Hams Over IP
| Hams Over IP | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private internet telephone (VoIP) network for licensed amateurs |
| Run by | Hams Over IP Inc., a volunteer nonprofit |
| Cost | Free |
| Eligibility | Licensed amateurs; call sign checked on application |
| Technical | |
| Built on | Asterisk, an open-source telephone exchange (PBX) program |
| Protocol | SIP, the standard internet telephone protocol |
| Equipment | SIP desk phones, softphone apps, analog phones through an adapter |
| Servers | Cloud servers in several countries |
| Links | |
| Trunks to | AmateurWire, AREDN mesh phone systems and other ham VoIP networks |
| Abbreviation | HoIP |
Hams Over IP (HoIP) is a free telephone network open only to licensed radio amateurs. Members get an extension number and plug in an ordinary internet desk phone, or install a phone app, and can then ring other hams around the world directly, extension to extension, without using the public telephone system. The service is run by Hams Over IP Inc., a nonprofit staffed by volunteers. It drew wider attention in 2025, when the older and similar Hamshack Hotline network closed and HoIP invited that network's users to apply.
How it works
HoIP is built on Asterisk, open-source software that acts as a PBX (private branch exchange), the kind of switchboard that routes calls between the desk phones in an office. The same software underlies AllStarLink. Phones connect to HoIP's servers using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), the standard way internet phones set up calls, and the servers run in data centers in several countries so that calls have little delay.
To join, an applicant fills in a form on the HoIP website. The volunteers check the call sign against licensing records and then issue a SIP extension number with the account details needed to set up a phone. Members supply their own equipment:
- Desk phones. Many SIP phones sold for business use work, including models from Cisco, Grandstream and Yealink.
- Softphones. Free apps such as Linphone and Zoiper turn a computer or smartphone into a SIP phone.
- Analog phones. An ATA (analog telephone adapter) connects an ordinary home telephone to the network.
HoIP calls travel only over the internet, so they are not radio transmissions, and the network can be used for any friendly conversation between members. Many hams keep a desk phone in the shack simply for chatting with friends and for coordinating with other stations before a contact or a net.
Radio links and trunks
Some extensions don't ring a phone at all. Clubs connect extensions to their repeaters and linking nodes, so that a member can dial the extension, hear the repeater, and talk on it by pressing a key on the phone's keypad to transmit. Once audio reaches a transmitter it becomes an amateur radio transmission, so the usual Part 97 rules, such as station identification, apply to it. Some extensions are conference bridges where several members can talk at once.
HoIP also has trunks, connections between its exchange and other telephone systems run by hams. A member dials a short prefix followed by an extension number on the other network. Trunks reach AmateurWire, another amateur VoIP network, and several regional and national systems, as well as the telephone systems run on AREDN mesh networks. That last link matters for emergency communications: a mesh network has its own PBX and keeps carrying calls among served agencies when the internet or cellular service fails, while HoIP connects those same phones to the wider ham world when the internet is up.
Hamshack Hotline
Hamshack Hotline was a free VoIP phone network for amateurs that began in 2018 and worked in much the same way, with free extensions, SIP phones and links to repeaters. It grew into a large worldwide network, reporting more than 7,000 connections at its peak, and some clubs and ARES groups used it as a handy line between operators.
In July 2025 its small volunteer team announced that the service would end on 29 August 2025, citing a workload that had grown beyond what they could sustain. The team said any cash left after final expenses would go to a veterans' charity. In August 2025 HoIP publicly invited Hamshack Hotline users to apply. Some groups chose it as their replacement; South Carolina ARES, for example, named HoIP its preferred successor to Hamshack Hotline.
Comparison with radio linking networks
HoIP is sometimes mentioned alongside EchoLink, IRLP and AllStarLink, but its purpose is different. Those systems link radios so that a station on one repeater can talk through another; their users are normally on the air. HoIP is primarily a telephone system: most calls are private two-way conversations between phones, with radio links offered as an extra. Many hams use both, for example dialing a club's HoIP extension to reach a linked repeater while away from home.