Calling All HAMS . . . Coming soon . . .

[Charles L. Cotton]

Well, "soon" may be a bit too strong of a word, but it's coming sometime.

Seriously, I'm working with another Ham in setting up a new amateur radio club for youth. I won't get into the details, but we are emphasizing the community aspect of amateur radio over the technical side to get more kids to give it a try. I have a repeater pair now and we'll have a place for kids to talk and be kids. This would never fly on another club's repeater.

What does a youth amateur radio club have to do with the Forum? Nothing directly, but in researching linking technology options I learned a lot more about the Allstar Link System. Of the three link systems (Echolink, IRLP and Allstar), Allstar seems to be far more advanced. I've registered (free, but you must be a Ham) with Allstar and I'll have a node set up for the youth club in the coming weeks. Unlike IRLP, I can easily set up multiple nodes and even a hub (essentially a reflector), so I'm going to set up a node for the TexasCHLforum as well and perhaps one for our student ministry at church. (The church node will depend upon the level of interest.) When all nodes are up and running, I hope to have more kids getting interested in the student ministry, shooting/Forum, and ham radio.

For non-hams: The Allstar system combines amateur radio and the Internet to make it possible to talk literally anywhere in the world simply by entering a certain code. We hope to expand the youth club throughout the State with coordinated repeater pairs, but it's also possible to "legally" set up a "backyard repeater" as an Allstar node if you aren't within range of a repeater. Some folks set up a simplex node, but that has significant shortcomings. The bottom line is that TexasCHLforum Members will be able to talk to each other all over the State.

I have to admit that I'm not particularly fond of the fact that you don't even need a radio, if you don't want to buy one. You can access the system by computer, smart phone, or any SIP phone, but it is sometimes convenient.

That's a very short review of what's going on. When the system is up and running, we can set up a TexasCHLforum Net is there is enough interest.

Chas.

https://allstarlink.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jimlongley]

Sounds like a great idea, and a lot of work.

A bunch of years ago we had a weekly "kids' night" on the K2WN repeater, primarily to allow two (and the later, more) school clubs to chat on 2 Meters. It ended when one's team slaughtered the other in basketball, and one of the very young cheerleaders called the other team a "bunch of poopooheads" on the air. Of course it didn't help that the owner of the repeater passed away rather suddenly in that time frame and the repeater, which was on a 200 foot tower at his home, had to be taken down.

I wish you a great deal of luck in your endeavor.

[cheezit]

There is also wires linking and dont forget about aprs as well.
Should be fun