OCARC IRLP
How-To Instructions

What is IRLP? Internet Radio Linking Project

It permits you to talk on 2 meters to thousands of IRLP nodes around the world and the OCARC has one at 147.57 Mhz (simplex) with a tone of 100 hz.

To use it is simple.  Simply find the node number of the city you would like to call and enter the 4 digit code and start talking.

Where are these codes?  Go to http://irlp.net/ on the Internet and click the tab “NODE INFO” then select “ List of nodes and Frequencies” then chose the tab “All Nodes” and you will see a list of all the NODES.

Here you will see,

• Node ID, the node number
• Node Call, call sign of the node owner
• City, where the node is located
• Province, you will find the Province (or State) where the node is located
• Country, country where the node is located
• NodeFreq, the frequency on which node is transmitting
• LocalTime, the local time where the node is located
• Status, The node status, IDLE= ready for a connection, OFFLINE or DOWN= there is a problem, and Connected to XXXX= to whom that node is connected.
• Length, how long the node has been in the status mode

Then you use the radio as if you were using any repeater, with one important exception: you need to wait 2-3 seconds before pressing the PTT and wait another 2-3 seconds before talking.

When you are finished your QSO, simply press the number “7” and then the number “3” (=73 hamspeak for “goodbye”) and this will disconnect the link.

This is called NODE to NODE communication.                                                                        
Then, there is a NODE to REFLECTOR communication.

What are reflectors?  These are best described as chat rooms to which many nodes are connected.  Reflectors start with a 9 and are followed by three more numbers  i.e. 9250 .

Where are these codes?   Go to http://irlp.net/ on the Internet and click the tab “NODE INFO” and you will see a summary list of all the reflectors.

Reflector Summary

Here you will see,

• Reflector, this is the reflector ID number
• Reflector Name/Location, where the reflector is located
• Channels, how many nodes are connected to that channel number

i.e. reflector 9250+channel 0 (= 9250) has 13 nodes connected to it, reflector 9250+channel 3 (=9253) has only 1 node connected to it, and reflector 9250+ channel 8 (= 9258) has 5 nodes connected to it.

Now go and play!

Here are some places to start:

Starting at 7am every day on reflector 9611 there is a NET.

Starting at 6pm every Thursday on reflector 9016 there is a NET.

Using node 1375, you can reach VE7IS Roy in OK Falls, B.C. who loves to talk.

On node 1547, you can reach VA7MWR Ron in Clinton, B.C. who also loves to talk.

On node 8467, you can reach ZS6JEB Jane in South Africa who loves to talk, Please check their local time before calling.

Using reflector 9250 you have a good chance to make contacts with many hams as it’s a busy reflector.

Using nodes 5400 or 5450, you can reach people from England.  Please check their local time before calling.

On reflector 9258 or 9300 you have a good chance to make contacts with many hams as they are on Echo Link.

Node 8838 is the Palmer Station in Antarctica, which is a highly prized contact. Be patient as it may take multiple attempts, since the scientists who are working there only talk during their breaks.

The same code of ethics apply here as for normal amateur communications, do not interrupt an ongoing conversation.

Remember 73 disconnects the node. If you forget do not worry, as after a few minutes of no activity it will disconnect itself.

Please visit the http://irlp.net/ web site for even more details.

Enjoy,

Mike Morin
VE7MMG