I Posted This Using 40 Meters!

Wow! Would you believe I’m posting this by email using WINMORE and Winlink 2000? That’s right, the words you’re reading were transmitted over HF.

My laptop is hooked up to my Kenwood TS-440S with a DigiMaster Pro+, and as soon as I finish this email I’m going to send it over 40 meters. RMS Express will send it off to a Radio Mail Server (RMS) station, which will then send it over the Internet.

For all you CW lovers, I’m still with you. This technology doesn’t hold a candle to the feel of a key in my hand! But it is tremendously valuable for ARES work, no doubt about it. If you lose cell phone, long distance service and Internet in your area during a disaster (as happened just a few days ago up on the North Shore of Lake Superior during the catastrophic flooding in Duluth), this is the only way to get an email out — and email is perhaps the single best way to convey detailed information to the outside in a situation like that. The software is free, and it’s easy to use. What a great way to cover that “extra mile!”

That’s all I have time for right now because I have a bunch of things waiting for me that are more important than ham radio. But I wanted to take a few minutes to give this a whirl since I just got my WL2K account last night before hitting the sack. Have you used Winlink 2000 to some good purpose, perhaps in an emergency? If so, please share your story.

Todd Mitchell, NØIP, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Minnesota, USA. He can be contacted at [email protected].

2 Responses to “I Posted This Using 40 Meters!”

  • Jim Rayburn KC4BQK:

    Yes it is a good thing. Here in Henderson KY we have built and deployed a Winlink system combined with HSMM. We can offer any served agency a cat5 cable to connect to there network and by directing any browser to an address on the HSMM server they can send and receive email to as many accounts as we need to.

    73
    Jim
    KC4BQK
    http://www.kc4bqk.blogspot.com

  • Todd Mitchell, NØIP:

    Excellent, Jim! I like your blog and have just linked it from my own.

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