Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS)

Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS)

Frequencies	129 MHz,137 MHz
Frequency Range	129 MHz - 137 MHz
Mode	AM
Modulation	MSK
ACF	—
Emission Designator	—
Bandwidth	5 kHz
Location	Worldwide
Short Description	Short messages sent to and from aircraft
I/Q Raw Recording	Download file
Audio Sample

In aviation, ACARS (/ˈeɪkɑːrz/; an acronym for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) is a digital datalink system for transmission of short messages between aircraft and ground stations via airband radio or satellite. The protocol was designed by ARINC and deployed in 1978, using the Telex format. More ACARS radio stations were added subsequently by SITA.

Samples

Direct Samples

Frequencies

ACARS Frequencies

Frequency	Location
129.125 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	USA and Canada Additional
129.525 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	Unknown
130.025 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	USA and Canada Secondary
130.425 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	USA Additional
130.450 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	USA and Canada Additional
131.125 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	USA Additional
131.450 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	Japan Primary
131.475 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	Air Canada Company Channel
131.525 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	European Secondary
131.550 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	World Primary
131.725 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	Europe Primary
131.850 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	New European Channel
136.700 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	USA Additional
136.750 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	USA Additional
136.800 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	USA Additional
136.850 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	SITA North America
131.550 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	SITA Australia & NZ
131.450 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz	ARINC Australia & NZ

Decoding Software

Hobby Level Software

• ACARSdec
• ACARS Pad For Iphone, Ipad or IPod Touch
• acarsd
• Airnav
• Black Cat ACARS
• KG-ACARS
• MultiMode (MAC systems)
• MultiPSK
• PDW
• The most recent version of PC-HFDL can be found in the HFDL subgroup of the ACARS VDL2 JAERO and HFDL (Subgroup) reflector on groups.io
• PlanePlotter
• rtl_acars_ng
• SkySpy
• Sorcerer
• Winradio Digital Suite
• Winradio Advanced Digital Suite

Professional Software

• Hoka Code 300-32
• go2DECODE
• go2MONITOR
• Rohde&Schwarz CA100

Decoding Tutorials

• Decoding ACARS with an RTL-SDR

Antennas

ACARS is vertically polarized.

Video Examples

• RTL SDR ACARS
• ACARS Decoding with RTL SDR (RTL2832), SDR Sharp and ACARSD

Additional Links

• RadioRaft ACARS-VHF
• Addressing Acars, Digital Digest, Monitoring Times. September 1998 (pg. 33)
• shoc Database: ACARS
• WAVECOM Database: ACARS
• Wikipedia ACARS
• RadioScanner.RU ACARS VHF

Additional Images