Subject: [Ieprep] National Association for Ham Radio Operators--Internet Use

From: "King, Kimberly S." <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 10:23:02 -0500

People in my organization (ARRL Hq, the national association for ham radio
operators) have spoken over a year ago with people in your organization, but
I wanted to respond to your e-mail.  

On a daily basis, ham radio operators use our equipment for emergency
communications.  But we also use the Internet to communicate -- for
instance, it is one of several methods our local volunteers use to call out
more volunteers, and that we here at Hq use to spread the word when the FCC
declares emergency frequencies to be used in a widespread disaster.  We also
sometimes tie our equipment in with the Internet, but not so much for
emergencies.  We use the Internet to tell the world about hams' emergency
response during (and after) disasters. 

We know there is always the chance that the Internet will fail or the power
will be off, however.  So we don't rely on it.  Hams don't have an
infrastructure to accomodate our communications, so we aren't held back if
the Internet fails.

Hams are experimenting with a lot of new things involving the Internet,
including a recent test with the National Weather Service using something
called Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP).  IRLP is when Amateur Radio
repeaters (receivers and transmitters that extend the distance that hams can
operate on the VHF and UHF frequencies) are linked via the Internet instead
of via radio. A little about some of the other Internet radio experiments is
below, and comes from a recent story on our Web site at
http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2002/04/06/1/: 

Best regards, 
        Rosalie White, K1STO 

"By way of the Internet, you can make Amateur Radio contacts. If your
computer is equipped with a microphone and a soundcard, all you need is the
right software and you can talk to hams on the other side of the planet via
their local repeater or simplex channel. Gateways provide the link between
the Internet and radio worlds and the gateways are two-way streets.  That
means that if you are within radio-shot of a gateway, you can use your
transceiver to communicate through that local gateway to talk with the hams
that are connected to the gateway via the Internet. If your radio has DTMF
capabilities, you can use its tones to command the gateway to connect with
other gateways located throughout the world. Thus, you can contact another
ham who is on the air within radio-shot of the remote gateway via this
RF-to-gateway-to-Internet-to-gateway-to-RF link. You can learn all about the
Internet-ham radio connection at the 'Amateur Radio Voice-Links via the
Internet' Web page built by Andy, GJ7JHF. He also addresses the question, Is
it really ham radio? According to GJ7JHF, if RF is involved (and it is),
then it really is ham radio!" 
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