Thanks to the efforts of our valiant repeater/computer geek team, our well-used and loved Echolink connection is back in operation on the VE7RPQ repeater system. It took some work and a little bit of baling wire and duct-tape, but it’s working and seems to be pretty stable.
For those not familiar with it, Echolink is a system whereby a computer is interfaced with a transceiver listening/transmitting on the VE7RPQ repeater frequencies.
One end is listening to the repeater and transposes anything it hears onto the internet where it can be picked up by an app (appropriately named ‘Echolink’) on a cell phone, tablet or PC. Use of the Echolink app is restricted to certified amateur radio operators only and you must provide your callsign and proof of certification in order to configure it. Once registered and verified, the user can then scroll through a list of available Echolink-enabled repeaters throughout the world to listen in on conversations. To hear us, just look for VE7RPQ-R and select it. You may even want to include it as one of your Favorites 🙂
The connection across the internet is two-way, so from the app running on the PC, tablet or cell phone, you can also hit the ‘Transmit’ button and talk away — just like a handheld radio. The PC connected at the Echolink ‘node’ (in the centre of the above diagram) is configured to also listen to the internet and re-transmit anything it hears out to the repeater. Just remember to hit the Transmit button again when you are finished!!
The neat thing about this system is that it gives ‘radio access’ to those who either can’t get to a radio or are travelling away from their hoome station. Thus, if you want to join us on the morning Breakfast Bunch Net, it’s just a cell-phone app away 🙂 Over the year it’s been in operation, our Echolink connection has allowed hams from Alberta, the mainland, and other parts of the world join our nets and commeraderie.
Many, many thanks to Kelly VA7KGW who is graciously hosting the Echolink node at his house and to Dekaiah and Al M who helped setup and configure the node. We’re now looking at various ‘upgrades’ to make it much more stable and hopefully reduce the switchover/response time. Keep tuned!