Anyone using an iPad for 'Echolink' (?)

[Mikeo512]

As a licensed radio amateur no longer able to erect external antennas, I've been using 'Echolink' via my i-Pad (iOS 16.3) to talk to the world ... can't help feeling this is cheating ... but anyway.

I gather that 'Echolink' was designed for Windows. Although it does work via my iPad, there are snags. The main one being that when I tap to transmit, a huge black window with a microphone in the middle come up and obscures the two 'Echolink' windows. This is a pity because I cannot see the callsigns and other details that are displayed. Is there any way of reducing the size of this window?

Is anyone else using an iPad for 'Echolink'? People keep telling me to resort to a cheap Windows computer or (perhaps?) an Android tablet. (Does the latter perform better with 'Echolink' than the iPad?) However, I'm reluctant to do do this and hope there are ways to remain Mac-based.

Any comments greatly appreciated --- M

 

[MacInWin]

I've never tried Echolink on an iPad. Works well on a Mac, with a bit of fiddling. I'll see if I can find the time to experiment with it on my iPad sometime soon, but in the meantime, have you searched the internet for any help?

73
W1HRE

 

[Mikeo512]

OK ... well interested to hear that you're using a Mac. I have an MPB with Ventura. So is it much of a fiddle to get the Mac to work on Echo link? But if you can try the iPad that would be VG. If only I could reduce the size of that black window, it would be OK ... thanks de Mike. (not yet searched for ideas.)

 

[MacInWin]

HI, Mike, I was thinking of Echoham, which works on the Mac. I do have Echolink app and gave it a try. Worked well, but I see the big mic image you mentioned. It did seem to be better in landscape mode than portrait, but I can't see how to make it smaller. The website says you can run the iOS app on a new Mx Mac, which I may try. But, again, I don't see how to make the mic smaller. The app seems designed for the iPhone, where you would not see the data very well when transmitting in any case.

 

[MacInWin]

OK ... well interested to hear that you're using a Mac. I have an MPB with Ventura. So is it much of a fiddle to get the Mac to work on Echo link? But if you can try the iPad that would be VG. If only I could reduce the size of that black window, it would be OK ... thanks de Mike. (not yet searched for ideas.)

I just downloaded it to my M1 MBP and it worked fine with ECHOTEST. Still has a big mic picture, but works!

 

[Mikeo512]

OK … great to have this help. Many tnx indeed. Been off the air for many a year but will always remember that night when I‘d soldered the last joint in an 807 PA and called CQ for the first time. This was on 5 November 1958 on 20m … about 1 in the morning. To my astonishment, straight back came W2HAQ in NYC. He QSL’d direct and I still have that card on the board by my desk. Magical moment!

73 de G3MHF.

PS: Since writing the above, I've done a Google search on Heinz Milark, W2HAQ, and found various articles about him. He contributed to DX magazines and, as I also later became, was a sea-going Radio Officer. But Heinz was in the US Mercantile Marine; whereas I was in the British Merchant Navy. His QSL card is original: a drawing of Heinz sitting on a sausage marked 57 ... as in Heinz 57 varieties. There's a Morse key at the front of the sausage and Heinz is tapping away while holding a microphone in his left hand. On the back of the card, which he kindly sent by air mail at my request, he wrote, "Welcome to Ham Society, Mike. Been at it 24 years and you are my G # 1001" (For those unfamiliar with ham radio parlance, this means he had 'worked' (communicated with) 1001 other G stations (British stations). Our contact was in Morse code, of course.

 

[Mikeo512]

HI, Mike, I was thinking of Echoham, which works on the Mac. I do have Echolink app and gave it a try. Worked well, but I see the big mic image you mentioned. It did seem to be better in landscape mode than portrait, but I can't see how to make it smaller. The website says you can run the iOS app on a new Mx Mac, which I may try. But, again, I don't see how to make the mic smaller. The app seems designed for the iPhone, where you would not see the data very well when transmitting in any case.

Thanks for the tip regarding 'Echoham' ... had not heard of that. In fact, I'd rather operate from the Mac than from an iPad. However, I'm cautious about having to do too much fiddling around with the Mac, which is my main device, just in case I mess up. It's different with apps on the iPad because they are more straightforward.

 

[MacInWin]

Well, the "fiddling" was, as I recall, opening some ports so that Echoham could connect. I don't recall them now, but I did find exactly what to do with a bit of internet searching. You might check it out to see what is needed. It wasn't terribly complex, just a bit of fiddling, as I said.

I was very pleased that the Echolink iOS app ran perfectly on my M1 Mac! Very easy to set up and get working. I tested at the ECHOTEST server, and it worked the first time. I don't have a rig now, no antennas up and was thinking I'd have to let the hobby go, but I may get back to it now that Echolink works. I used to do a lot of 2m and 440 work on the commute time, but I've been retired for a while now, so the rig in the car was idle and eventually uninstalled. Might need to reinstall!

 

[Alan_B]

I’m in a similar situation to Mike I can confirm that the iOS EchoLink app works fine on Silicon Macs. I’ve also run the Windows version on my Intel Mac via Crossover / WINE and also in a Windows virtual machine. More generally I often listen using WebSDR links on Safari: http://www.websdr.org

As I’m not QTHR I won’t divulge my G callsign here but if you wish I can send you a PM.