Andrew O'Brien wrote: > I wonder if ALE for amateur radio use is in danger of demise as the > result of varying formats, similar to the old video tape format saga. > The public's demand for a method of recording video was such that one > format survived and the industry flourished. With ALE that amateur > demand is so limited that it could flounder rather than flourish. > > Currently available software for ALE hams is apparently restricted to > PC-ALE, MARS-ALE, and Multipsk. PC-ALE has an incompatibility with many > rigs and decodes poorly with less than optimal soundcards. Multipsk > decodes well with less than optimal soundcards, but does not perform > many of the automated ALE procedures. MARS-ALE has many advantages over > PC-ALE but its very nature restricts it to use only by MARS operators. > > A small group of hams has worked very hard at getting ALE a "toe-hold" > in the amateur radio world. However, the potential user of ALE has to > battle many more performance/compatibility issues than the average ham > faces for other amateur modes of communication. Even when thing appear > simple (like getting on PSK31 or RTTY) we lose people because they see > it as too complicated. I fear that ALE will not grow unless there are > significant enhancements in the development of software that is > compatilable with ...most rigs in use since 1990, most soundcards used > in cheap computers since 2000, and the most commonly interfaces used > (Rigblaster, Microham, SignaLink, etc) > > Since the three software products I mentioned are mostly free of cost to > the ham, it is hard to criticize the authors that design the software . > However, ALE's amateur demise might not be for off . In fact, maybe > there really is no ALE amateur movment to suffer a demise. Would we > consider a mode used by less that 50 hams world-wide to really be > anything more than one of those obscure ham experiments? Yes, I > know...out of "obscure experiments" has come many a "killer app", but I > worry that ALE needs compatibility and interoperability before in can grow. > >
I don't see the current ALE as being anywhere close to the desires of amateurs...however, it IS a good start. I look for the future to allow hams to transmit ALE queries on one or several frequencies on each of the hambands and individual stations or net stations being called would respond on a specific frequency. This would allow impromptu QSOs between individual amateurs as well as the ability to call nets together at other than regualr net times, i.e. emergency nets or listing traffic for various stations or locations. It could easily be used for calling CQ and indicating you "listening" frequency. Another use would be for evaluating propagation between various areas by using ALE "beacon or propagation" stations. 73, Walt/K5YFW
