Armed with this information, you should be able to make a reasonable choice. Remember, that even though so called "portable" units have the advantage of mobility, when used in combination with a desktop computer, they virtually take up no space. Also remember that these units don't possess the electronics to filter out garbled text. You would do well to consider units that suppress data parity errors. To my mind, the perfect ACARS decoder does not exist - if it did, it would incorporate all the unique features of each unit now available.
Another anomaly lies in the fact that no two decoders "see" all the same messages. When operating several decoders simultaneously, messages will be captured by some and not by the others. This fact has been borne out by other sources and should be of no concern as to your choice.
All of the above decoders will perform equally well whether attached to VHF desktop receiver or a good brand-name handheld scanner. The secret is that the squelch circuit must be left completely open at all times.
So, once you've saved the thousands of ACARS messages to your hard disk, now what? Wouldn't it be nice if there was a program that could catalog and index Flight Numbers and Aircraft Registrations, alerting you to new entries, a program that could summarize all the messages of a flight, look up databases and identify the air carrier and aircraft type, as well as determine flight origin and destination? And wouldn't it be nice if this
whole process was user-maintainable? Well such a program does exist for the PC, its called "DACARS" and you don't need Pentium power to run it. At a $15.00 U.S. shareware fee, it's a steal. The sole caveat - it only works with the Lowe Air Master v2/3 and the AEA ACARS units.
KRACARS Shareware decoder V1.02
Made by: KRACARS Reviewer: SB Est price: Free shareware
Environment: P120 Desktop, Win95, with SB32AWE card, and BC350A scanner.
Comments: Somewhere between version 1.0 (initial release) and version 1.02 this product started to get really good ! I received the zipped file, decompressed it, connected the radio to the sound card and off I went decoding substantial numbers of messages. Total elapsed time about 4 minutes.
Although the user interface has changed very little between releases, the rate of clean decodes has increased substantially. I was running the Airmaster and KRACARS on parallel systems, and getting about 60% of the clean decodes that the Airmaster was producing. This is a tremendous boost over prior versions, and considering the cost, makes the product a really viable option. On the BC350A, the squelch was off, and the volume set to about 2/3 maximum.
A little more work needs to be done to improve the sensitivity. Strong signals were decoded easily by both systems, but the Airmaster won when the signals were weak. Adjustments with the input volume may help, but I prefer not having to tweak the system too much to try and compensate for different signal strengths.
KRACARS Shareware decoder V1.0
Made by: KRACARS Reviewer: SB Est price: Free shareware
Environment: P120 Desktop,Win95 with SB32AWE card, and BC350A scanner.
Comments: At first I was really sceptical that a piece of free software was going to decode ACARS through my SoundBlaster ! After a quick installation of the software and reconfiguring my cable from my radio to computer into the in-line jack of my SoundBlaster, I was up and running and watching a few decodes on my screen.
Initially I had a great deal of trouble getting DACARS to decode the messages without error. I found that manipulating the volume control on the radio and the SB card started to improve the rate of clean decodes. Unfortunately, system ultimately was not decoding anywhere near the same number of error free messages as the Lowe Airmaster.
For an intial relase of the software, it a superb start, and the price is really hard to compete with, but if possible, get a later version from the website, there is much improvement in the reception !
Lowe Airmaster 2000
Made by:Lowe Electronics Reviewer: SB Est price: Approx. $50 US for upgrade
Environment: P233mmx Desktop with BC350A scanner, attic mounted discone antennas
Finally a version of the defacto standard Lowe Airmaster has been produced for Windows! Unlike the prior versions that have to be run from a pure DOS environment, this version runs from inside Win3.0 or Win 95. Its even running in the background while this review is being written.
The Lowe Airmaster 3.0 has been the most widely used decoder for ACARS for some time, and in true form, Lowe have raised the bar to produce a solid new decoder. This new version appears to have an even higher sensitivity than has been found in previous versions (about 15% greater than version 3.0). In addition, the 2000 takes full advantage of windows capabilities, allowing the user to manipulate windows to suit their needs and most importantly run other programs while the 2000 runs in the background.
Additional functionality includes an aircraft list window that displays each aircraft as it is decoded. The user can set options to determine the maximum number of aircraft to appear on the window, and when the list is purged or when an aircraft can be dropped off of the list. The aircraft list can be saved for future use. The live data window which shows each decode as it is received unfortunately still limits the number of decodes that can be viewed while the decoder is still running.
When the user chooses which windows to open and how they should be arranged on the screen, the 2000 gives the option to record your favorite configuration, so that it can be recalled at any time. There is one small downside to this. When you go to select favorite window, it is very easy to select record favorite by mistake , and overwrite the previous configuration (there is no "are you sure?" dialog box to prevent accidental overwrite). The best solution for this is to add the /F paramter to the shortcut program name, and the favorite window will come up automatically each time you start the 2000.
Alert capabilities have been greatly improved, including color of alert text manipulation. The number of aircraft that can be identified for alert has been improved from 5 in Version 3.0 to 12 in the 2000. And finally, the sound of the alert beep can be changed to any of the windows defaults and possibly any WAV file (not tried). Also modifiable are the date formats, but unfortunately, the dd/mmm/yyyy option is not compatible with DACARS.
The initial question that came to mind was "how good is the multitasking? Well, I ran the 2000 in the background with the several CD-rom children games with no noticable degredation to the decodes. Initially, I had no problems even running Flight Simulator 98 (although Flightsim got a little jerky), but more recently I and others have noticed that when FS98 and even other games are running, the 2000 stops decoding and requires exiting the 2000 and restarting to get it going again. All of that aside, I have logged on to my isp, gotten my mail, surfed the web and transferred files with no noticeable change in the number of decodes. What affects this is of course the power of the pc that runs the Airmaster 2000.
In a side by side comparison using two Uniden BC350a's, similar mounted antennas, both pc's running Airmaster 2000, here are the results after about an hour of decoding:
| | P233 mmx 64mb mem desktop | 486DX 16mb mem laptop |
| No of messages | 1324 | 1145 |
| No of aircraft | 223 | 209 |
| File size(bytes) | 282733 | 244559 |
Similarly, I ran the 2000 on the P233 and Version 3.0 on the 486 laptop and noted the following statistics:
| | P233 mmx 64mb mem Lowe 2000 | 486DX 16mb mem Lowe V3.0 |
| No of messages | 1068 | 964 |
| No of aircraft | 183 | 168 |
| File size(bytes) | 232431 | 211079 |
Although this could hardly be construed as a scientific comparison, it is evident that while the 2000 runs extremely well on a high speed pentium with a lot of memory, it is not as efficient as the older version 3.0 on lower end PC's.
I have found two bugs in the program to date:
The first has to do with the alert text. If you enter the alert text, let the 2000 decode, and then try and remove the alert, the system will still continue to keep on beeping as it matches the alert text. Two workarounds are to end the decoding session and re-start, or enter a string of text that would never be matched. Not pretty workarounds, but effective.
The second is that the 2000 on some days closes the files at midnight, and re-opens a new file even with the "only one log per day" option turned off. This would not normally be a problem, unless you are using two computers to monitor two different channels. In theory, you could then have two filenames like 10060000.log which would get interesting when you copied the files from one pc to another to run Dacars etc.
Overall, I would highly reccomend the Airmaster 2000 if you have a Pentium with a lot of spare memory. If you have a less powerful PC, you will have to weigh the performance issues vs the increased functionality of the 2000. For the meantime, I will run one system on each, and I will also have a lot of fun finding other features of the 2000 that I haven't explored (including DDE).
A full write up by Tigger on the Lowe 2000 along with screen samples can be found by clicking here
DACARS Decode analyzer ver 2.0(h)
Made by: Bart Beaver Reviewer: SB Est price: Approx. $15 US
Environment: P120 Desktop with BC350A scanner
Comments: For those of you who have wondered how to sort through the thousands of ACARS messages that your system decoded, here's a great solution.
The DACARS software reads through logs generated by the Lowe Airmaster and displays them from summary files containing key information about each aircraft/flight. The file can then be viewed in order of time, registration or flight number. In addition, all messages for a selected flight/registration can be viewed by simply hitting the enter key.
The software allows the user to customize some sort orders, and also allows the user to decide if additional text (.txt) or DBase (.dbf) files should be generated. The .txt files are handy summaries that can either be viewed or printed. The .dbf files are convenient for importing into popular database programs for further analysis. A user maintained file of airline flight numbers is supplies and can be maintained to provide additional information about the departure and arrival cities in the .txt and .dbf files. Similarly, a user maintained aircraft file is also supplied to provide data about the aircraft.
The only downside is that it may take considerable time to analyze large files. As a general rule of thumb, the time to run through a 3 megabyte file is about 9 minutes running in the DOS mode of Windows 95. A little extra performance has been noted by running the program in the pure DOS mode, with the Smartdrv command enabled. I have been able to minimize the window and run other programs concurrently in Win95, with only a slight performance decrease.
Universal ACT-1 Decoder
Made by:Universal Radio Reviewer: RE Est price: $99US
Environment: Apartment based NEC 486 Laptop, Icom R-71 reciever and Austin Spectra mag mount antenna
Comments: The Universal ACT-1 is a portable, dedicated ACARS-only decoder
requiring no external power. The Audio Input Converter hardware consists of
an RS-232-sized 25 pin interface that plugs into a serial port. A cable from the interface terminates in a mini plug which connects to an audio-out source of your scanner/receiver. Another serial device (such as a mouse) may be daisy-chained through the back of the interface. The user-friendly software, run under DOS only, includes full mouse support. The interface must be plugged into your serial port in order to run the program. You can view, filter, print and save incoming messages as well as view, search and print previously logged files. A feature unique to this decoder is its
ability to individually suppress the display of each of the message elements. Another unique feature provides the capability to filter messages for viewing, printing or saving. Each of these filters can be set to monitor one of the three following fields: Address/Registration, Flight Id/Number and Message Text. Up to 16 entries may be defined for each of the three fields and wildcard characters are supported. Only incoming text that does not match your previously defined excluded specifications will
be displayed, printed or saved. Priced at just under $100.00, the ACT-1 is one of the two units in this price range. As with most portable units that lack bad parity blocking, the ACT-1 is prone to garbled message content.
Universal M-400 Decoder
Made by:Universal Radio Reviewer: RE Est price: $399US
Environment: Apartment based NEC 486 Laptop, Icom R-71 reciever and Austin Spectra mag mount antenna
The Universal M-400, the unit that started it all, is a stand-alone desktop decoder (requiring an external power supply) that features several popular digital shortwave modes as well as other VHF pager modes. The M-400 has a unique, two line, 20 character LCD display and an 8,000 character scrollable buffer that allows the user to review previous transmissions. Audio connections to your radio are made through a standard RCA cable. A parallel printer interface is provided on the back of the
unit. For serious monitoring however, it was necessary to keep a printer running at all times. During its first year of use, I generated over 5,000 pages of decoded traffic. With the very future of Canadian forests at stake, I built a "home-brew" parallel to serial interface and ported the messages to my desktop computer. A simpler solution exists today, Universal now also markets the CI-400 Capture Interface which provides an easy and effective connection to a PC-type computer. My Universal M-400/ICOM R-7100 combination continues to remain the benchtop configuration used to evaluate all other contenders. Update: The M-400 has now been replaced by the M-450 WHICH INCLUDES A SERIAL INTERFACE and optional PC controlling software.
As with other Universal decoders capable of ACARS, a copy of the book Understanding ACARS by Ed Flynn is included.
Universal M-1200 Decoder Card
Made by:Universal Radio Reviewer: RE Est price: $399US
Environment: Apartment based , Icom R-71 reciever and Austin Spectra mag mount antenna
The Universal M-1200 Decoder Card is a plug-in circuit board that requires one full size slot in your PC. It offers the same decoding capabilities and modes as the external M-400 unit, except that all data acquisition takes place within the confines of the computer. The M-1200 functions well with most brand name PC clones. Owners of the "El Cheapo" brands would do well to consider another alternative, as computer-generated RFI will seriously impact its decoding abilities.
Universal M-8000 Decoder Card
Made by:Universal Radio Reviewer: RE Est price: $1399
Environment: Apartment based , Icom R-71 reciever and Austin Spectra mag mount antenna
The Universal M-8000v7 desktop decoder is a top-of-the-line digital decoder designed for the serious digital monitoring. Sporting several HF and VHF decoding modes, it is also the most costly decoder featured in this review. In addition to the decoder, you will require a VGA analog color monitor. A parallel printer port also supports laser printers. Audio connections are made through a cable with and RCA male at one and a quarter
inch phone plug at the back of the decoder. A second audio input is available for shortwave radios. Computer Aided Technologies markets a program named "Copy Cat" that permits control of and data capture from the M-8000 from your PC. Although this unit is outstanding for ACARS decoding, obviously no-one purchases it for that reason alone.
Questions or opinions/Suggestions,
e-mail:Steve
