One ham helping another

[kd5sdi]

I recently moved to Philadelphia PA from and area that I lived in most of my life. I like my new home, and the amateurs that I talk to here. Every now and again I get kind of homesick and I wish I could check in on some of the old nets and roundtables that I used to talk on back home. Last night as I was looking through the stations on echolink and I saw a repeater that was sometimes linked to one of my favorite nets. I gave a call to the repeater op, W5PFR and he hooked me right up. He linked the repeater up for me, told the net control operator to make sure to let everything drop for me so I could check in and kept it up for me while I talked to a couple of buddies. This was the coolest thing anyone has done for me in ages. I don't care whether echolink is radio or not, whether awards are given out or not, but for just catching up it is the best. I wanted to thank Johnny, W5PFR publicly for hooking everything up last night. This is amateur radio at its finest, one op helping another.

[ag9r]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kd5sdi @ Nov. 25 2003,06http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I recently moved to Philadelphia PA from and area that I lived in most of my life. I like my new home, and the amateurs that I talk to here. Every now and again I get kind of homesick and I wish I could check in on some of the old nets and roundtables that I used to talk on back home. Last night as I was looking through the stations on echolink and I saw a repeater that was sometimes linked to one of my favorite nets. I gave a call to the repeater op, W5PFR and he hooked me right up. He linked the repeater up for me, told #the net control operator to make sure to let everything drop for me so I could check in and kept it up for me while I talked to a couple of buddies. This was the coolest thing anyone has done for me in ages. I don't care whether echolink is radio or not, whether awards are given out or not, but for just catching up it is the best. I wanted to thank Johnny, W5PFR publicly for hooking everything up last night. This is amateur radio at its finest, one op helping another.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
When I was out on the road, or on some kind of adventure, I found that Echolink and IRLP Nodes are spread all over the USA and abroad. I did have my cell phone but connecting to the local repeater near my home allowed me to keep in contact with my son where cell phones wouldnt work not to mention FREE. I have a node on our Amateur radio clubs repeater. makes a good gateway home #<!--emo&http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Nice to hear about your experience. I have also been very fortunate to have access to an IRLP and an echolink node. I am a recent transplant from California and hearing the guys back home on their daily commutes
sure is fun! Although the guys in my new hometown are
great, it sure is nice to hear the voices I literally grew up with! Now all I need to do is get somebody down in Central California to tie in to my favorite Thursday night
VHF swapnet and I'll be in Heaven!!
Many thanx to Brad,N7BAG here in Astoria Oregon for making the nodes available to me as well as numerous nodes near my old home town in Modesto California...

[w4lgh]

I too had a job ,over a year ago, that had me travelling every week. I mean out on Monday morning and back either late Friday evening, or early on Saturdays. This went on for a year, home one day a week, Sundays. I travelled with a laptop and was able to stay in contact with all my buddies back home thru Echolink using my laptop and a dialup line. I also carried my HT with me and was able to work Echolink backwards by going into an Echolinked repeater and punching in local nodes back home.

I have been a HAM for 37 years and Echolink is just another wonderful extension of the hobby. I have read all the posts , that Echolink is NOT radio, and the fact is Echolink itself isn't. However it IS another way to play and access radio, and stay intouch with friends and family. The way I see it, whether you're speaking directly into a Mic on a radio or accessing a Radio thru an IP link
2000 miles from home in a lonely hotel room, is one in the same.

Never cared about winning awards, just like talking to people all over the world, whether it was via HF-SSB or linked via Echolink. Just another way to do it in the 21st century! Digital HF is coming soon! And I will be looking forward to working that mode as well.

I say keep the new technology coming! More toys to play with!!!

73 de W4LGH - Alan
www.w4lgh.com

...

[K3DAV]

KD5SDI:

That is a wonderful story, and a great tribute to the technology and use of Echolink. Look in "AREA 3" for me (K3DAV). I'm right next to Harrisburg PA. I look forward to a QSO with you sometime.

I have friends in CT, CA, FL, Germany, UK, and Australia, that I keep in touch with through Echolink & IRLP. #There is no other way on earth to use radio, to talk with friends on a regular basis, that are in so many far away places.

Always a good signal, and there's no DX to get in the way. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Technology. #Ya gotta love it.

[m0wac]

Hi there, I put Echolink on my computer after hearing about it from another ham. After confirmation of my call sign, I was looking through to see the scope of the facility. I noticed that NZ1BW was on line and gave him a call, he answered me and in passing I mentioned that an old forces friend had emigrated to NZ many years ago and I had lost contact with him. Bill in NZ asked for all particulars saying he would see if he could contact my lost friend, this was on a Friday morning, local time about 09.00 hrs. On the very next day I had an e-mail from Bill in NZ saying he had found my friend and I was to expect contact with him very shortly via e-mail. It was a shot in the dark that paid dividends very quickly. Long live Echolink, I doubt if the contact could have been made so fast with out it, is it radio or not? I would not like to say either way because I feel it would just open up a very large can of very large worms and we have enough of those thank you!!!
Best 73 de Keith m0wac http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[w1sjg]

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[w1sjg]

I gotta tell you that I sure know the feeling- since I was born and raised in Central Maine , and haven't been back for many years it has been a great pleasure for me to go back via echolink and visit with folks there. In fact I have been talking to quite a few hams there that are mutual friends with old friends of mine and it has been such a good feeling to be able to "GO BACK" this way!!!

[n8obu]

I run echolink #on my #repeater i think some days we hear more from the folk's that have retired and moved out of state than we did when they lived here and a few of them are living where they can not have rigs set up so this is the only radio they get to do! so treat every call as you would like to be treated and be thankfull we have this #to tie us over until we meet again
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #n8obu

[W9JCM]

Great little story. Echolink rocks. I was the first person in nevada to run it. I remember when there was a few hundred stations now there is 2000!! Its a load of fun and pretty much free unless you want a low vanity node number for a donation. Great software and a good bunch of people. Drop in on 4107 in nevada say hello.

[WA2ZDY]

Echolink, IRLP, iLink etc are not ham radio. But they are very enjoyable communication tools and I'm glad we have 'em. Isn't that what hamming is all about? Communicating?

SDI, funny to look at your web page and see Trenton from "the other side." I used to live in Trenton. Yuck.

Anyway, I work in Bordentown, 15 minutes tops from downtown Trenton, so maybe I'll catch you one day. I'm not really active on any of the repeaters down there, but I can be. Maybe I'll hear you.

Good luck in the new place.

[n4ems]

It seems to me that those that think that Echolink and IRLP are the "end of ham radio" need to look at these posts. If anything, Echolink is an extremely valuable tool for hams that don't fit the traditional M-F, 9-5 job roles and/or are away from home on the road, be it as an OTR driver or white collar professional.

So phoo-ee on the nay sayers, (and yes I said phoo-ee and I meant phoo-ee), of Echolink and the like.

73

Eric
N4DMJ

[wp3bm]

Hi all!

On a recent trip to Texas, I was able to call back to the island (P.R.) trough echolink. I think it a great tool, and it certainly advances the art. It might not be radio, but allow me to put it this way: Supose you have an Echolinked station and you have satellite ISP(two way), and the receiving end also has sattelite ISP, I mean, antenna to antenna, what is it then? What if Echolink and IRLP servers go sattelite?

Great story!

73,

Gabriel Sierra, WP3BM

[kd5sdi]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (WA2ZDY @ Nov. 30 2003,08:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Echolink, IRLP, iLink etc are not ham radio. #But they are very enjoyable communication tools and I'm glad we have 'em. #Isn't that what hamming is all about? #Communicating?

SDI, funny to look at your web page and see Trenton from "the other side." #I used to live in Trenton. #Yuck. #

Anyway, #I work in Bordentown, 15 minutes tops from downtown Trenton, so maybe I'll catch you one day. #I'm not really active on any of the repeaters down there, but I can be. #Maybe I'll hear you.

Good luck in the new place.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Yeah, I know what you mean. I work in Trenton every other weekend as a paramedic and it keeps me busy. I usually talk on the w2zq 2 meter machine when I am on the jersey repeaters.

[ag9r]

There was alot off kicking and screaming when phone patches were introduced, "your talking on a phone its NOT ham radio" well it was. It alowed our service men and women to talk home via HF and phone patch during our wars and conflicts. eholink and IRLP are that to me, and as long as one end or the other are hooked to a ham radio it will be just that.......Ham Radio or a part of.
Ham radio will manifest itself into many more viable modes and changes before most of us are dead and gone. EchoLink and IRLP nodes connected to repeaters that are not commonly used as much such as 1.2 gig, 900 mhz 220 breath life into those repeaters and use freq's and bands so that we do not loose them. preservation of the bands is a must, and I for one do not have a problem with it to get activity on the bands.

[KI4AOB]

EchoLink has its time and place. You gave a good example.

[kf4vgx]

I run a node here in the Myrtle Beach area.
We had a ham down here this pass summer that needed help to connect back home . #Didnt have cell phones
The reason this story stands out to me is the family had injoyed a much needed vacation and needed to stay in contact with the father also a Ham. The young lady was able to keep track of a sick family member by her fathers reports. You could hear it in their voice how surprised thay were over the quality of audio and the ease of Echolink . #Echolink Sysops are only doing what Ham Radio Ops #should do .Helping and Sharing knowledge and being courteous to fellow hams. If thats not Ham Radio I dont know what is #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ke4zhn]

Very cool! This is what ham radio is about! While some may scoff at echolink it is an excellent way to work stations under operating conditions that you normally couldnt so why not use this cool technology? Great story.

[w5pfr]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kd5sdi @ Nov. 25 2003,06<!--emo&http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I recently moved to Philadelphia PA from and area that I lived in most of my life. I like my new home, and the amateurs that I talk to here. Every now and again I get kind of homesick and I wish I could check in on some of the old nets and roundtables that I used to talk on back home. Last night as I was looking through the stations on echolink and I saw a repeater that was sometimes linked to one of my favorite nets. I gave a call to the repeater op, W5PFR and he hooked me right up. He linked the repeater up for me, told #the net control operator to make sure to let everything drop for me so I could check in and kept it up for me while I talked to a couple of buddies. This was the coolest thing anyone has done for me in ages. I don't care whether echolink is radio or not, whether awards are given out or not, but for just catching up it is the best. I wanted to thank Johnny, W5PFR publicly for hooking everything up last night. This is amateur radio at its finest, one op helping another.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Thanks for the kind words...I am glad I was able to help. I like to see the Echolink to be used as often as possible and as you know, there is an RF link on the repeater and I have been linking to the PBRA net, as much as I can during the night time...I wish there was a way that you can link it up your self, when I am not around...If you can figure it out, the code is (72) and when done, (73) to bring it down..Not sure if it can be done, via echolink.
Tnx agn and 73 for now...johnny, W5PFR
Node#112793
[B]