IRLP

The Simple Way to have good comms with GB3OA

Leave a Comment / EchoLink, GB3OA, Internet Linking, IRLP / By

It’s been noticed in the logs and heard on air that users have been having problems with DTMF tones and OA recognising them.

Most repeaters in the UK are now narrow FM using 12.5kHz filters in the receiver and OA is no exception. So, if your rig is set to wide FM your DTMF tones will be clipped and distorted by the OA receiver. Some may get through and be recognised but others won’t, and you’ll be left wondering why OA is not responding.

All recent rigs have a menu option for wide or narrow FM and obviously for good comms this should be set to narrow.

The same goes for voice communication. Your audio could well be badly clipped and at the distant end of the IRLP contact the op may have problems. This usually shows up when the op keeps wanting you to repeat your callsign. Shouting down the mic only makes the situation worse. Either backing off from the mic or making sure your rig is set to narrow FM is the answer.

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Spectacular IRLP QSO!

Leave a Comment / GB3OA, Internet Linking, IRLP, RAYNET, Southport / By

As you know, GB3OA through IRLP and Echolink and DTMF tones can communicate with other repeaters throughout the world. There are some truly interesting locales, like Wagga Wagga (6260) in Australia, or Palmer Station (8838) in the Antarctic, but it seems that Steve M0SPI (Mawdesley) has at least equalled this by contacting new repeater 9N1SP (5511) in Kathmandu, Nepal at the foot of Everest!

The repeater is on 2m and only a month old, mounted on a building of the Pulchowk Engineering Campus at Tribhuvan University. It’s been set up in answer to the recent earthquake disaster there to help with comms in any further disasters, just the same as GB3OA is mounted on a protected and secured building and available to Southport & District RAYNET during emergencies.

Steve’s first contact was with Bejay 9N1KB, one of the students at the University, and added to by Ajay 9N1AJ, also a student. Then, Steve paused for any callers on OA and David G4TUP joined the net. The audio quality and signal strengths of their rigs came through perfectly and over the 50 minutes a number of topics were covered – birthday celebrations, web sites, Southport itself and of course the weather.

Users of 9N1SP are now looking for contacts and welcome a continued connection with GB3OA. So feel free to dial in 5511, remembering the time difference – they’re 5 hours ahead.

Further details can be found at:

http://www.qsl.net/9n1sp/

And further details of the use of GB3OA by Southport & District RAYNET Group here:

https://gb3oa.org.uk/raynet-connections/

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GB3OA New Year on-air Party

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Hi Guys. Throughout New Years Eve / New Years Day, please be aware that GB3OA may get connected to various conferences / reflectors as the New Year is seen in across the globe. Feel free to join in the conversations, but it’s essential you keep your overs short since many hundreds of nodes could possibly be connected simultaneously.  Short overs means less than 60 seconds, Remember, be brief! If you wish to have a local QSO then GB3OA must be disconnected from the reflector using DTMF 73 no matter how short the local QSO is. 

The first place that has an IRLP node to celebrate the coming of 2016, at UTC + 13, is New Zealand, so that will be 11.00 hours in the UK (Chatham Island at UTC + 13.45 is the first to celebrate but has no IRLP node).

Happy New Year to all users of GB3OA!

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Confirmation of various timeouts on GB3OA

Leave a Comment / EchoLink, GB3OA, Internet Linking, IRLP, Shoutcast stream feed / By

To avoid confusion, the relevant web pages (Repeater Details and Internet Linking) have been changed to specify the various timeouts on OA.

They are:

  • RF to RF – five minutes (the errant PTT has to be opened to reset the timer)
  • IRLP and Echolink – four minutes, and disconnection of the distant end

Echolink will also specify an error code if the txm is more than four minutes – a link to all OA error codes can be found on the Internet Linking page.

THE STREAM: this is now fully up to spec again and running normally. It can easily be listened to throughout the world by going to http://shoutcast.com and searching for GB3OA.

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