The official numbers show the trend. The WINMOR soundcard HF protocol has not emerged from Beta testing, yet traffic statistics for April show that Pactor I and II use has dropped dramatically while WINMOR use takes up the slack. Nothing beats PIII, and it continues to be the most popular mode for serious long-range communicators using Winlink 2000.

• HF Traffic
  Pactor I Connections 9
  Pactor II Connections 4,226
  Pactor III Connections 32,772
  WINMOR 500 Connections 5,421
  WINMOR 1600 Connections 7,803
  Total Connections 50,231
  Total HF Messages Received 34,424
  Total HF Messages Sent 43,244

The new user client software, RMS Express, in which the WINMOR protocol is embedded, is being adopted quickly for regular use, even though it also has not made it out of Beta test. It also supports Pactor III, packet and online telnet connections.

Packet radio, mostly local EmComm training traffic, makes up about 10% of the total Winlink 2000 traffic.

• Packet Traffic
  Total Messages Received 5,925
  Total Messages Sent 7,260

The APRS system finds utility as a way to send email in a pinch.

• APRS Traffic
  Total Messages Received 0
  Total Messages Sent 62

And Webmail, which is supposed to be a convenience for radio email users to access their Winlink email when away from their radio station, has done an about face, and is now used more to send than to receive messages. We suspect some EmComm users are forgetting that reliance on the convenience of the internet can degrade one's ability to perform using their radio stations when needed during an emergency!

• WebMail Traffic
  Total Messages Received 914
  Total Messages Sent 3,413

The total message traffic always seems to hover around 100,000 messages per month.

• Total System Message Traffic 95,242

7520 registered WL2K users created all the above traffic during April. There are 13,699 current registered users in the USA, and 5500 outside the USA. There are 3611 MARS/agency users of the system as well.

For an up-to-the-minute snapshot of WL2K system traffic, see the system traffic report page.

Members of the Winlink Development Team will attend the Dayton Hamvention beginning later this week. We will be hanging out at the MARS booth when we can. Stop by and say hello!

Be sure to see Vic Poor and Rick Muething at the TAPR Digital Forum at 9:15 AM Friday in Room 1 at the Hara Arena.

See www.hamvention.org for full information on the show.

--The Winlink Development Team

Members of the Winlink Development Team will attend the Dayton Hamvention later this week. We will be hanging out at the MARS booth when we can... So stop by and say hello!

Be sure to see Vic Poor and Rick Muething at the TAPR Forum at 9:15 AM in room 1 on Friday.

--The Winlink Development Team

The collaboration of Army, Navy-Marine and Air Force MARS, the ARRL, and amateur radio operators from the National Hurricane Center station WX4NHC, UMH/MediShare, Maritime Mobile Service Net, and Echolink, made a difference supporting the University of Miami Hospital MediShare Haiti relief effort. Winlink radio e-mail was used on MARS and amateur frequencies to back up University of Miami satellite links, and interoperability was the name of the game.

Read the complete article by following the link:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/03/03/11371/?nc=1

RMS EXPRESS--the software being developed as a new and easy-to-use single-user software client for WL2K--is currently working for WINMOR and TELNET. Soon, Pactor 3, and thereafter AX.25 Packet will be available with this new client software. Like Paclink, it will have MARS-ready capabilities such as automatic insertion of a routine precedence with manual override, RMS station listings by probability of connection by time of day, and much more. Unlike Paclink, it has its own e-mail interface rather than using an external client like MS OUTLOOK or OUTLOOK Express, and is intended for single, and not multiple users.

To prepare for the use of RMS Express with Pactor 3, one must first have SCS firmware version 4.0 or higher installed, regardless of the SCS modem model. SCS provided firmware code changes to make WL2K operation more robust. RMS Express will test for the firmware level, and if it is not 4.0 or higher it will refuse to run the PTC-II controller. This applies to all models. The current Pactor RMS gateway stations already use SCS firmware version 4.0.

You may obtain the latest firmware for your specific SCS modem model on the SCS WEB site:
http://www.scs-ptc.com/downloads

You may use Airmail to install the firmware update to 4.0.

1. Put the firmware file for your SCS Modem(s) in the Airmail main directory, usually found in a sub-directory under "Program files."

2. Go into the Airmail menu items "tools>Dumb Terminal mode" and push "Reset Host" command button. You should see "CMD" and if you do not, then hit the enter key on your keyboard to bring it up. Insure that you have the proper modem, baud rate and Comport number.
3. Once you see the "CMD" command, put VER on the command line and push ENTER on the keyboard. IF you have firmware version 4.0. STOP.
4. Otherwise, go into the Airmail menu items "Tools>Update PTC II Firmware" and you should see the proper file for the firmware you wish to update. If not, browse to find it.
5. Once the proper firmware update is seen in the file window, push "Start Update." Do NOT push "OK" until you see that the update into the SCS modem is complete. You will see a few flashes and other actions. Just WAIT! The UPDATE FORM may turn white. JUST WAIT!
6. Once the update process is complete, type VER on the CMD line again to ensure the update is successful.

   This firmware version has a bios update included, and will reboot several times.

Steve, k4cjx, aaa9ac
Winlink Development Team

You can access this file from the WINMOR page.

WINMOR TNC "Helper Application" with instructions. This is a Windows .NET 3.5 application that implements the WINMOR Protocol as a "virtual TNC". It is not a stand alone application but intended for use by other Windows developers developing other WINMOR client or server applications.

Full details on the new WINMOR protocol, and how to access the user software "RMS Express" that runs WINMOR, are on the WINMOR page.

[Submitted by Daniel Nye, and first published in the Colorado ARES D24 Newsletter.]

On the morning of Saturday, October 10th I received an email to my D24 EC email address from a woman who said that she had just moved to Castle Rock and that she and her husband had be cruising the Sea of Cortez in their sailboat the Allure for the last two years. Her husband was still in Baja and was docked at Bahia de Los Angeles and they had been faithfully communicating every day via Skype. However, she hadn’t heard from him in four days and she was really worried; he was an experienced and reliable Captain. She also said that although she and her husband weren’t hams, they listened to the 75 meter Sonrisa net each morning to hear the latest weather conditions and information about the Baja area. She asked if us “hamsters” (evidently that’s what sailboaters call ham radio operators) could provide any assistance in contacting her husband. In her email she provided a Castle Rock phone number and I was able to confirm her story and collect additional information. I also gain a real sense of the level of concern that she had for her husband.