Peekskill/Cortlandt Amateur Radio Association sponsors IRLP node
number 4214.
What is IRLP?
IRLP -- the Internet Radio Linking Project -- is a system of amateur radio repeaters
and simplex nodes that can be linked to each other via the Internet. This makes it
possible for a VHF or UHF station with limited local coverage to be linked to a similar
station on the other side of the county, or the other side of the continent, or the other
side of the world. For more information see the IRLP web site: http://www.irlp.net.
Node 4214
Node 4214 came on the air on September 6 2003. There are three people to thank
for the idea! During the summer of 2002, Harold G3LWK and Mark G4EID of Southport in north
west England demonstrated IRLP to me and suggested that my local club in New York should
have an IRLP node. Later PCARA repeater trustee Bob, N2CBH raised the topic of Internet
linking to increase the usefulness of the club's three repeaters. For more information on
Peekskill/Cortlandt Amateur Radio Association see http://www.pcara.org.
For more on G4EID's many nodes see: http://irlp.g4eid.co.uk
The PCARA node came on air on Sept 6 2003, originally using the simplex frequency of
445.000 MHz. Following tests with repeater trustee Greg, KB2CQE, the node was transferred
on Sept 24 2003 to the KB2CQE UHF repeater on 449.925 MHz. Here are the technical details:
(Apart from the base frequency and offset, these are as originally published on the IRLP
status page, http://status.irlp.net:)
Node Number: 4214
Node Callsign: NM9J
Node City: Cortlandt Manor
Node Province/State: NY
Node Country USA
Node Owner/Sponsor: Malcolm Pritchard
Node Latitude: 41.292 North
Node Longitude: 73.883 West
Node Base Frequency (MHz): 449.925 MHz
Node Offset Frequency (MHz): -5.0000
Node PL (Hz): 179.9
Node Website URL: http://www.pcara.org
The node is transmitting with 5 watts output into a link antenna. The KB2CQE UHF
repeater transmits from a hilltop site 3 miles north and provides coverage of Peekskill,
Cortlandt and the surrounding areas on both sides of the River Hudson. Details of the
original setup were provided to members in the September issue of the PCARA Update newsletter.
PCARA members are currently testing the capabilities of the node. Watch this space for
further developments.
Node pictures
The Yaesu FT-7100 was subsequently changed to an FT-8000R because of reliability
problems. If you would like to see details of how both these transceivers were connected
to the IRLP node PC, follow the "IRLP Cables" link in
the left border.
- 73 de Malcolm, NM9J, Sept 7 2003, updated Sept 24, 2003, Sept 6 2004.
