Submitted by Terry - VE7UP February 14th, 2001 Greetings from Vanderhoof, B.C. Hi, my name is Terry Paton VE7UP and I look after the Vanderhoof node VA7RDX of the IRLP system. Our node has been online for about 1 year now (Feb 2001). I first heard of the project from friends in Prince George who had installed their own node. After talking with Dave VE7LTD I decided that this was a project I wanted to take on. Working as a computer tech by day it was not long before I had a Linux box ready to go. With the help from Don Fraser VE7PGR in Prince George who helped with supplying an antenna and radio we were up an running in no time. Aside from a sound card dying the system has run flawlessly. One of the most interesting aspects of the system is it got me thinking about other applications and after talking with Dave we agreed to hire him to work with me in building a voice paging (2 tone Sequential) over IP system. It took us about 4 months but we now have a reliable paging network that covers over 40,000 sq. km. Several professional people have been in the area and have commented on the quality of the system. Needless to say, having the ability to enter 4 tones on my handheld to speak to other amateurs throughout the world has helped re-ignite the flame of interest in the hobby. I encourage all to get involved with this and other projects to promote amateur radio. 73 Terry Paton - VE7UP President - Nechako Radio Club http://www.vanderhoof.net/nrc va7rdx.sd91.bc.ca

Submitted by Ralph - N4NEQ February 9th, 2001 We joined IRLP and haven't looked back. We routinely are connected to other repeaters in the USA and the World. I am in Seattle and Vancouver right now and have used it many times daily to keep in touch with the folks back home in Georgia. Many of our users use it to keep up with transplanted users in other areas, and the nets we have are unbelievable. Much clearer and more responsive than the so called "linked repeater nets" using numerous remote bases, no IDers and hang timers constantly squawking from other repeaters, Just plain QSOs. This past Sunday and Saturday, in honor of several folks being out of their respective normal locations we had an ad-hoc "reflector party". The system was set up in a conference mode and over 7 machines in 3 Countries were tied together all weekend. Many new users were introduced to the system. There is a net every other Sunday night that has 15-25 systems up most times The system is so powerful, allowing simple DTMF controlled access to so many systems (50 nodes now- over 75 repeaters) that it is sometimes hard to figure out what time zone the other users are in or that they are even not local. This causes some interesting QSOs- like GA talking at supper time to users driving to breakfast in Hawaii. I can't count the number of local users who have been surprised to hear all the activity and joined in- to find that the person they are talking to is in Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, California, Washington DC or even in Europe. For me, it has brought the fun back to Ham Radio!!! I am always happy to discuss the IRLP or our system with anyone. The URL below will tell you more about our projects. Ralph Fowler N4NEQ IRLP Atlanta Node Owner Big Shanty Repeater Group http://www.bsrg.org

Submitted by Paul - V01HC February 9th, 2001 My most memorable IRLP contact was during January 2001 when I was doing the dad's taxi thing. It was around 5:00 PM local time and I had earlier set my radio to listen to the local IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project) node. It wasn't long before I heard a station identify on the system, but I didn't quite catch the callsign. Being curious, I put out my call and got a response from a mobile unit in VE7 land and learned that my fellow Amateur was not too far from the coast of British Columbia. It was supper time in Newfoundland and lunch time on the West Coast. Here we were, mobile to mobile, talking from probably the most extreme distance that two Amateurs could talk across Canada, and on VHF at that (of course with more than a little help from the IRLP system). I have talked further distances on HF but with a LOT more in the way of expensive equipment, large antenna systems, and less than ideal audio many times. The IRLP contact mobile to mobile from coast to coast across Canada via VHF beat this hands down (don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing HF and I would be the last one to say that HF should be done away with in favour of the IRLP system). As one of the Central Net Controllers on the IRLP system wide net that takes place every other Sunday night, I have talked further distances on the IRLP system, with, I think, Maui being the furthest contact that I have made. I missed the German connection over the Christmas season, but, hey you can't be on all the time. It's projects like the IRLP that make Amateur Radio what it is, a great hobby. I'm not sure just how many people are involved with our node here, but I know of at least three fellow hams (besides myself) who are directly involved in the operation of the node. My contribution is donating my time every other Sunday night to be Regional Net Controller for our node and once every couple of months being the Central Net Controller. To Dave Cameron and ALL of his team that have made IRLP a reality, a great big THANKS! 73 de Paul VO1HC

Submitted by Tom - VE7TAJ February 8th, 2001 Aloha! Now that is a word that I have used a lot in the last two weeks. I planned a trip to Hawaii last fall and on January 22, 2001, it became a reality when I landed there for the first time in my life. There were many things I wished to see and do and I got around to accomplishing many of those goals. One of my main reasons for choosing Hawaii as a winter getaway was because there are four IRLP nodes located in the state. I had been actively involved with the Okanagan Radio Emergency Organization (OREO) in helping to make the VE7REE node in Penticton a reality but I really hadn't given the system a really good test up until now. This was my chance as I would be able to use IRLP to contact my friends back home from "overseas". I talked to about 15 Hams back at home in the Okanagan area. We had some very good conversations as I learned about the wintery weather conditions back home as I sunned myself in the 80 degree Fahrenheit climate of Honolulu and the island of Maui. People might wonder why in the world I would go on vacation to sit and talk an the radio when I could have fun doing other things. I felt that half the fun of the trip was being able to contact my friends while away! To think that I could pick up a handheld radio, putting out 1/2 watt, into a "rubber-duckie" antenna and, with the press of four numbers on the keypad, I could talk to folks thousands of miles away, with the audio sounding as if we were only a short distance apart! Yes, it is certainly possible to do this via HF but it would require more expensive gear, not to mention that it would be harder to pack in a suitcase! I did have some troubles getting into the Honolulu node in that I could not bring up the system from that end. However, the guys in Penticton and area could connect up to talk to me. The Hams in Maui were very nice to me and encouraged me to use their system. I had some great contacts via IRLP as well as in person with the local Maui Hams. So there are my views on IRLP. I was very impressed with the system and how it worked for me. Once you see this system used like this, you begin to realize it's potential. It will be very interesting to see it grow as time goes on. Tom Jacques

Aren't these great stories? Let's get busy and get repeater.org and our local repeaters going in this direction! Thanks to Donn for getting this going by emailing the Internet Repeater url.