MARS Adds WINLINK 2K to E-Comm Arsenal

After a thorough study of security and connectivity issues, Army MARS has launched the final phase of implementing Winlink 2000 with Airmail as a system-wide communications tool. A global MARS-Winlink 2000 network is expected to be in service by summer 2006.

Grant Hays (AAA9E/WB6OTS), MARS Eastern Area Coordinator, announced the new undertaking. He said Winlink 2000 will provide rapid and reliable interconnection between government entities served by the Military Affiliate Radio System and the broad range of local and regional agencies accessed by Amateur Radio generally.

Army MARS is an organization of some 2,500 amateur radio operators specially trained and licensed for military communications. The Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps field similar volunteer teams. Their shared mission is providing emergency communications to the Department of Defense and other government departments.

Winlink and its client, Airmail, got extensive use during last year’s hurricane season by other volunteer Ham organizations. These included the Amateur Radio Emergency Service sponsored by the American Radio Relay League, and the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, a FEMA auxiliary.

In past emergencies ARES and RACES have informally linked with MARS through members whose stations participate in multiple systems. With Winlink 2000, Hays said, the different networks will continue to operate separately and independently, but the new software will automatically move messages between them as needed. It will also switch traffic to the Internet, where available and appropriate, to bridge any radio gaps or to deliver addressed e-mail.

Winlink is augmented by Airmail, another program developed within the Ham community, for message management. Like Winlink, Airmail is free and can be downloaded from the Internet. MARS implementation will utilize both.

Army MARS has long operated its own MMCS (MARS Message Center System,) utilizing short-wave radio to deliver messages throughout the U.S. as well as to military installations overseas. Before the advent of e-mail, keeping servicemen and their families and friends in touch was a major function. Disaster readiness has overtaken that function in the last decade and continues to expand. During the catastrophic 2005 hurricane season, amateur operators provided indispensable backup when normal messaging systems failed. Like the telephone system, Internet service is also vulnerable during disasters: computers depend on electric power. That had been a significant concern for MARS management, but WL2K has the capability to automatically establish alternative routes utilizing its large number of participating amateur stations.

Steve Waterman, (AAR4WU/K4CJX) of Nashville TN, the Winlink 2000 Network Administrator and a member of the Winlink Development Team, is the MARS team leader for the Winlink 2000 implementation. Waterman said, “The amount of redundancy built into the system is really substantial. Among other things, where appropriate, Internet accessibility will take the load off the limited number of frequencies that are available for the MARS service.” The Winlink 2000 network augmentation is one of two innovative technology projects currently underway in Army MARS, according to Coordinator Hays. In conjunction with Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS, members are also testing an advanced implementation of ALE (Automatic Link Establishment.) This is the HF radio technology already widely used by military units and government agencies for moving traffic in large volume. MARS volunteers developed the software themselves. Hays said. Winlink 2000 and ALE can work in tandem to speed delivery of messages.

MARS members utilize military frequencies allocated by the Department of Defense. Only MARS members can directly access the MARS WL2K system, Hays said. Messages to and from the amateur participants outside MARS would be interchanged automatically at designated PMBO (Participating Mailbox Operation) stations.
“While only designated members are authorized to use ALE, all MARS members may use the Winlink 2000 system after registering their call signs and passwords at one of the MARS participating stations. Four Winlink 2000 participating stations were fully operational for the  start of system testing. Others will be added as needed,” Hays said.
Early versions of Winlink and its predecessor, Aplink, have a long history in MARS going back to the early 1980s. However, concern for communications security delayed adoption of the advanced Winlink 2000 facility until recently.

Working with team leader Steve Waterman on the MARS-WL2K project are Paul
Drothler (AAA4TN/WO4U), Crossville TN; Laurence Collins (AAA9NV/K7DMB), Las
Vegas; Don Nutt (AAR7JG/N6TDM) Greater Kansas City area, MO; and John
Scoggin, (AAA9AC/W3JKS) Newark DE.  Scoggin is the MARS National Automation
Coordinator. Drothler and Collins are state MARS Directors and Nutt is a
National Coordinator for SHARES, the Shared HF Resources network linking
federal agencies including MARS. All are experienced engineers.

“Army MARS identified a real need to provide digital messaging to complement the existing voice and digital systems,” said Waterman. “It becomes a critical need as the demand for more and more capacity approaches. And, there’s a tremendous amount of interoperability built in,” he added.

 Waterman, a Ham since 1955, joined the original Winlink development team in 1986. In 1998 he was a part of the decision to wrap store and forward e-mail connectivity into the limited early Winlink “Classic’ versions. The other members of that group were Victor Poor W5SMM, the team leader, who originally conceived Aplink and Winlink; Rick Muething KN6KB, and Hans A. Kessler N8PGR, Ed Galipeau, WA1LRL, Lee Inman, K0QED, and Tom Lafleur, KA6IQA. They assisted in the MARS project.

More recently, the Winlink Development Team and its participating station system operators have also been active with the ARRL in providing a National emergency digital network system for the Amateur service.
--Bill Sexton

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