U.S.A. ACARS Decoder Help.

[screamin72]

I am having a hard time finding a good freeware for USA ACARS decoding mapping but I do not want to go through AirNav ACARS Decoder I had it before it won't decode right. Just Partial decodes. I hear alot of ACARS fsk data tones come though the speakers it just doesnt do all of them. I heard some freeware ones do a better job. I tried WACARS but thats UK and ACARSD is out of date badly. Anyone please tell me where a up to date ACARS freeware software is and provide a tutorial for me please. Thanks

 

[SCPD]

If AirNav isn't working right, I doubt any of them will. How are you connecting the radio to the computer? Volume levels are important for good decodes.

Sorcerer has ACARS, so does MultiPSK (but only for 5 minutes unless you buy the pro version), PlanePlotter (trial version), PDW is free, but doesn't submit reports to online sites. You do have choices, but if you're expecting free, those choices are limited.

Sorcerer
MultiPSK
PlanePlotter
PDW


If not ACARS, perhaps you should consider one of the other airplane modes; ADS-B, HFDL, or VDL2.
(samples of all on my my YOUTUBE page.

 

[screamin72]

PlanPlotter doesn't miss packets like AirNav ACARS does. Also I can live with 21 days trial. Airnav limits 30 minutes of use then you have to restert it expires in 30 days Then a 6 month subscription is needed. I tried that Japanese freebie. I couldn't read the options because all lables had "???" made it useless on a English OS.

 

[open-sky]

ACARS -decoding

Hi!

One of the best program to Decoding ACARS is the KG-ACARS Freeware,it is a Little difficult to setting up ,but if you have done it, you have a great program

best regards
Gerhard
you can send a pm to me if you want to see some screenshots

 

[DaveNF2G]

I'm not sure what the OP means by "out of date." The user must maintain the aircraft, flight and airport data on their own computer.

PlanePlotter is no longer able to decode ACARS correctly for some reason. It displays text characters in the lat/long columns (except very occasionally, when a position will actually plot on the chart). When ACARS decode is running, aircraft being detected via ACARS and Mode-S start splitting into multiple chart plots and are listed multiple times on the Aircraft screen. The bugs have been reported, but...

 

[screamin72]

I'm not sure what the OP means by "out of date." The user must maintain the aircraft, flight and airport data on their own computer.

PlanePlotter is no longer able to decode ACARS correctly for some reason. It displays text characters in the lat/long columns (except very occasionally, when a position will actually plot on the chart). When ACARS decode is running, aircraft being detected via ACARS and Mode-S start splitting into multiple chart plots and are listed multiple times on the Aircraft screen. The bugs have been reported, but...

It has been said that those characters are meant for aircraft systems. ACARS works through the FMC (BOEING) FMCDU (AIRBUS etc). A good percentage odf what you see is not meant to be read by humans. They do change the ACARS code as well. It is considered a security thing.

What I meant is ACARS code changes with updates to the code. They have to keep up with the FAA's security standards."They" being Honeywell or whover maintains the code.. The developer of some ACARS decoders either do not know it , no time to update it, or lost interest. Whatever the case may be.

To help support my statement a quote from a off site source from ExpressJet:

I’m in the technical support/maintenance side of things here at XJT, and responsible for updating the ACARS software. I am sure you are aware of the increase in ACARS MELS, and that is the reason why I’m posting this here. I’d like some input on some of the problems we’re experiencing.

The problems seem to have started when we launched the Aerodata software a year ago. When we changed the software to support the Aerodata we also updated the Core software of the ACARS computer to take care of some of the other issues we were having with the system. This Core software is designed by Honeywell, and the Areodata (AMI) software is designed by us.

The two major issues that we’re having with the system is with the ACARS “Freezing” and the “NO COMM” I’d like some insight of when this happens, and maybe your thoughts on why this happens.
For example, do you think it happens during a busy bank, maybe on morning start up, or during electrical power transients. Honeywell is sending out some Engineers on the 21st to help resolve our problems, but at the moment we have little information to go on.

Your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

And an FYI, If you happen to run into one of these issues, a power reset usually will fix the problem.

PlanePlotter works good.

 

[jazzbassNick]

I use to use Winsend or ACARSD (both are from the same dev).