[MilCom] ALE Monitoring Procedure?

[Larry Van Horn]

OK, let's step back and divide this into two monitoring scenarios.

First, if all you want to do is decode a PC-ALE transmissions on "any" HF 
receiver, all you have to do is provide your audio sound card with the audio 
from the receiver via the phone jack or whatever has audio jack your 
receiver has on it. Download the PC-ALE program from 
http://hflink.com/beta/, install it, start it, feed it audio while parked on 
an ALE freq and you should see decodes. It is that simple. Make sure you 
don't overdrive that audio by watching the tuning indicator on the upper 
left corner (you want mostly yellow and green bars, no red).

Yes, you have a serial interface on the FRG-100 through the CAT port I 
mentioned in the previous post. This interface is only needed if you want to 
use the multi-frequency scan capability that PC-ALE has (allows you to scan 
up to 100 HF freqs for ALE activity). It is "not" required to actually 
decode an ALE signal using PC-ALE.

In order to computer control your Frog-100, you will have to get a cable or 
construct one that you plug into that CAT jack that feeds a serial port on 
your computer or as I mentioned in the last message to a serial to USB 
cable. There is a lot written on the net about this (Google it). I did and 
one of the sites you can also get more info at is 
http://www.xggcomms.com/page9.htm. They even sell cables that will allow you 
to computer control your FROG and the one you need for the FRG-100 is the 
Yaesu FT-Cable-3 from the site above.

The other program that I recommend for decoding ALE, and many other HF 
digital signals, is F6CTE's MultiPSK software package at 
http://f6cte.free.fr/index_anglais.htm. If you want to jump into the world 
of decoding digital signals, then this free program is certainly the ticket. 
Again you don't need computer control through the CAT jack to decode 
anything, just an audio connection between the receiver and the computer 
sound card.

Ken, if you or anyone else has any additional questions, feel free to 
contact me offlist. You can also go back into the MT archives. In May of 
2008 and 2009, I wrote two feature pieces on monitoring digital signals and 
software. They will be of assistance in getting started in monitoring 
digital signals.

The value of monitoring digital signals on HF by Milcom monitors may not be 
obvious, but it is a big deal. Well more than half the digital signals heard 
on HF originate from military organizations worldwide. While many of the 
traffic digital streams are encrypted, nearly all of ALE signals are not. 
That allow you, the Milcom enthusiast, to get a snapshot at any point who is 
on the air and that can be important in many ways. ALE also affords the 
listener a chance to see graphically the current real state of HF 
propagation conditions. I have been really amazed here on the east coast 
that I can monitor mil signals on 11 MHz into the UK throughout most the 
daylight hours. Using the UK TASCOMM ALE net freqs, such as 11217.0, I'm 
able to see not only the various ground stations in that net worldwide, but 
also some of the UK AWACS aircraft actually active in the net.

It is always interesting to compare activity on mil HF nets with real world 
activity.

Hopefully that makes things a bit clearer.

73 and good hunting,

Larry Van Horn, N5FPW
Brasstown, NC USA
MT Assistant/Review/Technical Editor
Milcom Monitoring Post http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/
Twitter: MilcomMP
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken" <rfinder1 at verizon.net>
To: "Larry Van Horn" <n5fpw at brmemc.net>; "milcom" <milcom at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: [MilCom] ALE Monitoring Procedure?


> Hello Larry & the group
> The Yaesu FRG-100 does not have a serial port on the equipment.  It only 
> has phone out on the back and on the front, a "CAT jack" and a few others. 
> I noted when I have it connected to my sound card via the microphone jack 
> on the computer that PC-ALE does in fact hear the receiver because the 
> display shows that.  HOWEVER, I haven't yet come across any ALE sounds to 
> see if it will get decoded or not.
> OR maybe if the serial port is needed I'm out of luck on using this 
> software!
>
> Ken
>
>
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Larry Van Horn
> Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 8:01 AM
> To: Ken ; milcom
> Subject: Re: [MilCom] ALE Monitoring Procedure?
>
> The Frog-100 is more than adequate for single channel ALE reception, even
> though its speaker audio sucks. ;-)))
>
> It is also a receiver that is listed in the PC-ALE listings for CPP
> operation so consult the manual on ways to connect your Frog to the
> computer. Taking a stab in the dark here, given its vintage I would 
> imagine
> you will be using a serial connection on the back of the receiver to 
> connect
> to the computer using a serial-USB cable that is available at just about 
> any
> computer store. Once you install the USB-Serial cable, load the driver for
> the cable, then setup the CPP page in PC-ALE for the Frog-100, set the
> serial port, then you should be on your way. Setup a QRG file of freqs you
> want to monitor, open the owlog to keep a record of what your
> receiver/PC-ALE has heard and you can join the ALE monitoring revolution.
>
>