Click here for step by step instructions to get started with MARS-ALE

Automatic Link Establishment

You have, no doubt, been hearing more and more about Automatic Link Establishment (ALE), and we can expect this technology to become an ever increasing factor in MARS operation. ALE has been standardized and adopted by all US Military and Government Agencies (our “customers”), using very expensive transceivers and modems. Now an Inter-service MARS Development Team has established a PC sound card modem to simulate the hardware controlled ALE used by government and commercial stations. Starting with PC-ALE software developed by Charles Brain (G4GUO), the Software Development Team has adapted the PC-ALE software for MARS use and has included many enhancements. The result is a tool called MARS-ALE making this technology available to the average MARS member. The development process, in fact, continues and we can expect to see continuous product improvement.

As we learn more about ALE (by the way it is pronounced A-L-E as opposed to the beverage of the same spelling) we begin to see advantages for State operations, and even more so for Regional, Area and National use. Alerting stations of an ECOM net and sending high precedence traffic immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled net, are a couple examples where ALE can be utilized. The government agencies that we serve use ALE, so in turn, we need to have this capability, particularly in emergency situations. SHARES members, who are not already ALE capable, especially, may want to look into this program.

ALE is not just another soundcard mode, although MARS-ALE provides a variety of broadcast and ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) message modes.

This page is not intended as a comprehensive source of ALE operation, but will, hopefully, give you a general over-view and help in Getting Started.

Be prepared to invest a considerable amount time learning how to set-up and operate ALE, and remember that there is help available when you need it.

Only MARS-ALE should be used for MARS operation, as it has been tailored for our needs and supports numerous features not found in PC-ALE.

Getting Started

Click here for step by step instructions to get started with PC-ALE

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Some sources of information:

INTRODUCTION

John K. Scoggin, Jr., AAT3BF/AAM3O/AAA9AC

NAVMARCORMARS ALE Frequencies.

Chief MARS BCST 03-05

http://www.asc.army.mil/mars/news/ale.htm

http://apollo.homeip.net/mailman/listinfo/ale-region-2

MARS-ALE Forum

www.n2ckh.com/MARS_ALE_FORUM

Excellent Info source - PCALE

http://hflink.com/

http://www.geocities.com/n2uhc/ale.html

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Discussion of all MARS digital modes

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