Last year, the Indiana University amateur radio club (K9IU) started a project to link other colleges and universities together on the air.  The idea is simple: create a linked repeater network across as many campuses as we can, to bring together students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the various clubs.  We chose IRLP to do the linking for its pervasiveness and because it is what we had on hand.  With the help of the IRLP coordinators we setup a dedicated reflector here (reflector 9449) and started spreading the word.

     If your club has a repeater and you would like to hear a little more traffic on the air, then consider making that repeater a part of the network.  There are no rules against local traffic going out across the network, so nobody has to feel like they are giving up their local repeater.  In addition, you can always disable the connection for the duration of any special events or local nets.

     We also welcome ad-hoc connections from nodes that can not be connected full time.  No need to coordinate your connection with us, just dial in as you wish.  If you have access to IRLP, dial reflector channel 9449 to connect to the repeater network.  If you have never used IRLP before, there are plenty of resources on the net to get you started.  It is easier than you think!

     In addition to the dedicated repeater network, in the spring of 09 we started a weekly university IRLP net, led by students from Texas A&M.  At its peak we saw close to 10 schools represented in one net.  This year's net schedule should resume soon and will be led by our friends at Rochester Institute of Technology.  The net is also held on reflector 9449.

     If your club would like to make a permanent connection to the linked repeater system, drop me an email.  If you do not have IRLP on your repeater we can help you with that as well.  The IRLP board cost is minimal, and the PC requirements are easily covered by old surplus hardware.  We even have an entire repeater system operating with an old PC running IRLP and custom repeater code written by KC9EVU, eliminating the need for a costly repeater controller.

Looking forward to hearing other universities on the air!

73,

-Corey  KB9JHU