Andy, I am no ALE expert, but you can find out more on the HFLINK Yahoo Group. For most of us the answer is a PC program called PC-ALE and an ATU... (Personally I run Linux so I remain behind the curve here.)
The Automatic part of ALE requires scanning, and so if you want to be able to respond to any incoming transmissions, you need to be able to transmit on scan, so that means an automatic ATU. But you can use ALE with a 20M dipole and just leave your rig on one frequency and if the band is open you will hear it. The military and government users like ALE because it will try a bunch of bands to make a connection, and since HF is unreliable and only somewhat predictable, having automatic frequency agility helps them talk to the people they want to talk to. Hams have an advantage in that we are often happy to talk to anyone, so even if you run ALE with manual bandswitching, you will hear when the band is open and can talk. It's kind of like beaconing, but then you actually get to work the other station. (Last time I worked a beacon it gave me an RST of 000, using those really long DAH's!) This is the aspect of ALE that I had wanted to use Olivia from the field for, just to announce your presence to people listening automatically and get it gatewayed to anyone who could hear, so you could then QSY to the CW or SSB or MFSK or PSK portion of the same band and have a normal QSO while the high-reliability beacons stayed on Olivia. But it looks like ALE with its 8MFSK modulation is good for that and has an existing infrastructure. You may have noticed that when the band is "dead" you can hear PSK on 14.070, because of the myth that PSK works anyway. Well, often the band is not dead, just not active, and the PSKers are serving as propagation beacons for the rest of us, just there are no rest of us because we "know" that the band is dead. ALE solves this problem by "sounding" every now and then when you leave it on, and if another ALE program hears you, bingo, you both know you can have a QSO. This opportunistic feature of ALE is especially important for 2006-2007 when we all "know" the bands will be dead. As recent announcements have shown, ALE finds the openings. 73, Leigh. On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 6:21 pm, Andrew J. O'Brien wrote: > But what do I need to transmit ALE? I can receive it but I was under > the impression that one needs a rig that can switch bands and > frequencies automatically while matching the antenna all at the same > time. Is that a totally wrong view of ALE? > > Andy K3UK > >> ----- Original Message ----- > >> From: Leigh L Klotz, Jr. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2005 7:55 PM > >> Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Olivia Coordination with ALE network >> 14109.5kHz USB > >> ALE looks like it achieves many of the goals I had hoped for Olivia for >> use with self-spotting. >> I wish there were more implementations of ALE in the digital mode >> software, even of just decoding. >> Leigh. > >> On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 3:45 pm, expeditionradio wrote: >>> Coordination with ALE network 14109.5kHz USB: > >> The K3UK DIGITAL MODES SPOTTING CLUSTER AT telnet://208.15.25.196/ >> More info at http:///www.obriensweb.com [http:///www.obriensweb.com] > >> SPONSORED LINKS > >> Craft hobby >> [http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Craft+hobby&w1=Craft+hobby&w2=Hobby+and+craft+supply&w3=Ham+radio&c=3&s=60&.sig=YqiuyVwjnQFdynnsmMwVWg] > >> Hobby and craft supply >> [http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Hobby+and+craft+supply&w1=Craft+hobby&w2=Hobby+and+craft+supply&w3=Ham+radio&c=3&s=60&.sig=VduRJqNqUo9QkUiTI-knAA] > >> Ham radio >> [http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Ham+radio&w1=Craft+hobby&w2=Hobby+and+craft+supply&w3=Ham+radio&c=3&s=60&.sig=sl_TRqZTiP_WHSLe6P3ybA] > >> -------------------- > >> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS > >> Visit your group "digitalradio >> [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio]" on the web. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service >> [http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/]. > >> -------------------- > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/ELTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> The K3UK DIGITAL MODES SPOTTING CLUSTER AT telnet://208.15.25.196/ More info at http:///www.obriensweb.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/