Echolink Tutorial

Started by Gambrinus, January 21, 2013, 12:23:19 PM

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Gambrinus

Has anyone found a good Echolink tutorial? I?ve been looking on youtube but haven?t found one that explains the basics.  Maybe it?s so easy that I?m expecting more, maybe not.

Rob_ma

#1
It is pretty simple to set up. Most of the problems occur with the radio interface and audio level settings. Using the ECHOTEST conference you can hear your audio repeated back to you so you can make adjustments.

The Echolink tour gives a good overview:

http://www.echolink.org/tour.htm

Feel free to ask any specific questions you might have. I'll do what I can to help.

- Rob

cockpitbob

I had real problems with my Verizon router.  Things seemed to operate normally at first, at least I could hear other stations.  But in a QSO I got echos, dropouts or 'nothing heard'. 

I don't even remember what I did anymore, but it involved changing from Port Forwarding to Port Triggering (or something like that) and changing inbound and outbound ports (or something like that).  It was way over my head, but the Verizon router is so commonly used I found help on the web.  That was a long afternoon making that work.

Gambrinus

I downloaded the app for my android tablet and have done the test successfully.

The first question I have is connecting through a computer. I have the node number and call sign of the club repeater I want to connect to but when I look through the listings on the app, they don't list any node numbers, just call signs.  I don't see the call sign listed either.  I can see that my call sign is on the list.  Does the node number come in only when connecting via radio?

Rob_ma

Quote from: cockpitbob on January 22, 2013, 10:10:45 AM
I had real problems with my Verizon router.  Things seemed to operate normally at first, at least I could hear other stations.  But in a QSO I got echos, dropouts or 'nothing heard'. 

I don't even remember what I did anymore, but it involved changing from Port Forwarding to Port Triggering (or something like that) and changing inbound and outbound ports (or something like that).  It was way over my head, but the Verizon router is so commonly used I found help on the web.  That was a long afternoon making that work.

Port forwarding is when a computer outside of your home network requests a response from a computer inside your network on a specific port. By default all requests are blocked for security reasons.

The analogy to make it more understandable is to think of the port as a specific door that needs to be knocked on in order for it to be answered. Echolink uses ports 5198 and 5199 for inbound requests. Port forwarding tells the router which computer (identified by its IP address) on your network should respond to those "knocks".

- Rob

Rob_ma

Quote from: Gambrinus on January 22, 2013, 01:57:28 PM
I downloaded the app for my android tablet and have done the test successfully.

The first question I have is connecting through a computer. I have the node number and call sign of the club repeater I want to connect to but when I look through the listings on the app, they don't list any node numbers, just call signs.  I don't see the call sign listed either.  I can see that my call sign is on the list.  Does the node number come in only when connecting via radio?

After looking at my Droid app I don't immediately see how to connect by node number. You could cross reference the call sign to node number using these links:

Link Statuses:  http://www.echolink.org/links.jsp
Current Logons: http://www.echolink.org/logins.jsp


Then save them to your favorites so you can immediately recall them.

- Rob

cockpitbob

Quote from: Rob_ma on January 22, 2013, 03:43:04 PM
Quote from: cockpitbob on January 22, 2013, 10:10:45 AM
I had real problems with my Verizon router.  Things seemed to operate normally at first, at least I could hear other stations.  But in a QSO I got echos, dropouts or 'nothing heard'. 

I don't even remember what I did anymore, but it involved changing from Port Forwarding to Port Triggering (or something like that) and changing inbound and outbound ports (or something like that).  It was way over my head, but the Verizon router is so commonly used I found help on the web.  That was a long afternoon making that work.

Port forwarding is when a computer outside of your home network requests a response from a computer inside your network on a specific port. By default all requests are blocked for security reasons.

The analogy to make it more understandable is to think of the port as a specific door that needs to be knocked on in order for it to be answered. Echolink uses ports 5198 and 5199 for inbound requests. Port forwarding tells the router which computer (identified by its IP address) on your network should respond to those "knocks".

- Rob
Wow!  Someone write this guy's name on the wall.  He clearly knows about this stuff.

Rob_ma


QuoteWow!  Someone write this guy's name on the wall.  He clearly knows about this stuff.

Thanks! Been working in IT for almost 20 years so it kinda sticks to ya. ;)