Welcome to the WCARES Weekly Winlink Net! Week 1
** Exercise Task: Send one check in message as described below.
** Optional Challenge: Send one additional challenge message via a distant VARA FM RMS station.
Background Information:
This net provides the means to practice Winlink operations, learn new skills and broaden your understanding of the Winlink system. Each week instructors will take you through Winlink features that you will need to operate within the EMCOMM environment.
Weekly Nets will typically follow a six-week cycle of practice:
Week 1) Send a simple, plain-text check-in message using any VARA FM RMS that you choose (with an optional challenge)
Week 2) Send a simple, plain-text check-in message using any Packet RMS that you choose (with an optional challenge)
Week 3) Using your choice of radio frequency mode, use an ICS Form 213 to send a check-in message. Demonstrate that you can correctly modify form content if needed. There will be an optional challenge of attaching a photo or a file to your check-in.
Week 4) Using your choice of radio frequency mode, respond to an ICS 213 form. There will be an optional challenge to respond with information from the Winlink Catalog Request System.
Week 5) Create a tactical address from which you will send a plain-text check-in message. Confirm that you understand the action that radio operators must take following the establishment of a tactical address.
Week 6) End of cycle project incorporating skills from the prior weeks.
The preferred method of contacting the WCARES Weekly Winlink exercise net control team is to use Winlink to send a message to WCARES-NCS.
Alternatively, you may send a message via internet email to
WC********@wi*****.org
. You will need to start your subject line with “//WL2K”.
Reminder: Winlink Express employs a “Whitelist” that limits the reception of “spam” emails.
The WL2K Whitelist mail filter is an account feature in all Winlink accounts. It is a mechanism for the positive control of spam and from internet accounts sending mail inbound to users of the Winlink system. Winlink user-to-Winlink user mail is not subject to its action. Here is how it works:
To be delivered to a Winlink user, ANY MESSAGE FROM THE INTERNET must have a sender’s ‘FROM:’ address listed in the recipient’s whitelist, OR, the sender must include the character sequence “//WL2K” in the subject line of the message. If the “//WL2K” character string is found in the subject line, the message will bypass filtering and be held on the CMS until the addressed Winlink user(s) are sent notice of the waiting mail and respond approving it for receipt. Messages inbound from the internet which do not pass these rules are not delivered and are bounced back to the sender with a service message that includes an informative message.
Each message you send from your Winlink account to a recipient at an Internet email address will be automatically recorded in your Whitelist. Addresses on your whitelist remain for a period of time and are purged if unused by the end of the period. The period is currently set at six months. It may be adjusted.
This week’s exercise:
Send a plain-text check-in sentence using any VARA FM RMS station that you choose.
Open the Message tab.
Select New Message.
Address your email message to: WCARES-NCS
Identify the Subject of your message as, “WCARES Weekly Winlink Net __,” indicating the current Winlink Net number.
In your message body, insert your check-in sentence. Separate each piece of information with a comma. Here is the information requested:
<Week number>,
<Your call sign>,
<the Winlink Express Mode employed, eg., Packet, VARA FM, or Telnet>,
<the call sign of the RMS station used to send the message (use N/A if you respond via Telnet>,
<the frequency of the RMS station used (use 0.000 if you respond via Telnet)>,
<City>,
<County>,
<State> e.g. Oregon
Here is an example of a validly constructed check-in sentence:
1, KD7ISA, VARA FM, WC7EOC-10, 144.980, Hillsboro, Washington, Oregon
Note Oregon is spelled out and there is one space after each comma.
Post your message to the Outbox.
Open a VARA FM Winlink Session.
Use the Channel Selection tab to Update the available station list via the internet.
Choose a VARA FM RMS station by double clicking on the line identifying that station.
Close the Channel Selection window.
Use one of two means to test your connection to your chosen RMS station. Open the VARA FM modem window and either:
“Ping” the chosen station by identifying the station in the Ping window, setting the frequency of the chosen station on your VHF/UHF transceiver, and pressing the “Plug” button; or
Use “Auto Tune” to assist in setting the best “drive level” for your transmissions. Under the Settings Menu, select Sound Card. Press Auto Tune. Identify the station in the Drive Level Calibration window. Set the frequency of the chosen station on your VHF/UHF transceiver and press the “Plug” button.
The Drive Level Calibration routine will inform you, if needed, how to correctly adjust your Drive Level. You will find the Drive Level (Recording) options by selecting the Sound Control Panel link within the Windows Sound Settings menu.
Use the Properties button, and the “Levels” tab to adjust the recording level of the USB Audio CODEC (sound card) device. Close the Microphone, Sound, and Sound Settings menus.
** Note depending on your soundcard (Signalink, DRA, Digirig, others) you may see “USB Audio CODEC” or “USB PnP sound device”
Using the VARA FM Winlink Session window, Start a Session with your chosen VARA FM RMS station.
This week’s optional challenge:
Attempt to open a session with an RMS station at least 30 miles from your station, work your way upward through the list of VARA FM RMS stations until you encounter a station that you can successfully connect to. Don’t forget to update your check-in sentence with the actual station and frequency used to make a successful connection.
Have fun!
Thanks to the creators of this content, Lake Oswego ARES of Clackamas County ARES.
