Winlink Setup Guide

The job in this video is the install. Winlink Express, VARA FM, and VARA HF, then the first account screen, on the free license. Radio menus wait.

What to Download

He starts at winlink.org. The link is in the description. One reason to use that site is that the VARA downloads live there too.

Download splits into sysop programs, user programs, and VARA products. Sysop programs are how you run your own Winlink server and move other people’s traffic. He is not doing that. User programs, and the file at the bottom, Winlink Express. Everything else in that list he skips.

VARA’s page has several tools that packetize the radio link. VARA Chat. VARA FM, which is FM. VARA HF. VARA satellite. VARA Terminal. He takes FM and HF only. The Winlink homepage is where the rest of the documentation is, and he calls it overwhelming. The installs are next.

Unsigned Installers

The browser saved the files to Downloads. He opens that folder from the browser. Winlink Express gets extracted, then the executable. He says the file is safe. Windows still blocks it. His explanation is that a code-signing certificate costs a licensing fee, so an unsigned ham-radio installer trips the warning. More info, then run anyway. A second prompt asks him to confirm. He takes the default destination, asks for a desktop shortcut, and notices the installer still says RMS Express. He clears the box that would launch Winlink Express. Finish.

VARA FM is the same extract. The archive name tells you to run it as administrator. Right-click, Run as administrator. Some PCs will ask for the admin password. If you do not have it, the person who manages the machine does. Microsoft Defender, the antivirus built into Windows, says the file is unrecognized and not in its database. More info, run anyway, then the admin approval, which popped on his other monitor. He accepts the license. It picks its own directory. He allows a desktop icon even though he says Winlink will launch VARA when it needs it, so the icon is optional. He does not start the program.

VARA HF is the same sequence. Administrator, run anyway, accept the license, a folder it calls Vara, a desktop icon, do not launch.

He moves the camera to the primary monitor. The new icons are Winlink Express, VARA FM, and VARA. Skip the shortcut checkbox and those icons will not be there.

The Account Screen

Winlink Express opens on a license you have to scroll to the bottom of. Then begin. The form wants a call sign, a password recovery email, and a password. You do not have to pay for the upgraded license. The free copy has limits, and he puts those limits on speed and on how large a message can be. He is setting this one up as the free version, with no registration key in the field. There is a place for a grid square. Extra call signs, or a tactical address on a private network, go in if you have them.

Service codes are the channels you subscribe to. ARES or RACES may mean adding the emergency-communications code. He leaves this install on PUBLIC. The point is a bare setup that can send and receive. The extras are another video.

The rest of the form is contact information, how long to keep logs, how long to keep deleted messages, and HF path quality. Install updates without prompting stays off. That is how a working install breaks. The field-test beta stays off for the same reason. A warning about stations holding messages, and a list of pending mail before download, stay off. Turn the list on only if you want to pick which messages to pull.

Update demands a password. He does not remember his. A usual password fails the next check, because the contact block is empty. He expected the site to fill it in. He is already in their database. It does not. He is fine showing the address. It is on his FCC record. He points at another video, and a playlist, for registering Winlink in the first place. He sets the location to New York, in the United States. A phone number is required. The digits he typed are not clean in the caption, so they are not repeated. A website is optional. He adds his as advertising.

Update again. Error setting the password, no reason given, then an error changing the password. He did not mean to change it. He already has a password, and he typed the wrong one. A first install will not hit that. The window spins. He says it is live and unedited. The next password is the right one.

The registration nag comes back until a paid key is entered. He clicks remind me later. You do not have to buy it. Then the program says a newer version is available and offers to update now. That update is the forms, not the application. Premade forms for net check-ins and for specific requests. He skipped the forms zip on the website because he knew the program would fetch them. It will ask again when a new pack exists. A radio connection will also offer a new list of stations that are on the air.

What he has now is Winlink, with telnet, packet, VARA HF, VARA FM, peer-to-peer, radio-only, and a telnet post office. Settings, then Winlink Express setup, returns to the screen he just finished. The install is the whole video. Matching a particular radio happens inside those session windows, and he is splitting telnet, VARA HF, and VARA FM into their own videos.

Transcript

He is installing Winlink so a computer can send and receive email over the radio. The browser goes to winlink.org. The link is in the description. The site now hosts the VARA downloads too, and he needs those for the over-the-air side.

Download shows sysop programs, user programs, and VARA products. Sysop programs are for running your own Winlink server and handling other people’s messages. Today is the user side. User programs, the bottom entry, Winlink Express. He skips the rest of that list.

Back one level, VARA products. Several programs there help Winlink move packets on the radio. VARA Chat, VARA FM, VARA HF, VARA satellite, and VARA Terminal. He downloads VARA FM and VARA HF. That is all he wants from the site. The homepage has more Winlink documentation than he is opening.

In Downloads he extracts Winlink Express and runs the executable. He says it is safe. Windows protects it anyway, because a signing certificate costs a fee. More info, run anyway, and a second confirmation. He accepts the destination, creates a desktop shortcut, and notices the installer says RMS Express. He clears “launch Winlink Express” and clicks finish.

VARA FM extracts with a note to run as administrator. Right-click, Run as administrator. A managed PC may ask for that password. Defender says the file is unrecognized. More info, run anyway, then the admin prompt on the other screen. He accepts the license, takes the default directory, allows a desktop icon, and does not launch it. Winlink will open VARA when a session needs it. VARA HF is the same. Administrator, run anyway, accept, a folder called Vara, a desktop icon, do not launch.

On the primary monitor the icons are Winlink Express, VARA FM, and VARA. No shortcut checkbox means no icons. He opens Winlink Express, scrolls the license to the bottom, and begins. Call sign, password recovery email, password. The paid license is optional. The free version limits speed and how big a message can be. He leaves the key out. Grid square if you have one. Extra calls or a tactical address if a private network requires them. Service codes: ARES or RACES may want the emergency-communications code. He leaves PUBLIC. Bare bones, and another video for the rest.

Contact information, log retention, how long deleted messages stay, HF path quality. He unchecks automatic updates and the beta. Both break things. The warning about stations holding mail, and the pending list before download, stay off. Update. It wants a password. He does not remember his. Contact info is also empty. He thought an existing account would fill it in. It does not. The address can be on camera. It is on the FCC license. Registering Winlink is another video, in a playlist. New York, United States. A phone number is required. He does not get those digits out cleanly. A website is optional. He adds his.

Update. Error setting the password, no reason, then an error changing it. He did not want a new password. A first-time user will not see this. He has an account and typed the old password wrong. The window spins. He says the mistakes stay in because it is live. The next try is the right password.

The registration prompt returns until there is a key. Remind me later. Then it offers to update. That is the forms pack, not the program: net check-ins and request forms. He skipped that zip because the app downloads it, and it will ask again later. A radio connection will also offer a new list of active stations.

Telnet, packet, VARA HF, VARA FM, peer-to-peer, radio-only, and the telnet post office are the sessions on the finished install. Settings, Winlink Express setup, is the way back to the account screen. Wiring a specific radio is inside the sessions, and those are later videos. This one was the install.