I intend no disrespect to all the varied Emergency Communications activities that are performed within Amateur Radio, or those that perform them. The emergence of Starlink as a Broadband Internet Access system with few dependencies other than power has changed the paradigm of emergency communications. But now, but the emergence of the new Starlink Mini has profoundly changed the paradigm of emergency communications.

The photo above tells the story at a glance about how well-suited Starlink Mini is for providing emergency communications when normal communications such as cellular or consumer Internet access are unavailable. Starlink Mini is light enough and compact enough to be carried on one’s back (or in a backpack). It can be powered by any USB-C power source, including compact USB-C battery packs (for at least a few hours) or an AC to USB-C power adapter. Wi-Fi and Ethernet are built-in on the unit. It’s managed by a smartphone app. To set it up, open the app, follow the instructions for orienting it optimally (though it will likely work acceptably by laying flat if there is enough clear sky). Within a few minutes at most you are connected to the Internet at broadband speeds. It can easily be remoted to a rooftop using a simple and inexpensive power extension cord and an Ethernet cable. It will work nearly… anywhere!

The reason I bring this up is that a Zero Retries reader contacted me about an article about a “Go Box” to set up Winlink and noted “things have changed now that Starlink Mini is available”.

Disclaimer — Yes, Starlink is a subscription service, and you have to buy Starlink Mini for a few hundred dollars and keep a service plan active for one’s Starlink Mini to be ready to use at a moment’s notice. To use one’s Starlink unit for emergency communications will likely mean exceeding the “inexpensive” service tier’s maximum data transfer limit of 50 GB. Acknowledged that those are real issues now, but Starlink has exhibited considerable flexibility in adjusting its services in response to changing business conditions. It’s my (optimistic) guess is that in a declared emergency, if one asks, Starlink can temporarily waive data transfer limits or cost penalties for “excessive usage”.

Winlink, Briefly

The goal of using Winlink, of course, is to be able to send Internet email over Amateur Radio spectrum, both HF and VHF / UHF. Using Winlink used to be a bit fraught with peril because of the relatively poor data modes Amateur Radio has traditionally used for Winlink. Formerly the only good option had been the pricey and proprietary Pactor 4 modem for HF. Now there are other options for Winlink, especially VARA - FM for VHF / UHF and VARA HF for HF. The cost of a VARA license and audio adapter to use VARA FM and VARA HF are a fraction of the price of a PACTOR 4 modem, and work comparably on HF, and work great on VHF / UHF (up to 25 kbps).

Starlink Mini / Winlink Go Kit Comparison

But consider the bigger picture here in “Winlink versus Starlink Mini” as a “Go Kit” solution (in approximately the same form factor):

• Winlink is “narrowband” email, with some capability for attached files.
• Starlink Mini is a broadband Internet system, and thus can handle any Internet activity - video cameras, video conferences, viewing streamed video, file transfers, email, Voice Over IP telephone… and can do all of that for multiple client devices such as multiple laptops connected via Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
• A Winlink Go Kit is a complex assemblage of radio(s), modems, computers, software, antennas, power supplies, and integration.
• A Starlink Mini is simple by comparison - power from a USB-C source, and connect to it via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, use normal Internet systems such as web browser.
• A Winlink Go Kit can only be used by an Amateur Radio Operator who is trained / practiced in using the combination of the radio, the modem, the computer, and the software, and all of the procedures on how transmit and receive via Winlink.
• A Starlink Mini can be used by anyone; it’s effectively “unlicensed” wireless Internet. The app is easy to understand, and once it acquires the satellite constellation, it just works when you connect to it with Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The app provides status, devices connected, some management, and diagnostics including a speed test for troubleshooting and it can tell you if there’s an issue with the satellites, or obstruction.
• Winlink requires some infrastructure, especially when using VHF / UHF Radio Mail Servers (RMS).
• A Starlink Mini requires comparatively little infrastructure now (a regional Starlink Ground Station) and in the future will require practically no infrastructure through the use of inter-satellite links.

Analogy - Autopatch

I think there’s a useful analogy in Amateur Radio’s very active use, and then complete disuse, of “Autopatch” on VHF / UHF repeaters. As a new Amateur Radio Operator in the mid-1980s, one of the most popular uses of repeaters was autopatch - “automatic phone connection”. If you wanted to make a phone call from your portable or mobile VHF / UHF radio, you could easily and quickly command the repeater to connect a phone line, dial a call with touch tones from your radio, have your conversation, and then disconnect the phone line. Autopatch was an incredibly popular feature of repeaters… but no one uses autopatch any more. There’s no technical reason not to continue using autopatch; it would work as well in the mid 2020s as it did in the mid-1980s, and there’s only a minor cost issue in having a telephone line connected to a repeater for a monthly fee.

The reason that no one uses autopatch any more is because using one’s own mobile phone is so superior to using autopatch that it’s no longer even a question about using autopatch. Why would you even want to consider using autopatch?

I think that’s the situation we’re now in with Winlink, albeit at the very beginning of the situation where Starlink (Mini) is such a superior solution to the issue of emergency communications. But I believe that the conclusion will eventually be the same as with autopatch; no one will consider using Winlink because using Starlink (and other similar systems now in development) will be a far superior solution for emergency communications.

On Beyond Starlink - Mobile Phone Direct to Satellite

Not to mention… by the end of this decade, we may not even need Starlink to use at least basic satellite connectivity from our mobile phones in an emergency, thanks to:

• Apple Satellite Messaging in its newest generations of iPhones (uses Globalstar,
• SpaceX and T-Mobile providing satellite communications using normal mobile phones,
• AST Space Mobile will also provide satellite communications using normal mobile phones.

It’s amazing to me that Iridium, the one “phone works everywhere on the planet via satellite” service provider, has fallen out of the conversation versus the above developments getting lots of attention.

It’s a brave, interesting, much more communications-rich new world!

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Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. Now in its fourth year of publication, with 1900+ subscribers. Radios are computers - with antennas! ¹

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