acars

[oldun666]

hi folk's being new to the rb, could anybody tell me what i have to do to recieve acars, i have the lead from comp to scanner and someone told me to d/load www.zorg.org which i have and downloaded the preface but when i click on monitor  acars or pager, nothing happens do i need anything else ie software could somebody please tell me  what to do in simple terms that a 62 yr old brain can understand,  thank's all    jeff. 

[John Racars]

could anybody tell me what i have to do to recieve acars

Hi Jeff,

1. you should install ACARS-decoding software on your PC;
2. you should connect a scanner on an (outside) antenna and your PC;
3. make sure that software and scanner work together;
4. you should tune your scanner on one of (or all) frequencies mentioned in my signature below (when you are situated in Europe)

If you did as I described above you should recieve ACARS.

Hope this helps.

[nortonbeak]

There have been a number of free programs available to decode ACARS available on t'net. The sites seem to have slowly disappeared.
The only one I can readily find is for ACARSD and is

http://www.acarsd.org/download.html

Of course, AirNav have their own ACARS decoding program and details are at

http://www.airnavsystems.com/ACARS/index.html

[Jeremy]

Is that ACARS data translated into an aircraft position on the RB screen or does it remain as strings of data?
J.

[John Racars]

Is that ACARS data translated into an aircraft position on the RB screen

Hi Jeremy,

No that is not. ACARS is a way of communication between an aircraft and ground. It will be used for sending all kind of reports and messages like weatherinformation, clearances, failures/defects, flightplans, engineeringdata etc.

Below an ACARS-massage showing the next waypoint in the flightplan of this a/c that is actually enroute from Manchester to Doha in Dutch airspace:

ACARS mode: E  Aircraft reg: .A7-ACH [A332]
Message label: 16  Block id: 7  Msg. no: M57A
Flight id: QR0042 [EGCC-OTBD]
Message content:-
ARNEM  ,N 52.366,E  4.488,35793,271
-------------------------------------[28-08-2009 11:43]

[pjm]

Below an ACARS-massage showing the next waypoint in the flightplan of this a/c:

What does this one mean?

ACARS mode: S  Aircraft reg: VH-EBE  [ ]
 Message label: 87 [Aircrew addressed downlink]  Block id: 7  Msg no: M37A
 Flight id: JQ0037  [SYD-DPS]  [JetStar Airways]
 Message content:-
 JST37 OUT 0741 OFF 0759
ETA 1405. DElAY DUE NOTUG DRIVER
 ----------------------------------------------------------[ 28/08/2009 18:08 ]

[John Racars]

Aircraft has delay due to "NOTUG DRIVER". Sorry, I do not know yet what that means...

[RodBearden]

I presume it means that they can't get a pushback from the stand because the tug driver hasn't turned up. Bet they wish they were a turboprop with reverse pitch!

Rod

[John Racars]

I presume it means that they can't get a pushback from the stand because the tug driver hasn't turned up.

Hi Rod, thank you!

Sounds verry plausible to me.

[oldun666]

thanks for the info folks ive tried to d/load acars etc but to no avail my comp dosn't want to play, must be vista playing up.

[nortonbeak]

thanks for the info folks ive tried to d/load acars etc but to no avail

Which version of ACARS have you tried?

[oldun666]

hi there the one somebody told me about and which ive tried is www.nathan.chantrell.net  thanks jeff

[DougV]

Hi Jeff.

I used the old WACARS programme a long time ago and it worked fairly well.
You can still get it from here but I don't think it is supported any more.

It may be OK for you as a start.

Doug

[John Racars]

but I don't think it is supported any more.

It was never...........

But with me it was always working OK as I can remember. I am not sure this software works together with the PC soundcard; if that is not so indeed, the use of an ACARS-decoder (p.e. Lowe Electronics) is necessary!

[DougV]

Yes it does work with sound card input.
Not the best prog in the world but functional.

I have also used ACARSD and AirNav's too.
Just getting back into things after some time concentrating on other things.

:)