K2 w/ Winlink 2000?

[Steve Uhrig]

Has anyone used a K2 with Winlink 2000?

Winlink 2000 is being pushed by ARRL for EmComm use and I'd like to
experiment using it with my K2 especially with the SET coming up in
October. Here in the MDC section the SET is geared around proving Winlink
2000 as a usable method for passing traffic from the field.

If anyone is working Winlink, please share any comments or suggestions,
modems used, interface to K2, results, etc. Offlist may be more
appropriate. I know little other than what I've read doing some web
surfing and have not operated any digital mode on HF before.

For those who haven't read about it, Winlink 2000 basically is standard
email, but replaces the Internet connection with a radio link, primarily
HF. The emails can contain certain preapproved (by design) attachment
types like maps, lists, jpegs, etc. for EmComm use. You use a standard
POP3-compliant email client and some special amateur software, and of
course a radio. The K2 would seem to be perfect for portable operation in
a disaster situation.

Thanks ... Steve WA3SWS


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Mfrs of electronic surveillance equip
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"In God we trust, all others we monitor"
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[Charles Greene]

Steve,

I can comment on the use on WinLink for use by maritime motile stations,
which is a different use from what you are considering, ie, EMComm
use.  Most of the WinLink operation heretofore has been by maritime mobile
stations.

I helped a new ham outfit a station this spring on his 44 ft sailboat for a
trip to the Caribbean.  He was planning to use a IC706 for WinLink and for
his Marine SSB, but I advised him to keep the old SSB and switch his
antenna to the 706/tuner for ham use.  The 706 or K2 will not cover all the
marine SSB frequencies anyway.  The 706 has better DSP NR than the K2 which
may be important as many marine diesels are very noisy.  I used my 706 car
mobile as a Maritime mobile this spring, and I keep 14300 in the ship's SSB
for an occasional check-in to the to the maritime mobile net, but I have
never used WinLink.  However, I use other digital modes with my K2 and
K2/100 which works fine; there's no reason they would not work well on
WinLink.  Probably better than most ham transceivers.  You use r or r rev
on the K2 which was designed for digital use, and cut back power to about
30 watts on the K2/100 or 5 watts on the K2.  I use a home brew
interface.  You need a propriety modem for Pactor II for WinLink which
costs in the 400-700 dollar range, I don't have the exact price.  I think
that also applies to WinLink 2000 which you are considering, but I might be
mistaken.  If so, please correct this impression if I am wrong to set the
record straight.  I need to read up on the ARRL proposal to use WinLink
2000.  Some software designers have tried to incorporate Amtor into their
digital software but have timing problems with Windows in the ARQ
mode.  Pactor II is proprietary so they cannot offer software using Pactor
II.  If they could offer Pactor II as a Windows program they may have the
same timing problems in the ARQ mode.

If you just want e-mail from a ship, we have found a better plan is to buy
a satellite system.  We now use a satellite system while at sea which
really works FB.  The cost of the particular satellite system we use is 1/3
to 1/2 that of a WinLink system, and works much better.  This particular
satellite system uses LEO  (Low Earth Orbit) satellites of which there are
about two dozen to give coverage 90+ % of the time, and it operates at 9600
baud.  It transmits on about 149 MHz and receives on about 132 MHz.  It can
use the ship's VHF antenna on a time shared basis, but a dedicated VHF
antenna is advised.  The satellite system also gives WX, will convert a
digital message to voice and forward to any voice telephone as a voice
message, will send a distress message, and has a few other bells and
whistles.  It connects to the e-net and will do Yahoo, etc, and there are
ways to avoid Spam, 100%.  There is a monthly fee which is very reasonable
for a trip or for a commercial vessel.  It is useful any distance from
shore, worldwide.   My advise for a ship sailing offshore is a SSB that
covers the international life boat frequency of 2182 KHz, normal marine
VHF, if you want e-mail, a LEO satellite system and a ham transceiver is
you want to chat on the maritime mobile nets.  If anyone wants more details
on the satellite system, e-mail me off line.

I'm  not really pushing any particular method of e-mail use for maritime
motile stations, and I realize it is off-topic, but satellite communication
heretofore has been out of sight price wise using stationery birds, but I
feel the price break-through and superior performance over HF using VHF and
the LEO satellites is worth mentioning to hams who are considering a
maritime mobile WinLink station.  (I should put this in a letter to QST).

73,  Chas, W1CG

At 01:00 PM 8/29/2004, you wrote:

>Has anyone used a K2 with Winlink 2000?
>
>Winlink 2000 is being pushed by ARRL for EmComm use and I'd like to
>experiment using it with my K2 especially with the SET coming up in
>October. Here in the MDC section the SET is geared around proving Winlink
>2000 as a usable method for passing traffic from the field.
>
>If anyone is working Winlink, please share any comments or suggestions,
>modems used, interface to K2, results, etc. Offlist may be more
>appropriate. I know little other than what I've read doing some web
>surfing and have not operated any digital mode on HF before.
>
>For those who haven't read about it, Winlink 2000 basically is standard
>email, but replaces the Internet connection with a radio link, primarily
>HF. The emails can contain certain preapproved (by design) attachment
>types like maps, lists, jpegs, etc. for EmComm use. You use a standard
>POP3-compliant email client and some special amateur software, and of
>course a radio. The K2 would seem to be perfect for portable operation in
>a disaster situation.
>
>Thanks ... Steve WA3SWS

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[Don - W6CZ]

Charles

You might try to get a little "real world" experience with Winlink and
PactorIII/II before you write that letter to QST.

While the Skymate you have and speak of is a wonderful system and works
well, and the "buy-in" is less if you are starting from scratch (I am a
dealer for both), it has an infinitely higher operating cost then a
system using Winlink because Winlink if free. But most cruisers want to
or already have a suitable SSB/Ham and adding a PactorIII/II modem is
about the same cost as Skymate. Yes - Skymate (in the coverage area) is
probably a bit more reliable but thousands of boaters and RV'ers use
Winlink with great success.

There are several points you make that are faulty, among them that the
DSP NR on a 706 will help (and that it is better then a K2 - that is not
my experience). The PactorII modems them self have a very powerful DSP
and using the rigs DSP only screws things up for PactorIII/II.

The right radio and modem coupled with a good installation is the key.
RFI into the computer is one of the biggest problems. I now have
supplied over 1,000 HF e-mail systems for use on WinLink and SailMail
(the equivalent on Marine SSB) with 90% of those using the PactorII or
the PactorIIpro modem (and not the IIe or IIex) married to an Icom
marine SSB radio that is ham enabled. I have absolutely nothing but
positive feedback (which I also have from the 2 dozen or so of my
Skymate customers). That is largely because I furnish a turnkey system
that is the right recipe of equipment that has been bench tested before
being offered for sale. When you depart from that recipe, then the
results are usually not as good.

I have not tried my K2s for Data - I have a dedicated Icom M710 (which a
lot of the Winlink gateways also use) in the shack for that use, but
there is no reason that if the output power is reduced, the K2 won't
work fine. There have been previous reports on this list of others
success with the K2 and SCS modems.

Don
W6CZ


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