What use is an F-call?

Over the past few weeks I've been playing with an Amateur Radio technology that links my work-life and my hobby together. For some, that might be a boon, for me, I have been trying to get out of the office - I work from home - to have a life and Amateur Radio is my escape from the world of Information Technology. Little did I realise at the start that the two go hand in hand. You win some, you lose some.

Anyway, the technology I've been playing with is called Echolink. It's a way of linking radios across the Internet which allows you to communicate with Hams across the world, without needing HF, or even a radio for that matter.

Before I get too far into this, I should point out that there is a common held misconception that Foundation Licence holders are not allowed to use this technology. This is not true. You are not allowed to hook your computer to your radio, but there's no license condition that prevents you using the set-up that another Ham is running. This means that you cannot run an Echolink Sysop node, but you can obtain and legally use Echolink with your Foundation call-sign.

I should also point out that there are two Internet linking technologies - well, there are many more, but for the purposes of this discussion, two - that achieve similar things. Echolink is one, IRLP, or Internet Radio Linking Project, is the other.

Both allow you to link Hams together. IRLP links radios (using specialised hardware and a copy of Linux), Echolink on the other hand links software, which may or may not be connected to a radio. That's right. You can use Echolink on your computer without a radio. You can also use it on your iPhone and Android powered phone. No projects under way for any other smart phones at this time. And of course, you can use Echolink and IRLP via a radio if you are in range of an IRLP node or an Echolink Sysop none, using DTMF tones to control them.

Back to Echolink. You can download it for nix at echolink.org and once you've scanned in your Amateur License and emailed it to Echolink to verify that you're in fact a licensed Ham, you're good to go.

You'll find that there are places where you can link to many Amateurs at once, or you can have a one-on-one QSO with another Ham.

I should also mention that there are also special nodes that have both Echolink and IRLP installed, which allows you to link the two. You'll find that there are many 'nets around that use this technology. A home grown one is the Friday Night Technical Net, which is run by Reg, VK6BQQ, on Friday Night - Ontario Time, and Saturday Morning in VK. You can find it at the VAN-IRLP Echolink node, which is run from Vancouver.

With the help of a few local Amateurs, I'm working on making the F-troop 'net, which is a weekly hour of chat that I host for New and Returning Hams available via Echolink too, which will allow people across the country to sign in and participate.

So, if you don't have a radio yet, or if your radio is no where near where you are, you can use Echolink to still stay in touch.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB