EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS USING WINLINK AND A MOBILE PHONE
PREPARED BY DON FELGENHAUER K7BFL, AND JEFF STIDHAM AL1Q
PAGE 1 OF 4 6 JANUARY 2018
Introduction:
Using a mobile phone to send and receive text messages is an excellent Emergency Communications
(EMCOMM) technique. This is NOT regular email, but a short message addressed to a mobile phone.
The sender can use an e-mail account, or another mobile phone. Text messages take much less
bandwidth than audio or video connections, and are more likely to get through if there is any
bandwidth available. Further, you can exchange text messages between a Winlink station and a
mobile phone, an important option if commercial communications are down or unreliable.
You have two options for sending and receiving data messages using mobile phones:
Short Message Service (SMS) is limited to sending and receiving messages of up to 160 characters.
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) extends the core SMS capability to allow sending
photographs, video, text messages over 160 characters, and other data. There is no standard limit
in size of MMS messages and instead constraints are set by the carrier and phone manufacturer.
All smart phones, and most older mobile phones, can send and receive SMS text messages. MMS may
not be available in older models. Hence, using SMS for EMCOMM is the better approach, so this
paper is written for text messaging between Winlink and SMS. However, this process can be
used by other email clients for either SMS or MMS. You should think of it as another tool in your
EMCOMM tool kit, for you, your family, and your fellow hams.
Instructions:
1. Create a new email on Winlink as you would normally. Instead of entering the callsign or email
address in the recipient box, insert the 10 digit phone number of the mobile phone you’re trying to
reach. Some carriers might require the use of 11 digits (see the Text Messaging Address Table); this
paper uses 10 digits for simplicity.
2. Once entered, tack on the appropriate “@domain” behind it:
a. Determine the intended recipient's cellular carrier by either asking them who their provider is, or
by looking it up at www.freecarrierlookup.com (note that you are limited to 30 free searches in a 30
day period). Ideally, you have done this ahead of time, and have it stored in your contact list. If not,
do your best.
b. Find the SMS text messaging domain as shown in the Text Messaging Address Table at the end
of this paper, and add it to the 10 digit phone number. Some carriers have SMS and MMS specific
domains. This is the "@domain".
c. The complete address looks like this: TenDigitPhoneNumber@domain
3. Compose your email.
a. Brevity and clarity are good practices for EMCOMM. Keep the message short and to the point.
Remember that you are limited to 160 characters for SMS!
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS USING WINLINK AND A MOBILE PHONE
PREPARED BY DON FELGENHAUER K7BFL, AND JEFF STIDHAM AL1Q
PAGE 2 OF 4 6 JANUARY 2018
b. All words in your subject line will become the first words that show up in the text message.
c. Attachments are not accepted by SMS, so don't add any (maybe later, when things are calmer).
d. Once you are finished composing the message, send it through the desired Winlink gateway.
4. Your text message to the recipient needs to get through their spam filter. Send multiple messages
to make sure this works.
Test… Troubleshoot… Confirm…. Practice!
5. Their text message (reply) back to you needs to get through your Spam Filter [WL2K] "Whitelist".
a. Sometimes the "From" domain gets changed from the one you sent To. Send multiple
messages to make sure this works.
b. You might consider including in your Whitelist the domains of the major cell service providers
(such as txt.att.net, mms.att.net, vtext.com, vzwpix.com. See Winlink FAQ Q675).
Test… Troubleshoot… Confirm…. Practice!
See Winlink FAQ Q750.
6. Once you get your Whitelist "smart", a mobile phone user can successfully initiate a Text message
to your Winlink email address.
Recommended practices:
1. Store TenDigitPhoneNumber@domain in your mobile phone for each person to which you might
ever want to send a text message during an emergency.
2. Offer friends and family your Winlink address for emergency messaging, and have them store that
address in their mobile phone.
3. A List of cellular provider domain's ("@domain") should be kept on your Winlink laptop. Version
1.6.1 of the National Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG), available as PDF or as a pocket-
sized hardcopy, has such a list (reproduced at the end of this document). Pages 80 and 81 list both
SMS and MMS addresses for all US carrier (the table below was extracted from version 1.6.1, and could
be outdated in the future). The PDF is found at https://www.dhs.gov/publication/fog-documents. Be
sure to check for updates!
4. Keep in mind that individual entries in your Winlink Whitelist will disappear if they are not used
during a rolling 400 day period. Run periodic tests for key recipients.
Test… Troubleshoot… Confirm…. Practice!
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS USING WINLINK AND A MOBILE PHONE
PREPARED BY DON FELGENHAUER K7BFL, AND JEFF STIDHAM AL1Q
PAGE 3 OF 4 6 JANUARY 2018
Text Messaging Address Table (extracted from the NIFOG, version 1.6.1)
Selected US & Canadian Cellular Text Messaging Carriers (Cellular Provider Domains)
“number” is the 10-digit mobile telephone number, unless 11-digit-number is specified
Alltel
SMS: number@sms.alltelwireless.com
MMS: number@mms.alltelwireless.com
AT&T
SMS:
number@txt.att.net
MMS: number@mms.att.net
Bell Canada SMS & MMS: [email protected]
Boost Mobile
SMS:
number@sms.myboostmobile.com
MMS: number@myboostmobile.com
C Spire Wireless SMS & MMS: [email protected]
Cricket Wireless
SMS:
number@sms.mycricket.com
MMS: number@mms.mycricket.com
Metro PCS
SMS & MMS: number@mymetropcs.com or
number@metropcs.sms.us
Qwest SMS & MMS: number@qwestmp.com
SouthernLinc Wireless
SMS: number@page.southernlinc.com
MMS: number@mms.southernlinc.com
Sprint SMS & MMS: number@messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile SMS & MMS: 10-digit-number@tmomail.net
Telus Communications SMS & MMS: number@msg.telus.com
TracFone SMS & MMS: numbe[email protected]cfone.com
U.S. Cellular
SMS: number@email.uscc.net
MMS: number@mms.uscc.net
Verizon
SMS: number@vtext.com
MMS: number@vzwpix.com
Virgin Mobile
SMS: number@vmobl.com
MMS: number@vmpix.com
Alaska
Alaska Communications
SMS:
number@txt.acsalaska.net
MMS: 11-digit-num[email protected]
General
Communications
Inc.
(GCI)
SMS:
number@mobile.gci.net
MMS: number@mms.gci.net
Puerto
Rico
Centennial Wireless number@cwemail.com
Claro number@vtexto.com
TracFone
[email protected]cfone.com
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS USING WINLINK AND A MOBILE PHONE
PREPARED BY DON FELGENHAUER K7BFL, AND JEFF STIDHAM AL1Q
PAGE 4 OF 4 6 JANUARY 2018
Text Messaging Address Table (extracted from the NIFOG, version 1.6.1)
Selected US & Canadian Cellular Text Messaging Carriers (Cellular Provider Domains)
“number” is the 10-digit mobile telephone number, unless 11-digit-number is specified
U.S.
Virgin
Islands
Centennial Wireless number@cwemail.com
TracFone [email protected]cfone.com
Worldwide
Iridium SMS: number@msg.iridium.com
