A participating unit (PU; e.g., radio system, communications node) for a fourth generation (4G) automatic link establishment (ALE) network is disclosed. The PU initiates a link quality analysis (LQA) exchange with a callee PU of the network by transmitting a link request. The caller PU receives in response to the link request a link confirmation including callee-side LQA data for the reception of the link request, performing LQA measurements based on the reception. In response to the link request, the caller PU terminates the LQA exchange by transmitting to the callee PU a link termination including encoded caller-side LQA data, so data from both sides of the exchange is stored by both PUs.