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Amateur Radio HF ALE SoundingBonnie Crystal KQ6XA describes what Amateur Radio HF ALE sounding is and how it works. What is an ALE sounding? In ham radio, ALE sounding is simply a station ID. Only the callsign is sent, example "This is AA1BB". Sounding is ALE jargon for "Station ID". What is the purpose of ALE sounding? The ID is transmitted for the purpose of establishing and maintaining
communications with other stations and to meet the station identification
requirements of ham radio rules and regulations. Sounding may also be
part of a selective calling process. The ALE controller (computer program
or ALE radio) keeps a memory table that tracks of all the other How does ALE sounding fit in the various ham radio rules? ALE sounding is not "beaconing" ALE stations are not sending one-way transmissions like a beacon does.
All the ALE stations are transmitting and What frequencies are soundings used by hams? In ham-friendly ALE, part of the guidelines for repetitive soundings is to transmit on "pilot channels". Pilot channel is ALE jargon for a designated calling frequency, usually only one channel per band. The pilot channels are within a segment of the HF bands that are designated for automatic operation by the national bandplans or the IARU Region bandplans, depending upon which applies. Ham Radio ALE Pilot Channel Frequencies Freq kHz SSB INTERNATIONAL REGION - AREA Amateur Radio Global High Frequency Network (HFN) The Amateur Radio Global ALE High Frequency Network is a group of volunteer
operators who have automatically The long term objective is to be interoperable with as many different types of systems as possible. The primary purpose of the HFN is to provide emergency and disaster relief 24/7/365 communications. When not in use for the primary purpose, hams may access any of the HFN stations for normal use. Another secondary aspect of the HFN stations is that they provide a continuous feed to the internet, reporting all other ALE stations they receive. This includes soundings and all other types of ALE calls. These reports get logged into a permanent database, and are visible on "ALE Channel ZERO". http://hflink.net/qso Many other ham radio ALE operators are transmitting The Ham Radio ALE Guidelines are included below in this 73 - Bonnie KQ6XA HAM RADIO SOUNDING INFORMATION What is Sounding? In Amateur Radio ALE, a sounding is simply a 10 second ALE Why are Soundings Used? The reception and communication through soundings enables other ALE stations to know which frequencies or bands your station is active on. When you first turn on your transceiver, you can send some soundings so that other stations will copy your transmissions, and then may selectively call you on the best channel, using the minimum number of call attempts. The scanning ALE receiver listens to the soundings of other stations each time they are heard and stores them in memory with channels and times. How Are Soundings Transmitted? Soundings can be manually transmitted, or set by the operator to transmit repetitive soundings every hour. Usually, if repetitive soundings are set, when the ALE controller or radio is first turned on then there is a delay of a few minutes before the first soundings are transmitted. Ham-Friendly ALE Soundings In the ham radio ALE network, there are Pilot Stations in different areas of the world that send soundings 24/7. This system transmits sounding only on the Pilot Channels in the automatic station sub-bands, and this strategy forms part of the basis of ham-friendly ALE. ALE Sounding Guidelines for Amateur Radio 1. As an Amateur Radio Operator, you are responsible for all 2. Before sending soundings, or any transmission, listen carefully to all your transmitting channels with your receiver. Avoid interference. 3. Sounding is not CQ. If you want to call CQ, use the HFL or QRZ netcall. 4. Manual or attended soundings may be transmitted on any ALE channel. 5. For repetitive sounding, program your ALE to sound only on the designated Pilot Channels marked PILOT in the Amateur Radio ALE Channel List, for your IARU/ITU Region, and within your license. There is one Pilot Channel per ham band in each Region. 6. Program your ALE controller to use TWS Sound if possible. Using TWS Sound increases the efficiency of ALE nets. Please DO NOT use This Is Sound (TIS) on the ham bands. 7. The optimum duration of a sounding transmission is approximately 10 to 15 seconds. Test and verify your sounding transmission duration with your watch. A sounding transmission should NEVER be longer than 30 seconds! 8. The optimum repetitive sounding on a channel is about once every 60 minutes. Please DO NOT sound repetitively on a channel more than 2 times per hour. 9. The optimum scan rate is 1 or 2 channels per second. If you scan more than 10 channels, use 2 channels per second. 10. Check your transmitter operation and antenna system SWR regularly on every channel in your scan group! 11. Take care in programming your ALE controller (software) and transceiver. Test it carefully and verify it for proper operation on a dummy load before connecting your antenna. 12. Use the Polite or Voice Detect or Busy Detect feature of your ALE.
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