Wide-coverage Internet Repeater Enhancement System (WIRES) is a standard created by Yaesu

Yaesu (brand)

Yaesu is an international brand of commercial and amateur radio equipment.It was founded as in 1959 by a Japanese radio amateur Sako Hasegawa with callsign JA1MP in the Tokyo neighborhood of Yaesu...

 designed to link compatible amateur radio

Amateur radio

Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

 repeater

Repeater

A repeater is an electronic device that receives asignal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances.-Description:...

s over Voice over IP

Voice over IP

Voice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...

, allowing any home stations using those repeaters to communicate with each other over VoIP.

WIRES uses DTMF signaling to make a connection over the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

from a repeater or home station to another WIRES-equipped station that is accessible over the Internet. No proprietary tones or connection formats are used, so any manufacturer's radio (equipped with a DTMF encoding keypad) may be used to bring up the Internet link.