EchoLink: Use your iPhone or iPad as a HAM Radio

Echo Link is very cool. A buddy and I both live on the North Shore and have places in Naples, ME. We have nodes set up in Peabody (N1PQH) and in Naples (N1MHD), linked together, with 2 meter rigs on either end. So if I am in Maine and he's back home or vice versa, it's a seamless process to key up the mobile or the H/T and chat back and forth. This is an open node so any two licensed operators, one in MA and one in ME, can use the link. 146.595 Mhz simplex with a 100 Hz tone, and it's up 24/7/365. There is a slight delay that you can definitely notice, but it's not anything that prevents good solid reliable communication.

The Iphone app works very well but it does chow down the battery so it's probably not something that you'd leave running all the time. If you run the app on an Ipad there's a map that comes up showing the node locations.
 
I use EchoLink as well. It is wicked cool.

A couple of my observations.

The sound quality when on some repeaters is less than what a regular radio would get.

You need to hold the iPhone closer to your mouth than you would by making a speaker phone call. There is no gain adjustment on the mic unfortunately.

The delay isn't too bad actually...maybe .5 second to 1 second depending on the distance between where you are and where the end repeater is. Internet latency is the issue.

Searching the EchoLink directory on the iPhone isn't great, but you can usually figure it out based on the call sign of the repeater or link station you want to hit.

Never had a chance to do Echolink <> Echolink connection. I can only assume the quality is better.

If you like the idea of using the internet for ham communication, there is another project called IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project....I think that's it). Repeaters are hooked to the internet. You hook up to your local IRLP repeater with your radio, pass some DTMF signals to the repeater in the form of the node or reflector number and it links the two repeaters via the internet. You can chat with your radio and your transmission is sent out over your local repeater as well as the downstream repeater. VERY COOL. Not all Echolink repeaters are IRLP and not all IRLP are Echolink...so you have more options.

Yet another reason to get your ticket. This stuff is cool!
 
Knowing very little about Ham radios and not knowing the difference between a DiPole and a Yagi...

Doesn't the use of a Cell phone that requires a data connection defeat the purpose? I'm trying to understand the benefit.

Just asking...
 
Knowing very little about Ham radios and not knowing the difference between a DiPole and a Yagi...

Doesn't the use of a Cell phone that requires a data connection defeat the purpose? I'm trying to understand the benefit.

Just asking...
I don't tinker in that digital stuff, so someone more knowledgeable may correct me here. The way I see it, the main advantage of doing things with a radio instead of a phone (besides the fun) is cell phones are point to point. When I transmit, even through a echolink, many people can hear and reply.
 
I don't tinker in that digital stuff, so someone more knowledgeable may correct me here. The way I see it, the main advantage of doing things with a radio instead of a phone (besides the fun) is cell phones are point to point. When I transmit, even through a echolink, many people can hear and reply.

Only true if you connect to a link or a repeater in Echolink. You can also connect directly to a user should you want....so that would be analogous to simplex.

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We can check it. I just installed EchoLink and started the validation process. As soon as I'm validated we can go Echo to Echo to test.

Cool....keep me posted.
 
I just decided to experiment a little with Echolink recently. But I've been partners in a 220 repeater with IRLP for many years. I do believe that using a computer and Internet connection defeats some of the purpose for using ham radio to begin with. But it's fun nonetheless.
 
... I do believe that using a computer and Internet connection defeats some of the purpose for using ham radio to begin with. But it's fun nonetheless.
. And you learn stuff along the way. That's a big part of ham radio. Always learning something new. And usually taking cool new Technologies and applying them to the hobby.
 
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