EchoLink®
software allows licensed Amateur Radio stations to communicate with one
another over the Internet, using voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology.
The program allows worldwide connections to be made between stations, or
from computer to station, greatly enhancing Amateur Radio's communications
capabilities. There are more than 170,000 registered users in
158 nations worldwide!
To check status of the
link or to check if you are in range, ID and send a 08 from your DTMF tone
pad. If system is idle, it will respond with
"NOT CONNECTED". If
link is connected, it will announce what stations are connected to the
node.
Please remember to voice
Identify yourself before entering DTMF tones
Conferences With EchoLink
Conference refers to EchoLink's
ability to be connected to more than one station at a time over the
Internet. Each such station becomes a participant in a conference. It is
conventional for participants in a conference to take turns transmitting,
in roundtable fashion. When connected in this fashion, each member of the
conference can hear each other member's comments. When operating a
Conference it is advisable to say WHO the transmission is to go to next,
it can be confusing for station who are mobile/base who have no PC to look
at.
The link operates using
ECHOLINK GB3TP and GB3XL is virtually invisible to the normal user of the repeater
other than the following. Various voice announcements US or female voice.
Stations calling through, not normally heard
on a U/VHF repeater. You never know who is connecting.
GB3TP will operate in the normal way when
not linked to the Internet. "All contacts via RF should be logged
with the exception of Mobiles" No one is restricted from it's use but
you must announce your call-sign before using DTMF tones to make sure the
first tone is heard by the software.
Not only can the link be used from the
Internet, commands can be initiated from your transceiver using tones from
your DTMF tone pad, the list below will assist.
Short tones work best, and the system is not
compatible with IRLP if it will not respond first time try again after a
short pause to reset. To find out if the link is on, announce your
call-sign and then key * (star) on your DTMF tone-pad, GB3TP will announce
"ECHOLINK" if the link is turned on
Remember to voice Identify yourself before entering DTMF tones
After you enter a node number remember to
wait for "connecting to" XXXXX then wait for
"Connected"
If nothing happens try again.
To enter a node number (for the Connect or
Query by Node commands); enter the 4-, 5-, or 6-digit node number. If the
specified node is not logged on, EchoLink will reply, "NOT
FOUND".
The table below lists each of
the DTMF commands.
