In various topics on repeaters, IRLP, D-Star and EchoLink, I see people refer to these 'nodes' (for lack of a better word) as reflectors. A quick Internet search for these terms comes up with all sorts of ambiguities.
I've always called my local 2m FM voice repeater a repeater, not a reflector.
Are these terms simply interchangeable, or is there a functional difference between a repeater and a reflector?
According to Wikipedia for IRLP:
IRLP connections are of two types: node to node, and node to reflector. Stations wishing to communicate with 3 or more nodes at the same time may accomplish this by connecting to what is called an IRLP Reflector. Reflectors are a type of conferencing system. Most reflectors on the network have 10 channels (0-9) with channel 0 being the main channel. Each reflector has a unique 4 digit node number in the range of 9000-9999. The first 3 digits consist of the reflector number, while the fourth digit represents the channel number. As of April 2007, there are 20 operational reflectors (including Echo Reflector 9990, which digitally records and plays back transmissions for testing purposes). Since most reflectors have 10 channels, there are approximately 200 unique reflector channels available for use.
Wikipedia: Internet Radio Linking Project
In IRLP a reflector is a computer based server which connects 2 or more "nodes" (A node is a Repeater connected to a computer or a IRLP computer connected to a radio operating simplex.) together via server to create kind of "conference room".
The reflector term cannot be applied to a repeater as we refer to them. It is a digital conference room that links many repeaters together. The repeaters are independent "boxes" digitally connected to these conference room "relfectors."
