OVERVIEW

      The New England Gateway 9123 is an integrated gateway that digitally bridges together IRLP and EchoLink.  Users connecting to the gateway from either VoIP network are allowed to interconnect with each other.  Like the other channels of the New England Reflector, the gateway is a free resource available for all amateur operators in New England.  It is home to the region's ARES and SKYWARN operations, and the weekly TIPS and Yale University nets.  When these nets are inactive, the gateway is a popular destination for general QSOs in New England.

ARES & SKYWARN

     The gateway provides a vital link for the region's ARES and SKYWARN programs.  Thanks to the gracious efforts of Rob Macedo (KD1CY), the New England Gateway has become one of the most successful VoIP networks in the USA for the purpose of regional emergency communications.  It is often viewed as a national role model for other region's ARES and SKYWARN programs.

     At times of severe weather, the New England VoIP SKYWARN Net activates.  National Weather Service (NWS) offices that regularly utilize the gateway include Taunton, Massachusetts (WX1BOX) and Gray, Maine (WX1GYX). The gateway provides a single point of contact for people in the field to submit reports by either IRLP or EchoLink, while interfacing directly with other SKYWARN sections such as Western Massachusetts, Connecticut and Long Island, New York.

     In the past, the gateway has also been a central linking point for several other ARES and SKYWARN events within the region.  A few examples include the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, and welfare communications during the Blizzard of '05 and Floods of '06.  The gateway has consistently made ARRL news for playing key roles in these types of communications.

     Eastern Massachusetts ARES also utilizes the reflector's gateway for it's monthly ARES net.  This net is held on the first Monday of each month at 8:30pm on the MMRA repeater network out of the metro Boston area.  MMRA links to channel 3 to allow check-ins from either IRLP or EchoLink.

HISTORY

     The New England Gateway started in late 2003 as the "New England Network".  It was a collaborative effort between Brian Freeman (K1SOX), Jed Barton (N1JBC) and Rick Cabral (W1RJC).  Its name was as a memorial to a defunct 220/440MHz network of the same name from the '80s.  Originally, the goal was to permanently have repeaters across New England linked together full-time using VoIP.

     The original goal was to create a bridge between IRLP and EchoLink so that repeater owners in New England could link together, regardless of which network they were using.  On October 24, 2003 the EchoLink New England Conference (*NEW-ENG*), Node 9123 was installed.   Shortly after on December 3, 2003, an analog IRLP/EchoLink gateway on the Raleigh Reflector 921 was established (later moved to the Denver Reflector 987).  This for the first time allowed repeater owners in New England with either IRLP or EchoLink to communicate together.

     In June 2005, a decision was made to convert the IRLP/EchoLink gateway from analog to digital.  A digital gateway is more efficient; there is less hardware involved, no codec conversions, no audio quality loss and a lot less latency (audio delay).  This type of gateway has become a reality with the expertise of EchoIRLP author Tony Langdon (VK3JED) and is known as the integrated gateway.

     On July 16, 2005, the analog gateway was retired and the new integrated gateway was installed on the NorthEast Reflector 905.  Use of this reflector worked out great for a few months, until severe weather events occurred.  When several stations connected to the network, it was using up too much bandwidth on the reflector's server causing severe packet loss.

     Seeing the growing need for a dedicated reflector in New England, Dave Cameron (VE7LTD) installed the New England Reflector 912 on March 3, 2006.  This allowed the gateway to be one of ten possible channels dedicated to the needs of the region.  The EchoLink gateway was reinstalled on channel 3 of the new reflector, effectively making the gateway node number "9123" from either IRLP or EchoLink.  At this time, the New England Network name was retired.  For simplicity, it was given the name "New England Gateway".