HAM FPV Conference

There is an up-coming HAM FPV conference happening online this week at 8pm EST (5 PST) March 29th, a valid HAM who has access to Echolink may join in. This is the first one, plans are to continue on a monthly basis. Echolink is available for Android and Iphone, just installed the Android version and it seems to work well.

http://www.fpvconference.info

 

Mike - It's not that they are being unfriendly.  When you connect through echolink you are actually being connected to perhaps hundreds of repeaters (transmitters!)  around the world.  You are actually "on the air" so to speak.  You have to be licensed to do that!  So get to work on your ticked and jump in!

...Tiger

 

Well I just tried Echolink.  Absolutely amazing!  I talked to two guys in Glasgow Scotland for a half hour.  It's 3:30AM here and it was 11:30 in the morning there.  One guy was driving somewhere in his car and the other guy was talking through his own repeater at home.  I can't believe how well it worked and how easy the program is to use. 

Mike - You've gotta get your ticked and try this.  It's really cool. 

PP - Have you tried talking to anyone yet?  I see in the repeater list that there is an Echolink repeater in Medford.  I'm sure I can't hit that from here, but you might be able to from where you are.  Actually, doing this on the Android tablet is really slick, but I'd still like to do it once on VHF just for fun.

 

Cool, is this your first use of Echolink? I used to use it all the time, we had a radio setup on the linked system here in Southern Oregon. I carried a CD with EL on it when I was in SE Asia for a month in 2004. Whenever I visited someones house who had a computer I would explain it, install it and connect to the RF network here and talk to all my friends. And this was even on dial up back then.

Two nights ago I installed it on my Android phone and it works great both through WIFI at home and on the 3G anywhere. I connected to the THAILAND conference server where 20 - 25 other people were connected. I was speaking with a few guys at once, one was in his house in the South near Malaysia, another driving in his car way up North East near Laos and a few others inbetween near Bangkok. All sounded like they were in Grants Pass somewhere.

I have always wanted to have a Simplex node here at the house, I have most everything I need, should probably get on with it someday and do it.

 

Yes that was my first Echolink experience.  That's actually kinda embarrassing since I'm the designer of the most popular Echolink interface (see http://tigertronics.com/ ).  There are so many digital modes now that I just never got around to this one.  I did a lot of SSTV, RTTY, PSK-31, and others especially during development, but somehow never touched Echolink.  What a mistake!  It's REALLY cool.  I have it on a Galaxy Tab right now, but I think I'll put it on my phone to so I can play with it anywhere.  I think this is what I like about Ham Radio.  There are no boundaries on what you can do.  Sounds like you've done it all with Echolink!

When you say "simplex node" are you talking about a simplex repeater?  When I think "node", I think packet.  I've sure done a lot of that!  I had a simplex repeater up once to and I still have a 450 remote base linked to a 2 meter radio.  For a long time I also had it linked to an ICOM HF rig that did 160-10.  That was really fun.  I could talk all over the world on my handheld radio while I was out walking.  I eventually sold off the HF rig so now I'm just linking to 2M.  I've had so much fun with this stuff over the years. What a cool hobby! 

...Tiger

 

Oh, is that your company? I know of some of the products from when i was into aprs real heavy a few years back. A simplex echolink station is just a pc tower hooked into some full time internet with echolink software running on it 24-7. Then you add a echolink interface and hook it to a radio on a simplex channel. My house is actually not the best place. But a house in the center of town with an antenna on the roof would allow for access from a mobile radio just about anywhere locally while driving. About 20 watts on VHF would do it.

I won't even get started on Dstar, but that is one cool setup. Its like cell phone technology for your mobile radio.

 

So I participated in the FPV Conference on Echolink this afternoon.  Unfortunately, I was in town on my iPhone when it started and didn't get home to record it like I originally planned.  I did catch the very end of it, but by then there wasn't much going on.  I also had technical issues recording because I couldn't share the computers mic between Echolink and Microsoft LifeCam that I was recording with.  Next time I'll be a little better prepared.  Maybe I'll use a second computer to record or something.  The turnout for the conference wasn't very good.  There were only six people including me.  Still, I think this is going to be really nice once the word gets around and people learn how to make good use of it.  I couldn't post what little I did record here because of the file size so I SavedItHere:

www.SavedItHere.com/files/fpv_032912.wma

The guy that talked the most in this recording had a bad connection so don't judge the audio quality by him.  Most of the activity was at the start of the conference and it had excellent audio quality.  They cut the conference about ten minutes short because there were so few people.  There is at least a few minutes here to give you the flavor of what happened.

...Tiger

 

Thanks for this Tiger. I was actually there in the beginning, but was not at home and it was obvious within 1 minute I would not be able to participate or even listen due to everything going on around me. Next time I will try again.