original US MIL-STD 188-141A and FED-1045, known as 2nd Generation (2G) ALE. 2G ALE uses non-synchronised scanning of channels, and it takes several seconds to half a minute to repeatedly scan through an entire list of channels looking for calls. Thus it requires sufficient duration of transmission time for calls to connect or link with another station that is unsynchronised with its calling signal. The vast majority of ALE systems in use in the world at the present time are 2G ALE. 2G technical characteristics The more common 2G ALE signal waveform is designed to be compatible with standard 3 kHz SSB narrowband voice channel transceivers. The modulation method is 8ary Frequency Shift Keying or 8FSK, also sometimes called Multi Frequency Shift Keying MFSK, with eight orthogonal tones between 750 and 2500 Hz. Each tone is 8 ms long, resulting in a transmitted over-the-air symbol rate of 125 baud or 125 symbols per second, with a raw data rate of 375 bits per second. The ALE data is formatted in 24-bit frames, which consist of a 3-bit preamble followed by three ASCII characters, each seven bits long. The received signal is usually decoded using digital signal processing techniques that are capable of recovering the 8FSK signal at a negative decibel signal-to-noise ratio (i.e., the signal may be recovered even when it is below the noise level). The over-the-air layers of the protocol involve the use of forward error correction, redundancy, and handshaking transponding similar to those used in ARQ techniques. 3G technical characteristics Newer standards of ALE, called 3rd Generation or 3G ALE, use accurate time synchronization (via a defined time-synch protocol as well as the option of GPS-locked clocks) to achieve faster and more dependable linking. Through synchronization, the calling time to achieve a link may be reduced to less than 10 seconds. The 3G ALE modem signal also provides better robustness and can work in channel conditions that are less favorable than 2G ALE. Dwell groups, limited callsigns, and shorter burst transmissions enable more rapid intervals of scanning. All stations in the same group scan and receive each channel at precisely the same time window. Although 3G ALE is more reliable and has significantly enhanced channel-time efficiency, the existence of a large installed base of 2G ALE radio systems and the wide availability of moderately priced (often military surplus) equipment, has made 2G the baseline standard for global