The wife and I, both hams, use Echolink for staying in touch with friends
from our old home area. Like many people today, we had to move for
employment reasons.

It is nice to be able to give my callsign and to know that it is going out
over the old "local" six meter repeater that I used to frequent in New
Jersey (we now live in Georgia). I have the opportunity to talk with friends
via radio as I used to do when I lived in Jersey.

It is also nice to be able to chat via Echolink computer-to-computer. Some
of my friends in the Delaware Valley do not yet have HF privileges. Our
conversations would have to be via telephone, were it not for Echolink.
Tapping the space bar to talk leads to the same type of conversations we
would have via amateur radio simplex. To me, Echolink has been a blessing.

I am 57 years old.

Ed Cregger



"MD" wrote in message
.. .

"Ric" wrote in message
...
Are you confused... echolink is a voice over ip program which has over
the
air links users as well as computer users just the same. why is it so
hard
for olders hams to accept change

Ric,

This same arguement has been going on with our local hams for quite some
time. My personal opinion, and my opinion only is this. I got into radio
for the fascination of being able to speak into a microphone and someone
halfway around the world answering me. To me slapping on a headset and
hitting the space bar when I want to talk just doesn't seem like radio. I
live in a very restricted antenna neighbourhood but I will not let
echolink
take the place of my ham radio enjoyment. For those who have no choice,
it
may be the only way for them to enjoy the hobby. If more hams jump on the
Echolink bandwagon and use the internet to communicate than the airwaves,
my
feeling is it will only spell disaster for the ham fraternity.

Now if Kenwood could cleverly disquise a computer as a small tabletop
radio,
and Heil made a headset to match, heck I might even be fooled into
thinking
it was radio.

73, de VE3TMT