[RTTY] Sailmail vs Airmail in Maritime Environment

[Dave Vandaveer]

The author of Sailmail provided the ham radio community the free 
Airmail software so the boating ham community could use HF to 
maintain contact with friends on solid ground while they were out 
bobbing around the ocean.  In the early days, the winlink land 
stations were mostly  located at yacht clubs.  He has to maintain 
land based stations for Sailmail and charges just enough to cover the 
costs incurred.  It is definitely not a profit making situation.

As I understand it, Airmail and Sailmail are essentially the same 
program running on your laptop.  You can also use Airmail for 
computer to computer connections, and I used it lots when a friend 
was on his boat in Mexican waters.  Twenty meters was reliable for 
the path during the day.  The KamPlus worked fine.

Jim wrote the software while bobbing around the ocean himself.  He 
also has modified Airmail for our emcomm group here in the county to 
provide additional capabilities.  He currently isn't part of the 
winlink community, but continues to add features to Airmail as 
requested.  No charge.  Just a good ham who also likes boats.

Dave
K9MRQ

>Besides, it's not the location, it's the content of the communication.
>
>Careful, though.  Is it a pecuniary interest to use an autopatch 
>instead of my cell phone to call home in order to save a few 
>cents?  What if I don't own a cell phone?  Or does the widespread 
>availability of cellular phone service now make it illegal to use an 
>autopatch for anything except 911 calls?
>
>Personally, I think this is a line of argument fraught with 
>unintended consequences.  A better argument is made concerning the 
>assertion that anyone initiating a Winlink session is a "control 
>operator" in the sense that the FCC means.
>
>Al
>AB2ZY