Winlink is an informal all-volunteer public service. Its lose structure is an asset but also imposes a risk. SysOps are not legally compelled to have their station on the air 24 hours per day. Sometimes, illness, vacations, power failures; and lack of funds to replace burned out equipment could result in an unscheduled “shut-down” of a PMBO. Also, occasional maintenance or inclement weather (like hurricanes at the PMBO site) may result in shut-downs. As far as the organization is concerned, there is no guarantee or clear line of succession to fill important positions that might become vacant. Of course, the same can be said for SailMail.

The informal structure is also an asset in that new participants, whether PMBO or Users, can join up and contribute with a minimum of fuss or formality. New PMBO can join within an hour. Users can join up within a minute by just sending a single message to an existing Winlink User.

Winlink plans for a certain amount of redundancy (excess capacity) in its network. Therefore, if one PMBO is down there virtually always should be another station within radio range that can be accessed. WDT is continually working on system improvements and expansion.

For those who are genuinely interested there is a host of information available on the Internet:

www.sailmail.com provides an excellent primer and is the source for the AIRMAIL Software;
www.winlink.org is the official website of the Winlink Development Team; and
www.aussiewinlink.org is specifically for Australian visitors.

Go to last Slide 16/16

AussieWinlink provides news, some technical information and human interest stories that deal with Winlink experiences.

27 October 2008

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