The goal of Iowa ARES® Winlink Weekend is learning and practicing the use of the Winlink programs to prepare for their use with the agencies we intend to serve, as well as supporting ARES® itself.

We will be practicing the various message forms we can expect to be asked to use.

Messages are to be sent any time on Saturday or Sunday, Central Time.

Specifics for Check-in weeks:
Use the basic Winlink Check In template which is in Standard Templates, in both GENERAL and MAPPING-GIS forms.
Enter WINLINK WEEKEND, using the Setup button.
In Comments: call sign, first name, city or town, county, state, mode (Winlink HF, VARA FM, VHF packet, etc.)
Example: WB0GAG, Bruce, Muscatine, Muscatine, IA, VARA HF
Fill in the remaining entries as you wish, but make your location data accurate "enough".
You can save your data for reuse with the Save Check In Data button.
If you don't want to include your own phone number, use (any area code)-555-0121, which is not in use anywhere in North America.
Click the Submit button and follow the prompts.
Send any time Saturday or Sunday, preferably by radio (RMS), although you can use Telnet if you are just starting or can't get a radio connection.
Eastern Iowa and Illinois are on 145.610 MHz, packet Winlink and VARA FM. We are working to extend deeper into Iowa.
Send to WB0GAG. Check the exercise scenario for any additional addresses.
Peer to Peer (P2P) volunteers are welcome and don't need to be available for the whole time. Notify WBØGAG of the hours, band and mode you want so it can be added to the web site.

June 21-June 22, 2025

EXERCISE, EXERCISE

We will continue our exercises with a basic check-in this week as we push to prepare for ARRL Field Day.
Start a new message and select Standard Templates > GENERAL Forms > Winlink Check-in.

In COMMENTS:, enter your
call sign, first name, city or town, county, state, mode (Winlink HF, VARA FM, VHF packet, etc.)
2 letter state abbreviation and no parentheses, please.
Example: WB0GAG, Bruce, Muscatine, Muscatine, IA, VARA HF
Save a copy for later if you wish, review your message, then click Submit and set "Subject:" to "Iowa Winlink Weekend".

RMS submission

In the message composition window, make sure "Send As:" is set to Winlink Message.
Check "Request message receipt" if you wish a confirmation message.
Set "To:" to WB0GAG. Add any others you would like to receive the message.
Set "Subject:" to Iowa Winlink Weekend.

When you are satisfied with the message, click "Post to Outbox".

VARA HF P2P

Set Open Session" to Vara HF P2P.
Open a session between 7:00AM and 9:00AM, Central Time Saturday or Sunday.
Send to N7BBI, dial frequency 7090, bandwidth 500.

Open a session between 9:00AM and 1:00PM, Central Time Saturday or Sunday.
Send to N7BBI, dial frequency 14,077, bandwidth 500.

VARA FM P2P or VHF Packet P2P

Set Open Session" to Vara FM P2P or to VHF Packet P2P.
Open a session between 9:00AM and 1:00PM, Central Time Saturday or Sunday.
In Eastern Iowa and western Illinois, send to N7BBI via N7BBI-4 (digipeat), using dial frequency 145.610.

Send as normal. If you have no radio capability yet, use telnet.

Peer-to-Peer submission

In the message composition window, make sure "Send As:" is set to Peer-to-Peer Message.
Check "Request message receipt" if you wish a confirmation message.
Set "To:" to N7BBI.

When you are satisfied with the message, click "Post to Outbox".

Digipeater submissions

N7BBI-4 digipeater is available to connect with area gateways to establish a P2P connection with N7BBI, i.e., send to N7BBI via N0MRZ-4 or NS0A-4 or K9KQA-4.

To use this feature, open a VARA FM or Packet session.
On the second line of the session window to the right of "connection type", there is a
drop-down menu--select "digipeater".
In the next box to the right of the drop-down menu, enter N7BBI.
In the next box to the right of "via", enter N0MRZ-4 or NS0A-4 or K9KQA-4 or K0OCM-4.
When the frequency (145.610MHz) is clear, start the session.

N7BBI-4 can also connect with NS0A-10, N7BBI-10, K9KQA-10 (VARA FM & Packet gateways), and N0MRZ-10 (packet only gateway) for sending Winlink messages to gateways you might not otherwise be able to reach.

To use this feature, open a VARA FM or Packet session.
On the second line of the session window to the right of "connection type", there is a
drop-down menu--select "digipeater".
To the right of the drop-down menu, enter the Gateway that you wish to connect with (i.e. NS0A-10).
In the next box to the right of "via", enter N7BBI-4.
When frequency (145.610MHz) is clear, start the session.

Note: any station that can connect directly with one of these gateways, can use that gateway's digipeater to connect with other area gateways.

Specific suggestions are welcome, especially incident scenarios and which forms to use. Planned scenarios include:

• Railroad derailment - Hazardous Material Spills
• Flash floods
• Plane crashes
• Hill slides
• Tornados
• Earthquakes
• Search and Rescue operations
• Marathon and parade communications