Topband: 160M Beacon protocol?

[EUGENE SMAR]

Gents:

     FWIW:  The US Govt (military and civilian) have developed and are using
a technique called ALE (Automatic Link Establishment) for their HF emergency
networks.  The radios ping each other on several frequencies in sequence, I
believe, and exchange signal info in a handshaking protocol of some kind.
The purpose of the system is to establish a clear HF channel between two
points with minimal operator intervention.

     I know very little about this technique other than what I've described
and that my colleagues in MARS ( volunteer radio operators in the US
military radio auxiliary)  have been experimenting with it on HF.  This
tells me that the software is available from some public source.  If there
is interest among Topband folk in exploring this technique for the 160M
beacon network, I'll make a few inquiries and pass along info to the
reflector.

73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F