APRSLink

APRSLink provides a link between the Automatic Position Reporting
System (APRS) and the Winlink 2000 Radio email system. APRSLink monitors all APRS
traffic gated to the internet, worldwide, and watches for special commands that
allow APRS users to:

• read short email messages sent to their callsign@winlink.org account (only the
  base callsign, no SSID)
• send short email messages to any valid email address or Winlink 2000 user
• perform email related maintenance (see commands below)
• be notified of pending Winlink email via APRS message
• query APRSLink for information of the closest Winlink RMS packet station

APRSLink provides a very special capability for the Kenwood TH-D7 and TM-D700 Radios
for sending and receiving email from the radio front Panel without any need for
a PC. This capability is greatly facilitated with the PS2 keyboard interface made
by John Hanson; making messaging very easy using these Kenwood radios. See http://www.coastalchip.com
for more information. Properly licensed Amateur Radio operators are automatically
registered in the Winlink 2000 system the first time they send a message through
the system. For someone to send email to you, you must first become registered
by sending a message through the system.

Note: Your Winlink account cannot be established using APRSLink --
you must send at least one message using Telnet or RF to create your Winlink
email account (before you can use APRSLink).

Additionally, your APRS station must have sent at least one APRS position report
(beacon) prior to attempting to access this service. In that way, APRSLink can know
your Amateur callsign, location, and station type.

Here's how it works: You send an APRS message using WLNK-1 as the destination
callsign with one of the above commands as the message text. APRSLink responds by
sending APRS messages back to you via your IGate. Of course, your IGate must be
configured to gate those messages back to RF - it should be.

APRSLink will detect if your request is from a Kenwood TH-D7 or TM-D700, and attempt
to format retrieved messages to fit the display of those devices. For a TH-D7, this
means you are limited to receiving a maximum of 48 characters per APRS message,
and a maximum of 64 characters for the TM-D700. When you request to read an e-mail
from the Winlink system, APRSLink will send one or more APRS messages back to your
station. Reading large messages (over a few lines) is not appropriate, and APRSLink
limits the number of APRS messages it will send back to your station.

APRSLink is tailored to fit the needs of remote TH-D7 and TM D700 users, but is
fully functional for other clients as well. To allow easy entry using the D7 or
D700 keypads, you can use a keypad letter instead of a number for the second part
of commands that require message line numbers. For example, to read message 3 you
can send Rd instead of R3; use Rj for message 5, etc. Actually, any letter on the
key will be interpreted as the number on that same key for any command that uses
a number following the command character.

If you desire notification of pending Winlink email just add the callsign of the
APRSLink server somewhere in your station's position comment (or status text) and
you'll be notified with an APRS message whenever you have unread mail on the Winlink
system. Notification is sent once per day but is reset whenever you use APRSLink
to access your Winlink email. In that way, mail received after you have read the
current batch will trigger another notification.

The following text is inserted into messages sent through APRSLink to the Internet.
Messages addressed to a ham callsign or to a callsign@winlink.org email address
do not contain this disclaimer.

=================================================== 
This message was sent using a remote device which has 
limited capacity. When replying use plain text, keep the 
message as short as possible and include no attachments.
===================================================

APRS is a registered trademark of APRS Software and Bob Bruninga, WB4APR