On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 6:31 PM, Hugh Mac Donald < wrote: > > > > You are starting to get me interested in it again Andy. Other than a couple > of chats with Bonnie in 141A I have not seen much use for ALE! I will listen > to 10.145 and see what I can hear. > > > > > > Hugh AC7XF > >
Hi Hugh. Other than an actual QSO with Bonnie , where we did switch modes, all my standard ALE contacts were ones where we stayed with ALE 141A. I think HF Link has mad a mistake by promoting ALE as a emcomm concept. While it is certainly useful in Emcomm, the average "encomm ham" ham is not likely to have the patience for ALE . If we magically could get about 50 hams to start scanning one freq each on 80, 40, 30,20, and 17M. and occasionally sending a "sounding" or CQ when looking for a QSO, we would have a good cadre to build the concept of ALE for regular QSOs. Using Multipsk's scan selection of 2 seconds per channel, we could more easily catch people making a general call and not have to monitor web sites and 'sked pages" for digital modes QSOs. . PC-ALE is likely soon to have some new features that will make switching modes an easier task. Multipsk's macros and RS-ID could also be used to establish some generally accepted method of switching modes after an initial "link". The reason I promote ALE is that , as far as I can tell, it is the only mode that is capable of high speed scanning and automatic pausing when a call is detected. I Andy K3UK
