FRO Sweden and Winlink
Some members of FRO in Sweden have begun to use Winlink to be able to assist our local County Administrative Boards in case of disasters that make other communication means impossible, but also for communication between groups assisting in various tasks during crisis. FRO can be translated as the Voluntary Radio Organization. FRO is one of 18 voluntary organizations in Sweden that play an important role to recruit and train members for the Swedish Armed Forces as well as for civilian authorities.
See https://www.fro.se
We began using Winlink about three years ago in 2020. We have since established two RMS stations and have made a lot of field and other exercises. We handle all traffic in a Winlink Hybrid Network, to be operable in case of internet loss. Our main traffic mode is Radio Only, but we have also trained personnel to use Peer-to-Peer.
We are using non-amateur callsigns and frequencies as permitted by The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority in the same way as the CISA SHARES.
As a complement and to direct orders to subgroups we are also using VarAC Broadcast as a convenient means to alert participants of pending WL-messages for pickup, intelligence info, situational awareness, and reports to and from all groups.
The RMS stations can be addressed both via HF and VHF/FM. For VarAC we can also use either HF or VHF. For VHF we have digipeaters to increase range.
We will continue to perform traffic exercises to increase the readiness of the RMS stations and to increase the knowledge of operators, so that we are prepared to assist authorities when there is a need.
Torbjorn Toreson, FRO SWEDEN