Operator's Manual

OM-E 2072-09689-00
A-4
A-6. SELECTIVE CALLING
Micom-Z uses an approach standardized in MIL-STD-181-141B and FED-1075 to selective calling,
and therefore has the capability and flexibility to link with one or many prearranged or as-needed
single or multiple stations.
This selective calling capability is based on the use of a special addressing method.
A-6.1 ALE Addressing Method
ALE uses digital addresses to identify stations. The fundamental address element in the ALE system is
the single word: one ALE address word must always contain three characters (one triplet).
A single ALE word is needed for the basic individual station address (this is called a basic address).
To increase the available range of addresses, basic addresses can be expanded up to a maximum of 5
words (15 characters): such addresses are called extended addresses.
The characters that can used in addresses are a subset of the standard Basic 38 ASCII character set.
This subset includes:
• All the capital (upper case) letters (A to Z)
• All the digits (0 to 9)
• Two utility characters:
 The stuffing symbol @. It can be used to add characters at the end of an address, so that the
resulting length is a whole number of words (triplets). A receiving station then interprets
only the non-stuffing characters. For example, if the address has 8 characters, add one @ at
the end of the address, whereas for an address with 7 characters, two @ symbols must be
added. In special addressing modes, this symbol is interpreted as an ignore instruction: see
additional utilization guidelines in Table A-1.
 The wildcard symbol ?. It is used to indicate that any character (except @) is acceptable
(this is the equivalent of a don’t mind instruction). See Table A-2 for utilization guidelines
in the special addressing modes.
NOTE
In the following sections, “A,” “B,” “C” or “D” indicates any
alphanumeric character other than “@” or “?”.
Micom-Z has the capacity to store and use 100 addresses of up to 15 characters each. Micom-Z will
reject addresses longer than 15 characters, and will notify you with an UFA WRONG message.
A-6.2 Address and Call Types
ALE stations, including the Micom-Z, have the capability and flexibility to link with one or many
prearranged or as-needed single or multiple stations. There are three general addressing methods:
• Individual station addressing
• Multiple stations addressing, for example, net and group
• Special addressing modes, for example, AllCall, AnyCall, etc.
The following sections explain the addressing modes and how they can be used for various purposes.
A-6.2.1 Individual Station Address
The individual station address may contain 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 words. To enable using addresses that are
not an integer multiple of 3 characters (for example, an address consisting of 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, …, etc.
characters), stuffing can be used: with stuffing, the last address word includes one or two stuffing
symbols in the last position(s) (see the “stuff-1” and “stuff-2” patterns in Table A-1).
The wildcard symbol cannot be included in an individual station address, nor in a call request to an
individual station.