Winlink - Radio Email

[markwths]

Has anyone had a play with Winlink ?

Its a Global Radio Email Service. $25 a year for the service.
There are gateways on the HF amateur / ham radio frequencies around the world.
Australia has 3, New Zealand one, USA has 40 or so.

It's for those who really want to get off the grid like myself and still have the option to send and receive emails.

P.S there is software called PAT to enable you to run it on Mac or Linux without using VM ware if you don't have it.

 

[CUCVDRIVER]

I have it, de KB1KBT. Don't use it much. But now that I just recently installed HF in the mobile. I plan on using it more. Definitely a great idea for overlanding!

 

[markwths]

Some more information on Winlink.

 

[Six Actual]

I have it and use it occasionally. Just another tool in the box when we are out past any cell coverage. Seems to be aging out with the market introducing other devices that have the ability to send text messages / location via satellite. In my case, I purchased the first Spot tracker. It would only send a few canned messages that you had to set before you departed. Winlink was a good alternative to that if we needed to send a more detailed message. As with everything (at least it seems) the release a new version or someone else make a better product so quickly that it's hard to keep throwing money at those devices just for a small increase in capability. So I upgrade every few years, and keep winlink up and running. Luckily, I don't need to send large emails or spreadsheets while off grid, so I just us it if I need to send someone some specifics or need to receive an important update while away. I use it on my Mac at that is pretty thin and light and not a big impact to the overall gear load.

 

[TerryD]

I had it a while ago. Paid for the license to help the devs.

They dropped an update that caused some issues, then I changed my call which caused more issues, I became less active as the year went on, then I got a new computer and have not bothered going through setting it back up. We used to play with it a good bit locally just playing with the different bands and things like packet. There was even a Virginia ARES WinLink net. I'm not sure if it's still operating since the regime change and SOP updates that have been taking place in ARES nation wide.