[Elecraft] K2 w/ Winlink 2000?

[Don Melcher]

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