Ham Radio 360: Winlink, Winmor & RMS Express (an introduction)

Happy Int'l Amateur Radio Day!

It usually begins like this “Cale, when are you going to do a show on….?” This time, it was Wayne (K4SPA) and he was again, asking me about doing a show on Winlink.

Listen Link Here



Show Notes, Links and Mentions




I’ve too been wanting to learn more about Winlink since first trying my hand in it back in the Fall. While I’ve had limited (NVIS) success, I’m far from a ‘user’ or even half-way proficient in the mode. So I did what I do best; I found someone to help me further understand it, and I bring you along to learn with me!


Brett Smith (KE0EWY) is a Friend, Listener and Long-time Supporter of HR360. He’s also quite fond of Winlink and someone I consider an Elmer for me in that field. I invited Brett to visit with us here to help you and I both learn more about Winlink, Winmor and RMS Express.

Thanks for listening!

73, K4CDN


This isn’t a deep-dive into all things Winlink, but more of an Introduction to give us an idea of what it is, and what is necessary to get started with this really cool mode of communicating with our radios and computers.

 

I like the concept and the idea behind Winlink. I think it has a lot of potential practical applications especially with regards to emergency situations. I especially like the fact that with Winmor you do not have to sell your kidneys to get a Pactor-capable system. Unfortunately there is not much Winmor support globally at the moment. Being based in Japan, I was never able to connect to a Winmor station (there is one in Korea in theory). I will keep an eye on the progress though, I'll probably try again down the road.

 

And the Pactor stations are dropping like flies...

 

After reading this post and reading the Winlink article, I decided to give it another go.
It has been touch-and-go given that there are no nearby Winmor stations for Japan, but today for the first time ever I managed to send a test email to a friend via Winlink Express and Winmor.
My email was sent via VK2JN in Australia using the 15 m band (which is not supposed in great shape). It looks like the slight uptick in the SFI above 80 did the trick.

I am very happy about this result. I had almost given-up after trying for such a long time. There was a lot of QRM but it still worked thanks to the FEC.
Japan is such a disaster-prone country it is HUGE to have the ability to send an email in case of emergency when there is no electricity (I have a solar back-up) nor internet.
Having gone through the large 2011 earthquake, I am stoked that I now have this as one of the redundancy systems I can rely on to communicate with the outside world.
So many thanks to the Winlink team and the benevolent OMs supporting the system with their Winmor (and other) stations.

On my Xmas wish list: A Winmor station closer to Japan please!

73,
Arnaud
JG1XMV / KD2AFE

 

congratulations! We can never have too many back-ups!
73,
K4CDN

 

The number of Winlink gateways supporting Winmor are numerous. This sound card protocol has been around for years . As a method of sending email out of an affected area it does work, albeit slower than Pactor and needs a more solid HF signal, but it does provide a free entry into the World Wide Winlink network.

For Emergency communications message delivery when there is no local internet it does provide a solution for many.

Here is a link to a gateway map and the various protocol each gateway has: http://www.winlink.org/RMSChannels

As a side note Winmor is going to be replaced eventually with ARDOP, a more robust and faster sound card application that is showing the capability to
work in weaker HF band conditions than Winmor, and with a good connect, speeds near Pactor 2. https://winlink.org/tags/ardop

Adios and stay safe: http://www.winlink.org/

 

My personal experience with Winmor and Pactor III modes, I have not had any problem connecting on HF particularly on 40 and 80 meters. Looking at the Pactor and Winmor RMS channels in N America there appears to be about 150 stations (almost equally shared between the 2 modes). I'll add as well, that many of the 150 stations run both pactor and winmor and also are receiving in more than one HF band. Winmor 500 is slightly faster than Pactor 1, Wimor 1600 is slightly faster than Pactor 2 - based upon this faq sheet (page 8): http://winlink.org/sites/default/files/wl2k_faq_20150314.pdf


Time for a 4K message based upon different modes:
Pactor 1: 15 min
Winmor 500: 10 min
Pactor 2: 4 min
Winmor 1600: 3 min
Pactor 3: 30 sec

My experience using Winmor mostly, is I get an email sent in about 2 - 3 min, depending on length.

 

Thank you for the information, I did not know about ARDOP, looking forward to it.
I had used the map to check for the various gateways nearby. There are tons of them in NA and Europe but Asia is a bit on the thin side.
I agree that it is awesome for em comms with all the redundancies built into it.
Given how prone to natural disasters Japan is, I am surprised there is not a single gateway there. Maybe I could suggest something to my club here.
We were lucky in 2011 that we still had electricity and the internet was still working in Tokyo when the big one hit.
If the electricity and internet had gone down, it would have been a whole new ball game...
We were "lucky". If such a situation had happened, something like Winlink would have proved invaluable.

 

Very interesting stats.
I connected via Winmor 1600 and my email took 6.8 minutes but..... there was a ton of QRM and propagation on 15 m was very bad.
So with the FEC, there was a lot of re-sending of data involved I am guessing once the checksums did not match.
With good propagation and overall band conditions the 3 min for Winmor 1600 seems reasonable (for an average sized email).

 

Is the implementation of ARDOP pending the FCC's decision on the 300 baud SSB rule? It seems that is not the case but just checking.
When is that decision expected?

 

No it does not exceed the current and outdated 300 baud symbol rate rule. It is in beta testing. From my readings it will not be long. Winmor will remain along with ARDOP as a connection protocol to gateways, then at some point Winmor will go away.

 

Problem with "speed" tests that are done with models and under good band conditions, may not reflect reality. Speed is not the only aspect, weak signal decode is very important. With any adaptive protocol, the less reliable connect the longer it takes to deliver. However it is 100 % accurate, just have to be HF savvy with Winmor. ARDOP its eventual replacement, has better weak signal capabilities, thus shorter delivery time, and when I have had a Winmor connect time out, ARDOP with the same station managed to hang in there and deliver.

Progress and advancement is a wonderful thing. But these protocols are free, and it does work. Just have to be aware of the poor band cycles right now.

 

I use Winmor with RMS Express to email positions from my boat up here in Alaska. We go out for 2-5 days at a time. There is only Gateway near Fairbanks and I can usually connect with him either on 40 or 80 meters. Time of day is critical. Can't connect with any stations near Washington or Oregon anymore because of poor propagation. Been using it for roughly 6 years now.

 

I had a club (TIARA http://www.qsl.net/7j1yaa/ ) meeting in Tokyo last night and I gave a small presentation on Winlink . I am not an expert but shared what little I knew. Everybody was very interested. The basic feedback was that it was a great system especially for a country like Japan given how prone it is to natural disasters. Everybody agrees that Asia is very thin on the ground in terms of the number of gateways supporting Winmor. Some guys in the club leave their stations on 24/7 and have emergency power backup solutions and are interested in possibly becoming a (Winmor) sysop. We are all a bit surprised that there is none in Japan yet. So this could be a good club project. One of the concerns though was with regards to the forwarding of 3rd party messages via an automated station. I know that in general the Winlink team prefers to set-up established users as sysops as well but I think there is an opportunity to add some gateways in Japan (assuming we can clarify the regulatory situation).

If some of the people in the Winlink team want to pursue this avenue feel free to contact me.

73,
Arnaud
JG1XMV / KD2AFE

 

Who out there is using a 857D with a Signalink usb to connect to the Winlink system? I am having a heck of a time getting on.

WP
73
KM4OZX