Tagged: aviation

Frugal Radio: Decoding ACARS on VHF with your SDR Radio

Rob from Frugal Radio has recently uploaded episode five in his YouTube series on Aviation monitoring. This episode covers VHF ACARS decoding with an RTL-SDR. ACARS is an acronym for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System and is a short text based wireless communications system used by aircraft when communicating with ground stations.

In the video Rob overviews the frequencies that ACARS is transmitted on in various regions of the world and what equipment you need to decode ACARS. He goes on to explain in depth what some typical data messages that you might receive are including D-ATIS/WX Reports, Pre Departure Clearance, Loadsheets, OOOI, Aircraft performance telemetry, ATC/Oceanic Clearances and arrival airport and parking gate information. Finally he shows various ACARS software decoders that can be used including ACARSDEC, Black Cat ACARS and ACARSDECO2.

Decoding ACARS on VHF with your SDR Radio - Monitoring Aviation Communications Ep 5

Frugal Radio: Monitoring Aviation Communications Part One

Rob from Frugal Radio has recently started a new YouTube series all about monitoring aviation communications. In his first video Rob gives an overview on what can be aviation signals can monitored and recommends a few hardware scanners as well as software defined radios for monitoring.

This is an introductory video to my new series aimed about monitoring aviation communications. Throughout the series we will talk about:

  • Civil Airband (aka VHF airband)
  • Military Airband (aka UHF airband)
  • HF Aeronautical communications
  • Decoding aircraft data on HF and VHF
  • Decoding CPDLC transmissions and much more!
  • Good frequency scanners to use, like the Uniden BC125AT and BCT-15X
  • Recommended Software Defined Radios (SDR)
Monitoring Aviation Communications - Part 1