IRLP NODE 5994 .... EchoLink 150110
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South Yorkshire Amateur Radio Society
Run and maintained by
Robert cave M1LOU & Andrew Lomas M0ALA
Just a few facts
The node as been running since January 2003 and with relatively no major problems just a CPU fan and a fan for the power supply . It is presently running Redhat 7.3 and as of January 2004 we upgraded to EchoIRLP thus extending the contact base and making the node more flexible
Based just 3 miles north of Barnsley in the village of Mapplewell locator IO93FO we are approximately 434 ft a.s.l.. The node radio is an SMC 2546L8 PMR (its a Yaesu really), this is the second radio the first a Tait T500 worked fine till the power supply took it out, and the antenna is a Diamond V-2000 tri-bander fed with Westflex 103 coax.
M0ALA (Andy) continues to do the Linux housekeeping and is learning more every day. We both feel that there is no need to do a upgrade of the software as yet until necessary. We may have to upgrade the computer (the one in use is made up with second user parts) with one that has a better specification to extend its working life, and no doubt that will be another learning curve to swap the computers over .
Working alongside of South Yorkshire Amateur Radio Society and Mexborough and District Amateur Radio Society the IRLP and Echolink node comes in handy when the propagation is flat and both clubs are working special events. In fact it is open for all local clubs to use for demonstrations as well as individual amateurs. Its nice to be able to show the public how radio works and also show them the new technology that goes into amateur radio.
April 2005 and well we had to do a upgrade, the time came when the hard drive crashed, it had run for just over 2 years in the node computer, and before that for 4 years in my main windows box. We decided to upgrade the whole computer and move up to Fedora Core 3 so now the node is running a 266 processor (old socket 7), 96 meg of ram and a 2.5 gig H/D. All this was done with the help of local amateurs donating second hand parts. The next stage now that the node has proven its worth is to upgrade the computer with a new box and new components to bring it up to date with a bang and safeguard its future.
But How Do You Use It ?
First you need a DTMF pad or a radio with a DTMF mike, the node is on a simplex frequency 430.050 and uses a ctcss of 71.9 it covers Barnsley and most of the surrounding area. All IRLP node codes are made up of 4 digits just key the mike and dial the numbers, you can find all the nodes listed HERE . Remember to pause for a second after keying the mike before speaking there is a slight delay due to the internet connection, and if you call a Reflector you must listen and listen and listen again before you speak as there may be a QSO in progress. To close the link just key in 73 and that will bring the link down.
If it is Echolink you wish to use it is just the same as above but you must prefix the link numbers with # and remember Echolink numbers can be up to 6 digits long, and a list can be found HERE , and a list of speed dials can be found on my star code page . To close the link just key in 73 and that will bring the link down.
If you are still unsure on how to use the link please feel free to email me or call M0ALA or myself M1LOU on 145.225 if you are local (make sure the frequency is not in use first)
EchoIRLP is not DX and it can not take away the thrill of a direct contact on HF it is simply a tool another form of making a contact but one tool that makes the world a smaller place for amateur radio operators. To be able to work England to Australia mobile to mobile with the clarity of FM is a thrill in its own way.
REMEMBER USE IT WELL AND HAVE FUN.