Have to disagree with you on the soundings, Andy... re-read Bonnie's
explanation of what soundings are and how they work: her very first point says
"... ALE sounding is simply a station ID. No other text is sent." Later she
specifially states "Sounding is not CQ. If you want to call CQ, use the HFL or
QRZ netcall." If it's not sent to a specific station or with the intent of
establishing 2-way communication *at that moment*, it's an illegal one-way
transmission. I believe this also constitutes automatic beaconing, despite
what Bonnie claims (her claim that they are not one-way transmissions is
absurd), and automatic beacons are prohibited below 10 meters. Third, Bonnie
defines ALE as a message-forwarding system, and automatic control of a digital
station is prohibited UNLESS the station is 1) responding to interrogation and
2) transmitting with a bandwidth of less that 500 Hz. The only thing that
soundings actually do is establish a heard list at other ALE stations,
unless someone happens to be holding traffic for the sounding station, at
which time it will respond with a link request. However, since the station
holding the traffic actually initiates the connection, and not in response to a
connect request or interrogation, it's almost certainly illegal automatic
control of a digital station.
To summarize, I believe that automatic ALE soundings are 1) prohibited one-way
transmissions; 2) illegal automated beaconing below 10 meters, and; 3) illegal
automatic control of a digital station.
At any rate, the ARRL has forwarded my inquiry to the FCC for a rules
interpretation, so we should know for sure soon.
73,
George, KA3HSW
--------------------------------------
On Thursday, January 10, 2008 you wrote:
As you know Jack, the fact that RATTS has been active since 1948 is
irrelevant, anyone is free to use the frequency , even a ham setting
up their new net. NOT very friendly, but perfectly legal.
ALE , as in the variety used for "soundings" , is no different than
other modes. The sounding is essentially a CQ or QRZ message. ALE
software makes better use of the 10-12 second transmission that other
modes, but it is just another station saying "I'm around, anyone want
to play".
Where ALE is someone controversial is the fact that the brief
"soundings" can appear to be without a "QRL?" check . This is not
entirely true since some ALE software has an ability to prevent an ALE
transmission if another signal is detected. It is not always done,
just like many RTTY contesters or RTTY DXpeditions. This is
understandably frustrating. Your offending signal may be a PACTOR
BBS, if it is active for more than 10-seconds it is unlikely to be an
ALE sounding. The frequency does match a known ALE channel though/
Andy K3UK
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