EchoLink Functionality now on ’76 Machine

Recently there has been an interest in checking into nets when people are away from the area. While there is IRLP capabilities available on the 147.105 machine, this requires having a repeater or simplex node in order to connect via IRLP. Echolink is not restricted to repeater connections, which makes it easier to connect when away from the area. There are apps for smartphones, tablets, as well as a PC application which allow connections to repeaters as well as directly with other users.

In order to use Echolink, you will need to download the application to the device you wish to use. For smartphones and tablets, search for the free “Echolink” app in your device’s app store. For PCs, visit www.echolink.org and download the installer file. Unfortunately, this program is only available for Windows-based machines.

If you have not used EchoLink before, you will have to validate your license by uploading an official copy of your license from the FCC database. If you need instructions on how to do this, please visit https://www.fcc.gov/how-obtain-official-authorizations-uls.

To connect to the ’76 repeater via EchoLink, open the EchoLink application and search for KB4ZIN-R. There is a limit of 10 users at one time connected to the repeater via EchoLink. If there are several users connected and you are just listening, you may wish to disconnect and use the live stream via Broadcastify instead. This is available at https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/29772.

This feature would not be possible without the help of Jerome K8LF and Chuck AI4WU. Jerome set up a temporary link at his QTH for testing purposes to demonstrate how the functionality works. The popularity was encouraging, and Chuck set up the equipment necessary to have the functionality present at the repeater site.

Also, thanks go out to Chris KC4CMR for allowing the addition of the EchoLink node to the 146.76 repeater.