> Jim WA0LYK wrote: > Would you really want 2,3, or 4 hundred thousand US hams > doing ALE soundings on all the bands?
Yes, that would be wonderful, Jim! But a few hundred to a thousand stations simultaneously is much more likely to be happening within the next year or two. Keep in mind that not every ALE station on the air is sounding. Sounding is optional, and not always necessary for ALE operation. You will be able to experience high levels of ALE activity first hand during ALE On The Air Week, which starts on 05 October and runs through 15 October. By the time that ALE is available as a standard feature in most ham rigs, many of us who are in the forefront of evolving technology will start to graduate to AQC ALE or 3G ALE. These newer ALE techniques enable even higher efficiency levels, using very short bursts, and GPS synchronization... while maintaining backward compatibility with the regular 2G ALE (141) that is the defacto international standard. There is a lot of room for ALE expansion. Right now, even with the constant traffic we see at http://hflink.net/qso we are only at an estimated 3% utilization level of the ALE Pilot Channels using the present system. 73---Bonnie KQ6XA .
