1 Portable Emergency E-Mail Gateway Mark Griffith KD0QYN Copyright 2016PiGate Portable Emergency Gateway Mark Griffith KD0QYN Copyright 2016

2 Who Has a Smartphone? Can you get email on it?Can you get text messages? Do you have it with you all the time? Does it alert you when a text or comes in?

3 HMS Bounty Rescue Sinks during 2012 Hurricane Sandy. Captain used hisWinlink 2000 account to the Coast Guard and rescue planes arrived within 60 minutes. 14 lives saved.

4 Winlink Global Email SystemAll amateur radio worldwide system Used by maritime, government, Emcomm agencies in many countries “RMS” Radio Mail Server – link to Winlink2000 and internet Handled over 65,000 msgs in June ,000 yearly Over 1100 VHF PACKET and HF PACTOR stations worldwide Growing all the time

5 RMS PACKET Stations in US

6 RMS PACTOR Stations Worldwide

7 How Can I Use Winlink2000 for EmComm?Sending is a proven reliable communication method How can I do that from a disaster site? Packet radio seems to be an answer – also PACTOR But traditional packet system is not easy to setup Same for HF WINMOR and PACTOR – lots of tweaking

8 Traditional Message HandlingTransmit the message via voice Someone on the other end writes it down and gives message to recipient There has to be a better way than 100 year old procedures

9 Traditional PACKET Radio Station thanks TAPRAntenna more wires Intrepid operator Windows computer TNC wires VHF radio and power supply Messages are sent to radio BBS to be picked up by other BBS users Everything located close by – probably the same room Probably lots of software tweaking and setup time at a disaster site Takes a lot of power (relatively) How can you send to the internet? You can’t!

10 Can I use Existing New Technologies?Can I get the best of both worlds? is great! How can I merge new technology with amateur radio? Can I get around co-locating all the equipment? Can I make this so simple my wife could use it?

11 Development Goals When EVERYTHING else is down…..Send to ANY address outside the disaster area Portable – carry it onsite in a backpack Self contained – turn it on and its ready for use Low power consumption for extended battery life Use “off the shelf” hardware and software as much as possible Common user interface (Smartphone or Web) – no training necessary Automated (as much as possible) Minimal configuration setup made easy Easy to replicate

12 Result – The PiGate

13 Hardware needed Raspberry Pi mini-computer B+, Model 2 or 3 $35TNC-Pi 2 (terminal node controller for the Raspberry Pi) $40 kit Mini SD card (8, 16 or 32 Gb) Class $13 (WalMart) USB WiFi dongle (with gain antenna)(not with Pi3) $15 2 Meter FM transceiver – Could be a handheld use existing 2 Meter antenna – Portable or mobile use existing Various cables to make connections $12 3D printed case $25 12 volt battery for power – The larger the better Total $140

14 Raspberry Pi 2 Model B or Pi 2/3Low Cost - $35 assembled and tested 1Gb RAM Memory 4 core 900Mhz CPU (1.2Ghz Pi 3) Uses Mini-SD card as hard drive 4 USB ports Ethernet HDMI video 3D graphics core VERY LOW power consumption Fully flavored OS – Raspbian Linux A fully functional computer

15 TNC-Pi from Coastal ChipWorksLow Cost - $40 kit $65 assem. Plugs into Raspberry Pi GPIO KISS principle 1200 baud DB-9 interface to VHF radio Same size as Raspberry Pi

16 Add a couple cables TNC-Pi to VHF radio cable – home builtFour lines (Tx/Rx Audio, PTT, Gnd) Can also use data ports available on some radios USB to serial dongle to serial cable to PACTOR modem Cable from modem to radio (purchased or home built)

17 Required Software – several pieces (this was the hard part)Raspbian image kernel version or less ( ) Several software packages needed to be integrated Integration of all this software is NOT EASY, but can be done Once configured can be easily copied

18 Paclink-Unix – Compiled on Raspberry PiUNIX/Linux client interface to the Winlink system The first software package I worked with when developing Three modes supported TNC to packet VHF radio Serial port to a PACTOR modem Telnet if local Ethernet is available (not in most disaster scenarios)

19 AX25/PACKET – Debian downloaded packageVersion of the old X25 packet switching protocol used by banks and telecommunications fields in 1970’s. Modified in the 1980’s for Amateur radio use (the “A”) Used mostly for amateur BBS before the internet On VHF speed is 1200 baud (1,200 BITS per second) On UHF speeds can be 9600 baud (not from PiGate) NO ERROR CORRECTION! Data can be lost or corrupted FX25 by TAPR presented 10 years ago

20 PACTOR – Additional mode for Paclink-UnixFor HF communication Several modes available PACTOR 1 with ancient KAM+ or PK-232 hardware PACTOR 2 and 3 proprietary modes only available from SCS Speeds range from 20 to 5,200 baud PACTOR 1 speed comparable with RTTY (~45 baud) WINMOR ~2,800 baud (Windows only) Theoretical no limit on range (HF propagation) ERROR CORRECTING PROTOCOL! No data loss

21 Hostapd and isc-dhcp-server – DL packagesEnables WiFi hotspot on the PiGate Incoming only – no connection to other WiFi Relatively good signal coverage Routing of data from the WiFi hotspot to the Pi’s Ethernet port is disabled in the PiGate. (But could be done with some simple interface changes)

22 Web Server and Web Mail ApplicationConnect to the Web app via PiGate WiFi hot spot Apache comprises over 55% of all web sites worldwide SquirrelMail very simple, easy to use, yet powerful and customizable

23 Postfix/Exim4 Mail transfer agents – moves between the client and the paclink software Exim for outgoing – some Postfix files needed for incoming

24 Dovecot IMAP server connects to the PiGate system from user’s smartphone/tablet or web-based client Can use a smartphone app to send and receiv A little hard to setup but once done a few times is easy Would not recommend in a disaster scenario

25 E-Mail Flow HF Radio Pactor Modem HF Radio Radio cable Packet RadioUser Tablet/Laptop HTTP via WiFi Serial cable PiGate Exim4/Postfix Paclink TNC-Pi VHF Radio User Smartphone IMAP via WiFi Radio cable Wired Ethernet

26 Finished! Now for field testing

27 First Field Day was Enlightening

28 Where’s My Car? This is not really my carMy car has a great communications system. Why don’t I just use that? High gain antennas to reach more distance RMS stations Capability to carry lots of batteries and has a built in generator How can I each it? 200ft cable?

29 Replace this: With this: Old School wires Packet Operator Computer TNCVHF radio With this: New Hotness Cell phone Not wires PiGate Car with VHF radio

30 PiGate WiFi Hot Spot CoverageOnly text being transmitted, no need for high throughput Pi 3 about 200 feet in open air – 75 feet within building or to outside An extender can add 400 feet That’s 200 yards! All Part 15 rules No need for a ham radio in the shelter!

31 PiGate as a BBHN or HSMM-Pi NodeFor more extended coverage A little more difficult Create a Mesh network Add the PiGate as a mesh node Advertise the web service Part 97 rules apply

32 How do “users” send email? They use their own smartphones!Give them WiFi connection information: Connect to hot spot: pigate/raspberry (SSID and password configurable) Go to (IP address configurable) users login to the application using username/password given to them after amateur admin creates new PiGate users. Login with username and password provided Compose , press ‘send’ Any number of users can be connected simultaneously (40 max at this time) No standing in line to send a message

33 Designed for Touch Screen UseAll Text with one small graphic Simple menu system – touch menu items to execute Fill out text boxes and/or touch buttons Works great with a tablet or touchpad (laptop also)

34 E-Mail Web Application

35 Text Messages to Cell PhonesNearly all cell providers have special addresses to send a text to a cell number Compose an with that special address PiGate software automatically determines if the address is a phone number and changes the message format to suit

36 Web-Based Administration Software

37 Web Status Page

38 PiGate is Winlink Global Network AwarePiGate has a list of all RMS stations – can be easily updated Amateur operator selects which RMS station to poll As long as a reachable RMS station is on the air and connected to the internet, worldwide capability exists Will switch automatically between PACKET, PACTOR or direct internet modes depending upon what RMS station is selected by the amateur operator Also has a list of all available data for every RMS station (Ver. 1.3)

39 Email Automatically TransferredAll composed go in outbound message queue RMS station is polled on a regular basis (configured in management software) Or can be set for “on demand” poll when a message shows up in the queue Or can be manually polled

40 CAVEATS Only one WinLink2000 callsign can be used to send Easily changed with the web management software replies are not allowed (standard EmComm practice) No attachments allowed Radio links (VHF or HF) subject to all the variables of radio comm.

41 Easy to Maintain Backup of micro-SD card to image on Windows laptopCan be copied to additional PiGates with minimal configuration changes (enabled from the PiGate mangement web site) Should keep several prepared mini-SD cards on hand Perhaps more than one PiGate onsite

42 Ongoing Development – in no particular orderFuture enhancements forthcoming – ideas welcome Parsing individual users from replies Add HTML document attachments to Support for Raspberry Pi displays (7 inch and 3.5 inch) Enhanced support for different PACTOR devices OLSR support native to PiGate WX data for boating/yachting crowd

43 Power Considerations Raspberry Pi runs on 5vdc USB port powerVHF radio needs 12vdc power Use 12vdc to 5vdc power converter for Pi, 12vdc for radio 7Ah AGM battery will run the PiGate for approx. 10 hours 2 batteries in parallel and a solar panel would give 24/7 ability

44 Where Can I Get a PiGate? http://www.pigate.netAll software freely downloadable as Raspbian images Copy to your own mini-SD card Can also download the 3D printer files to create the nifty case Raspberry Pi computer available from several sources TNC-Pi from Assembled and fully tested PiGate available for a fee

45 We Need More RMS Stations!

46 References http://pigate.net http://www.winlink.org https://samhobbs.co.uk/raspberry-pi- -server https://learn.adafruit.com/setting-up-a-raspberry-pi-as-a-wifi-access- point/overview