John, Your message below is easy to summarize succinctly, thanks.
At 09:48 PM 1/10/2008, you wrote: > >Chris , ZL1BOE > >you will be told by others that ALE is widely >used to set up QSOs and QSYs using the one >line message ability . You will also be told >that it is used widely for keyboard to keyboard >QSOs and that there are thousands of Hams using >ALE ( last figure I heard was 6000) . These are >folks who are using PCALE, who have aggressively >set aside frequencies for ALE use in all bands, >and are promoting ALE as the answer to emergency communications. FALSE > >Granted, PCALE, in its MARS form may be a great >piece of software to pass messages from overseas TRUE NOTE: MARS does not make use of ALE for OCONUS traffic relay. > but that ability is certainly not evident on the ham bands. FALSE > >The reality is that there are likely under 50 >hams active with PCALE worldwide, those using >PCALE spend most of the time sounding , with >little , if any message traffic passed, and no >QSOs. PCALE does not work very well into the >noise, and is certainly not user friendly when >setting up a rig and computer to run the >program. Beyond using the sounding function >there appears not to be much interest in running >nets, or exploring emergency communications aspect of PCALE. FALSE > >ALE400 (multiPSK) might be closer to your needs >since it is narrow band and works well into the >noise. It can be readily used for soundings, >file transfer, and is a pleasure to use for >digital QSOs, keyboard to keyboard. The author >is constantly working on the software, and >appears to be moving closer to the Holy Grail of >being able to pass messages and files from HF to >the internet. It is simple to install, simple to >use, (although the screen can be a little >overwhelming at first) .There is a plan afoot >which would see some extensive cross Canada >testing of this mode to determine its >suitability for emergency communications. TRUE > >There are some other software out there to look >at. NBEMS has promise, but , since it uses BPSK >for the most part, suffers from multipath >flutter and other ozone maladies. The authors >state that its intention was to run over >VHF/UHF, and , while I havent tried it, would >probably work very well. This software is also >under active development so will be interesting >to see what other capabilities it will have. TRUE > >RFSM8000 gets very little mention on these >reflectors, since hams in the USA cannot exceed >300baud speed. Dimitry and his team have posted >the latest version which looks interesting , but >havent tried it, but is something we can run >here in Canada on most bands except 30m.( >bandwidth issues rather than speed) It >apparently has the ability to pass traffic to >and from the internet from HF, using a sound card modem. TRUE > >So much software, so little time . SO TRUE /s/ Steve, N2CKH > >73s John >VE5MU >
