Communication and Weather Download Software: Airmail
See Navigation, Weather, Tides Software
For sending and receiving email while at sea I use Airmail with my Pactor modem and HF radio. If you have a ham radio you will be connecting to WinLink stations and if you have a Marine SSB radio you will be connecting to Sailmail stations. If you are lucky to be capable of both kinds of radio transmission you can use the same installation of Airmail to talk to both kinds of stations.
Airmail also has an excellent weather (grib) file downloader and viewer. I use the downloader but I prefer to view the weather files on Coastal Explorer so I can see the weather overlaying my navigation charts. Airmail's viewer is called ViewFax and is very good if you don't use electronic charts.
Brief overview of Ham/Winlink email vs Sailmail email
| Ham / Winlink | Sailmail | |
|---|---|---|
| modem required | A radio modem - the Pactor III (faster than the Pactor II) is highly recommended. Most Pactor II can be upgraded to Pactor III to get these speed increases. | |
| type of radio | Any ham (amateur radio service) radio or Yaesu FT600 which can do either | Any marine SSB or Yaesu FT600 which can do either |
| membership costs | free | $250/year |
| license required | yes - each person using the system must have a General ham license which requires passing both Technician and General licensing tests. | FCC station license for the onboard radio, not for the users |
| email type allowed | personal, non-commercial email only | any kind |
| transmission size limitations for email messages | none | Pactor III: 10 kbytes/msg Pactor II: 5 Kbytes / msg |
| transmission size limitations for grib files | none | Pactor III: 30 kbytes/msg Pactor II: 15 Kbytes / msg |
| transmission limitations | none | up to 90 minutes / week connection time |
| world-wide stations | >45 | 20 |
| frequency lists | these change frequently - I assume because this is a volunteer organization. Get latest or Subscribe | See Sailmail primer below |
| to learn more | Winlink.org | Sailmail primer |
Useful Links
- Download Propagation software - this is used by airmail but you don't need to open it or use it yourself - just install it. Very technical but thank goodness Airmail takes care of that very nicely for you.
- Go to download Airmail (free) - several option available OR:
- I recommend Airmail Ham complete Install (includes ViewFax) THEN:
- add Sailmail stations to your Ham installation of Airmail: Sailmail setup file
- Update your ham radio frequency lists
If you want, download WeatherFax software (I haven't used this yet). Or once you have Airmail installed you can use it to get grib files and look at them using ViewFax (downloaded above) or with your Navigation program such as Coastal Explorer.
General references and help
