James wrote:
Jim, you have simply used the internet to talk to Austrailia. Nothing
more, nothing less. And, you are WRONG about one thing........ you DON'T
have to have a license to do that. NO person using a cellphone or
internet chat who is talking to a person in Austrailia has a license to do
that. It simply isn't needed. No nation or government requires it.

Your 440 contact to your local repeater was the only radio communication
that you had. If you were five miles from your repeater, then you had a
five mile contact. The internet did the rest. That is fine, but you did
not work Austrailia, and would not be able to confirm it or get ARRL credit
for it. You can only get confirmation for two-way RADIO contacts. As
you know, you have to have a license for that.


73 de Jim K4PYT


Oh, I'm not saying that I'm going to ask for a QSL card or anything like
that and it's not what I would call a DX contact (like I hope to be
making on my HF rig). I won't call it "working" Australia. I don't
think that the ARRL should ever consider giving credit for it. But we
did use radio.

Using a cellphone? I agree... no license. But I've never used my
cellphone to talk with people randomly around the world to get an idea
of how people in different locations live. That's not what the
cellphone is for.

Using an internet chat program? Again, I agree... no license. But many
people in internet chat rooms or using chat programs tend to feel that
the anonymity of the internet gives them some kind of special
dispensation to behave like total idiots. Just look at some of the
conversations that occur in the newsgroups (someone I have in my
newsgroup filters comes to mind at this time). And, again, I don't
often just chat with someone randomly just to see how his/her day is
going, what the weather is like and so on.

Using Echolink? You need to be licensed to use it. In that way, it
differs from standard internet chat. And talking via Echolink still
requires you to follow the same regulations and restrictions as using
any other kind of repeater. You still need to identify using your
callsign and you have to keep the language clean. The callsign means
that there's no hiding behind the anonymity that typical internet chat
allows and the regulations regarding language make people behave
themselves better than typical internet chat. So, IMHO, that makes it
far superior to ICQ, YIM or all the other standard internet chat software.

I think the problem here is one of definitions and splitting hairs.
I'll be the first to admit that talking to Australia via Echolink isn't
the same as talking to someone in Ohio with my HF rig despite the
difference in distance. But the idea that I can sit in my truck with an
HT and chat with people around the world because this new bit of
technology is pretty cool and something I'll never be able to do working
directly radio to radio (unless some unforeseen and miraculous bit of
propagation occurs).

In that way, I think that Echolink has its place in amateur radio. It's
a means of bringing together people with a common hobby and interests in
a civilized manner. I think that's why most of us get into ham radio;
we like talking with other ordinary people from different locations for
no particular reason other than being interested in people in general.

So when it comes to DX bragging rights, I fully agree with you. But
when it comes to the place of Echolink in amateur radio, I think it's
got its place and I hope people can see it that way.

73!

Jim
KI4OCC/AG
(Does passing my code test give ME some bragging rights? grin)