Skip to content

qtel

EchoLink client — work repeaters and stations over the internet

What it does

Connects to the EchoLink network as a station: it lists the nodes, repeaters and conference servers currently online, connects to one, and passes audio both ways using the computer's own sound card and a push-to-talk button on screen.

Why you would want it

EchoLink is how a licensed operator reaches a repeater on the other side of the world with no radio at all, and how a repeater reaches operators who are out of range of it. Qtel is the Linux client, part of the SvxLink project, and it is the straightforward way onto that network from a desktop.

Before it will work

An EchoLink account, which requires proof of licence and is not instant -- the validation step takes days. A working sound card. EchoLink uses UDP ports 5198 and 5199, which a NAT router usually has to be told to forward.

How it installs

  • apt: qtel

Known problems

The port forwarding is the single most common reason a connection appears to succeed and carries no audio -- signalling arrives and voice does not. EchoLink requires a licensed callsign and validates it; connecting is not anonymous. A node you connect to may key a real transmitter somewhere, so the ordinary courtesies about identifying and pausing between transmissions apply exactly as they do on the air.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Where to get help with the software itself

Tobias Blomberg, SM0SVX. EchoLink itself is run separately from the software and account problems go to EchoLink rather than here.

Source: catalog/packages/qtel.yaml