In presenting this proposal I looked at some of the different digital applications popular within the Amateur Radio community. I'm sure some are familiar to the Hams reading this, and they may argue that "my mode's better than your mode". But in the needs I'm trying to fill, they might also be redundant with the applications I present and fall short of the same flexibility. For casual home use, feel free to use whatever you want. But for a station in the field, let's look at what we might run into and the KISS solution for it.
The software applications in this proposal, Paclink, AGWPE and the NBEMS suite that includes Fldigi and Flarq are all free to the Amateur community. The NBEMS applications require only a soundcard interface, and my link between the laptop and radio is a $60 Rigblaster Nomic. I could have home-brewed a sound card interface, but after some research I came to the conclusion that by the time I bought the parts (including a suitable rugged case), acquired the cabling that is included with the Nomic plus spent the time to build and test everything I wouldn't have come out much ahead. AGWPE is required by Paclink anyway, so I also use it as a soundcard TNC and it is working well for me. The Nomic requires no power like a hardware TNC, and in the application of a Field Station I've not come across the need of the additional functions a hardware TNC would offer.
I'll dare say that the ability to get everything set up and ready to go will depend on the individual. I can say with certainty that although I'm not the most computer savvy person, with perseverance and websearching I managed to get everything working. With that said, let's see what an Operator in the field can do with it.
Once set up, AGWPE and Paclink are launched and using the free Windows XP email client Outlook Express I'm able to send and receive emails, even with reasonably sized attachments, to the public internet when I'm in range of a RMS Packet node with working internet connectivity using my "mycallsign@winlink.org" email address. In addition, I can send SMS text messages to cell phone numbers as long as I know the recipient's service provider:
Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
The person whose cell I've texted can also reply back to me.
Of course, successful delivery assumes the other side has working internet and/or cell phone connectivity to receive and reply to my email or txt, but that's true in any case disaster or not. But let's say the only RMS Packet node I can access has lost its connection to the internet. If that node has RMS Relay running, rather than get a connection failure message and be disconnected, I can still send my emails/txts to the RMS Packet server and it will store them until its connectivity is restored, then send them on.
At this point the question becomes, "What if I need that email sent NOW?"
Obviously I need to contact a manned station for assistance since the unmanned RMS Packet station can't help me. If that manned station has the same setup as I do, a valid winlink.org email address and is within range of the same RMS Packet Node, they can retrieve my email, with the caveat being I must have addressed it to them first (they can't just go out and grab an email for someone else that's sitting there waiting to be sent).
If they are within range of another RMS Packet node that does have a working internet connection they can forward my message to the person originally intended to receive it.
In all honesty, eliminating the RMS Packet/RMS Relay robot middleman now begins to look attractive, and this is where NBEMS comes into play. With both the Fldigi and Flarq applications running I'm able to send email, text, image and binary files to a similarly equipped manned station.
If they have a connection to the internet, they can forward my message and/or files. If not, they "move the message forward" to another station until it gets to the desired end point. This is also suitable for point-to-point file transfer between nearby stations where 100% error-corrected copy is essential, and can also be used on HF frequencies. The Flarq application provides a "plain talk" feature so the two stations can "chat" while connected and the file transfer in progress.
Another advantage of NBEMS is that the Fldigi application can be used without Flarq to "chat" with one or more stations.
In this way one station can send out updates or requests to a "net" of stations at one time.
NBEMS now has a Flmsg application that creates and sends ICS 213 and ARRL Radiogram forms. This works with the Flwrap application, which provides error-checking capabilities before sending and upon receiving.