Digital Mode Training

RMS Express Training

While training is being revised, here are some basic RMS Express materials:

• Getting Started with Winlink 2000 (a PDF). Authored by W4PHS – Phil Sherrod.
• Winlink 2000 Tutorial (a PDF of a PowerPoint). Authored by W4PHS – Phil Sherrod.
• ARRL WCF Section’s WL2K Certification Page.

In short, RMS Express is very similar to a normal e-mail program with two very important distinctions:

1. In addition to using your local Internet connection for sending and receiving mail, it can use VHF/UHF Packet radio or various HF protocols (PACTOR & Winmor.) Your radio acts as a “bridge” from your computer to a remote amateur radio operator’s computer. That ham’s computer then connects, via his or her Internet connection, to the Winlink 2000 e-mail servers to send and receive e-mail. This is a great mechanism during disasters affecting local Internet connectivity.
2. If no Internet connected sites are available you can send messages “peer-to-peer”. In this mode, the Internet isn’t involved at all. Your computer uses your radio to connect to another amateur radio operator’s radio & computer to send him or her an e-mail. Peer-to-peer mode is slightly challenging in that the person you want to send e-mail to has to be running RMS Express and be in a mode waiting to “receive” connections via peer-to-peer.