All, Made several ALE-400 contacts with Sholto (K7TMG/QRP) this week. Sholto was running his FT817ND, 5 watts and a wire antenna. His signal was just audible most of the time, but the mode allowed us to connect and carry on our QSO's.
ARQ: Repeats are inevitable when the SNR is low and the ARQ worked as advertised, sending repeat requests whenever the signal dropped below the noise. The outgoing window in Multipsk lets you see the text that requires repeating so you can keep an eye on throughput. Sensitivity: It is not as sensitive as Olivia / Contestia in 16/500 form, but it does not appear to be far behind. As an ARQ mode, it certainly seems to have the ability to outperform Pactor-I and possibly Pactor-II under weak signal conditions. Sync issues: The mode can lose sync now and then when signals collide. We haven't figured out a way around that other than dropping the link and reconnecting. Sholto and I thought that clearing the outgoing text would allow the mode to sit idle long enough to reestablish synchronization, but it seems the clear button does not actually clear what's in the outgoing buffer. We'll have to ask Patrick about that. It would be helpful if we had more reflectees testing ALE-400 in chat mode form so please join us. We're on 14074.0 most evenings starting around 2300z. Skes welcome. Tony -K2MO
