A.C.A.R.S. Decoder

[N1SQB]

Hello All!
I have the opportunity to purchase a Universal M-400 Decoder in mint shape for cheap. Now The reason I am even considering this outdated piece is for its ability to decode ACARS. Now, my question is this, Is ACARS still worth monitoring? Is this mode still popular and/or still in use? If not, I am not going to shell out any money for it. All my scanners have a discriminator tap on them in case I need to go that route. For those of you not familiar with the M-400, here is some info: http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/decoders/m400.html

Manny

 

[CalebATC]

To tell you the truth, you will be better off going out and buying an airband scanner, a IPOD-radio cord, and the Airnav ACARS Decoding software.

It is definately worth monitoring, that is if you live near a major airport. I live on the SSCOT1 arrival into KMIA, so I can set my scanner on one channel and have 74 aircraft, no, not 74 messeges, but 74 aircraft within an hour. Now if I put it on scan, I will get TONS of aircraft. I belive within four hours one night, I tracked around 170+- aircraft. On one frequency.

Where I am moving here in a few days, I will be living 13 miles north of the KATL class Bravo. It will be even better. As always, it is just position reports, "smooth/rough" ride reports, eta, etc. Nothing really that's gonna get your blood pressure up

It is still worth doing though! I send my logs over to a friend, he used to be a COA 737 pilot. He enjoys reading them, and getting tail #'s off of them. And some he see's he actually flew.

The software will give you the goodies, pictures, logs you can print, maps, and more.

Do whatever you like better =). I would personally go with the scanner and some software.

 

[ka3jjz]

You don't need a tap to monitor ACARS (a discriminator isn't involved in AM reception...) - and there are several software packages that will do it, and better - some will even decode the message into (more or less) English...see this article for more information...

ACARS - The RadioReference Wiki

I'd say you need to be heavy into civ air monitoring to really get into ACARS, but everyone's different (hi)....73 Mike

 

[N1SQB]

To tell you the truth, you will be better off going out and buying an airband scanner, a IPOD-radio cord, and the Airnav ACARS Decoding software.

It is definately worth monitoring, that is if you live near a major airport. I live on the SSCOT1 arrival into KMIA, so I can set my scanner on one channel and have 74 aircraft, no, not 74 messeges, but 74 aircraft within an hour. Now if I put it on scan, I will get TONS of aircraft. I belive within four hours one night, I tracked around 170+- aircraft. On one frequency.

Where I am moving here in a few days, I will be living 13 miles north of the KATL class Bravo. It will be even better. As always, it is just position reports, "smooth/rough" ride reports, eta, etc. Nothing really that's gonna get your blood pressure up

It is still worth doing though! I send my logs over to a friend, he used to be a COA 737 pilot. He enjoys reading them, and getting tail #'s off of them. And some he see's he actually flew.

The software will give you the goodies, pictures, logs you can print, maps, and more.

Do whatever you like better =). I would personally go with the scanner and some software.

This brings up a good question! I live half way between Bradley International (KBDL) and JFK international
(KJFK). I am wondering if I am even ABLE to hear anything from this point. I will have to look into this further.

You don't need a tap to monitor ACARS (a discriminator isn't involved in AM reception...) - and there are several software packages that will do it, and better - some will even decode the message into (more or less) English...see this article for more information...

ACARS - The RadioReference Wiki

I'd say you need to be heavy into civ air monitoring to really get into ACARS, but everyone's different (hi)....73 Mike

I am definitely heavy into Civil-Air monitoring. I have an antenna (discone) and a scanner dedicated entirely to Civil Air Monitoring. I just never really got into this particular part of it. Thanks for the link.

Manny

 

[CalebATC]

If you get even partial reception, your ACARS decoder will do the rest! You don't have to have good reception at all, just the signal =)

Better signal, more contacts though!

 

[rexgame]

I've used everything from Ramsey's passive airband receiver to a steel bodied Uniden 350A to a barely functional 350C and now my Pro-164 with acarsd. I've gotten hits on:

131.550
129.125
130.025
130.425
130.450
131.125
131.450
131.475
131.525
131.725
136.700
136.750
136.800
136.900
136.850
136.750
131.850

So there is definitely a lot of traffic out there. Especially since I'm sure some of those freq's are supposed to be for use in Europe and Asia, but I've got them on planes coming in and out of Philly, Newark, DC, and New York.

 

[N1SQB]

I have reception!!!!!!

Well I tried them all!
I got the best reception on 131.125 however. 2 Bars on my BCT15 with an indoor back of the set antenna, and full quieting with my external antenna. YES! I like the BCT15 for this mainly because of it's awesome sensitivity in the Civil Air band.The singnal is funny! Its beep,beep,beep for fractions of a second, then once in a while you get a longer BEEEEP! Funny! If you blink( without having the audio on) you miss it. Now then, it's on to making the software choise....HMMMM!!! Hey thanks for the help so far guys! I'm sure as I go through the software try outs I'll have more questions. I have to decide if I want a program that works with my laptop (Vista premium) or my tower (XP Pro).

Manny

 

[CalebATC]

Great to hear you have it working.

It goes by very fast, and gets all that data in that wee little "Beep!"

Have fun!

 

[N1SQB]

To be quite honest, I dont have ANYTHING working yet. From a signal satndpoint, yes, it's all working. I have tried a few different softwares and nothing seems to be working. I have a feeling it's my Compaq laptop running windows Vista Premium. I tried ACARSD and I could not get anything to work. I could not get any sound to come out through my computer speakers. I was using the only port available which is the mic jack. Nothing. This lap top has been a problem before. I evern went into the mic properties to make sure it was enabled and working properly. I will have to experiment with my desktop next. I'm taking a break....

Manny

 

[CalebATC]

Goto your microphone settings tab, and make sure it is not muted.

You shouldnt be hearing anything from your speakers.

Good luck!

 

[N1SQB]

Thanks!
I already tried that. I am going to give it another try tomorow on my tower with Win. XP.

Manny

 

[Viper43]

I just started playing with this last Friday night. Kind of neat, even got an odd message from one crew that there was no restraunt or security and they wanted to know whether to refuel and try again.
It didn't take much to get it running either, just playing around I hooked it up to my PCR-100 , went through the frequencies 5 minutes ar a time to see which read the best, got hits on numerous channels but settled on 130.550. I may set up a scan bank and see what that does. I have a discone at 70' using LMR400 into a DLI Multicoupler and it works great, getting 200 miles + with this setup.
The computer is a cheapo refub from Tiger Direct, I think it was $167 with XP and two serial ports and 6 USB ports. It is not only running the PCR-100 software but also the ACARS and Pro96COM logging MECA P25 and Unitrunker logging SAFET all at once. I may get another one or two of these refurbs as they seem to work well for this stuff.
The DLI Multicoupler runs up 16 radios off 1 antenna.

V

 

[ka3jjz]

The problem with scanning ACARS freqs is that in order to decode, there's a sync tone sent at the beginning of each broadcast. If the software doesn't detect it, it won't decode. Most radios don't have a squelch that opens up fast enough for reliable decoding. You might end up getting some decodes, but likely not all of them. 73 Mike

 

[N1SQB]

Mike, I caught on to the "open squelch" idea real quick. I agree, it is best left open, otherwise, you get nothing. I just think it's a Vista issue personally. We'll see.

Manny

 

[N1SQB]

To tell you the truth, you will be better off going out and buying an airband scanner, a IPOD-radio cord, and the Airnav ACARS Decoding software.

It is definately worth monitoring, that is if you live near a major airport. I live on the SSCOT1 arrival into KMIA, so I can set my scanner on one channel and have 74 aircraft, no, not 74 messeges, but 74 aircraft within an hour. Now if I put it on scan, I will get TONS of aircraft. I belive within four hours one night, I tracked around 170+- aircraft. On one frequency.

Where I am moving here in a few days, I will be living 13 miles north of the KATL class Bravo. It will be even better. As always, it is just position reports, "smooth/rough" ride reports, eta, etc. Nothing really that's gonna get your blood pressure up

It is still worth doing though! I send my logs over to a friend, he used to be a COA 737 pilot. He enjoys reading them, and getting tail #'s off of them. And some he see's he actually flew.

The software will give you the goodies, pictures, logs you can print, maps, and more.

Do whatever you like better =). I would personally go with the scanner and some software.

I like the Airnav suggestion, however it is not a one time purchase. You have to keep paying every 6 months. I will not be using the decoder online, simply at my home with my scanning equipment. I don't see the need to pay every 6 months if I am not going to be using anything online.

Manny

 

[rexgame]

With any software you use, you'll still have to keep the database up to date, so you'll still need to connect to the interweb every now and then.

 

[SkipSanders]

One note, do not count on position reports from ACARS, unless you're willing to read them and try to figure them out yourself.

There is no 'standard' for position reports, so some aircraft report in degrees/minutes/seconds, and others report in degrees/fractional degrees... and the software has no way to decide which is being used.

The ACARS decoding software picks one or the other, but there are bound to be aircraft not using the one it picks.

 

[N1SQB]

It doesn't hurt to ask!

I took a chance and asked AirNav about the ability to just purchase the product out right and here is what they replied:

"Hi,

Thanks for your email.

Just pay the intial subscription and cancel and only the online functions are deactivated.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further assistance.

-
Follow AirNav on Twitter: AirNav Systems (AirNavSystems) on Twitter
Join AirNav Systems Forum: Register
-
Air Nav Systems Support
Flight Tracking and Monitoring
http://www.airnavsystems.com"

I will do just that! Just goes to show you that you never know unless you ask...

Manny

 

[thom]

Let us know how that works out.

 

[CalebATC]

I use the Airnav ACARS decoder. I would really like to get the Airnav Suite (Includes SELCAL, ACARS, and a map for position reports. I use the open squelch, because if you don't, you will get "KMIAKM" for the tail number.

A pretty cool thing to do when you don't feel like listening to ATC or Milair.