From Email
From: Rob Freeburn
To prepare for the upcoming November Hospital Drill, ARES will conduct an optional Winlink Telnet Desktop Exercise that starts today (8/30/19) and runs to the end of the month of September (9/30/19). The primary goals of the Exercise are:
A. To encourage ARES members who have not yet downloaded the free Winlink software to install the software and play with it so that they understand Winlink-speak. All are welcome to participate in this Desktop Exercise. If you have any questions, check for answers at https://winlink.org/content/winlink_book_knowledge or ask me via private email <rk6rjf.rob@gmail.com>.
B. To flex the skills of the Winlink Support Group with emphasis on typical hospital drill reports.
This is a software training exercise, so you may do all of the steps on a computer connected to the internet. The Winlink software calls the internet mode, "Telnet." You do not need to have a Winlink radio for this Desktop Exercise. During hospital drills, we use radio mode. If you know which buttons to push in the Winlink software, during a drill you can stand in for other Winlink operators when they step away from the Winlink station.
During this exercise, four Elmers will receive your traffic and try to answer your questions. The four Elmers have Winlink tactical call signs for this exercise: DRILL-SDG, DRILL-SDG2, DRILL-SDG3, and DRILL-SDG4, The forms mentioned in the steps below are found in the Forms (Templates) library in the Winlink Express software.
-------------------
Desktop Exercise steps:
SET UP
0.0 If you have not already done so, download and install the free Winlink software from https://winlink.org/WinlinkExpress, and then test your Winlink software by sending and receiving emails via Internet to and from your regular email account (e.g., gmail).
0.1 In your Express software, create a "Personal Folder" for this exercise so that you have control over which messages appear in your ICS Form 309, and so that you can filter irrelevant ragchew messages out of your 309.
0.2 Turn off the automatic "send read messages to read messages folder" option (if it happens to be on).
0.3 Create a Winlink tactical address formatted as "DRILL-your call sign suffix", such as "DRILL-RJF" or "DRILL-KU" and enable that tactical address.
0.4 Set Defaults. Select your tactical address as the default sending address, and for this exercise, send all Winlink traffic from your tactical address.
0.5 Set Defaults. Set your tactical address default to always request a read receipt ACK.
0.6 Set Defaults. Add as automatic CCs the Winlink addresses: DRILL-SDG2, DRILL-SDG3, DRILL-SDG4. Also, add your personal Gmail or Yahoo email address as an automatic if you would like to receive confirmation copies of your own traffic.
0.7 Update your VHF and HF channel selection tables. (You do not need to connect to a radio or TNC to update the tables through the Internet.)
0.8 Using the Winlink software, create an ICS-214A Individual Activity Report, change the header to your call sign, log a couple of entries (such as, "started drill,") then save and close the draft form so that you can work on other forms.
SENDING
1. Send a Winlink Check-in Form (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). Add your GPS location to the check-in form. (Note: the SDG-only Winlink Check-in Form no longer exists. We in SDG use the generic Check-in Form now.) Under "Set Favorite Templates," add the Check-in Form for easy access during the next hospital drill.
2. Send a Winlink position report (Settings>GPS Position Reports) and make sure that it appears on the Winlink.org web site position map <https://winlink.org/userPositions>. In the remarks section of your position report, mention your tactical address (DRILL-WHATEVER).
3. Send an initial ICS 213 form (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). (In the body of the form, add a remark, such as, "THIS IS A DRILL.")
4. Send an initial HICS 213 form (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). (In the body of the form, add a remark, such as, "THIS IS A DRILL.")
5. Send a San Diego Hospital Status Report (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). (Add a remark, such as, "THIS IS A DRILL.")
6. Send a San Diego Blood Bank Request (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). (Add a remark, such as, "THIS IS A DRILL.")
7. Snap a photo of something, resize it to 10KB using the app in Winlink software, and send the image (via Winlink Telnet email to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs).
8. Create a small text file (4kb or smaller) using your favorite text editing program (such as Notepad) and send it as an attachment (via Winlink Telnet email to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs).
9. Send a real, live Winlink RRI Radiogram to a friend out of state (via the Winlink RRI Liaison shown at the bottom of the Radiogram form).
10. <optional, for bonus points, unrelated to hospital drills> Send a Race Tracker bib number report (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs).
11. Re-open the ICS-214A that you created in Step 0.8, log another entry (such as, "ended drill," then send the 214A (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs).
12. Using the Winlink software, generate an automatic ICS 309 Comm Log PDF (showing all of the traffic listed above, including ACKs) and send the PDF via ordinary email to Bob <AI6KU@arrl.net>, Dennis N1TEN <hamandrovers@yahoo.com>, Fred KI6GRO <fredcurtis82@gmail.com>, and Rob <K6RJF.rob@gmail.com>. Please do not send your PDF via Winlink; use regular email.
98. After the exercise, remove the default cc addresses that you added in Step 0.6 (above). [Important safety tip: if you participate in other Winlink drills during the month of September, you might unintentionally scramble the destinations of your drill traffic.]
99. A few days after you end the exercise, reset your default sending address to normal and delete your tactical address from your setup (disable, update, delete). (This reverses your setup from Steps 0.4 and 0.5 above.)
There is no specific day this month to accomplish these steps. Do the steps whenever convenient for you, at your own pace, and finish them by the end of the month.
Please feel free to forward this kick-off email to others who might be interested.
Thank you. Questions?
. . . Rob
K6RJF
A quick reminder about the ARES-002 forms for August and please get the word out to your members about the SDG winlink exercise. No RF required, you just need a computer. I will be putting together a document with screen shots based off Rob’s directions below for the computer challenged. Winlink also has a nasty habbit of hiding things in less than obvious menus.
Let’s fire up that winlink and get some practice! Let me know who participated and I’ll get the numbers put into ARES Connect, I’m thinking 12 hours for a month long exercise should be good. =)
-73
//K6OGR - Brian
https://fcemcomm.org
From: Rob Freeburn
To prepare for the upcoming November Hospital Drill, ARES will conduct an optional Winlink Telnet Desktop Exercise that starts today (8/30/19) and runs to the end of the month of September (9/30/19). The primary goals of the Exercise are:
A. To encourage ARES members who have not yet downloaded the free Winlink software to install the software and play with it so that they understand Winlink-speak. All are welcome to participate in this Desktop Exercise. If you have any questions, check for answers at https://winlink.org/content/winlink_book_knowledge or ask me via private email <rk6rjf.rob@gmail.com>.
B. To flex the skills of the Winlink Support Group with emphasis on typical hospital drill reports.
This is a software training exercise, so you may do all of the steps on a computer connected to the internet. The Winlink software calls the internet mode, "Telnet." You do not need to have a Winlink radio for this Desktop Exercise. During hospital drills, we use radio mode. If you know which buttons to push in the Winlink software, during a drill you can stand in for other Winlink operators when they step away from the Winlink station.
During this exercise, four Elmers will receive your traffic and try to answer your questions. The four Elmers have Winlink tactical call signs for this exercise: DRILL-SDG, DRILL-SDG2, DRILL-SDG3, and DRILL-SDG4, The forms mentioned in the steps below are found in the Forms (Templates) library in the Winlink Express software.
-------------------
Desktop Exercise steps:
SET UP
0.0 If you have not already done so, download and install the free Winlink software from https://winlink.org/WinlinkExpress, and then test your Winlink software by sending and receiving emails via Internet to and from your regular email account (e.g., gmail).
0.1 In your Express software, create a "Personal Folder" for this exercise so that you have control over which messages appear in your ICS Form 309, and so that you can filter irrelevant ragchew messages out of your 309.
0.2 Turn off the automatic "send read messages to read messages folder" option (if it happens to be on).
0.3 Create a Winlink tactical address formatted as "DRILL-your call sign suffix", such as "DRILL-RJF" or "DRILL-KU" and enable that tactical address.
0.4 Set Defaults. Select your tactical address as the default sending address, and for this exercise, send all Winlink traffic from your tactical address.
0.5 Set Defaults. Set your tactical address default to always request a read receipt ACK.
0.6 Set Defaults. Add as automatic CCs the Winlink addresses: DRILL-SDG2, DRILL-SDG3, DRILL-SDG4. Also, add your personal Gmail or Yahoo email address as an automatic if you would like to receive confirmation copies of your own traffic.
0.7 Update your VHF and HF channel selection tables. (You do not need to connect to a radio or TNC to update the tables through the Internet.)
0.8 Using the Winlink software, create an ICS-214A Individual Activity Report, change the header to your call sign, log a couple of entries (such as, "started drill,") then save and close the draft form so that you can work on other forms.
SENDING
1. Send a Winlink Check-in Form (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). Add your GPS location to the check-in form. (Note: the SDG-only Winlink Check-in Form no longer exists. We in SDG use the generic Check-in Form now.) Under "Set Favorite Templates," add the Check-in Form for easy access during the next hospital drill.
2. Send a Winlink position report (Settings>GPS Position Reports) and make sure that it appears on the Winlink.org web site position map <https://winlink.org/userPositions>. In the remarks section of your position report, mention your tactical address (DRILL-WHATEVER).
3. Send an initial ICS 213 form (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). (In the body of the form, add a remark, such as, "THIS IS A DRILL.")
4. Send an initial HICS 213 form (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). (In the body of the form, add a remark, such as, "THIS IS A DRILL.")
5. Send a San Diego Hospital Status Report (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). (Add a remark, such as, "THIS IS A DRILL.")
6. Send a San Diego Blood Bank Request (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs). (Add a remark, such as, "THIS IS A DRILL.")
7. Snap a photo of something, resize it to 10KB using the app in Winlink software, and send the image (via Winlink Telnet email to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs).
8. Create a small text file (4kb or smaller) using your favorite text editing program (such as Notepad) and send it as an attachment (via Winlink Telnet email to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs).
9. Send a real, live Winlink RRI Radiogram to a friend out of state (via the Winlink RRI Liaison shown at the bottom of the Radiogram form).
10. <optional, for bonus points, unrelated to hospital drills> Send a Race Tracker bib number report (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs).
11. Re-open the ICS-214A that you created in Step 0.8, log another entry (such as, "ended drill," then send the 214A (via Winlink Telnet to DRILL-SDG and to your automatic CCs).
12. Using the Winlink software, generate an automatic ICS 309 Comm Log PDF (showing all of the traffic listed above, including ACKs) and send the PDF via ordinary email to Bob <AI6KU@arrl.net>, Dennis N1TEN <hamandrovers@yahoo.com>, Fred KI6GRO <fredcurtis82@gmail.com>, and Rob <K6RJF.rob@gmail.com>. Please do not send your PDF via Winlink; use regular email.
98. After the exercise, remove the default cc addresses that you added in Step 0.6 (above). [Important safety tip: if you participate in other Winlink drills during the month of September, you might unintentionally scramble the destinations of your drill traffic.]
99. A few days after you end the exercise, reset your default sending address to normal and delete your tactical address from your setup (disable, update, delete). (This reverses your setup from Steps 0.4 and 0.5 above.)
There is no specific day this month to accomplish these steps. Do the steps whenever convenient for you, at your own pace, and finish them by the end of the month.
Please feel free to forward this kick-off email to others who might be interested.
Thank you. Questions?
. . . Rob
K6RJF
Let’s fire up that winlink and get some practice! Let me know who participated and I’ll get the numbers put into ARES Connect, I’m thinking 12 hours for a month long exercise should be good. =)
-73
//K6OGR - Brian
https://fcemcomm.org