Quote:
Originally Posted by SoggyPaws
Trying to help a friend with Iridium Go and a Winlink email get set up on a new computer. I got confused a few posts back whether Airmail was the best solution, and whether Winlink Express currently works with Go. Can you tell me what direction he should go? (Already has updated Winlink Express, don't know what v of Go firmware he has, and it's not working. Don't know the error. Predictwind works fine.)
He's familiar with Airmail and happy to switch if that's the answer.
Thanks
Sherry
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Airmail can
work with winlink(I use airmail exclusively), but there are a few gotchas. In order for airmail to connect to the winlink via the iridium, you must have connected to sailmail via the iridium within the past 30 days. The connect button for winlink telnet is greyed out until that happens. Then if you cancel sailmail, 30 days after your last sailmail connect, it stops working again. My guess is that the airmail folks had to pay iridium for a
license, and sailmail pays airmail for a
license, so hams that use airmail it for free get stiffed.
That said, once I figured this out(after I canceled sailmail and it stopped working), I found in the .ini files a last connect date, and I just keep moving it forward.
The other issue I have is that DNS doesn't
work though the connection that airmail opens. So you can't use server.winlink.org, but need to use the IP address, which changes, but infrequently. A few times I have had to use the iridium mail app to email a friend and find out the new IP address for me.
<rant>
It's frustrating. This should be very simple, the winlink server
software is free, clients are free, yet there is always something to block it. Email services like sailmail and xgate are ridiculously priced. And there seems to be an active push to kick sailors off of winlink altogether.
Really, if I could access my @myiridium.net email from my
laptop, that would be perfect, I already pay iridium $150 per month for that. Accessing that email from airmail would be gold. But, no, to do that I need to subscribe to Xgate for some obscene amount of
money.
</rant>