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Perth city Echolink gateway

QTH: Kinnoull Hill, Perth, IO 86 HJ

Frequency: 145.3375 MHz FM (Planning to move to 70cm eventually as an rf feed to

GB3PU, 433.000/434.600)

CTCSS: 94.8 Hz

Node No. 320281

Power: 5W

Trx: Yaesu FT1802

Antenna: Moonraker SQBM105MKII

Hardware: Reconditioned PC, 773MHz Pentium III, 10GB hard drive, 128 MB memory
(Many thanks to Peter EI4JR)

Op system: Windows XP

Software: EchoProducer as up-dated.

Interface: G3VFP – EZE (UK) Echolink MKIII

Availability: 16:00 to 20:00 local and at other unscheduled times, attended operation

Beacon: Morse ident every 10 minutes (minimum), other voice announcements.

Sysop: Paul GM6MEN

Basic Operating Guidelines

Please listen on the frequency before transmitting; as this is a simplex gateway and not a repeater, you may not instantly know whether someone local is currently transmitting to it. If you listen long enough, and someone is already using it, you may well hear a k-tone (dah-di-dah), which shows that they have dropped carrier, and then in a few moments you may hear the other side of their QSO. Having listened, the next step is to see if the gateway is active – please look at the list of commands below. You will not be able to “blip it up” like a repeater, but if you press your PTT and send “08” in DTMF tones, you should hear whether the link is on and connected. You may also hear “GM6MEN-L” sent in Morse Code, as there is a beacon facility here (in fact it is a licence requirement), or some other identifying station announcement.

Once you are sure that the gateway is not being used, you can use it to connect to any conference, repeater, link, or individual currently on-line, by pressing your PTT and entering the node number with your DTMF keypad. You can find out who is currently on-line here www.echolink.org/el/logins.jsp . Let me explain a little about the terms “conference”, “repeater”, “link”, and “individual”.

CONFERENCE: a server-based facility in which two or more Echolink stations can “sit”. Usually these facilities are made for a specific purpose, e.g. to group together several repeaters and/or links, maybe for geographical or linguistic reasons. Transmissions made via one repeater or link in the conference will be heard over all of them. GM6MEN-L may well spend periods of times sitting in a conference (often it will be the IRELAND conference – see www.echoireland.com ); I will have decided when to do so, but the link’s presence there will be at the discretion of the sysop (system operator) of the conference. If he or she does not like the way people operate the link, it could well be muted or excluded. If there is no traffic currently on the conference, you may still set up a connection, using your DTMF tones, with another Echolink user, but I would suggest putting out a CQ call, to see if anyone is listening anywhere.

REPEATER: just like the ordinary repeater where you are located, but with an added Echolink facility. Local mobile traffic takes priority, and you may find it difficult to break in to an established QSO; but once you have been noticed and called in by one of the stations local to the repeater, they will make it clear when they are putting it over to you. Leave a few seconds’ gap when it is put over to you, to compensate for internet time lags and for the repeater logic to re-set itself (i.e. give its “k” to local operators – which you might not hear).

LINK: If you’re on GM6MEN-L you’re on a link! A link receives your signal on a simplex frequency and sends it via the internet to a remote station; then it transmits back to you, on the simplex frequency, what is coming down the internet connection from the remote station.

INDIVIDUAL: Individual stations are always computer based, and are not on the air. Try not to ignore calls from operators of such stations, and do not say to yourself “This isn’t real amateur radio”. I have known several amateurs for whom this is the only way they can contact fellow amateurs, and for them it is a life-line to their hobby – take, for example, an operator of my acquaintance in Tokyo, in a small apartment where he can’t erect an HF antenna, and where the VHF repeaters are constantly jammed. There are also a number of blind or disabled amateurs who use this facility. Individual stations, like anyone else on Echolink, have had their call signs verified by the people at www.echolink.org , so you can be fairly confident you are talking to a licensed amateur.

There is no guarantee of any activity at the remote end of the link! If you want to hear something, and receive a recording of your own signals, press your PTT, and send “9999” in DTMF tones. This will connect the link station to the ECHOTEST server. (NB This will not work if GM6MEN-L is already sitting in a conference; if you particularly need this facility and it happens not to be available, please get in touch with me.) Having said this, if the link is connected to the Ireland Conference, you may well hear the Handi-Hams net (US-based and aimed at white-stick operators), or callers from anywhere in the world, as the Ireland Conference is often cross-linked to other conferences.

When in contact with anyone, please use recognised radio etiquette and procedure. Rag-chews and light-hearted chat are perfectly ok, but remember that your signals may be heard simultaneously in several places in the world. PLEASE LEAVE GAPS OF ABOUT 4 SECONDS BETWEEN OVERS. When you have finished, you are sure that no one else wants to “tail-end” your QSO, and there appears to be no further activity, close the connection you have made (see the list of commands below). International users and local users of repeaters often give longer pauses in order to allow each other equal access, or to invite anyone else into a qso, and will announce when they do so (rather, this is what ought to happen!).

It is not usual to exchange QSL cards for Echolink contacts, and to be asked for one is rare. It’s up to you how you respond to a request, and how you choose to foster goodwill amongst amateurs.

I will monitor traffic on the link (my NoV states that the station must be attended) but might not be in a position to respond to calls. If you need to get in touch to ask questions or to report abuse, please use the email address below (I have done it as a graphic, to avoid spam).

Selected commands

Is GM6MEN-L on the air and free? Send * (or Listen!)

Is GM6MEN-L connected to anyone? Send 08

Connect to a specific user: Send the node number by DTMF

Disconnect: Send #

Re-establish the last connection: Send 09

Various station help files &c: Send *0* , *1* , *2* , *3*, *4*, *5*, *6*, *7* .