BCD996XT ACARS and Discriminator Output

[gonzalu]

Hello all,

I can't recall if I already posted a question on this or not but I can't find it in "My Threads" so here it goes (possibly again)

I want to use the BCD996XT to decode ACARS. While I know the baud rate is usually slow enough for straight sound card via audio out. But I am used to doing it with ACARS in a more reliable way.

So I read the BCD996XT has "technically" discriminator out via a pin on the serial line/cable and it is used primarily for control channel out for further analysis via UniTrunker etc.

My questions are:

--Is this a typical data slicer output on that port?
--Is it Discriminator out?
--If not, is there a mod I have to make physically like I did on my old radios?
--If so, where can find good detailed instructions to do so on my BCD996XT?

Thanks all for your help.

 

[SCPD]

ACARS is AM while discriminator audio is FM. They aren't compatible. The '996XT does not provide discriminator audio. The CC output feature passes decoded information over the serial port for a few trunking protocols. The '996XT doesn't understand ACARS so it can't help with ACARS decoding.

You can use speaker / headphone audio to decode ACARS.

 

[gonzalu]

Thanks for the info I guess since I use the tap on my Radio Shack scanner for other decoding, I was also thinking ACARS would benefit from it, never thought about AM vs FM

Cheers!