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G4EBT > VOIP 05.03.07 05:29l 79 Lines 2590 Bytes #999 (0) @ GBR.EU
BID : 514767G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: SKYPE 'n Packet ponderings
Path: ON0AR<N9ZZK<CX2SA<N9PMO<GB7LDI<GB7VLS<GB7ESX<GB7MAX<GB7SYP<GB7FCR
Sent: 070304/2242Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:21338 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:514767G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : VOIP@GBR
Ian, G0TEZ wrote:-
> I too have been thinking like David about after packet, what next ?
Stick with packet - it will see us out!
> I did once try IRLP but that was when I had radio and it was cheap. My
> opinion was, 'not as good for discussions as packet but better than
> nothing.'
The only benefit is that you can talk to people in faraway places without
QRM or the vagaries of the sunspot cycle. However, it's mostly the same
people you'd hear on air. You lose the "DX-buzz" (assuming you get a buzz,
which I don't) and all you're left with is the same boring monosyllabic
people.
Life's too short.
I prefer packet because it's not real-time so you can pick up messages and
read them at a convenient time, and you can be selective, but it does lose
voice intonation and spontaneity. (How would people such as Nelson Mandela
or Martin Luther King Jr have inspired people had they just e-mailed their
speeches?).
I've got Echolink but I don't use it, albeit I sometimes check on
activity. Oddly enough, to use it, it's the only time I've had to prove
I'm a bona fide amateur. I had to scan and e-mail a copy of my licence.
> I made a trip around websites last week and
> downloaded some stuff for VOIP. Probably the
> wrong stuff and none of it truly freeware.
You can get Skype free from:
www.skype.com/downloads/
> I have a mic and, even a webcam if needed. I can type too. Can anyone
> send me some URLs where I can obtain IRLP or Echolink software
> (freeware) so that I can have a limited amount of contact with other
> hams when packet goes ?
News of packet's death is, I think, premature. Logically, it will end up
with a few users using the last remaining telnet BBS. (An internet forum
with hardly any users). Hopefully, years from now.
But since you ask, the Echolink site is here:
http://www.echolink.org/
EchoLink software allows licensed Amateur Radio stations to communicate
with one another over the Internet, using voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology.
The program allows worldwide connections to be made between stations,
or from computer to station. There are nearly 200,000 validated users
worldwide in 162 of the world's 193 nations, with about 3,400 online at
any given time.
Always good to read your contributions Ian.
The "teapot" must be due for another orbit:-)
Best wishes
David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
British Vintage Wireless Society Member
G-QRP Club Member, No: 1339
Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 20:10 on 2007-Mar-04
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