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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.?

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.

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).?

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.?

Mike,
Some things to consider, there are three ways that D-Rats handles mail.
1.? Station to Station via Callsign addressing
2.? Via regular Internet email, usually using an @gmail.com address.
3.? Via Winlink Telnet using //WL2K on the subject line or WL2K: before the email address (This signals the program to use Winlink to send the message. The //WL2K in the subject line lets Winlink know this is not spam coming in from the Internet as most Internet stuff contains commercial ads which are not permitted)

Users wishing to send emails from D-Rats into the regular Internet email system need to have an account set up specifically for the program to utilize.? Using Gmail requires you to go into the settings on the Gmail account and specifically turn on POP mail and configure it to allow "Less secure use".? If you do not go through the steps, the Gmail setup will not work.? I had not seen where they are discussing turning that feature off.? For emergency use or if Gmail does discontinue POP mail, you could always send the message through Winlink and it would still get injected back into the regular Internet email.? It would be a bit more of a hassle.? If the Internet went down, you would have to try to find a station that still had an active Internet connection and use Send Via to route it through.?

As for not having as many neato forms as Winlink, have you thought about this?? D-Rats allows the sending of attachments.? If you have the means to scan paper documents, or to have your computer print a computer form to a PDF document, you can then attach that document to an email, or just send the form directly to the other station as a direct file transfer, then notify them on Chat to go retrieve the document from their Shared Files folder.? Scanning might be accomplished using an All-in-one printer or a scanning app on your tablet or cell phone and then transfer it to the computer running D-Rats.? There are a number of workarounds that many do not consider.? Yes, we could also find someone to do a huge amount of programming to get D-Rats to be able to format and print a number of fancy forms.? Personally, I don't have the time or the patience to sit down and learn how to do all of that.? I can, however, use the other methods to get the form in a readable and sendable format without all of that.? With a little ingenuity, you could get these methods to work even in situations where available power is at a minimum.? If you are operating out of an EOC or a shelter with a generator available, having an All-in-one printer available, to me, is a must-have item and would be invaluable to getting incoming messages printed and distributed to the appropriate people in your served agency, or sending replies back out.?

The biggest drawback to using Winlink or D-Rats is bandwidth and the required and equipped station at the other end to receive the message.? Both methods require some type of minimum intervening infrastructure to get the message through.? In many major disasters, such as hurricanes, the Internet and/or commercial power goes down.? Repeaters, digi-peaters, RMS packet stations can be lost.? HF is always available, but you might try multiple times to find a station that is reachable, and not busy with other traffic, to be able to send out a message.? Everyone is always ready to throw an older, simpler tool away in order to embrace the newer or fancier one.? Sometimes you might not be able to use the new fancy pneumatic nail gun when a good ole hammer will still do the trick.

Glen,
We drill on all of this weekly. We practice the email relay, mainly, as that simulates a smaller network outage, which is the most likely real world scenario.
GMail is absolutely sunsetting less secure applications... I believe next month.
Forms.. a pdf us enormous and way, way to big to send over radio. Takes several minutes at least on a perfect connection. Forms benefit is the form itself does not transmit, only the small amount of data. This is true on WinLink, FLDigi and DRats.?

Glen,?
To add to my comment, the forms thing is window dressing, I agree. I think it is something that allows the "served agencies" to operate as normally as possible while using ham radio. This, I feel, is the appeal of WinLink (allows them to use the same old computer, same old form, just like always). This is not a bad thing at all.?

However, WinLink is hamstrung in a disaster. You either need a VHF (UHF) node up and running to get any real traffic through or it become just another ham peer-to-peer mode and loses ALL the fancy functionality. WinLink HF is only good for very limited traffic and only from (obviously) somebody with an HF radio, which rules out most of disaster field operators. A relay into an HF WinLink station is needed, probably, and you can do that via D-Rats, FLDigi or WinLink peer to peer....really no difference.?

We have tested a PDF over radio. Way too long. Even on a great repeater connection. All the handshaking, ACK, NAK, somebody keys up in the middle and the whole thing has to re-establish. Been there, done that. Not recommended. It can work, but you can build a pyramid with hand tools if you have 60,000 guys and 20 years. Ha.

Our D-Rats weekly training group tried D-Rats relay internet email with reply.?
Here's what happened:
?One station unchecked "connected to internet", sent email to an internet address VIA another station who had internet email forwarding setup in D-Rats.?
The message went out via RF to the relay station, the relay station forwarded to internet via POP mail account. All this is expected.
The internet receiving station received a message with my call sign as "From" appended with the internet account of the relay station.?
He replied to the email with his normal email client via internet.?
It went back to the relay station into his D-Rats inbox.
D-Rats saw the addresse was my call sign. D-Rats saw I was online. D-Rats forwarded me the reply via RF.
This is how I remember it working and how it still works. Zero manual intervention required. If D-Rats sees traffic for you and you are online (and the data channel is clear) it sends it.?
Better than WinLink....unattended operation possible.?