Winlink via VARA HF with Yaesu FT-891 and Signalink Working Settings

I recently acquired a Yaesu FT-891, a Signalink and a VARA HF license in the hopes that I could get Winlink working over HF radio.  I’m no stranger to Winlink, but HF radio in general is fairly new to me.  In my efforts, I reached out to the ham community to ask others about their equipment and settings.

My first attempt at a connection was a failure.  I watched a few videos on doing Winlink over HF radio, but pretty much all the settings in my radio were factory default.  My second attempt was successful.  I managed to connect to a station 700 miles north of me and another 800 miles south of me, both on 20 Meter at about mid-day in the Arcadia, California area.   I recorded a video (below) of the first successful transmission and then later put together a spreadsheet (below) of the radio settings for future reference.  While I cannot guarantee this will work for you, I can say that my consults with several HF experts influenced these settings. 

In case you’re wondering about the antenna, I was using a Chameleon EMCOMM II mounted in a sloper configuration with the balun in a tree about 8 feet off the ground and the other end of the wire suspended from an MFJ pole about 31 feet in the air.   The antenna was connected to an LDG Z-11 Pro Tuner.  The radio, the tuner and the antenna were connected to a ground rod pushed down about a foot into the ground.  The tuner got the SWR down to about 1.5-1.75 SWR on 20 meters.

Below are screenshots of how I configured Winlink.  Note that I was not able to get CAT control to work, so I dialed frequencies in manually.

Below is a list of the menu settings that worked for me in my Yaesu FT-891: