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I am so new to ham radio that I don't even have a transceiver or a certification study unit yet. Just learning all I can right now. So, I'm looking at a repeater that I might be able to reach with a 5-watt Yaesu or something. On one frequency, the repeater offers autopatch, e-power, and link. I'm pretty sure I know that autopatch is a way for a ham radio to talk to a phone. I'm impressed since I didn't know that was possible.

My question is, what is e-power and what is link?

Thank you to all. Hope to get my license and join what seems to be an awesome community.

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  • $\begingroup$ You are correct that autopatch is a way for a ham radio to talk to a phone. This capability was pretty common in the 80s and 90s before cell phones became ubiquitous. $\endgroup$
    – MoTLD
    Commented Apr 19, 2020 at 22:51
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to ham.stackexchange.com! $\endgroup$
    – rclocher3
    Commented Apr 20, 2020 at 2:46

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"E-power" is probably an abbreviation for "emergency power", meaning that the repeater is able to function (for some amount of time) even if grid power to the repeater site fails.

A "link" is when two repeaters are connected (over radio, internet, or phone) so that they repeat transmissions heard by either repeater, thus having a larger coverage area or even connecting repeaters in widely separated areas. Some repeaters are permanently linked, but others have a link mode that can be turned on or off. With some Internet linking services like EchoLink, individual users can join the "conference call" without even using a radio — sort of a hybrid of a simple repeater link and a phone patch.

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  • $\begingroup$ Common forms of emergency power are battery (great as long as the power comes back before the battery runs out), battery+solar (indefinite operation without grid power, if you're lucky), and sometimes generator (can last longer than battery, depending on what you're sharing with, but eventually the fuel needs refilling, and it also requires a decent amount of maintenance). $\endgroup$
    – hobbs - KC2G
    Commented May 6, 2020 at 3:38

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