Over the past few years, FT8 has become very popular. How popular? To the point that if I ask a recently licensed ham if they operate on digital modes, the response is often, “You mean FT8?” The popularity has almost made FT8 and digital modes synonymous. No doubt, FT8 is great for simple contact-making or contesting.
Today I’m going to discuss some different digital modes that serve a deeper purpose than making contacts. We’ll look at ways to pass messages, forms, and other data back and forth beyond simply a signal report. Don’t get me wrong, you could put a message in the text fields of FT8 and pass other messages, but it is not a common practice.
In the event of a cell phone or widespread communication system failure, we like to brag that ham radio still works. And that is true, but do you know how to pass messages and traffic in both voice and digital? There is a system for that, and you need to be familiar with it if you expect to be able to use it in a real-world emergency.
The first software I use is Winlink Express. Winlink Express is “Global Radio Email®.” I can use it to send and receive email over an RF protocol rather than via the internet. It truly works in an infrastructure-free environment.
When properly installed and set up, email and predefined EmComm forms can be sent and received through VHF/UHF/HF gateways around the globe. If my local gateway is down, I simply search for available gateways around the world. This is all done via RF through the Winlink Express program.
The Winlink Express program interface looks like many other email interfaces with an inbox, outbox, sent items, and so on. You can even attach documents to your email. For all intents and purposes, it is exactly what you would expect from an internet-based email client.
Additionally, you can have what they call peer-to-peer communications. This is like an RF-based chat client. You connect to another station through one of the gateways and send “Instant Messages” back and forth. Keep in mind, it is still amateur radio, so there is no privacy or encryption.
In addition to the Winlink Express program, you will need a modem. This can be a software modem such as VARA or a hardware modem such as the PX DRAGON. Although the hardware modems are considerably more expensive, they are exponentially faster.
Most modern transceivers have a built-in soundcard that will connect to the PC via a simple USB printer cable. If you use a transceiver without a built-in soundcard, you will need an interface device like the Digirig Mobile and appropriate cables.
Winlink Express is a great tool. Plus, you can get it up and running with little to no money out of pocket. I would encourage you—if you are interested in bad-day communications—to consider adding Winlink Express to your toolbox.
We’ll be taking a look at FL Digi in a future post.
Until then, 73 de AC8OW.
The post You Mean There’s More to Digital Modes than Making Contacts on FT8? appeared first on OnAllBands.