Regular participants in this group will know that over the past 10 years I have used this group to champion various digital mode causes, advocating use of various innovations. Some, like JT65A on HF, exploded and got hundreds of users. Others failed miserably, with just one or two brave hams willing to test and experiment with the concepts (e.g. FLARQ beacons, wider use of Call ID, and ALE). Even modes like Olivia and MFSK16 over the years have seen initial bursts but not seen wide adoption. So, when Winmor was first released in September of 2009 (see message number 32405 ) I expected the usual flurry of digital mode experimenters, I did not expect the significant activity from stations who were FM packet operators of the Winlink system. It seems Winlink has a cadre of folks who experiment if it is Emcomm but do not experiment with digital modes otherwise.
After setting up a server station last week, I was prepared for one of those periods where I had established a 24/7 station for what would be a very limited amount of users . I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that in one week I have had the follwoing stations connect and use my server. AA6FT AB1JM AG1M AJ4CG AJ4ZV K1ACL K3GAU K3RQ K4DMU K4JCC K4JKZ K5AES KB0FX KB1TCE KB2BHW KB3FN KC2WTU KC8TVL KC9SGV KD8BIM KI4RQV KJ6VW KQ0I N0IA N2NVZ N2UBP N4SPV N7MSU N7NMS N9ZZK NC5O NY3J PD4U VE3VAI VE3VBA W0OTM W0PC W0PM W4BGH W4JBB W5ROX W9DRR WA3FIY WA4BDS WA4ZVL WA5VCS WA7BRL WA9OTP WB2HVF WB3KAS WD9DVA. 51 stations so far, during a weak of poor conditions and reduced antennas at K3UK. While the mission if different, it seems like a far wider network of active stations that ALE networks in the ham bands. There appears to be a dedicated group of 20 or so active ALE "pilots" on HF but very few users beyond these pilots themselves, too band because ALE is a useful system. Andy K3UK
