Bill Vodall wrote:

You can't. If you were a licensed ham you'd know that.

Sure you can. (With a Tech or better Amateur License of course.) I
use Jabber, FreeAgent and POP for Email from a Windows 98 systerm,
through a Linux router to a Linux gateway. All are relatively low
traffic systems and work adequately even at a mere 1200 baud. A
couple other postings here had some good details on how to do it.

Bill,

He specifically asked about Internet Relay Chat, which afaik isn't
available.

Rob