About 2 years ago W7DXX Keith Lamonica and W4MQ Stan Schretter developed and implemented a new concept called IRB. (Internet Remote Base). IRB operates on both on HF and VHF amateur radio frequencies.
The intent of IRB is to expand the utility and use of any ham radio station by making it available to all hams on a worldwide basis. On a typical day, licensed hams from all over the world access theses systems.
Operating IRB is similar to the remote front panel of a mobile radio. Think of the cabling and a mic cords as thousands of miles away. The remote head becomes the desktop on you computer and the keyboard becomes the knob and switch replacements.
Unkile Echolink and IRLP which only work with FM repeaters, IRB offers full control of the remote station. All IRB operated radio functions are made available to the licensed ham. Those functions include ssb,am,fm,cw,psk31 modes, amplifier setup and control as well as selecting and rotating antennas.
More technical details are available in the back issues of QST. 11/2001 and 11/2002. You can also find out much more about IRB at www.w4mq.com.
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