ACARS Queries

[bearcat]

You maybe able to scan 2  frequencies provided that your scanner does not have too much of a delay after a message has been received. My Yupiteru has a built in delay of a second or two, but my good old Sony Air 7 hasn't and scans 2 fequencies quite well.

I have used

131.725
131.525
131.850
136.750

All european frequencies

Stewart

[GlynH]

I'm surprised that you are able to scan two different frequencies for ACARS information as I would have thought the chances of having the leading edge of the transmission clipped by the scanner only pausing on a channel when it actually hears a signal would be quite high?

Does this not cause an issue on your scanner Stewart?

I haven't tried this on my WinRadio but I would expect the scanner to pause only when the signal was already present which by definition would mean it had missed the first part of the ACARS transmission?

I have the AirNav ACARS Decoder that feeds nicely into RB2009 but the WinRadio Advanced Digital Suite  also comes with its own ACARS decoder (and a host of other indespensible plug-ins) which I have to say works better than the AirNav version which has always been a bit hit & miss for me...no pictures or RB2009 integration though...:-(

I would recommend picking one of your countries listed frequencies, listening for the short data bursts to ensure you have activity on that channel (maybe comparing that to an alternative listed frequency to find which has the most & clearest traffic) before setting your scanner on the busiest frequency and just leave it there.

Regards,
-=Glyn=-

[cruiser01]

Thank you very much. More or less now I'm getting to understand what I must to do and how I can do it. Can you reccomend pls some good receiver but no expensive? At the moment I'm unable to put the antenna outside on the roof... I have available only my terrace... maybe in the future when I change home...
if I use the portable scan receiver with the external antenna should be ok or not?
Tnks for your help and ciao

[cruiser01]

Hi Nortonbeak,

tnks for your answer.
Pls can you give me more details about your ICOM PCR1000?
I saw through the internet, it's an receiver interfaced with the p.c. connected with the usb cable like the radar box? Can you confirm it? Anyway, If I buy this kind of receiver I'm also able to receive the voice frequencies like a normal air band receiver? How is the sensitivity, the signal gain? Which antenna expected for this receiver? BNC connectors or something else...
Tnks again for your help and suggestions
Bye

[bearcat]

Hi Glyn

Sorry for the late reply, been at Fairford this weekend. Yes you are correct about clipped messages where there is a delay and thats where I find the Sony, scanning 2 frequencies, is better than the Yupiteru as is does not have a built in delay, although one can be selected if required.

With my ACARS only set up I have received 6250 messages, 972 flights and 570 aircraft based near EGNM using another decoder.

Regards

Stewart

[bearcat]

Sorry sould have said a delay after a message is received.

Stewart

[malc41]

cruiser01

What info are you after with reference to the PCR1000, i wasn't sure if you can still buy them?

[GlynH]

There are quite a few that pop up on eBay but the current models are the IC-PCR1500 and its bigger brother the twin tuner IC-PCR2500

There are also two models that come with remote heads that are known as IC-R1500 & IC-R2500 respectively.

I was going to get one until I discovered the advantages of the WinRadio but these are more expensive than the Icom ones...bloody good though!

Just Google Icom PCR1000 - there are many, many resources out there that will tell you all you need to know and then some.

Just remember this has been obsolete for some time now and was replaced by the IC-PCR1500.

And it doesn't have to be an expensive scanner either - a cheap receiver as long as it has Air Band (118-138MHz AM generally or @ 131-137MHz AM specifically) you can connect the audio output from the radio to the soundcard line or mic in and using AirNav ACARS decoder you can get the info appear directly in the ANRB software.

The ANAD can be fussy as to which sound card you use but any 3rd party program ought to decode the transmission bursts albeit not appear within the main RadarBox 2009 software.

AirNav - if you are listening I don't suppose it would it be possible to incorporate some sort of 'hook' so I could drive the ANRB ACARS tab of RadarBox 2009 directly from my WinRadio?

Unlikely as you would be spending time & resources on a feature which could impact sales of your own ACARS decoder but I had to ask...:-)

It might also be a good idea if you were able to display the number of Messages / Number of Flights that ACARS Decoder receives directly in the ANRB 2009 ACARS window and the ACARS tab - this information does already appear in ANAD anyway...

Actually while I'm at it the whole ANAD program could do with an update but not until ANRB v3 is finalised please! ;^)

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[malc41]

Yes have one myself, but it gathers more dust now than time being listened to.

[GlynH]

Yes have one myself, but it gathers more dust now than time being listened to.

Hi Malc,

What...PCR1000, 1500, 2500 or WinRadio?

Just curious...

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[John Racars]

I have used

131.725
131.525
131.850
136.750

All european frequencies

Hi All,

I did the same for years with my "good-old" Yupiteru 7400.

For a short while I runned (AirNav) ACARS 2.0 in combination with Radarbox succesfully; after reading this topic I am seriously consider to re-install my ACARS-configuration in the short term.

[malc41]

Glyn

sorry about that a PCR1000 :-0

[GlynH]

Glyn

sorry about that a PCR1000 :-0

No worries...reading about the PCR-1000 was what got me interested in computer controlled receivers in the first instance...

I was all set to get the PCR-1500 or maybe a 2500 with twin tuners as I could have left one tuner set to ACARS and still used it to monitor anything else.

Having seen and played with the WinRadio though I went with that.

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[GlynH]

First screenshot showing ANAD integration in the MyFlights window.

For each aircraft that receives a decoded transmission the ACARS logo appears in the left hand column.

Regards,
-=Glyn=-

[attachment deleted by admin]

[GlynH]

Second screenshot showing the ACARS tab in ANRB2009 showing details of decoded transmissions

Regards,
-=Glyn=-

[attachment deleted by admin]