#wl2k

Clone of my first node is nearly there. Some antenna work and hoping to go live next weekend.

Winlink is a secondary communications system using amateur radio to send and receive email. The global system uses nodes “listening” on many HF VHF and UHF bands and a variety of data modes. They can be connected to and send and receive email from The Internet allowing a ham radio operator to maintain accurate fast and secure data transmission whether local services are disrupted. Operators can send to each other directly as well, and the newest generation of nodes will switch to radio only store and forward in the event they lose connection to the internet.

After 30 years in the hobby it’s nice to be building the infrastructure for the community, not just assuming it will be there to use.

So with the drop in temps here back to sub 20°F the little Winlink Node that could decided it couldn’t.

Early tests with the sibling unit when we had single digit temps suffered similarly. The best I’ve come up with for trouble shooting is the USB ports. The older one had a USB sound card and Direwolf the software will quit the second it thinks there’s no sound card. This one uses a USB WiFi adapter and while my 2m radio would connect it couldn’t reach the internet… both scenarios involve the USB devices and cold temps. So while mountains of suggestions poured in I elected to embrace the moniker of not overthinking things.

Last night we dropped again to below 20° but with its pretty plastic bonnet thanks to Cascade dish pods, the forbidden ice cream sandwich seems to have maintained comms with the house.