Hi Ron.

I have EchoLink set up for a club's repeater over a radio.  It works well.
In my case I have a Kenwood TM-V71A that's tuned to the repeater, and I have
PL turned on.  For my setup I have a serial cable going from the Kenwood to
the PC running EchoLink, and audio in and out to the computer's sound card.
I also have an internet connection going to my broadband internet.  If I
remember, each connection to EchoLink uses about 17 kb of bandwidth, so a
modem wouldn't do too well.

That's how I do it with a radio over the air link to an off-sight repeater.
I don't know how to hook a computer directly to a repeater, but I'm sure it
can be done.  What I know is you'll need a way to feed audio to your
repeater and the other way for EchoLink to hear.  You'll also need a way to
control the repeater, some sort of relaying system that the PC can activate
and deactivate.  EchoLink does have a vox feature, but I don't recommend
this for repeater use, although EchoLink does mention it being used on
repeaters.  Also, as mentioned above, I recommend a broadband internet
connection to handle multiple connections.

EchoLink is nice to have on repeaters.  I have mine there for anybody to
connect to, as well as for weather situations.  It works well for these.
The only thing I'd like to change is the power backup.  I'm using a desktop
PC that's 12 years old.  I have the Kenwood on an UPS, and the PC and
internet on a second UPS.  This works as long as power doesn't go out for
more than about ten minutes.  I'd like to switch the PC to a laptop, and put
a marine battery that's deep cycle for the Kenwood.  I don't know how I'd
power the router, guess from the marine battery as well.  Today's laptops
don't have serial ports on them, so whenever I go that route I'll need to
buy a USB to serial converter and hope it works.

That's all I can think of.  If you have any other questions let me know.  As
I said, I don't know much about directly interfacing EchoLink to a repeater,
but if you go the radio link method like I have I can help with the radio
port.  The Kenwood TM-V71A has the ability to have a speech chip in it, and
all functions speak, including the PL settings.

Have a good day, and don't work too hard.

Kevin Minor, Lexington, KY
[log in to unmask]