julian oh8stn
Very cool Bud!
+MKme Lab thanks 👍 I had a lot of fun making this video and I enjoyed the training as well
Great video again. Always very inspiring. I guess js8call might fill the keyboard2keyboard gap. 73, Stephan, DF6PA
Would be great to have some cross-border exercise. 73 de SQ5EBM, Mazovian Emcomm Manager SP5MASR (SR5WLK - only wl2k node in SP)
Mark Griffin in Flordia has a Pi Gate www.pigate.net/ The PiGate is a small piece of hardware that can be brought into a disaster area, connected to an already existing VHF or HF amateur radio and antenna (like in your car or truck), and used to send e-mail to the global Winlink2000 system through a Radio Message Server (RMS) station.
I hope to be getting one of these to see how it works from a call out site.Coming out from a disaster area would be the issue as you had a problem with QRM etc. HF Propagation is another issue what with solar flares etc
Ok. So I looked hard for a way to contact you to ask you this. I am sure you won’t answer this question, because you can’t. Because there is no answer. Who’s and what traffic are you planning to send in the event of an emergency? Government officials look at hams as a bunch of propeller hat wearing nerds and probably won’t even talk to you. And if someone local to you asked you to send a message, how on earth is it going to be delivered at the far end? This notion of ham radio communications during an emergency is ridiculous. You’re just gonna talk to other hams? Like what. 59 and 73’s ? This is ridiculous. Seriously. I get wanting off grid communication but in an actual emergency ham radio is completely useless.