Echolink

[GMRSJohn]

Some of you seasoned hams will probably smirk and giggle at this but I sat in a ham club meeting tonight and learned about EchoLink. This is the coolest thing since sliced cheese.. of course I came home and downloaded it on my phone, showed my lovely wife who said “Well we didn’t need to buy you a ham radio..” 

Anyhoo.. I’m tinkering and learning this. One thing I forgot to ask at the club was if it might overstep my technician privileges? 

[tweiss3]

It only oversteps if it's linked to a 10M FM repeater (yes, there are some). In general, you are ok, because its only 6M, 2M, 70CM and higher frequencies. 

 

Its a pretty decent tool when out of town, but its has it's annoyances.

[GMRSJohn]

9 minutes ago, tweiss3 said:

It only oversteps if it's linked to a 10M FM repeater (yes, there are some). In general, you are ok, because its only 6M, 2M, 70CM and higher frequencies. 

 

Its a pretty decent tool when out of town, but its has it's annoyances.

I see repeaters all over the world. It’s crazy.. 

Thanks for the response!

[WRYZ926]

We had Echolink setup and switched them all out for Allstar. Allstar just works better.

[WRXB215]

3 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

We had Echolink setup and switched them all out for Allstar. Allstar just works better.

That's what South Coast Reflector uses.

[tweiss3]

The Ham VOIP image has both Allstar and Echolink baked into it. Allstar is best for linking repeaters together, and hotspot nodes, but Echolink is a nice addition for when you only have your phone and are out of town.

[WRXB215]

@tweiss3 that was a nice concise summery. Very well said. 

[GMRSJohn]

Ok.. explain Allstar please. Looks like it’s for repeaters and doesn’t function the same as EchoLink. 

[WRYZ926]

You can use phone apps for Allstar too. We have several guys in the local club that use the Allstar apps on their phones all the time. Both systems require a repeater to have a node connected if you want to access the repeater through your phone.

Here is a good place to start reading about Allstar https://www.allstarlink.org

[GMRSJohn]

44 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

You can use phone apps for Allstar too. We have several guys in the local club that use the Allstar apps on their phones all the time. Both systems require a repeater to have a node connected if you want to access the repeater through your phone.

Here is a good place to start reading about Allstar https://www.allstarlink.org

Awesome! I’m still learning and trying make sense of it all.. lol. Practical applications for this stuff is kind of confusing to me other than just cool stuff to dabble in.
 

We had a little crash course on Winlink last night. Kind of fascinating what you can do with this stuff!

[wayoverthere]

Ive used both for checking into nets outside of RF range, in the sf Bay area and Seattle. Both can also be used to access a home radio when travelling, but depends on interfacing a radio to the computer (echolink) or node (all-star)

[WRYZ926]

Most people that I talk to that have used both seem to prefer Allstar.

I have a TYT TH-7800 dual band radio with a Digirig mobile for Winlink and Vara FM. The Digirig is easy to setup and all you need is the correct cables to connect it to your radio. I'm going to use my Xiegu G90 for Winlink and Vara HF. I'm waiting for the local HF Winlink repeater/server to be fully setup. I will eventually put both radios and my laptop into a go box for portable use.

[Davichko5650]

13 hours ago, GMRSJohn said:

 

Anyhoo.. I’m tinkering and learning this. One thing I forgot to ask at the club was if it might overstep my technician privileges? 

Provided the repeater on the other end is transmitting on a band you're licensed for, generally no.  I mostly use it for talking to friends in TN on their 2m system via EL as well as checking in on their Tues night net. Also keep up with a buddy in FL on his EL linked 2m machine.  For DX contacts I don't do on HF, I use a DMR HT to local 70cm Machine to get on WW English talk group.  Most my dx is done on HF though. 

For Technicians btw, 10 meters has been very good of late, if you have the equipment to operate there, Europe and Asia have been out there to snag a chat or a quick QSO with. I use EchoLink when I need it as noted above, as I do with DMR, but I moreso love contacting people radio to radio. Since my youth, radio has always seemed magical in that regard.

 

73 

N0TXW/WRJG283

[WRYZ926]

Echolink, Allstar, DMR, etc along with Winlink for VHF are well within the privileges of a technician license since they use the 2m and/or 70cm bands.

Winlink on HF is outside of the privileges granted to technicians with exception of 10m. The 10m band is the only HF band where technicians have privileges in the RTTY/Data portions of the band. Most of the Winlink HF gateways are on 40m and 80m bands.

While technicians do have CW privileges on 15m and 40m, they do not have RTTY/Data privileges on any HF band beyond 10m.

[DominoDog]

Echolink is pretty neat if you have internet data access. I have an old Sonim XP8 that I have dedicated as a ham radio toy and it is my go to echolink device. Has a built in PTT and everything, works great. You can even get a handheld speaker/mic for them. Echolink will let you talk and hear all across the world, but it does have its limitations. The app is sorta sluggish and cumbersome. It does work, though. But the greatest inconvenience is the hang time it has and the repeater has to be completely silent before echolink users will get the "Transmit" button available. It's greyed-out any time there is activity and most RF users can jump right in but echolink users have to wait. Works good on repeaters that are not busy but on a busy repeater you might have a hard time getting in.

Unless they specifically remember to give extra time for echolink ppls

[GMRSJohn]

17 hours ago, DominoDog said:

Echolink is pretty neat if you have internet data access. I have an old Sonim XP8 that I have dedicated as a ham radio toy and it is my go to echolink device. Has a built in PTT and everything, works great. You can even get a handheld speaker/mic for them. Echolink will let you talk and hear all across the world, but it does have its limitations. The app is sorta sluggish and cumbersome. It does work, though. But the greatest inconvenience is the hang time it has and the repeater has to be completely silent before echolink users will get the "Transmit" button available. It's greyed-out any time there is activity and most RF users can jump right in but echolink users have to wait. Works good on repeaters that are not busy but on a busy repeater you might have a hard time getting in.

Unless they specifically remember to give extra time for echolink ppls

That’s a pretty interesting idea using an old phone for a EchoLink ham… 

I tinker around with it from time to time but I haven’t really messed with it in great detail. I think it’s a neat little means of communication but yeah if you don’t have any service then it’s no bueno… 

[DominoDog]

You can pick up a Sonim XP8 off of ebay for a decent price. They run an older version of Android, but this doesn't need to be a new slick speedy device. They are built like a tank, as they are decommissioned first responder devices. Like a rubberized brick. I have tried to get DroidStar running on it, but I honestly just have not had any luck at all.  There is also the Sonim XP10 which is an upgraded version.

[GMRSJohn]

That’s an awesome setup! I haven’t heard of Droidstar…