I have released my final collection of Maidenhead Grid Squares in ESRI Shapefile (.SHP) format.

Two and Four character grids can be found here.  There is also the ability to drill down at that location to download specific four character grid files based on the four character prefix (useful in EmComm and Search and Rescue overlays) with six character resolution.

A collection of all the four character grid files is located here.  Keep in mind, it's big at over 350MB compressed and there are 32,400 files in the archive.  It is arranged in a directory structure such that you can drill down by grid square to get to the individual files.  Each grid square file is subdivied to the sixth character.  For example, the AA00.SHP file is subdivided into and labeled AA00aa, etc.

 I have tested these files in Xastir, PostGIS and qGIS and they have worked flawlessly.  I highly recommend qGIS if you want to make your own maps.  You can import a world base map, overlay it with grid squares and plot contacts.

As always, if you have questions, please let me know through the contact page at www.n1ics.net 

A new Telpac gatway for Winlink has been brought up in NW Ohio for both general and EmComm use.

It is on the UHF band at 445.700 with a call sign of N1ICS-11. It's brother is a VHF gatway at 145.690 with a call sign of N1ICS-10.

Both of these feed into the N1ICS PMBO which gateways into the gloabal Winlink 2000 network.

Feel free to use them and if you experience any issues, contact me at the contact info listed at QRZ.com.