Winlink Express

What is Winlink?

Winlink is a network of stations connecting amateur operators with peer-to-peer email services, as well as internet connected email, with sending and receiving over RF. It is commonly used by ARES and other emergency communications groups to facilitate reliable communications to outside agencies in their work, and practice exercises are commonly done throughout each year.

Sample Setup from KF0MLB

I volunteered to help my local ARES group perform a Simulated Emergency Test, and I needed to try and get Winlink working before the event.

Packet Modem

Hardware

• Explorer QRZ-1
  • Diamond RH77CA
  • SMA Male to BNS Female
• Digirig Mobile with Baofeng adapter cables
• Surface Book 2

USB Sound Card

With the Digirig as a new USB sound source, connected to my Surface Book, I experimented and found I needed:

• Speaker and Microphone levels set to 40%
• Turn off all other options, such as AGC, Bass Boost, etc.
• Renamed the Microphone to "Digirig RX" and the Speaker to "Digirig TX"
• Changed the audio format under Advanced, from DVD Quality to CD Quality
  • Somewhere I found the audio codecs are using 44100Hz, which matches CD Quality
• Make sure Digirig is NOT the default sound device for the system (mic or speaker)

TNC Setup

I decided to use the UZ7HO soundmodem software for Winlink Packet Modem; I tried using Direwolf first, but it kept telling me the audio levels were too low and I couldn't get it to work. Since the Digirig will do PTT, I was able to configure soundmodem to connect to COM4 using RTS to control the PTT.

Radio Setup

I connected the radio to the Digirig using the Baofeng adapter cables, via the K1 ports on the side. I removed the Diamond antenna I like to carry, and using an adapter I connected my N9TAX slim jim antenna in the attic.

• Frequency: my local RMS gateway
• Volume: 25%
• Squelch: off
• Band: Medium

Software Setup

I had to sign up for a Winlink account before I could use the software, there are plenty of guides to get this done.

From Winlink, I wrote a new email to my personal gmail account and **Posted to Outbox**. Then I opened a Packet Modem session. I configured my Packet Modem to connect to *soundmodem* using KISS TNC type on port 8001. I messed with the TNC Parameters a lot, so I don't know how good or bad they are. But for the QRZ-1, I used:

• 1200 baud
• TX Delay 300
• Max Packet 128
• Max Frame 4
• Frack 2
• Persistence 128
• Slot Time 30
• Max Retries 5
• Enable IPoll checked

Vara FM

Same setup as Packet Modem, except swap Soundmodem for Vara FM. I also was testing this late at night from my couch, with the QRZ-1 connected to the Diamond antenna (not my N9TAX), and I could reach the Emergency Operations Center setup. I did need to play with the volume of my radio until the VU meter in Vara window was about 1 o'clock.