SOFTWARE FOR ACARS RECEPTION

ACARS is short for ' aircraft communications addressing and reporting system ' there nothing special  required for the reception of acars other than a vhf scanner receiver covering the air-bands and your computer and the software, you just need to make a connection from the scanner audio output to the soundcard mic / line input jack.

 ACARS is also used on the H.F bands and is easy to copy, but you will need the PC-HFDL programme. You will also need a decent stable SSB receiver as you need to accurately tune the receiver to within about 100 Hz of the transmission

ACARS can be decoded by MULITPSK (the data from this program can be passed onto plane plotter) VDL 2 can also be decoded using a Raspberry pi

The below programs are available for windows

planeplotter from coaa

multipsk

airnav acars  *

pc-hfdl from charles brain *

sorcerer

Decoding ACARS with a Raspberry pi

VHF ACARS 

ACARSDECO2 - FOR WINDOWS

The program can be downloaded from here  - download for Raspberry pi

ACARSDECO2 for windows download here

Here's a homemade ant, it works quite well

VHF ACARS Frequencies

131.550 mhz	primary channel worldwide
129.125 mhz	additional channel for usa & canada
130.025 mhz	secondary channel for usa and canada
130.425 mhz	additional channel for usa
130.450 mhz	additional channel for usa & canada
131.125 mhz	additional channel for usa
131.450 mhz	primary channel for japan
131.475 mhz	air canada company channel
131.525 mhz	european secondary
131.725 mhz	primary channel in europe
136.700 mhz	additional channel for usa
136.750 mhz	additional channel for usa
136.800 mhz	additional channel for usa
136.900 mhz	european secondary
136.925 mhz	arinc european channel
136.850 mhz	sita north american frequency
136.750 mhz	new european frequency
131.850 mhz	new european frequency

H.F ACARS

H.F ACARS GROUND STATIONS FREQUENCIES

STATIONS		Frequencies in kHz
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
01	San Francisco	21934	17919	13276	112378	10081	8927	6559	5508	4672	2947
02	Molokai,	21937	21928	17934	17919	13324	11348	11312	10027	8936	8912	6565	5538	5529	5514	5463	3900	3019	3001	2947	2878
03	Reykjavik,	17985	15025	11184	8977	6712	5720	3900	3116
04	Riverhead,	21934	21931	17934	17919	13276	11387	8912	6661	5523	3428
05	Auckland,	21949	17916	13351	11327	10084	8921	6535	5583	3404	3016
06	Hat Yai,	21949	17928	13270	10066	8825	6535	5655	4687	3470
07	Shannon,	11384	10081	8942	8843	6532	5547	3455	2998
08	Johannesburg,	21949	13321	8834	4681	3016
09	Barrow,	21937	21928	17934	17919	11354	10093	10027	8936	8928	6646	5544	5529	4687	4654	3497	3007	2992	2944
13	Santa Cruz,	21997	21988	21973	21946	17916	13315	11318	8957	6628	5660	3467	2983
14	Krasnoyarsk, S	13321	10087	2905	2878
15	Al Muharraq,	21982	17967	13354	11312	10075	8885	5544	2986
16	Agana,	17934	17919	13339	13312	13276	11306	11288	8936	8927	8912	6661	6652	6634	6550
17	Telde, Canaries	21955	17928	13303	11348	8948	6529	5589	2905

To decode H.F ACARS you will need the PC-HFDL program, plus a good stable H.F. receiver capable of turning to within about 100 Hz of the transmission. The PC-HFDL program will also interface with plane plotter

Numbers showing instead of frequencies? See my note here

Plotting aircraft in contact with canaries ( plotted using COAA plane plotter )  - the Canary islands on 11.348 MHz and 17.928 MHz are quite busy busy

If your Target receiver signal 'jumps' around and basically has become un-usable for decoding even RTTY and H.F ACARS is absolutely impossible, before you  bin it or start to get to involved in trying to fix it, the first thing to do is pull out the 'clarifier' 3 pin connector, clean it and reseat it, maybe it will be fixed with just doing this

 If this does not fix the problem, you could re-solder the connections to the 3 pin connector on the main PCB and replace the clarifier control itself after that check voltages are stable and  maybe replace D3 ,but as its a real old model maybe at this stage do the below and except the limitations or bin the receiver. Down load the receiver diagram by clicking on the receiver picture above

One sure way of getting the receiver stable again  is to disconnect the 3 pin connector completely, the clarifier control is now redundant  and your receiver will now tune in 1 Khz steps. The receiver was never really suitable for receiving C.W and whereas I have successfully used it for  decoding H.F ACARS it was very fiddly to tune the signal in, but it will now be  totally ok for decoding RTTY and FAX signals using a program like FLDIGI. However resolving SSB will also become a problem and maybe some A.M stations, maybe its time to buy a new receiver ?

VOLMET FREQUENCIES

( WEATHER FORECASTS FOR AIRCRAFT )

SHANNON VOLMET	3.413 MHZ	5.505 MHZ	8.957  MHZ	13.264  MHZ
RAF VOLMET	5.450 MHZ	11.253 MHZ
ARCHITECT	4.540 MHZ	4.742 MHZ	5.714 MHZ	6.739 MHZ
ARCHITECT	8.190 MHZ	9.031 MHZ	11.205 MHZ	13.257 MHZ
ARCHITECT	15.031 MHZ	18.018 MHZ
NEW YORK	3.485 MHZ	6.604 MHZ	10.051 MHZ	13.270 MHZ
UN-ASSIGNED	2.998  MHZ	6.580 MHZ	11.378 MHZ

---

H.F AIRLINE COMPANY R/T FREQUENCIES

3007  3010  3013  3494  3497  4654  4687   5529  5532  5535  5538  5541  5544  6637  6640 6643  6646  8921  8924  8927  8930  8933  8936   10027  10030  10033  10069  10072  10075  10078   11342  11345  11348  11351  11354  13324  13327   13330  13333  13336  13339  13342  13345  13348   13351  17916  17919  17922  17925  17928  17931   17934  17937  17940  21940  21943  21946  21949   21952  21955  21958  21961  21964  21967  21970   21973  21976  21979  21982  21985  21988  21994   21997 KHZ

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL FOR THE ATLANTIC ETC

SANTA MARIA	8.825 MHZ
SANTA MARIA	11.336 MHZ
SANTA MARIA	13.354 MHZ
NORTH ATLANTIC	6.628 MHZ
NORTH ATLANTIC	8.831 MHZ
NORTH ATLANTIC	8.891 MHZ
NORTH ATLANTIC	11.309 MHZ
NORTH ATLANTIC	13.306 MHZ
NORTH ATLANTIC	13.291 MHZ
NORTH ATLANTIC	17.946 MHZ
LUTON / BRITANNIA	5.610 MHZ
EUROPE	5.661 MHZ
EUROPE	17.961 MHZ
S.AMERICA	17.907 MHZ
SHANWICK	4.675 MHZ
SHANWICK	5.616 MHZ
SHANWICK	5.598 MHZ
SHANWICK	5.649 MHZ
SHANWICK	6.622 MHZ
SHANWICK	8.864 MHZ
SHANWICK	8.879 MHZ
SHANWICK	8.906 MHZ
SHANWICK	11.279 MHZ

These frequencies can be quite busy at times - you will hear aircraft as well as the ground station