[digitalradio] Weak Signal ALE-400
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
Re: [digitalradio] Weak Signal ALE-400
***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. * I have brought this up to Patrick a few timesI asked for a slottime or some random timer... I think this would solve the problem. This is a MAJOR ISSUE with ALE400. Until this is fixed...ALE400 will never become mainstream I have been fighting this issuse sense ALE400 came out. So far...he has not worked on that..maybe you will have better luck getting him to address this.??!!??!!?? Maybe now that someone other than me and Dave sees this is a problem, Patrick will fix it??? Trip - KT4WO Mostly on 80-30meters kt4w...@gmail.com
Re: [digitalradio] Weak Signal ALE-400
Trip, I've been using ALE400 for quite a while and never really had too many problems with collisions in the past. Only recently since I am /QRP only have I noticed the problem. I would take this to mean that it really only manifests when signals are very weak. The problem with slot-times or even timers in general is that Windows is not a particularly good time keeper and some system tasks will rob the cpu of cycles at critical moments. This is one of the reasons why Pactor ARQ wouldn't be successful on a sound card/Windows PC. There's a fine balance between using time delays and maintaining overall throughput but I think the solution will probably need to be in the form of entering a waiting/listening state after a certain number of no acknowledgments. It will be interesting to read Patrick's comments on this. 73 Sholto K7TMG KT4WO wrote: *** 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. *** ** I have brought this up to Patrick a few timesI asked for a slottime or some random timer... I think this would solve the problem. This is a MAJOR ISSUE with ALE400. Until this is fixed...ALE400 will never become mainstream I have been fighting this issuse sense ALE400 came out. So far...he has not worked on that..maybe you will have better luck getting him to address this.??!!??! !?? Maybe now that someone other than me and Dave sees this is a problem, Patrick will fix it??? Trip - KT4WO Mostly on 80-30meters kt4w...@gmail. com mailto:kt4w...@gmail.com
[digitalradio] Rfsm8000 can now send emails to Winlink
The latest version of rfsm8000 now has the option of sending email in plain text. Now, rfsm8000 can send emails to winlink. Apparently winlink has a problem reading //WL2K and //MARS from an email subject that is MIME encoded. Howard
[digitalradio] QRV ALE-400
All, I'm QRV ALE-400 ARQ / FAE. QRG - 14074.0 USB. Tony -K2MO
