Airmail
By Eric Richard, Intern, National Postal Museum, Summer 2017
On May 15, 1918, the first official U.S. Airmail Service flight took off from Polo Field in Washington D.C. The same model planes took off from Bustleton, Pennsylvania and Belmont Park racetrack in New York. The new service was scheduled to operate between Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City once a day, Monday through Saturday. Before long the service grew to include a route from New York City over the Allegheny Mountains to Chicago, Illinois. Later a route was added from Chicago through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and Nevada into San Francisco, California. During its existence, the Post Office-operated airmail service used several type of airplanes, from wooden biplanes to all metal monoplanes.
The air mail cocktail quite simply, can transport you. The combination of rum and Champagne is as refreshing as it is sophisticated. Airmail is a messaging program (similar to Outlook) specifically designed for connection to a HF radio mailbox station. Once connected to a compatible station, message transfer is completely automatic. By logging into and using AIRMail you agree to abide by the following specific provisions of our Terms of Service: To register for our Services, including AIRMail, you must first provide current, complete and accurate information as prompted by the applicable registration form. You then will choose a password and a user name. Air Mail is a mobile-first digital weekly that unfolds like the better weekend editions of your favorite newspapers. Air Mail is delivered to subscribers’ in-boxes every Saturday at 6:00 AM.
Airmail Downloads
Updated April 28 2013 (ver 3.4.062)
This is the download page for the ham version of the Airmail radio-email client program. This page is devoted to the ham-radio client applications. Airmail is compatible with Windows 95 thru Vista. Development is continuing, please report any problems and stop back often for updates. See the included 'release notes' in the Airmail inbox for details.
Installation instructions (please read carefully):
Airmail version 3.4 is a single installation file that includes everything needed: Airmail and its weather companions, the 'Icepac' propagation software, and USB drivers for the SCS modems. The current Airmail version 3.4.062 is well-tested, and works fine with all versions of Windows from XP onward, both x86 (32-bit) and 64-bit versions.
Updating: Your current Airmail installation can be updated in the same way as a new installation-- download and install the latest version. Your settings and messages will not be disturbed. To update a Winlink version to also support Sailmail, download and install the same Airmail version from this page and install into the same folder. Click Here for additional notes on using Airmail with both Sailmail and Winlink.
Airmail ver 3.4.062: Click Here to download Airmail ver 3.4.062, about 11MB. (Note: Frequency list and catalog are current as of 4/28/2013, be sure to update).
This is a complete install package for Airmail for hams, including wefax, propagation, and a new Viewfax grib/fax viewer with 'get it now' (File menu) and updated USB drivers for SCS modems. This version (and the installer) is Win7/Win8 compatible and installs application-data folder by default to avoid Windows security warnings. It will also transfer messages and settings that were stored elsewhere by earlier Airmail versions (see note below).
Note: This updated version of the 3.4.062 download includes updated Icepac propagation files, and updated USB drivers for the SCS PTC-IIusb, PTC-IIIusb, DR-7400 and DR-7800 modems (select 'PTC-IIusb' in Airmail's modem options).
Installation: Download and save this install-file to a 'downloads' folder on your computer, or to a CD or memory-stick, then open it (i.e. run it) to start the Airmail installer. For Win-7 you may see a confirmation for 'amhc34062b, Sirius Cybernetics LLC', click 'Continue'. For the Airmail installer the default settings should work fine in every application. When you are finished you may see a 'This program may not have installed correctly' message, click 'Ignore' or just close that box-- Windows is confused, Airmail did install correctly.
Important Note when updating a Vista/Win7/Win8 installation to Airmail 3.4 from ver 3.3:Under Vista/Win7/Win8, messages and data files must be stored under the 'Program Data' folder in order to avoid security issues. The Airmail ver 3.4 installer will transfer messages and settings that were stored elsewhere by earlier Airmail versions, including files which have been hidden (i.e. 'virtualized') by Vista's security. If you have a lot of stored messages this can take a long time, DO NOT terminate the installation or things will left in a scrambled state with only part of the messages transferred.
Beta Versions: Watch this space for Airmail ver 3.5 with support for the new Pactor-4 modems.
Sailmail members: See the Airmail for SailMail page for info on using Airmail with both ham and SailMail systems.
Other Downloads:
Airmail Beta version: Watch this space for Airmail ver 3.5 with support for the new Pactor-4 modems.
Propagation: Airmail also includes a propagation window. which uses the “ICEPAC” propagation program as a prediction engine. Airmail 3.4 includes the Icepac software, but it must be installed separately for Airmail 3.3, or if the complete Icepac user-interface is desired. ICEPAC can be downloaded from Greg Hand's ITS support website, select the most-recent version.
Gribs, Weather fax: Airmail’s weather fax companion has been updated, including an updated viewer which can display grib weather-data files as well as most image formats for wefax. Available from the “weather fax” page (click here).
Spelling Dictionaries: Additional language dictionaries for the spell-checker are available here. These are “zip” files, after downloading then open the file with Winzip and extract the “.adm” file to Airmail’s Dictionaries folder. Restart Airmail, then use Airmail’s Tools/Options/Spelling window to enable the new dictionary. (If you don’t have an unzip program then go to www.winzip.com and download the free demo version of Winzip).
Firmware: Current firmware is included with the Airmail download, use Airmail's Update-Firmware window (Tools menu) to install. If you only need updated firmware then see the SCS downloads page at http://www.scs-ptc.com/software.html. Download the 'zip' file for your modem and extract the firmware-file to the Airmail folder under 'Program Files' (or under 'ProgramData' for Vista or later). Then use Airmail's 'update firmware' window (under the 'Tools' menu) to update teh modem.
PTC-IIusb USB Drivers:Drivers for the PTC-IIusb are included on a CD included with the modem, available for download from the SCS website, and included with the Airmail ver 3.4 downloads. If you install Airmail before plugging in the modem, and leave the 'Install PTC-IIusb drivers' option selected in the Arimail installer, then the drivers will be pre-installed and the modem will install automatically. Alternately, put the SCS CD in the computer and plug in the modem, when the 'New Hardware' wizard appears skip internet searching and select 'install automatically'-- or select a location and point windows to your downloaded drivers.
If you want to download and install the drivers separately from Airmail, here are the driver-installer programs that are included with Airmail:
Airmail
32-bit: SCS Ver 2.08.24 drivers for 32-bit versions of Windows
64-bit: SCS Ver 2.08.24 drivers for 64-bit versions of Windows
A 'zip' file with both: SCS ver 2.08.24 drivers (zip file)
Older Airmail Versions: Airmail ver 3.0.81 can be downloaded here. The catalog and frequency-list files are very out-of-date, so be sure to update those first.
Airmail Tracking
Questions/comments regarding Airmail software can be sent to: ke6rk@airmail2000.com
Airmail Cocktail
For help with the Winlink network see the support information at www.winlink.org