Ale Help

[SCPD]

Hello all. I use Multi-PSK for a lot of my general HF decoding but i would like to try decoding ale signals. I know multi-psk does do ale but have never tried it with that program. Does anyone else here decode ale signals on HF and if so what program are you using?

Thanks
Mike

 

[brandon]

MARS-ALE is a good program for monitoring ALE networks.

 

[SCPD]

Thanks Brandon. How is it with Windows 7 32bit and what is the difference between Mars & Pc ale?

 

[k8krh]

I use multipsk program for 99 percent of digital modes, just download the newest version and it has the expanded version of ALE on it, I have toyed with it the last few days but still not familiar to make a connection or contact yet, will check out the mars.

Also it does a super job on sstv a few contacts this am on sstv to east coast 20 METERS 14.230, but missed Australia at dusk.my 20 watts didn't make it tonight.

DOCTOR/95

 

[brandon]

I think PC-ALE is geared more towards amateur radio and MARS-ALE better for general receiving and of course MARS operation (if your authorized). They work on Windows 7 except for the fact it brings your line/microphone input volume all the way down, so it must be manually reset in the sound card mixer.

On the subject of MultiPSK I am curious if it can record audio from voice traffic following ALE calls? I tried it about a year ago but could not figure out the program. Maybe I'll give another go.

 

[SCPD]

Thanks doc and brandon. Im going to give it a go with multipsk then if it does not work i will trying mars-ale

 

[k8krh]

I was on ale just a while ago, and it works great , on the modes in multipsk in the right hand corner ..you see ale and the next box ale with numbers..use that one not the first, it seems to be the mode the ops use<2nd one>. for ale.I would give you the numbers but not in radio room w/ computer..

DOCTOR795

 

[SCPD]

Which one do you suggest
ale400
or 141a?

Thanks
Mike

 

[k8krh]

Ale

141a

doctor795

 

[SCPD]

Hey Doc or Brandon. I'm very new to ale and decoding it. Would you know one or two common freqs i can use here in NY so i can give it a go with multipsk.


Thanks
Mike

 

[k8krh]

Ale

I make more contacts on
14.109

also review these...


CH
#
FREQ
kHz SIDE
BAND COMM
USE DESCRIPTION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NET
NAME
IARU Region
Activity

01 1845.0 USB DATA
VOICE
Regional
-
All Regions

02 1996.0 USB VOICE
Regional
-
All Regions

03 3584.5 USB DATA
Regional
QRZ
All Regions

04 3596.0 USB DATA
PRIMARY
Global
High Frequency Network and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFN
All Regions

05 3617.0 USB DATA
Regional
QRZ
All Regions

06 3791.0 USB VOICE
PRIMARY
International, DX, and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFL
All Regions

07 3845.0 USB VOICE North America East
HFL
Region 2

08 3996.0 USB VOICE North America West
HFL
Region 2

09 *5371.5 USB EMERGENCY
Emergency/Disaster Relief
-
All Regions

10 *5403.5 USB EMERGENCY
Emergency/Disaster Relief
-
All Regions

11 7049.5 USB VOICE
DATA
International HFN Region 1

12 7099.5 USB DATA
Regional
QRZ
All Regions

13 7102.0 USB DATA
PRIMARY
Global
High Frequency Network and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFN All Regions

14 7185.5 USB VOICE
PRIMARY
International/Regional and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFL
All Regions

15 7296.0 USB VOICE North America West
HFL
Region 2

16 10136.5 USB DATA
VOICE
Regional
QRZ
All Regions

17 10145.5 USB DATA
PRIMARY
Global
High Frequency Network and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFN All Regions

18 14100.5 USB DATA International QRZ
All Regions
19 14109.0 USB DATA
PRIMARY
Global
High Frequency Network and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFN All Regions
20 14346.0 USB VOICE
PRIMARY
International/Regional and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFL
All Regions
21 18104.5 USB DATA International QRZ
All Regions
22 18106.0 USB DATA
Global
High Frequency Network and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFN All Regions

23 18117.5 USB VOICE
PRIMARY
International/Regional and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFL
All Regions

24 21096.0 USB DATA
PRIMARY
Global
High Frequency Network and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFN All Regions

25 21116.0 USB DATA
International
QRZ
All Regions

26 21432.5 USB VOICE
PRIMARY
International/Regional and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFL
All Regions
27 24926.0 USB DATA
PRIMARY
International and
High Frequency Network and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFN All Regions
28 24932.0 USB VOICE
PRIMARY
DX/Regional Voice and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFL
All Regions
29 28146.0 USB DATA
PRIMARY
International and
High Frequency Network and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFN All Regions

30 28312.5 USB VOICE
PRIMARY
International/Regional and
Emergency/Disaster Relief
HFL All Regions

31 50162.5 USB VOICE
DATA
Local
QRZ
All Regions

32 144162.5 USB VOICE
DATA
Local
QRZ
All Regions







Let us know if you hear anything, remember it isn't constant..day 14.109, and night try 80 meters on the chart....3584.5

DOCTOR795

 

[SCPD]

Thank you so much. I will give this a shot on my off days from work (thurs & fri)
and report or post my logs from multipsk

 

[ka3jjz]

Once again, I'd recommend joining groups like the UDXF (Utility DXers Forum) on Yahoo - they have lots of ALE type stuff reported from time to time. As for common freqs, the SCOPE command stuff as well as COTHEN are all ones I would try. They're all documented in our wiki under the USAF HF Global Communications System and COTHEN articles linked here

For those that might be interested; this is one application where 'scanning' is a good idea. It's too hard to dial up all these freqs; you have to be johnny on the spot to get them. Depending on what rx you are using, it might be possible to create a file of these freqs, so you can refer to them again and again without having to retype them all over again. Unfortunately the R600 can't do this, but other radios can.

73 Mike

 

[brandon]

Cothen is a busy ALE network. It's the first one I would use for any testing since your certain to hear something within the hour.

Here is part of my log from the other day to help you get an idea of activity.

STARTED Oct-26-2010 17:32 Greenwich Mean Time

[20:18:06][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TWS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 08 
[20:16:13][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[20:16:10][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 10 
[20:16:05][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 29 SN 12 
[20:09:46][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TWS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 18 SN 09 
[20:07:17][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 12 
[20:07:09][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 14 
[19:59:38][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][712            ][AL0] BER 27 SN 08 
[19:58:03][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[19:58:00][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC 703        ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 22 SN 08 
[19:57:55][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 13 
[19:57:38][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TWS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[19:57:35][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[19:57:30][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 13 
[19:54:58][FRQ 08912000][TO ][PAC            ][TWS][DZ2            ][AL0] BER 15 SN 08 
[19:54:58][FRQ 08912000][TO ][707 PAC        ][TIS][707            ][AL0] BER 23 SN 09 
[19:54:54][FRQ 08912000][TO ][707            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 10 
[19:45:18][FRQ 12222000][TO ][D95            ][TIS][EST            ][AL0] BER 21 SN 04 
[19:45:10][FRQ 12222000][TO ][D95            ][TIS][EST            ][AL0] BER 25 SN 05 
[19:41:09][FRQ 15867000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][712            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 06 
[19:41:01][FRQ 15867000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][712            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 07 
[19:39:09][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TWS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 07 
[19:36:35][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 10 
[19:36:32][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[19:36:27][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 12 
[19:36:08][FRQ 07527000][TO ][703            ][TWS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 09 
[19:35:08][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[19:35:05][FRQ 07527000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 09 
[19:35:00][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 13 
[19:34:27][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[19:29:13][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[19:29:05][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 28 SN 12 
[19:25:38][FRQ 05732000][TO ][707            ][TWS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 05 
[19:24:32][FRQ 05732000][TO ][707            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 20 SN 07 
[19:24:26][FRQ 05732000][TO ][707            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 09 
[19:24:10][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TWS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 09 
[19:21:20][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[19:21:17][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 26 SN 08 
[19:21:11][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 12 
[19:20:54][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TWS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 21 SN 08 
[19:20:52][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 20 SN 07 
[19:20:50][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 13 
[19:18:34][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 22 SN 08 
[19:18:33][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 29 SN 10 
[19:17:24][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 12 
[19:16:51][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 10 
[19:16:23][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 10 
[18:52:55][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][703            ][AL0] BER 28 SN 11 
[18:52:51][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 28 SN 08 
[18:37:04][FRQ 11494000][TO ][J19            ][TIS][OPB            ][AL0] BER 29 SN 07 
[18:34:50][FRQ 14582000][TO ][D95            ][TWS][DIL            ][AL0] BER 28 SN 04 
[18:32:27][FRQ 14582000][TO ][D95            ][TIS][DIL            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 07 
[18:32:11][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][707            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[18:32:08][FRQ 07527000][TO ][707            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[18:28:06][FRQ 07527000][TO ][707            ][TWS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 28 SN 07 
[18:26:03][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][707            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 10 
[18:26:00][FRQ 07527000][TO ][707            ][TIS][PAC            ][AL0] BER 25 SN 09 
[18:25:58][FRQ 07527000][TO ][PAC            ][TIS][707            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11 
[18:21:22][FRQ 13312000][TO ][N03            ][TIS][LNT            ][AL0] BER 25 SN 05 
[18:15:17][FRQ 12222000][TO ][002            ][TIS][LNT            ][AL0] BER 28 SN 06

Since your on the east coast, you'll be logging a lot more of CAMSLANT (ALE id LNT) which is great because they're really busy. So you'll probably end up hearing more than us on the west coast I disabled soundings from being logged because PC-ALE has a bug that duplicates entries therefore poisoning the logs. Hopefully they will fix it some day.

When reviewing logs I look for things such as

[20:18:06][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703 ][TWS][PAC ][AL0] BER 30 SN 08
[20:16:13][FRQ 05732000][TO ][PAC ][TIS][703 ][AL0] BER 30 SN 11
[20:16:10][FRQ 05732000][TO ][703 ][TIS][PAC ][AL0] BER 30 SN 10

This usually indicates a voice conversation has taken place (in this case between CAMSPAC (ALE id PAC) and Coast Guard 1703 (ALE id 703) on 5732kHz. The software is setup to automatically record traffic during the time. I set mine to 180 seconds which is usually enough time to capture the conversation. It's also low enough to help avoid wasting too much time on "dead air" recordings due to bad decodes, weak signals, etc. The nice thing about recording from PC-ALE is that is logs the time and frequency within the properties of the .WAV file. Perfect for later reference and transferring into reception logs/spreadsheet.

To make something out of ALE id's on COTHEN visit
The Lowcountry Listening Post: COTHEN ALE List

 

[SCPD]

Thank you for the info. I have my radio on 5732.5 right now. Nothing yet on USB. Will report when i have something.

 

[k8krh]

Nice log, more than I hear, but I stick to the amateur ALE, will have to indulge in the other frequencies sometime.
DOCTOR/795