Troubleshooting Airmail 3.5 Internet settings

Sailmail Internet / Satellite gateway settings were updated in June 2020, click here for info. If you need help with Airmail 3.5 then this page is for you, for Airmail 3.4 either update to ver 3.5 (strongly recommended for satellite use) or see this page.

This only applies to satellite or Internet connections using Airmail’s internet/satellite (Telnet) access window. Radio connections, webmail, and pop/smtp email are not affected.

If you have internet access then the best option is to update your Airmail ver 3.5 version, downloads since May 22, 2020 include the new gateway addresses. If you downloaded before then, then do it again– same software, new internet gateway settings.

If that is not possible then the rest of this is for you. It is organized from simplest to more complicated, keep going until success is achieved.

Airmail 3.5 will auto-update its internet settings from a special “update” message which was sent to all members, so if you received an update message into Airmail and clicked “Yes” to confirm the update, then you are finished. Skip down to “Checking” below.

If you can connect to Sailmail from Airmail via radio or Airmail’s internet window (not webmail or some other email), but have NOT seen an “update” message, then:

  1. Create a new, blank message to: satgates@saildocs.com and post that via Sailmail.
  2. Connect to Sailmail and send the message, wait a moment, connect again for the reply.
  3. Open that message, and click “Yes” to accept the update.
  4. Skip down to “Checking” below.

If you cannot connect to Sailmail via Airmail’s internet window, then try each server listed in the selection box at the top, next to the green “Connect” button. One of the backups should connect, then proceed as above.

If you CANNOT connect via radio or any of the servers from Airmail’s internet window, but you DO have internet access to Airmail, then use Airmai’s Mail Client window to send your update message to satgates@saildocs.com. For details on using Airmail’s Mail Client, click here.

If STILL no luck, and you don’t have internet access to update Sailmail (never mind that you are somehow reading this), then do this:

  1. Click Airmail’s “Window” menu, then “Files”, then “INI files”, and select “System.SAILMAIL.ini”. This opens the Sailmail settings file.
  2. This is a settings file, with various sections each marked with a square-bracket heading. Scroll down and find the “[Internet Gateway]” heading.
  3. Below that heading, and before the next square-bracket heading, is a section of server settings. Delete those, and replace the [Internet Gateway] section with the following:
... some other section data...
[Internet Gateway]
Server1=SMSG1,18.208.67.17,50
Server2=SMSG2,44.232.19.175,50
Backup1=WQAB964,174.67.172.21,50
... the next section heading ...

Click “File” Menu, Save (or Ctrl + S keys), then close and re-open the internet window and check as follows:

To check settings:

The new gateways are designated Server1 (SMSG1) and Server2 (SMSG2), and the backup is Backup1 (WQAB964, our San Diego station). To check, open Airmail’s Internet window and select each server “Server1”, “Server2”, and “Backup1” in turn and confirm that each connects. “Server1” should identify itself as “SMSG1” in the log text, check that for each.