I intended to start my Ham journey back about 2015 when I moved to my isolated mountain but quickly learned that there was no repeater anywhere in my region. I am about at 2,800 feet in a winding valley hundreds of miles long with 8,000 to 10,000 foot mountains around me. I just learned that a repeater is now in my region and in talking to the owner of the repeater, he is confident that with my budget, i should be able to reach his repeated. I also recently expanded my cellar giving me a dry and heated space that will be at 52-54 degrees year round. I have a space about the size of a card table where I can place any ham equipment. If I decide to move forward with the plan, I will need to study and pass the appropriate exam.
Budget: $1,500. In order to get this done I need to stick to my budget. That said, if a system was scalable I could spend new money each year to add to my system, but I am not looking to build a monster system.
Question: What system to get? VoIP systems, IRLP, Allstar and Echolink, as I understand it, are the options. Some folks I’ve been chatting with who want to help me get set up are suggesting VoIP is the way to go given my budget. Although I am familiar with VoIP as a replacement for traditional phone systems, I really don’t know a whole lot. What are the differences between VoIP systems, IRLP, Allstar and Echolink that are relevant given my budget and situation?
What suggestions or feedback from our resident experts have for this ham newb? I also want to be smart enough to ask the right questions to the folks trying to help me out up here. Yes, and I am starting from scratch with no equipment. It should be a pretty easy run from the cellar up the side of the cabin where my 2nd floor has a cathedral roof. I am thinking I can run an antenna up about 20 feet higher than the high point of the roof without blowing OPSEC.
Thoughts?
Note: I did post this on another board, so if you happen to be on both boards, I would rather you respond here as I am moving more to this board for a lot of good reasons.
Budget: $1,500. In order to get this done I need to stick to my budget. That said, if a system was scalable I could spend new money each year to add to my system, but I am not looking to build a monster system.
Question: What system to get? VoIP systems, IRLP, Allstar and Echolink, as I understand it, are the options. Some folks I’ve been chatting with who want to help me get set up are suggesting VoIP is the way to go given my budget. Although I am familiar with VoIP as a replacement for traditional phone systems, I really don’t know a whole lot. What are the differences between VoIP systems, IRLP, Allstar and Echolink that are relevant given my budget and situation?
What suggestions or feedback from our resident experts have for this ham newb? I also want to be smart enough to ask the right questions to the folks trying to help me out up here. Yes, and I am starting from scratch with no equipment. It should be a pretty easy run from the cellar up the side of the cabin where my 2nd floor has a cathedral roof. I am thinking I can run an antenna up about 20 feet higher than the high point of the roof without blowing OPSEC.
Thoughts?
Note: I did post this on another board, so if you happen to be on both boards, I would rather you respond here as I am moving more to this board for a lot of good reasons.