Oh yeah ... hi hi?https://www.cacharreo.es/?q=blog/12

Glen,?
The email thing is a real powerful feature and we are determined to explore all it can do. Unfortunately, the guy who designed it all is gone, so this is like tryin to decrypt Egyptian hieroglyph meanings. We run weekly Thursday night practice sessions and this will be something we will test next week (we're off this week for Thanksgiving).?
When I "reply" to email sent to my internet email from d-rats, the "From" field (becomes the "TO" field) has the name "KC3BLF". The actual email address is my ISP POP mail. Similar to how most mail works (your name appears, the actual email address is used). So when the message comes into D-Rats, the name shows up plainly. Whether it is smart enough to see that is a callsign and forward it back to the callsign via RF (assuming that call is active) is what we'll test. I seem to think it once did that. Or maybe not!?
Either way, it wouldn't be real hard to manually send it by RF, which might be preferable anyway (send when the frequency is not busy or someone is getting ready to send something).?
I am super happy you guys have picked up working on this program again. It's a gem, and does far more than most people think.?

we have also learned that chat is real fast. I suppose due to no error correction. If you have a good connection, you can inject a TON of stuff into chat and it sends at blazing speed, even with slow data. We've tried it. So with a repeater or other good connections and a lot of traffic, you can cut/paste into and out of chat and send a novella in seconds. MUCH MUCH faster than MT63 in FLDigi.?

Icom provides more than one way to do data on many of their radios. I disagree with "do not complicate your life", however :-) . More cables (USB and RT Systems) is a little more complicated. More importantly, learning how the ports work is time well spent. It can avoid frustration using a radio for other digital modes. It allows a GPS unit PLUS D-Rats (or FT8, or whatever). I am acutely aware of the aversion hams have to the manual. Even if you read it, sometimes there appears a disconnect between the people who wrote the instructions and the people who designed the feature...it is not really explained how to actually use it as the designer intended (I wrote Ray Novak about this awhile ago). Usually, through trial and error, hams figure it out, post it on forums (like this) or YouTube. You know who else does stuff like this? (creates a product with TONS of features then expects the user community to create instruction guides)?? Microsoft. Perhaps the Seattle area is at fault.

No te compliques la vida, usa el puerto DATA Yack tanto si le conectas un GPS o para el D-Rats, prácticamente es para ello solamente sus utilidades y "guarda" el USB para cualquier otra utilidad de programas de CAT, de comunicaciones digitales, etc. Cuantas menos complicaciones mejor e incluso podrás hacer algunas cosas a la par, cada una por su sitio y su propia configuración.?

Do not complicate your life, use the DATA Yack port whether you connect a GPS or for the D-Rats, practically it is only its utilities and "saves" the USB for any other utility of CAT programs, of digital communications, etc. The fewer complications the better and you can even do some things at the same time, each one for its place and its own configuration.

Jim:
?D-Rats is not alone in an emcomm solution that, in a real-world high-intensity operation, is superior to WinLink in throughput. FLDigi (and the associated programs like FLAMP, FLMSG, etc) both work. D-Rats allows a station in the field to send internet email where that station has no network connection via another D-Rats station locally who has a connection. In the outgoing message realm, this is identical to what WinLink does via a VHF (UHF) RMS station locally. It does not even require D-Star---it works via a KISS TNC (to another KISS TNC). It can use a repeater or simplex. Responding to email is not as simple as winlink. However, look at the Safety Foundation website map of packet stations in the US. There are pockets of RMS nodes (coincidentally where WinLink is a popular emcomm mode) and huge, enormous swaths of land with nothing. I am only 45 miles from the nearest node and can't come close to using it to communicate. D-Rats does not need this. It does require somebody to have an internet connection with their D-Rats configured to forward email.?
Forms....OK, WinLink spent a lot of time developing really nice forms. My cycnical self says this was to promote the use to ARC and ARES.?
Message Priority....WinLink, as you know, is an automated unattended system. You connect and send. There is no facility to prioritize message traffic before tying up a node for who knows how long.
Voice coordination...WinLink has zero. D-Rats uses (almost always) the slow speed data channel on a D-Star voice frequency. You can talk and do data at the same time (although this really slows it down in real life).?
Channel Availability....D-Rats (and FLDigi) can easily QSY in the event of tons of traffic. WinLink is fixed. WinLink peer to peer can QSY, BUT in that case you lose the principal reason for WinLink...sending internet email to somebody.?
D-Rats has pretty much all the features of the FLDigi suite (file transfer, unattendend operation, error correction) and adds an event log (something ARES is supposed to keep), mapping (better than APRS), modest voice and data security (digital encoding), and more. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. FLDigi runs on all those PLUS Android phones and tablets. Winlink is Windows only.?
I can go on and on. WinLink, if your have used it much, absolutely needs the internet to work. The others don't. Emcomm requires a solution that is independent of ANY infrastructure. ARMY Mars used to allow WinLink (many of the developers are MARS guys) but banned it because of this dependence.?

Just so you know, Lehigh County PA (I am the EC) practices weekly on D-Rats. We also train on WinLink (limited, as we can only do peer-to-peer here without a local node) and FLDigi. Eastern PA trains on FLDigi all the time. I am on the EPA NBEMS net in 35 minutes, in fact. We try to be able to do everything. However, we feel strongly that reliance on WinLink is a big mistake. Internet dependency, throughput limitations, node available, platform limitation....all that is limiting.?
WinLink is a whiz-bang system that makes some people think amateur radio can support a served agency in any scenario and allow them to sit in the office and use the same old Microsoft Outlook to do it.
The fireman (ham) who deployed to Puerto Rico for Maria has two versions of his story...one published by ARRL touting the wonders of WinLink. The other, MUCH longer and more candid, saying WinLink was nearly worthless. You know how he used it? He got a working cell tower, used his phone for a hotspot and used Telnet to San Juan. That's the story neither ARRL nor Amateur Safety Foundation will tell. The emcomm community is aware of it, though.?
We, as hams, should beware of the appearance of ARRL (ARES) endorsement. They publish pretty much anything, these days. A lot of it does not necessarily promote ham radio as used in emcomm. This month it's "hamwan". Another great idea with extremely limited possible use and dependence on tremendous setup in advance. The WORST was the recent artlcle on FirstNet. That's a cell phone...period. ATT touts it as a solution and got a TON of taxpayer money to basically attempt to catch up to Verizon building out their 4G network. Where 4G is not available, neither is FirstNet. It adds a "dedicated" (I quote this because it's not dedicated most of the time...it is commercially used until an emergency)band 14 for "First responders". You have to pay for this, but a special phone and you get "band 14" plus pre-emptive cell phone use in an emergency. Verizon has used pre-emptive SIM cards for emergency people for years. In the California fires a couple years ago the cell towers burned. For a couple days, until ATT (and others) brought in COWS, ham radio was used to supplement simplex-only use by CalFire (their repeaters were also destroyed). Where was FirstNet? Where was WinLink? Where was infrastructure??

Army MARS has been training for the past couple years on global HF messaging without ANY infrastructure. DoD knows more about threats in the real world than most, and they are assuming you don't have any internet, and don't even have electric power. We, as hams, are expected to provide a solution using whatever is available. This is how we train here. We'd use WinLink if we had a VHF node as PART of our comm suite. Emphasis on PART.?

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As I suspected, the menu settings are very similar to most of the newer Icom radios. I have a 51HT, a 5100 and a 7100 and all are pretty similar. The 7100 has the USB plus data jack, which is one of the things that throws people. I use mine with USB and it works fine. In that radio (and I suspect the 9700) if you enable data via USB it disables via the data jack and vice versa. If the RT systems cable is used, it uses the data jack only, so data over USB is off. This is a simple menu setting. Also, I doubt you need an RT systems cable to use RT Systems software with the USB radios. I don't. I have two orange cables, but use only USB on my 7100 to program. RT Systems figures this out.??
I prefer less connections to the radio for a lot of reasons. Like all Icom stuff, once you figure out what they are doing in the menu it kind of makes sends. The Icom use of "MOD" for both the word "MODE" and "MODULATION" is confusing. Somebody should tell them.
I also regularly run D-Rats on an 880H, but with that one I use the RT Systems cable. That's a whole different menu structure before Icom started to kind of standardize things.

Well, I have found email in D-Rats incredibily unreliable. BTW, POP access to Gmail via D-Rats is ending very shortly. Gmail is no longer going to allow "less secure applications", which D-Rats is.?
I use established, correct POP settings (checked again and again via webmail) and D-Rats just sits there, neither sending nor receiving. Sometimes deleting the account and re-inputting the exact same info works....for a time. When functioning, it can act as a real mail client for my ISP Pop account (which i only use for D-Rats....nobody should use POP mail anymore for anything, really). I have been having these issues for some time. I have to suspect there are unmentioned security features that are blocking D-Rats access. I know this is the case with GMail, as you physically have to keep telling it to allow D-Rats (but, not for long as it will be totally disabled).?

If a ham using his call sign was to send an email to another ham, D-Rats would route it via telnet or RF to the receiving station's callsign if it was online or on the air at the time.? If the ham is sending to a regular Internet email address, it would go out using the email client you set it up with, such as a .gmail.com account.? If you were sending it for a 3rd party and the party responded, the return message would go back to your gmail address, but then D-Rats would not know how to route it further.? It would take your intervention because the return addressee was your email address.? A Send VIA is even worse because the return would go to the intervening station's address, such as the account assigned to the ratflector acting as the maildrop, and he would not know what to do with it.

I have sent messages back and forth between my own email accounts to test things and I am able to send return messages that would go back to the station that originally injected it into the Internet mail system, but I don't thing D-Rats can then forward it.? I don't believe it can work off a CC list and when people have tried to address multiple stations using one message, they report that only the first station in the list is receiving the message.? I was unaware of a "do not reply" message being added to outgoing messages, but in some instances, it might make sense.

When you send actual internet email from D-Rats, it appends the "from" address with "do not reply". I seem to recall (may be wrong) that at one time you could reply to internet email which went back to a VIA station (this is how we use it here), then the "VIA" station saw the callsign in the address, saw if that callsign was active and forwarded via RF if so. That does not appear to be working now (I'm using .39 version). Am I mistaken about it working previously (if so, I have A LOT of detail in a false memory!!).?
This is a problem for D-Rats if an internet mail user has no way to reply. Thanks.?

I am extremely familiar with WinLink. Basically, WinLink is adequate for some emcomm where there are VHF (or UHF) RMS stations within reach, preferably more than one. Where there are not (the vast majority of places) WinLink can't come close to being an emcomm mode. Have you participated in an ARC drill attempting to use HF WInLink? Good luck. I have. It bogs down immediately. How do you prioritize traffic for transmissioin (not handling, transmission...like any real emcomm mode)? If there is any precedence before transmitting, I've never seen it. So low priority traffic can tie up the system while priority traffic attempts to connect.?
And, coming from years of Army MARS, I can tell you WinLink absolutely depends upon the internet to work. If your RMS can't connect to AWS (formerly CMS), it can, in theory, default to the "hybrid network". IF your mail handling stations are setup in advance. Let's look at what happens in the hybrid scenario....mail uses the same RF backbone of RMS stations to hop a message to your desired pickup station. An already overloaded system is now jammed with backhaul messages too. No, sorry, WinLink is fine for LIMITED traffic on HF, heavier traffic on VHF and only when your local node has internet. Emcomm in most situations we drill for (I am an EC) is local. D--Rats and actually FLDigi are both superior for local ops. I've used them all extensively.?
My feeling is "served agencies" like the appeal of WinLink because they can use their desktop computer to receive and reply to stuff from the field. Other methods require some kind of bridge into their system. Locally here in PA, we don't even use email for emcomm....we copy and paste stuff into a web portal used all over called "Knowledge Center" (also some other states use this. A kind of email is built in. It certainly requires internet, but so does email. FLDigi and D-Rats do not.?
As Patrick said, D-Rats does a fair job of replacing WinLink in an area (like mine) with no local WinLink VHF stations. The shortcomings are lack of an address book in the email program, lack of ability to reply from email to a field station (without some effort).?

Most of the ARC drills where they are sending a lot of forms make substantial use of WinLink Express Telnet. I've also been involved in that. That's not even radio at any stage.?

When you set your Ratflector up, give it a static IP address on your system so that connection is stable whenever the router gets rebooted.? If you are on an Internet Provider that issues random IP addresses, you will need to get the services of a company like Noip.com.? Their system puts a program on your computer that checks the actual IP address you are using at that time and relays it back to their server.? They issue you a dyns.com name that can be given out to people looking for your ratflector and the program keeps your actual IP address updated so the Internet knows where to find it.? There are free and paid versions.? To get the free version, you have to log into their system once a month or so to keep it alive or you can pay a small sum for the system to be active annually.? I eventually got linked up with a URL from dstarinfo.com which points back to Noip as Sttammany.ratflector.com.

Sweet !!! Thanks

Okidoki sounds fair! So Data Jack it is!

A new challenge for my self is to create a ratflector.? So far I have the ratflector repeater program that comes on the Drats download. But I getting stocked on the address or ip adress I should use .
Any Good pdf that can help me with this ?

Very Respetfully?
David
NP3JD

Well Another DAve here to ajaja Yeaps Indeed I test the RT system? cable as you mentioned and problem solved !!!

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Btw, after doing the changes, it is a good idea to restart the radio.

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Hi,

Fro the usb cable to work as data input on the IC9700 you need to set it up correctly:

- Go to menu -> Set -> Connenctors -> USB(B)/Datafunctions:

??? ??? > Set USB (B) function to DV data

??? ??? > Set DATA function to DV Data

??? ??? > Set GPS Out to OFF

??? ??? > check DV Data/GPS Out Baud Rate to be as you would like to use (9600 is a good choice)

- Go to menu -> GPS

??? ??? > Set GPS TX Mode to OFF

- Go to menu -> Set -> DV/DD Set

??? ??? > Set DV Data TX to Auto

??? ??? > Depending on your partners, you may need to switch DV Fast Data off...

Between newer ICOM radios, fast data is possible, but wit older ones (e.g. IC7100) you need to turn it off.