so ive been trying to get Winlink Express running properly for a couple weeks now and im honestly not sure if what i have set up is doing what i think its doing. background: im running a IC-7300 into a SignaLink USB, got Pat installed first then switched over to Winlink Express because someone in my local club said thats what most people use for emcomm stuff.

anyway i can send and receive messages fine but when i look at the session log it shows Telnet as the connection type. from what i understand thats just going over the internet right? i thought the whole point was to send email over RF. when i try to use the Vara HF modem session it connects to the gateway frequency i found on the RMS list but then just sits there and times out. i can hear something on the waterfall but it doesnt seem to do the handshake or whatever its supposed to do.

is this a VARA license thing or is my audio levels off or what. i checked the ALC and it looks okay but im not really sure what the signal is supposed to look like going out. any pointers appreciated, been at this way longer than i expected

yeah the Telnet mode is basically just using the internet as the transport, its fine for testing your message workflow and making sure Winlink Express is configured right but youre correct that its not RF. if you want actual over-the-air operation you need either VARA HF or Winlink using Winlink's Pactor mode if you have a SCS modem, or you can do VHF packet through a local RMS gateway if theres one near you.

the timeout issue with VARA HF is almost always one of two things in my experience -- either the gateway you're pointing at is just not active at that moment (they come and go depending on whether the station is on and propagation cooperates) or your audio drive level is wrong and youre either way too hot and clipping or so low the gateway cant hear you. the VARA modem has its own sound card settings separate from whatever else you have going on so double check that its pointed at the right audio device and not your system default or something weird. also the free version of VARA is speed-limited but it should still connect, it just wont be as fast so that shouldnt be why its failing outright.

try a gateway thats closer to you geographically and check the RMS list for ones that have had recent activity. there's a map on the Winlink site that shows last heard times which helps a lot.

had the exact same problem when i started with this, drove me crazy for like 3 days. turned out my SignaLink was feeding audio into VARA but the TX audio path wasnt set up right in the radio menu -- on the 7300 you gotta make sure the USB audio is selected as the modulation source in the set menu or it just transmits carrier with no audio. might be worth checking that if you havent already. also dont forget to set the radio to USB-D mode not just USB, otherwise the ALC behaves differently and can mess things up