# ALE Radios: Dependable SHTF Comms



## radiomaster

*Ask yourself* "_*How much do I value communications when the SHTF and the infrastructure goes down?"*_

The answer to that might be: "Not much. I only need to talk a down the street, so I use a cheapo FRS walkie-talkie. "  
_If that's the case, then don't bother reading the rest of this article._

*But if your answer is "I am really really serious about communicating everywhere with my group or family when the SHTF!*"* Then, you should probably set your sights on getting an ALE (Automatic Link Establishment) High Frequency communications system.*

ALE isn't a brand or a company. It's a sort of digital radio, very similar to what the gov and NGO organizations use for comms. ALE radios use HF (High Frequency) with the ionosphere to bounce your signal over mountains and cities and buildings. ALE radios are SSB voice with a digital calling system. They also have a texting function that displays messages on the front panel (similar to cell phone texting).

The ALE radios our family group has will usually work over a fairly dependable range of around 600 miles day or night. This is what we get with our 4WD vehicle radios and backpack radios when talking to the base stations.

We just dial up who we want to call, and the ALE connects us within a few minutes. At the base station, I usually set the power level at around 125 Watts. If I'm on the backpack radio, then I adjust it down to 20 Watts to conserve battery while talking or sometimes we just do texting.

If you are handy with electronics and radio stuff, there is a way to put together an ALE base station with PCALE software and a computer connected to a Ham HF radio. That's OK for a base station, but the combination of the laptop and radio together is a little too unwieldy for backpack or mobile. For that, you really will want a built-in ALE HF radio.

Antennas. Yes, you will need antennas. This type of HF radio communications system does take some effort to get it really set up correctly for mobile installations. The antennas need to cover the whole range from about 3 to 30 MHz. Your vehicles will require ALE-capable Antenna Tuning Units (ATU) with long whip antennas (similar to CB antennas). Wire antennas such as the T2FD should be set up at the base stations. See photos.

Our group got several of the ALE radios on ebay for less than the cost of fancy new ham HF radios. Some of the less expensive brands of ALE radios are Micom2, Micom3, Codan, Icom, and Kenwood. There are good deals out there to be had on used ALE gear. Overall, the costs of new radios with built-in ALE are somewhat higher than most Ham HF radios. But ALE really is worth the extra cost.

*"ALE. It satisfies the thirst for good comms."* :beercheer:

See photos of some of our ALE setups...


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## zimmy

*Communication*

Great info and thanks for the links. You are obviously an advanced prepper and well versed in quality communication equipment.


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## DKRinAK

ALE is great if you have authorized, fixed, HF frequencies. For ham, not so much.

ALE tries to handshake using a pile of different frequencies, once both radios see each other, you can talk.

What happens if your ALE link comes up on a frequency in use? Your system is now making "harmful interference'" and there lies the problem.

No one ham 'owns' a frequency, where outside the ham bands, commercial entities do have private channels.

It is possible to use ALE on the ham bands, but read and follow the rules and conventions, otherwise, you might become very unpopular.


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## radiomaster

*ALE. Satisfies the Thirst for Comms.*

Good points.

ALE has been in use on all the Ham HF bands for over 12 years without any interference problems. The reason it probably works so well on the ham bands is that it has an awesome "busy channel and voice recognition detection system" called _Listen Before Transmit._ It automatically prevents transmitting over top of other people. Way more polite than humans. 

We like to think that we are an organized and law-abiding society, never stepping on each others toes. Our day-to-day civilized world is quite well-behaved.

But when the SHTF, who knows what will really happen? There are warnings from experts that foreign cyber attacks could possibly bring down large chunks of the internet at some point in the future. Internet outages could also affect VOIP or cellular systems. That could cause a total free-for-all on the airwaves. What will happen then on the HF frequencies? Will it be invaded by lots of radio pirates? It is kinda scary. It is a total unknown.

ALE was designed for that kind of scenario.


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## laylow

I had no idea this existed, thanks for the heads up. Can't afford this kind of setup right now, but it's very interesting technology.


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## DKRinAK

laylow said:


> I had no idea this existed, thanks for the heads up. Can't afford this kind of setup right now, but it's very interesting technology.


I did see what the Gen 2 radio set X1M is-
Automatic link establishment ALE performance
1. Adaptive call types: single call, network call, all call
Channel scanning speed: 5 channel / sec.
3 in accordance with MIL-STD-188-141A standard

At $299 (or $289) per unit, for a 20 watt HF radio, not a bad deal if the ALE is included.


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## Norse

radiomaster said:


> *Ask yourself* "_*How much do I value communications when the SHTF and the infrastructure goes down?"*_
> 
> The answer to that might be: "Not much. I only need to talk a down the street, so I use a cheapo FRS walkie-talkie. "
> _If that's the case, then don't bother reading the rest of this article._
> 
> *But if your answer is "I am really really serious about communicating everywhere with my group or family when the SHTF!*"* Then, you should probably set your sights on getting an ALE (Automatic Link Establishment) High Frequency communications system.*
> 
> ALE isn't a brand or a company. It's a sort of digital radio, very similar to what the gov and NGO organizations use for comms. ALE radios use HF (High Frequency) with the ionosphere to bounce your signal over mountains and cities and buildings. ALE radios are SSB voice with a digital calling system. They also have a texting function that displays messages on the front panel (similar to cell phone texting).
> 
> The ALE radios our family group has will usually work over a fairly dependable range of around 600 miles day or night. This is what we get with our 4WD vehicle radios and backpack radios when talking to the base stations.
> 
> We just dial up who we want to call, and the ALE connects us within a few minutes. At the base station, I usually set the power level at around 125 Watts. If I'm on the backpack radio, then I adjust it down to 20 Watts to conserve battery while talking or sometimes we just do texting.
> 
> If you are handy with electronics and radio stuff, there is a way to put together an ALE base station with PCALE software and a computer connected to a Ham HF radio. That's OK for a base station, but the combination of the laptop and radio together is a little too unwieldy for backpack or mobile. For that, you really will want a built-in ALE HF radio.
> 
> Antennas. Yes, you will need antennas. This type of HF radio communications system does take some effort to get it really set up correctly for mobile installations. The antennas need to cover the whole range from about 3 to 30 MHz. Your vehicles will require ALE-capable Antenna Tuning Units (ATU) with long whip antennas (similar to CB antennas). Wire antennas such as the T2FD should be set up at the base stations. See photos.
> 
> Our group got several of the ALE radios on ebay for less than the cost of fancy new ham HF radios. Some of the less expensive brands of ALE radios are Micom2, Micom3, Codan, Icom, and Kenwood. There are good deals out there to be had on used ALE gear. Overall, the costs of new radios with built-in ALE are somewhat higher than most Ham HF radios. But ALE really is worth the extra cost.
> 
> *"ALE. It satisfies the thirst for good comms."* :beercheer:
> 
> See photos of some of our ALE setups...


Awesome, do you have to register the frequency like a HAM operator?

What is the cost of say one base station and a mobile?


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## radiomaster

*ALE Radios*



Norse said:


> Awesome, do you have to register the frequency like a HAM operator?


If you are a ham operator you don't need to register, you can just use the ham bands. There is an ALE ham network and lots of info about it on the web, so just use that.

If you are not a ham operator, then you will probably need to set up some sort of license on registered frequencies. How you do that depends on which country you live in. In USA they license it through FCC part 90. It is private land mobile radio HF for Industry Canada.



Norse said:


> What is the cost of say one base station and a mobile?


If you get them on the used market, plan on spending at least USD$2000 per station for good HF radios with built-in ALE, and ALE-compatible antennas.

If you buy new gear, it will probably run you about USD$3500 to USD$7000 or more per station.

There is an economical alternative, really only for base stations (not mobile or backpack). That is, use a ham HF radio (you can get on used market for $600) and connect a laptop or desktop PC to it. Run PCALE software to control the radio. This makes a really good ALE base station and gives you lots of other computer digital file transfer features at the same time. But it takes more tech know-how about radio gear and computer interfaces and things like that. Really, its the budget nerd approach to ALE.


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## radiomaster

*Cheap ALE Radios*



DKRinAK said:


> I did see what the Gen 2 radio set X1M is-
> Automatic link establishment ALE performance
> At $299 (or $289) per unit, for a 20 watt HF radio, not a bad deal if the ALE is included.


Yes, it is a newly designed Chinese low power HF radio by a previously unknown company called Xiegu. Actually, there are a lot of unknowns about it at this point.

It is supposed to have ALE in it, but nobody I've talked with has tested it on ALE, so we don't really know yet if it works correctly for ALE. There seems to be reports of overheating and frequency drift problems. Many have described the radio's metal work as "crude". But it could be mounted inside a pelican case to protect it, I guess. Preppers are often good at putting stuff together.

If it does turn out to work OK on ALE, then that would bring the cost of a light-duty ALE radio way down for those who are willing to sacrifice some ruggedness. Although 20 Watts is usually enough for basic HF communications with ALE texting, you might still want an outboard linear amplifier for ALE voice comms 

I probably would not recommend the cheapo Chinese radio to a prepper who wants a dependable comm system that will work well when the SHTF.

Perhaps we will learn more about it as time goes on. Until then, buyer beware!


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## Idaholady

For the newbie here; What would a beginner need to set up a simple ALE communications? And where would one buy such items? I got my ham license in March and have yet to do more than that. There is a repeater up and over the mountain from me; unfortunately I live down and behind it. 

My weakest area in my preparedness is communications; I feel I need to get something purchased and soon.

Thanks.


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## Navajo

Give me an old tube ham radio...

One EMP and these fancy radios aren't even heavy enough to make a boat anchor


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## Idaholady

Navajo, Will you be able to get extra tubes when one gives out on you? Just asking.....


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## k0xxx

*radiomaste*r, I haven't looked at ALE capable radios, but after reading your information I will start doing some research. It is pricey for a decent setup, however may be worth it in the long run. After some research, I may be bringing this before our "group".

*Navajo*, yes tube equipment (non-hybrid) is good to have for dependability and ease of repairs. I have some old school tube stuff that I fire up from time to time just to keep it in shape and I have enough tubes, caps, and other spare parts that I should be able to keep it going for quite a few years to come. Barring an EMP, the new stuff is so much easier to operate for the less radio inclined, and it uses less power just sitting there on receive (well, some do lol). I also keep two Kenwood TS-520's (tube hybrids) in EMP protected boxes for back-up.

*Idaholady*, after an EMP event, we would be hard pressed to get anything that we didn't already have. That's why it's important to have extra parts on hand now, and not be needing them later. Once I'm dead, and if things never fall apart, my children may be able to open an electronics store or at the very least hold an awesome Ham radio swap meet.


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## Navajo

Idaholady,

Now I won't be a good prepper if I didn't have spare parts , now would I?

Besides I can repair a broken tube system much easier than a IC / transistor based system when they break.


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## Pixelphoto

Well if theres an emp how do you plan on powering the power hungry radio that uses tubes? they aren't known for sipping power now. 
That said I have looked into ale but never actually seen radios for sale with ale capabilities anywhere.


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## TheLazyL

Pixelphoto said:


> Well if theres an emp how do you plan on powering the power hungry radio that uses tubes? they aren't known for sipping power now.
> That said I have looked into ale but never actually seen radios for sale with ale capabilities anywhere.


12 VDC truck batteries.


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## musketjim

For comm. I'm looking mainly for good receiving systems so I can monitor. I think for the limited communications I need here a good CB would work. At BOL all of our neighbors use Marine Band. CB has gone out of favor up there. My HAM license has been on my list of to do's, but it's a bit cost prohibitive to get the gear when I have other priorities. Comm. is a fascinating subject, but I do get a bit confused when all the radios and antennas start getting talked about. But I do love all comm. threads.


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