[PPRAANet] FW: Winlink Exercise WINTER WARLOCK

[John Bloodgood]

Pikes Peak Amateur Radio Emergency Services

Winlink Exercise WINTER WARLOCK

Now thru 28 January

The goal is maximum participation to develop as many Winlink trained operators as possible.

During disasters and events, voice capabilities will be used a lot, but the ability to pass data and digital messages can be extremely important as well.  Winlink, or as some may know it “RMS Express” is a powerful capability that ARES groups use to send these digital messages.

You can think of Winlink itself as kind of like an email client.  In it you can compose messages, apply form templates, post messages to your outbox, and receive messages.  To send or receive messages, you open a “Session”.  There are major groups of sessions: Winlink, P2P, Radio Only. And the Telnet Post Office.  The first three groups offer multiple modes of operating such as Packet, PACTOR, ARDOP, VARA, and Telnet.

Winlink can be downloaded for Windows PCs at https://downloads.winlink.org/User%20Programs/ .  You want to download the “Winlink_Express_install”.  This will install the Winlink program, the form templates, and the Telnet and ARDOP modes.  Sometimes antivirus programs will try to block the installation – it is OK to bypass them, the program is safe.

First time users will need to set up an account. With an internet connection, fill out the form presented on first startup. Be sure to include a password and password recovery address. Click 'Update'. Winlink Express makes the process easy. Your account is created!

Once installed, Winlink Express may give some pop-ups that other updates are needed, so go ahead and install them.  You will also likely get a “nag screen” pop-up asking you to register the program – this is just a nag screen and after a moment you can move past it. Winlink will be fully functional even if you do not register.

Once you are set up, try sending a message to me, KD0SFY.  You will click on the “Message” menu and select “New Message”.  Put my callsign in the To field and if you would like a verification copy you can put your regular email in the Cc field.  You can put anything you would like in the message body itself, but in the Subject line, please write “EXERCISE WINTER WARLOCK”. Remember to select Send as: Winlink Message before you Post to Outbox.

If you are a more advanced user, try using the Incident Status Report template, it is under the GENERAL Forms.

If you do not have an over-the-air capability, open a Telnet Winlink session and send the message over your internet connection.  If you already have an over-the-air Winlink capability, establish a Winlink Session using the mode of our choice to a reachable Winlink Gateway.

If you run into problems, let me know and I will see if I can help you.

I look forward to receiving your messages!



John, KD0SFY
R2 ARES EC