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What’s new in WINLINK?�ECOMM email via Radio and Computer Networks �

Mitch Bayersdorfer • W7MDB • 10.08.2026 • Rev 1.0

Clackamas ARES

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What’s new in Winlink?

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1. Hardening�

2. AI queries�

3. Mac Winlink Beta – An Early Look

TIME: 0:45. Audience: ARES operators already familiar with Winlink. Target runtime: 27 minutes including a step-by-step AI walkthrough, a short mapping demonstration and discussion; appendix slides are optional.

Open with the outcome: a team that can request reference information, send structured reports, and turn incoming traffic into something an emergency manager can use. We will spend most of our time on AI queries, forms, and maps, then briefly cover local mailboxes and new client options.

This is a selected operational review, not a complete release history. Date labels distinguish a documented addition from an existing tool demonstrated in a recent exercise. All scenarios and example prompts in this deck are training suggestions, not live incident information.

Sources (checked September 30, 2026):

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Hardening

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AI has caused a cat and mouse game between developers and attackers– served agencies see a lot more risk and are requesting that our tools are hardened against attack. Fortunately, AI has provided the tools to analyze and harden our software.

The Winlink team has joined “Daybreak Blue” an OpenAI initiative for software developers to use AI fully analyze their software, perform simulated attacks, and create fixes.

In the past year, the entire Winlink system has been updated with almost 200 fixes to harden the entire system, making it resilient to many more forms of attack, and the AI analysis of the system now comes out clean.

This analysis has also enabled the fixes of hundreds of bugs.

TIME: 1:15. Present a fictional regional outage. The EOC needs a picture of community impacts; a shelter needs to request supplies; a radio operator needs help recalling a routine setup procedure. These are different information problems, and each deserves a different workflow.

Ask the room to suggest which problem should use AI, which needs a structured form, and which needs direct confirmation from the source. Allow about 20 seconds. The point is to preserve provenance: observed field conditions, resource counts, and generated suggestions must remain distinguishable. A polished response can still be wrong, stale, or irrelevant to the current operational period.

Use the scenario throughout the deck. Nothing here authorizes transmitting test traffic to an actual agency or to an old exercise address. Coordinate your local recipient before a live demonstration.

Sources (checked September 30, 2026):

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AI Queries in Windows

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“How should I check this setup?”

A bounded reference question may suit AI.

“What happened, where, and when?”

In the middle of a communications outage, you may get useful news.

“How do I?”

…this might be useful… more on that in a minute.

TIME: 1:15. Present a fictional regional outage. The EOC needs a picture of community impacts; a shelter needs to request supplies; a radio operator needs help recalling a routine setup procedure. These are different information problems, and each deserves a different workflow.

Ask the room to suggest which problem should use AI, which needs a structured form, and which needs direct confirmation from the source. Allow about 20 seconds. The point is to preserve provenance: observed field conditions, resource counts, and generated suggestions must remain distinguishable. A polished response can still be wrong, stale, or irrelevant to the current operational period.

Use the scenario throughout the deck. Nothing here authorizes transmitting test traffic to an actual agency or to an old exercise address. Coordinate your local recipient before a live demonstration.

Sources (checked September 30, 2026):

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Open the request catalog in Windows Winlink

Settings → Winlink Catalog Request

Begin in the Winlink Express main window.

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AI.query.capture.1

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Choose the AI option

Select the AI Query button.

Look at the lower-right corner of the catalog window.

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AI Query adds a request-and-retrieve workflow

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Remote text service

Delayed message reply

6,000-character cap*

TIME: 1:30. This overview now incorporates the user's SuperFreq thread. It describes an external text service reached by Winlink store-and-forward and a maximum response of 6,000 characters before compression. That is a reported ceiling, not a target length or a promised delivery time. The thread says the catalog credits ZL4FOX but does not identify an underlying model. Avoid promising the capabilities of a named chatbot.

A field operator can reach this service by radio without local internet, provided there is an end-to-end route to the remote service. Local-only messaging does not establish that route. The screenshot remains the Brunswick County training illustration, which documented Express 1.8.4.0. Its August exercise reported ten queries daily per callsign; verify any current quota in the application.

The next six slides separate the instruction steps. Presenter commentary is training guidance; no query has been transmitted to prepare this deck.

Sources: SuperFreq (@SuperFreqz), September 22, 2026; reviewed October 1, 2026.

https://x.com/SuperFreqz/status/2102554484752658702

https://x.com/SuperFreqz/status/2102554488103907496

Screenshot and earlier-version documentation: https://n4gm.org/pdf/winlink/exercise-022.pdf

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Write a focused prompt

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“Draft a setup checklist for a portable

Winlink station at a shelter. Do not invent radio-specific settings.”

Important – if you want it to consult manuals and forums, add “Do deep research. Find out if anybody has found a technical reason for this problem, and has a working solution."

TIME: 1:00. The thread recommends specifying the job, the operating situation, the output structure and an upper length bound. The prompt on this slide is an original example applying that advice, not a copied response or a transmitted request.

Ask a participant to point to each of the four components. Then ask what would change if the radio station used unfamiliar equipment. The answer should lead back to the actual manual and the team's approved procedure, not a request for guessed settings.

For an on-screen demonstration, enter the prepared prompt and pause before submission. The character limit requested here is intentionally much shorter than the service ceiling. A concise task is easier to evaluate and better suited to a constrained communications path.

Sources: SuperFreq (@SuperFreqz), September 22, 2026; reviewed October 1, 2026.

https://x.com/SuperFreqz/status/2102554495817252996

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Send the queued message

Run a normal Winlink session.

Rehearse on Telnet; then test an appropriate radio path.

08

TIME: 0:45. The thread suggests learning the exchange on Telnet before moving to packet, VARA FM, VARA HF or Pactor. This is a transport choice, not a different AI model. Choose a supported path that the station is equipped and authorized to use.

For the demonstration, point out the evidence that transmission completed in the session output. For later RF practice, select a suitable gateway and listen first. Even a response within the advertised ceiling can occupy substantial airtime on a weak path. The operational lesson is to request only the detail needed and measure the actual transfer during a controlled exercise.

Sources: SuperFreq (@SuperFreqz), September 22, 2026; reviewed October 1, 2026.

https://x.com/SuperFreqz/status/2102554488103907496

https://x.com/SuperFreqz/status/2102554503299911783

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Retrieve the answer

Wait 3-4 minutes. Run another session.

Read the returned message and verify it before using it.

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TIME: 0:45. A later session collects the reply. Processing and message routing introduce delay; do not promise an immediate answer. Use a real reply obtained before the presentation if the live exchange has not completed.

In the demonstration, distinguish the sent request from the received response and record how long the full exchange took. Next, identify one statement that can be checked against a local authoritative reference. The next slide expands that review. If an approved summary is passed onward in an ICS-213, retain the source and the review context so a generated suggestion cannot be mistaken for an incident observation.

Sources: SuperFreq (@SuperFreqz), September 22, 2026; reviewed October 1, 2026.

https://x.com/SuperFreqz/status/2102554488103907496

https://x.com/SuperFreqz/status/2102554500787544260

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Did not ask to “Do deep research. Find out if anybody has found a technical reason for�this problem, and has a working solution.”

How you write the

question matters!

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AI.query.capture.11

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AI.query.capture.11

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Mac Winlink in Beta

2026 releases • Exciting direction for Mac users – but not ready for deployment

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MacWinlink | Public beta, September 2026

Native macOS client; Apple Silicon and macOS 15 or later.

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Where to get the Mac beta

Official starting point: winlink.org/macwinlink

1. Check your Mac

Apple Silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 15 or later.

2. Install Apple TestFlight

Get TestFlight from the Mac App Store.

3. Join and install MacWinlink

Open the official beta invitation, then choose Accept and Install.

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THIS IS BETA SOFTWARE – NOT RECOMMENDED FOR DEPLOYMENT

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12

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Initial setup and an Internet test

Download and install MacWinlink and MacWinlink Helper… - be prepared, it is a lot of steps…

1. Have your Winlink account ready

Use your callsign and Winlink account credentials.

2. Follow the app’s current setup prompts

Begin with an Internet (Telnet) connection. No radio is needed.

3. Exchange a short test message with Telnet

Send to a known contact, request a reply, then retrieve it.

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Radio setup and the optional Helper

The additional software depends on your chosen connection types

Telnet

These connections can operate without MacWinlink Helper.

VARA or Packet (through Direwolf)

Install the optional Helper using the official Winlink download link.

A separate radio test

Follow current instructions for your modem and radio, then test a reply. Not all radios/configurations are fully supported yet.

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:16:11 AM

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:17:06 AM

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:17:23 AM

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:17:23 AM

Drag and Drop

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:20:31 AM

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Your Mac will block

MacWinlink Helper –

You need to go to

Settings->

Privacy & Security

“MacWinlink Helper.app

was blocked to protect your Mac.

Click “Open Anyway”

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:24:53 AM

Hamlib is almost

exclusively an HF thing…

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:26:14 AM

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Direwolf – mostly only needed if you

are going to do Packet. It is very capable but

if you have never used it before, has a ton of

settings to get right…

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Expand this

window

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This starts a session

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:33:59 AM

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:34:56 AM

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 7:39:36 AM

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DRA MODEM COMPATIBILITY

I have a DRA-50 modem –

I had to turn this on… sessions

work, but Autotune does not.

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 8:17:39 AM

Use this to test whether the

Mac can turn on Transmit

(Push to Talk)

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 8:08:07 AM

I always got this but it

worked anyway…

VARA runs under PC emulation

(e.g. if you use copy and paste,

use PC shortcuts, not Mac)

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RELEASE NOTES:

at MacWinlink -> About

Mac Winlink… then look for

the small blue ”Release Notes”

Link at the bottom of the popup.

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 8:20:12 AM

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Sun Oct 4, 2026 · 8:25:33 AM

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Beta now, full release ahead

They want your bug reports but only participate if you are comfortable with very early release software

Expect problems and changes

Allow time to troubleshoot and report what you find.

Keep a proven Windows setup available

Treat the beta as a learning, testing and feedback activity.

Waiting is the recommended option

Stay tuned to winlink.org/macwinlink for the full release.

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Allow about one minute. Emphasize that nobody needs to install the beta to participate in ARES. Try it only if comfortable with very early release software and willing to work through failures. Keeping a proven emergency setup is our operational recommendation. TestFlight builds expire, so check their availability and updates before a planned demonstration. Anyone who prefers a stable release can wait and watch official Winlink announcements. Do not promise a full-release date: the cited announcement does not supply one.

Report reproducible issues with app and macOS versions and relevant logs, avoiding passwords or private message content.

Official status: https://winlink.org/macwinlink

TestFlight build lifecycle: https://testflight.apple.com/join/M2hzwA4T

Developer feedback: https://github.com/jjones9527/macwinlink-releases/issues

Checked October 1, 2026.

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Questions?