With this new version, Paclink MP becomes simply "Paclink." The name change for the multi-port program is changing in anticipation of WINMOR, the new sound-card mode, that will be supported by a future version of Paclink. Besides the name change, the program now includes improvements important for field operation. Thanks to all who use Paclink MP for their excellent feedback. Paclink is now better than ever!

Paclink 3 does NOT require the Internet for initial configuration and operation, and it operates offline much smoother than did Paclink MP. It initializes at startup much faster, and it operates on HF with ease. For instance, there is now an option to keep the Channel Status Form up until it is manually taken down. This allows the operator to try multiple connections with multiple stations on multiple frequencies without having to continually bring up the form. It also does not require a Winlink 2000 password for callsigns or tactical addresses unless one uses secure login. Paclink has two options for passwords: the WL2K secure login password, and the necessary password used by your email program to identify any account. Of course, they can both be the same. The previous requirement for a WL2K account password is gone. When configuring accounts and tactical addresses, the form stays up until you manually take it down so that multiple accounts, addresses, and callsigns may be placed into the process without having to bring it up after each complete entry. Much better!

Your old installation of Paclink MP will continue to function properly after Paclink is installed so that there will be no breakdown in communications as you transition between the old Paclink MP and the new 3.x version. We suggest keeping your present Paclink MP installed as a backup until you are completely comfortable with the new program. Do not try to run both at the same time, however. Unless you have many accounts or addresses in your existing Paclink MP configurations, we suggest starting over with a fresh install in a separate directory (the default).

Upgrade today! Paclink 3.x.x.x is available under the "Downloads" item on the main menu, if you have logged into the site. See "Site Login > Create new account" if you have never logged in before. See the Software page for more information about the program.

At its June 2008 meeting, the IARU Administrative Council endorsed and recommended principles to encourage all radio amateurs "to operate to the highest levels of proficiency, with proper consideration for others using the amateur radio bands." These principles are now available in an IARU-endorsed booklet, "Ethics and Operating Procedures for the Radio Amateur" by John Devoldere, ON4UN, and Mark Demeuleneere, ON4WW. You can get it free from the download area of the WL2K Web site. Do a "Site Login," and then go to "Downloads > Documents > How-to."

Since we finished our recent medical mission to Honduras the end of February, many amazing events are still fresh in our minds! Paul, K9PEP, was our radio net controller and once again he was in the thick of things. We had a medical emergency where several ham radio operators helped to get a severe burn patient out of the remote village of Auka and into a burn center in Tegucigalpa. That was in the middle of seeing the many hundreds of patients we see on a ‘normal’ basis.

A lot has happened in the evolution of Winlink 2000 (WL2K) since Victor Poor, W5SSM, AAA9WL, presented his last paper at the Des Moines Digital Communications Conference in 2004. That paper presented the then current architecture as well as the plans for changes to accommodate ARES and RACES emergency operations. Vic's current paper provides an update of its current design and implementation.

You can download Vic's paper and Powerpoint presentation. See the attached files below.

A new command has been added to APRSLink to make sending messages faster and easier. The SP command places APRSLink into a special mode where anything sent to WLNK-1 after the SP command is treated as the body of the message. To end this mode and send the message you send /EX. You may still use the replay (Y) command to check what APRSLink has collected, but anything else that APRSLink receives (between the SP and /EX commands) becomes part of the message body.

See the section titled "A New and Easier Way to Use APRSLink" at
http://www.activeham.com for more information.

73, Lee K0QED

The Winlink 2000 global radio email system has implemented its fifth redundant Common Message Server (CMS) in Vienna, Austria. This mirror-image CMS will join the current suite of synchronized, redundant hubs to provide further isolation from network failures. WIth current system traffic levels, each CMS is capable of supporting the entire Winlink system on its own, and without saturation. CMS systems are located on the east and west coasts of the USA, in the maritimes of Canada, on the west coast of Australia, and now in Europe.

As of 17 September, the Wien CMS is in full operation. RMS sysops may include it in their station configurations by using the host name wien.winlink.org.

By Bill Sexton, N1IN / AAR1FP MA / AAA9PC, MARS PIO

Ft. Huachuca, AZ--- Hurricane Gustav didn’t just pose a critical final exam for the crisis managers of FEMA and levee builders in the Corps of Engineers. To the volunteer radio operators in Army MARS, too, it was the first real flexing under fire of new communications muscle developed after Hurricane Katrina.

And the system worked.

• At several evacuation centers in Mississippi and Louisiana and National Guard refueling points in Texas, a handful of deployment teams from the Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) provided backup voice and digital communications as Gustav raged past.
• The Army MARS e-mail over HF radio system—WinLink—networked emergency operations centers across the affected zone. The Transportation Security Administration and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief were key partners on the country-wide WinLink net.
• Augmented net schedules kept communications open throughout the region until Gustav blew itself out at midweek. MARS stations countrywide had monitored for any emergency transmission. The Army MARS gateway station at Ft Huachuca, AAA9USA, which is manned by contract personnel, served as central coordinating point.
• Throughout the emergency, some 850 Army MARS volunteers in FEMA regions four and six were on standby to relay critical message traffic from their home stations, a goodly number of them ready to respond with portable Emergency Communications rigs if needed. Fellow hams from the Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps branches of MARS shared net operations during the emergency in a carefully-prepared demonstration of interoperability.