[nrv-hams] Echo Link

Sat Nov 5 19:04:09 EDT 2011

Hi Everybody,

After a long day that started with me feeling "buggy," so much so that I had
to call off going to the club breakfast in Dublin this morning, I am now up
and running on EchoLink. You'll find my callsign (N3AO) in the AREA 3 group
of callsigns, and not in AREA 4, as most of you are or will be soon.

73,

Carter

-----Original Message-----
From: nrv-hams-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:nrv-hams-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Cogswell, Dennis
Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2011 5:51 AM
To: NRV-Hams: A mailing list for members of the New River Valley (VA)
Amateur Radio Club.
Subject: Re: [nrv-hams] Echo Link

To all:

I think Echo Link has great potential for the ham community. There are
certainly alot of hams using it. I think it is especially useful for hams
with limited antennas for whatever reason. It isn't for the inexperienced
ham or computer user.

I have very little experience operating on Echo Link but a lot of experience
getting my computer and router set up so that I could use it. I am not a
novice at using computers but found the "Help" pages on Echo Link itself to
be difficult to use. They tend to skip important steps and assume lots of
prior knowledge. As a ham who knew almost nothing about Echo Link going in,
I spent a lot of time going over and over certain "Help" pages looking for
specific step-by-step instructions. There is a place there where you can
email a support group with a question but I found the response type to be
slow and often never did get a response. I have been a big user of QRZ.com
to post questions and get responses on a variety of subjects. However,
posting on QRZ in the Echo Link bulletin board was again a frustrating
experience. The postings there were way above my comprehension and not
related to my needs.

The biggest issue in getting my computer setup to operate Echo Link was
getting my firewall configerated to allow the Echo Link's software access.
One has to do a TCP configuration of Port 5200, 5198, and 5199. Your router
is involved in this configeration. After a lot of trial and error and not
finding the information I needed on Echo Link or QRZ, I tried my internet
service provider Verizon. Twice I contacted them and although their call
center personel tried hard, they did not know what was needed, at times were
definitely reading out of a manual, and never helped me. They eventually
gave up and wanted to direct me to a private fee-for-service call center
that wanted an over $100 fee to help. I did not go there!

Echo Link "Help" will note that you can go to PFConfig.com and for I believe
a $29.00 fee, get them to help you config your firewall ports. I did that.
It was finally successful but a very long and difficult task. Their webpages
leave a lot to be desired as they are so crowded with conflicting, vague and
very technical information. Their method of communication is via message
sent back and forth to a technician. He was very helpful but it generally
took over 24 hours to replay to each message. He did work on Saturdays which
helped. They did not have my router listed in their massive and lengthly
list of routers so I had to do a "screen capture" process and send them my
information on my router's configeration, some of which I thought would give
them ongoing access to my router and computer. I was initially very
reluctant to do this process, but it seemed like the only way I was going to
get help. So I did it and installed the software necessary. I quickly
uninstalled it once  the router was on their list.

Everything finally got configured and lined up and  finally worked and I got
connected. However, I think it was as much my "trial and error", "learn as
you go along, and" "I got lucky; not sure why this worked but it did"
process. I estimate that from start to finish it took almost two months of
regular work and contacts to get Echo Link up and working.

I am glad I have that capacity but todate, haven't operated much through it.

Dennis W4ODY
________________________________________
From: nrv-hams-bounces at mailman.qth.net [nrv-hams-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of Russ Abbey [russ.abbey at gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 3:19 PM
To: NRV-Hams: A mailing list for members of the New River Valley (VA)
Amateur   Radio Club.
Subject: Re: [nrv-hams] Presentation on APRS for NRVARC

Please keep us all informed! I for one would love to learn a lot more then I
know about APRS, Echo Link, and IRLP.  While I have "dabbled" in all 3 of
them, I don't know a lot.  If anyone is interested, you can go
here<http://www.aprs.org/>to APRS.org to read up on some fine articles.
There is also a Yahoo group for not only APRS, but for all of the trackers
out there.  If you can solder a little, the Following links will bring you
to a couple of places that I have used before  and are good kits.
Argent Data, the open tracker <http://www.argentdata.com/> Byonics, home of
the Tiny Track 3&4& others. <http://www.byonics.com/> Tiny Track Wiki
<http://vk7hse.hobby-site.org/wiki/index.php/Tinytrak4v7>
Fund U a place to find yourself. <http://www.findu.com/> Echo Link
<http://echolink.org/> Is a VoiceOverIinternetProtocall or radio and VOIP,
also you can use it with your computer to make contacts around the world
without a radio.
IRLP which is a VOIP system <http://www.irlp.net/> which is kinda like Echo
Link, but you have to use a radio for access.
73
Russ Abbey
KG4MAV

On Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 2:16 PM, roger bell <rrbell at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> Fri., Nov. 04, 2011
>
> Jim, Ron and Carter:
>
> Jim,
>  many thanks for the kind and timely reply.   I concur on the use of
> APRS for public events, etc., as would vastly improve situational 
> awareness, which in today's world is a much needed asset.  Although I 
> have read a good deal on this matter, I have not obtained any hands on 
> experience.  Thus, the collective efforts of Ron, Carter and yourself 
> on  this matter would be most appreciated.
>
> On
>  behalf of the NRVARC, I extend my thanks in advance for your 
> collective  efforts.  Please followup with Ron and Carter and advise 
> which one of you will spearhead this effort.
>  Because the club has a annual dinner in January 2011, the next 
> monthly meeting will be Feb. 27, 2011.  Does this provide adequate 
> time to develop a nice presentation and demo of APRS?
>
> I look forward to hearing from you.
>
> Best regards,
> Roger Bell  - N4FPA
> V. P. - NRVARC
> AEC - P. County ARES
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------------------------------------
>
>  From: nrv-hams-request at mailman.qth.net
>  Subject: nrv-hams Digest, Vol 18, Issue 4
>  To: nrv-hams at mailman.qth.net
>  Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:02:19 -0400
>
>
>  Today's Topics:
>
>  1. IRLP and Echolink (Ron Angert)
>  
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Message: 1
>  Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2011 13:36:42 -0400
>  From: Ron Angert <rangert at gmail.com>
>  Subject: [nrv-hams] IRLP and Echolink
> To: nrv-hams at mailman.qth.net
>  Message-ID:
> CA+Oz0rGpeE=EkRRPag7cVYcEDjJC8dSf8c+7KiDiswa7nOtc=A at mail.gmail.com>
>  Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>  I sure would love to learn more about this new-fangled stuff.  Do we 
> have a  member or members that could put on a talk/demo for a club 
> meeting?
>
>  I will soon be completing a laptop that can display aprs locations on 
> a map  and if it works I would be willing to bring that to a meeting 
> if there is  interest. I think using this during a bike race would be 
> great.  The VT  club did that for the collegiate race last year in the 
> rain and they knew  where the chase cars and the ambulance was almost 
> all the time.
>
>  The learning curve on all this stuff is pretty steep and we need to 
> share  our 'suffering.'
>
>  Enjoy
>  Ron N4JAT
>
>
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