Winlink Packet Radio

The club sponsors an open packet radio Winlink station on 145.61 MHz which is collocated with our UHF FM repeater and D-Star system. It can be accessed by connecting to NS9RC-10. The equipment consists of a Kantronics KPC-3+ TNC (vers. 9.1) with a 512K RAM upgrade and an Icom IC-28A at 25 watts out to an antenna at 513 feet.

Have you ever wanted to send email over VHF packet radio to the internet and receive it from someone on the internet at any location where you just have a VHF radio, TNC, and a laptop?  Winlink is a program which allows you to do just that.  Our club now hosts its own Winlink RMS Gateway server.  The NS9RC-10 server and VHF radio is located in Techny IL. Our Winlink node operates on 145.61 MHz 1200 bps.

We are now active participants in the new statewide EmComm initiative.

Winlink  Station Map - When opening the map, select “PACKET” and zoom in to find our Winlink Node.

How do you get started? 

You need a Winlink account to participate in Winlink. You can sign up for an account when you run the first time the client program Winlink Express. After you install, study the program's help about configuration and use. You can install and use Winlink Express without a radio connection, using the internet. 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!

For sending and receiving email through ham radio you will need three main components.

  • A Radio with interface cables

  • A Modem or TNC

  • Winlink Software

To access our gateway you can use a 2m handheld with the appropriate hardware interface. Gone are the days when you needed an external and expensive TNC (Terminal Node Controller). Today, you can use a software-based Modem/TNC like Dire Wolf or Sound Modem. I will cover here the details for Sound Modem as I found it to be easier to configure. If you want to use Dire Wolf, you can get install and operation tips in this video.

The Radio (2M)

Sending and receiving e-mail over the air through Winlink can be accomplished in different ways. The idea is to access one of the many Gateways from a remote location without using any traditional infrastructure. We are describing here a simple set-up with a cheap handheld radio like a Baofeng or TYT. Other radios will be added here at a later date. To connect the radio to the computer, some kind of a soundcard interface is required. A widely used device from DigiRig is recommended but any other way to get audio signals to and from the radio can be used. That interface should also have the capability to control the PTT. The use of the radios VOX is not recommended because of the switching delay. DigiRig is also offering a cable set for the Baofeng and TYT radios. For some radios a custom cable has to be made. The how to is described in a different document, which is coming soon..

After connecting the radio with the interface cable verify in Device Manager that a new USB Audio device was created and a new comport (for PTT) is available. Should there be a comport with an exclamation mark find a driver here ->. Take note of the COM port number you will need it for the next step.

You have to go into your sound settings and set your default sound device back to your PC speakers and microphone. And set your new USB audio device as default for communication. Unfortunately, Windows is rearranging the sound devices every time you attach a new device like a headset. It is a good practice to verify the settings every time you use your PC for other tasks when going back using it for Winlink.

Installation and configurations of other sound interfaces are covered in this document (coming soon…).

SoundModem (Software TNC)

Download the current version of SoundModem which is 1.14 from UZ7HO’s web site. Windows might give you the usual warning about an unsafe file, but you can go ahead and ignore it and click through. After downloading, unzip it. There is one executable file (soundmodem.EXE). Create a folder on your hard drive like “c:\SoundModem” and copy soundmodem.exe to this folder.

If you want to consult the user manual, it can be found here

On first start you might see a Windows warning about unknown publisher of the program which can be ignored in this case. The first thing is to configure “Devices”. Duplicate the entries to the right. The COM port number will be different for your setup.

For Modem settings duplicate the settings from the other screen capture. Important is the setting for TXDelay. This value shout be set to 750 or higher.

WINLINK Software (RMS EXPRESS)

Download the latest copy of RMS express and run the installer. If you run RMS Express, the first time you can either sign up for a Winlink account or enter your existing Winlink account information. Should a window pop up and asks for a registration key, close it. This is for commercial use. Then go to Settings and select Winlink Express Setup for some basic settings.

  • My Callsign: YOURCALLSIGN (like KD9ZZZ)

  • Fill in your Grid Square

  • Add in a password Check Use Secure Login

Click “Update” to exit. Next, change to Packet Winlinknext to “Open Session” (top of screen). Then choose Open Session. A Packet Winlink 2000 session window will open (Sound Modem should be running for this step). Go to Settings and set/verify the following parameters.

  • Packet TNC type (KISS for Sound Modem)

  • Packet TNC Model (Normal)

  • Serial Port (TCP)

  • TEC Host/Port (127.0.0.1 8001)

  • TNC Parameters is set to 1200 baud

  • TXDelay (1000)

  • You can select soundmodem.exe to autostart the program and close it on exit.

Click “Update” Then click on Channel Selection to find a local Winlink node and set the frequency for the gateway on the radio (145.610).

In the radio you have to verify the following settings:

  • Frequency (145.610 simplex)

  • No PL tones or DCS enabled for transmitting and receiving.

  • Power saver Off

  • Squelch at the lowest level or OFF (some radios don’t transmit with open squelch)

  • Dual Receive Off

  • Volume level at about 75% (Different radios might need a higher or lower setting).

Sound Card settings. Right Click on the Speaker Icon in your system tray and select Sound settings to verify the following settings:

  • Verify that the USB sound in and out are not selected as default devices for system sound.

  • Scroll down to Advanced and click on all sound devices

  • Select USB speaker and select about 60% volume

  • Switch off all sound enhancement features

  • Go back and the select USB Microphone and set input volume to 100%

  • Switch off all sound enhancement features

Now click Start in the Winlink Session window to initiate a connection. If the sound levels are ok, and the interface works you should see a “CONNECTED TO NS9RC-10” message some handshaking and soon it will disconnect. That’s ok. Your Winlink system is configured and ready to go. You can now compose a message using Message on the RMS Express window by using “New Message”. When complete with the message choose Post to Outbox and hit start in the Winlink Session Window.

The message will automatically send out.  Whenever you want to receive messages also open the session and hit Start.

Trouble Shooting

The most problems are related to audio settings. For transmit verify your modulation in a second receiver. Audio levels are very critical, especially the receive audio. The transmit audio is somewhat controlled by the radio but extremely high or low audio can’t be compensated. But a 50% to 60% output level for the USB speaker device should be ok for most radios.

If there is no reply from the Gateway it might be that your receive audio is not correct. It is also advisable to use an external antenna if you are further away from our gateway.

You could also let the setup run for a while and monitor received beacons in the SoundModem window. If nothing shows up there then you have a receive problem. Slowly increase or decrease the output volume at you radio until you can monitor traffic.

For more troubleshooting hints go to here ->

Additional help for the correct audio settings can be found here ->