James wrote:
Echolink is communication on the internet. Millions of people do that
daily, with no license needed.

You can do the same thing with a cellphone.


There is nothing wrong with Echolink, but it is silly and dishonest to call
it communicating by radio, which is what hams do.

When a person says he "worked" Germany on Echolink, he is either mistaken
or dishonest. What he has "worked" is his local telephone connection,
usually a distance of about five miles. It is hard for me to believe that
this person could really believe that he "worked" Germany. If I pick up
my cellphone and call Germany, can I get a QSL card for it, and get ARRL
credit ??? Huh ??

It utterly amazes me that a person would study for a ham exam, only to use
Echolink, when you can do the very same thing with any computer or
telephone. There is no ham license or ham equipment needed to talk on the
phone or on the computer. Ever heard of ICQ and other chat programs ?
Ever heard of Voice Over Internet ?

Lots of folks have fun on Echolink. For that reason, I truly think it is
Great !!! Just don't pretend that it is ham radio when the world knows
that it isn't.


Well, that's my two cents worth. See ya on the radio waves !!


73 de Jim K4PYT


Actually, you DO have to have a license to use Echolink. It won't
activate without a confirmed callsign. Because Echolink connects to
radio equipment that can transmit over amateur frequencies, you are
required to be a licensed amateur to use it. In that way, it differs
tremendously from standard Internet communication software.

As for whether or not it's "real radio," by using my 440 HT, I've called
one of our local repeaters that connects to Echolink. Via that link, I
spoke with someone in Australia who was using a mobile radio to
communicate with a local Echolink node in his area. Neither of us was
directly using a computer yet Echolink allowed two licensed hams to
communicate around the world.

To say that using Echolink like this isn't real radio is like saying
that using repeaters isn't real radio.

But this doesn't mean that Echolink will or should ever replace standard
ham radio. I also see the value of continuing to require code testing
in order to get greater privileges.

And those are my two cents.

Jim
KI4OCC/AG
(Yep, I passed my code test this weekend!)