Internet Radio Linking Project: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Internet Radio Linking Project is a project within general amateur radio. The project links radio repeaters around the the world through the internet by using Voice over IP. To accomplish this, each repeater is hooked into a custom built computer running a specialized flavour of Red Hat Linux, which is in turn connected to the internet. This computer and repeater combined form a "node" in the IRLP network, and are assigned a unique ID number. Radio users can control the computer by sending DTMF tones to it, thereby instructing it to connect to other nodes on the IRLP network. This system enables HAM radio operators to talk to each other around the world, 24 hours a day and for no charge. There are currently over 1300 nodes on all 7 continents.

The project was originally started in 1997 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada by Dave Cameron, an active HAM with the UBC Amateur Radio Society.