HF e-mail

[PaulJ]

I have been looking into the possibility of sending and receiving e-mail with the SSB and with an Amateur Licence, it would seem that Winlink 2000 is the best option. Then comes the problem of the TNC/modem. The best option seems to be one of the SCS modems that can handle Pactor3 but they cost about £600 which is more than I paid for the Transceiver! There are a number of "lesser" TNCs which can only handle Pactor1 but which seem to go on Ebay for about £50......

I know Pactor1 is a lot slower than Pactor3 but I don't envisage sending large numbers of long letters, just the occasional half-page or so to say that we are still alive, saw some dolphins, "wish you were here" kind of thing. We can wait until we get to somewhere to send anything longer.

So my question is..... How long does it take to send a half page of text with Pactor1? Also, I have read that some of the receiving stations (PMBOs) are gradually phasing out the slower protocols and will only accept Pactor3. Can anybody tell me how quickly this is happening and how many stations only accept P3.... I think that P1 will probably be adequate for my meagre needs but if I go for Pactor1, will I be buying something that will be unusable within a couple of years?

Paul.

 

[Ships_Cat]

Unless you have an urgent need I would wait a while and see what happens regarding the WinLink stations. A new mode, SCAMP which uses the sound card not an external modem, is being trialled at the moment compatible with WinLink 2000 - on the ARRL internet site the current URL describing it is http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/12/07/6/?nc=1, if that does not do it a search on SCAMP on www.arrl.org site should find it.

I have not checked but if I recall correctly up to date lists of what modes the WinLink stations are using can be found on either the Winlink 2000 site or the Airmail site (there I think in the station frequency download).

John

 

[ColdFusion]

Try looking here.

 

[RPC]

If you need more information there is a large collection of it here:

http://www.onpassage.com/Communications/Yacht_Communication_Systems.htm

Hope it helps

Rod

 

[Talbot]

Just to add to your decision problems, have you considered that the price of the pactor is about the same as purchase of an iridium phone (and globalsat is even cheaper but not world-wide) email by iridium is much faster and you can also surf over iridium. Yes the actiual use costs are somewhat more expensive, but you can also phone home!

 

[PaulJ]

Thank you one and all for taking the trouble to respond.

Pussy, the SCAMP system does look very interesting and no, it is not that urgent so perhaps I would do best to wait. It seems to be early days though and I have my doubts that it will be operational by the latter half of this year.... I will watch that space.

Coldfusion and Rod, there are a couple of systems there that I had not seen before but the main thing which attracts me about Winlink is that it is free /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif even though some of the equipment is not.

Talbot, when looked at like that I guess Satellite systems do look more attractive and perhaps I should do some more homework on that subject. However, having finally got up and running with my Ham licence and SSB rig, I am quite enjoying seeing what I can drag out of the ether, and if I can do it at relatively low cost then so much the better!

Paul

 

[CharlesM]

<<Pussy>>

how rude

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif