For non-hams reading this and wondering what it on earth it is, it's essentially an open source implementation of Echolink, a internet-connected network of amateur VHF/UHF repeaters. Normally when you transmit to an amateur radio repeater, the repeater re-transmits your audio on a different frequency so that it can be heard by a wider coverage area than your radio could be.
Echolink has (at least) four main functions:
1. It allows repeater owners to link two or more repeaters together over the Internet so that a transmission into one repeater results in a transmission _out_ of multiple repeaters, effectively giving your transmission wider coverage, or coverage in multiple geographical locations.
2. The Echolink clients allow licensed amateur radio operators to receive and transmit on VHF/UHF repeaters around the world from their desktop or mobile devices.
3. The Echolink server allows amateur radio operators to turn their own radios into internet-connected nodes so that they can access them away from home, or allow others to use their radios over the Echolink network.
4. The Echolink network has topic-specific conference rooms that hams can join with their client. Or, repeater owners can temporarily have their repeater join a conference room. For example, there is almost certainly one or more dedicated to the hurricane events happening in the southern US right now.
The "official" Echolink client and server software is closed-source, this is an open source implementation.
You need to have an amateur radio license to sign up for an account on the Echolink network, because anything you transmit into the network might go out over the airwaves somewhere and you need a license and call sign to do that.
I wonder how common is EchoLink among other newer protocols like C4FM? How hard is it to spin up a low-power repeater with this and save a few thousand dollars on a dedicated box? Would that run afoul of FCC code in the US?
Separately, it’s nice to see Ham Radio on the front page. Amateur Radio and hacking share the same goals, although monetization is less prevalent among radio guys. Maybe there’s lots of HAMs here and we don’t talk about it?
I'm a ham myself. EchoLink is still considered one of the most reliable VOIP in my opinion because being it's analog at its input and output. The downside of it is, it's entirely made for windows OS. This come svxlink to the rescue for linux guys. C4FM is one of the branded protocols out there; d-star, dmr, P25 etc. If you don't have the radio to do this protocol, you're out of the game.
SVXLINK is just a controller running on a raspberry pi, you still need to connect a radio for its rx and tx. I'm using low power chinese-made ht to it, and it act as my personal repeater at home.
One thing that's become quite common here in the UK is multimode networks - bridging gateways for C4FM, D*, DMR and analogue into a single network 'room' - [CQ-UK](https://www.cq-uk.co.uk/) and [hubnet](https://hubnetwork.uk/) are examples.
Wonder if you can share a private proxy that I could use? I'm been using VPN port forwarding service to tackle echolink port 5198 and 5199 requirement.
Shoot me an email: brandon@neverlocate.me — the proxy I run now is public and in the list they publish but I should be able to run another beside it on a different port.
Echolink has (at least) four main functions:
1. It allows repeater owners to link two or more repeaters together over the Internet so that a transmission into one repeater results in a transmission _out_ of multiple repeaters, effectively giving your transmission wider coverage, or coverage in multiple geographical locations.
2. The Echolink clients allow licensed amateur radio operators to receive and transmit on VHF/UHF repeaters around the world from their desktop or mobile devices.
3. The Echolink server allows amateur radio operators to turn their own radios into internet-connected nodes so that they can access them away from home, or allow others to use their radios over the Echolink network.
4. The Echolink network has topic-specific conference rooms that hams can join with their client. Or, repeater owners can temporarily have their repeater join a conference room. For example, there is almost certainly one or more dedicated to the hurricane events happening in the southern US right now.
The "official" Echolink client and server software is closed-source, this is an open source implementation.
You need to have an amateur radio license to sign up for an account on the Echolink network, because anything you transmit into the network might go out over the airwaves somewhere and you need a license and call sign to do that.