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:
Specific suggestions are welcome, especially incident scenarios and which forms to use. Planned scenarios include: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.Send as normal. If you have no radio capability yet, use telnet.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.
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.