Acars Frequencies

[acarslogger]

Hi all,

For all those still interested in acars, it appears that here in SE England that frequency 136.750MHz is no longer used for conventional acars transmissions.

This leaves 3 frequencies; 131.525, 131.725 and 131.825MHz.

Although there appears to be a decline in conventional acars transmissions, there has been a considerable increase in VDL2 digital transmissions which also include acars messages.
Here in SE England there are now 3 VDL2 frequencies - 136.725, 136.875 and 136.975MHz.

Stuart

[charliebrown]

Hi Stuart,

Can the Kinetic SDR Puck receive and translate these VDL2 digital transmissions ?

As you can tell from my question, I'm not very savvy about ACARS, etc.


Charlie

[acarslogger]

Hi Charlie,

I haven't got an SDR Puck, but the SBS-3, and I assume the SDR Puck, can only decode the conventional analogue acars transmissions on 131.525, 131.725 and 131.825MHz. The output is displayed via the Basestation AcarsWindow and also is available on a TCP/IP port.

The digital VDL2 transmissions can NOT be decoded directly by either the SBS-3 nor the SDR Puck.
I have suggested to Kinetic / Chris Taylor on a number of occasions, going back to May 2012, the possibility of decoding VDL2, but alas nothing has happened.

It could be that Kinetic believe that enhancing the SBS-3 and SDR Puck firmware / software doesn't increase financial profit.

Can the Kinetic SDR Puck receive and translate these VDL2 digital transmissions ?

But you can use the IQ Data feed from the SBS-3 (and SDR Puck?) as a digital source to feed SDRSharp and then VDL2 decoding software (MultiPSK) [not free]. It's not straightforward.

Regards
Stuart

[charliebrown]

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for that.

I think I'll just leave SDRSharp, etc alone for now.

Regards,

Charlie