Winlink

We have made changes to the written Sysop Guidelines that constitute a clarification of the Operating Policy of the Winlink System. Recent confusion and complaints from users about gateways using BPQ32 software have made this necessary. Unfortunately, the Sysops of the offending stations have configured their gateways in ways that place unexpected requirements upon users in addressing messages, caused changes in the gateway/login protocol, or generally caused confusion among users who attempt to use these PUBLIC gateways. As a consequence, we must insist that gateway sysops conform to the newly-published guidelines. They are published here. Please read them and make any necessary changes to your station, if affected, as soon as possible. Thanks!

--The Winlink Development Team

Ten years ago this month, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast of the US. Katrina was the deadliest hurricane to strike the United States since the Palm Beach-Lake Okeechobee hurricane of September 1928. It produced catastrophic damage and was the costliest U. S. hurricane on record, says the National Hurricane Center.

Below is an excerpt from "A Failure of Initiave", the report of a select committee of the US Congress to investigate the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. Most say it is the ultimate "after action" report. The NCS is the National Communications System. SHARES is the Shared Resources High Frequency Radio Program, then run by NCS. Though Winlink was not used as a part of SHARES then, we are proud to say it is now integrated into the organization, and uses trained volunteer radio amateurs and government operators licensed through SHARES and the Department of Homeland Security. During the Katrina recovery, Winlink was fully credited for it's use by radio amateurs. ... (click 'read more' below)

For the past five years I have been conducting the San Diego Winlink EmComm Weekly Drill and News. Here's how it works: A drill message goes out every Thursday, and San Diego and upper Baja, Mexico area radio amateurs can keep their operating skills sharp and their equipment readiness verified by just hitting "reply" to the message.

A drill message last month went out celebrating five years of the San Diego Winlink EmComm Weekly Drill and News being in continuous operation. In total for the five year period, 259 weekly messages were sent and received with more than 3500 check-ins during that period. In another drill message recently, I gave my view of some of the highlights (and a couple of the lowlights) of our experiences with emergency communications in San Diego County during this period. -- Ed Sack, W3NRG, Coronado, California