DACARS 2.1
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If you're using an other decoder than Lowe Airmaster 2.0 please read
section 11 carefully!
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             *** Please read section 2.2 on file handles ***
                  (differs from previous versions!)
________________________________________________________________________

Dacars 2.1 needs 27 file handles, read 

0.0 What's new in version 2.1

- auto update flight route database
- searchable ICAO 4 letter location identifier database <F8>
- some bugfixes (aircraft flying for different companies are now updated
  in the allheard file correctly)


0.0 What's new in version 2.0(i)

Solved the 'directory does not exist' problem

0.0 What's new in version 2.0(h)

Solved the problem which caused not all messages to be shown with different
registrations for the same flighnumber (GS0001 for example)


0.0 What's new in version 2.0(g)

- Nick Birrels (birreln@cliffy.polaroid.com) AIRCRAFT.DBF is added. This
  new file contains more than 10.000 entries.

0.1 What's new in version 2.0(f)

- <F1> configuration             (section 5.7)
- <F4> view detailed information (section 5.6)
- <F5> edit aircraft database    (section 5.5)
- <F6> edit company database     (     "     )
- <F7> edit flightroute database (     "     )
- <F9> view 'All Flights' file   (section 5.4)

- create output extended with flight and aircraft information
- choose for 2 or 3 letter codes in output files
- <Alt-S> in any database: search on sorted field
- several (minor and major) bugfixes
______________________________________________________________________________

0.2 What's new in version 1.1

- View messages (section 5.4, section 4)
______________________________________________________________________________

1. General

Welcome to DACARS 2.0! With this program it's possible to analyze the
*.LOG files produced by the Lowe Airmaster system. The logfiles produced
by this system are plain textfiles, most of the time too large to be
easily handled. DACARS converts these *.LOG files to a database format. In
this version three new databases are included to give detailed information
on aircraft-types, companies and flight routes.

1.1 Files

The following 21 files should be on your installation disk or in the
archive file: 

ACARS    DBF
ACARS    DBT
ACARSALL DBF
AC_FLIGH NTX         
AC_REG   NTX
AIRCRAFT DBF
AIRC_REG NTX
AIRPORTS.DBF
ALLFLIGH DBF
ALLFLIGH NTX
ALL_COMP NTX
ALL_REG  NTX
COUNTER  NTX
DACARS   CFG
DACARS   EXE
DACARS   TXT
DEMO     LOG
DEMO_3   LOG
FLIGHT   DBF
FLIGH_NR NTX
IATA     DBF
IATA_ACA NTX
ICAO     NTX
LOCATION DBF
LOCATION NTX

If one of these files is missing please contact the author! - see
"6.3 (Contacting) The author" -

2. System requirements

IBM compatible PC
MS-DOS 2.1 or higher
abt 200 Kb free disk space
abt 400 Kb free memory
Lowe Airmaster 2.0 or 3.0 or the AEA ACARS software package (without that
there will not be much to analyze) 

In short: DACARS will run on almost any PC.

2.1 Smartdrive

DACARS is a program analyzing large files. To smoothen the proces of
reading files from disk it's advised to have DOS SMARTDRIVE running, by
putting the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT:

C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE

By this the program will run much faster.

2.2 Filehandles

DACARS 2.0 will use more files than earlier versions. To coop with more
files you'll have to do the following two things:

- make sure you have at least 27 filehandles available. Do this by editing
  the line "FILES=##" in your CONFIG.SYS to

  FILES=27      (or higher)

- create an environment variable 'CLIPPER' with the value 'F27'. Do this
  by adding the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT:

  SET CLIPPER=F27

When there are not enough file handles DACARS will give an errormessage,
"Cannot open file". When you still can't run DACARS with this number of
files you propably have some resident program loaded using file handles.
Try to raise the figure 27 with steps of 5 and try. Re-boot your PC to
activate the settings!!!

3. Features

3.1 View a *.LOG file

This is the first thing you'll do most of the time: had the ACARS decoding
software turned on for some time and eager to know if you catched any
interesting stuff. Aircraft heard for the first time are marked '*'. All
different registrations and flightnumbers will be shown. It's possible to
sort this file on registration or company, or leave it unsorted - in other
words view the flights in the order they were logged.

3.2 View the 'all heard' and 'all flights' file <F10> <F9>

DACARS keeps track of all registrations and flights you hear. With this
option you can see all flights you've ever logged on ACARS, complete with
a first- and last-noted date. It's possible to sort this file on
registration or company. The all flights option shows a counter for each
flight. This counter represents the number of days a flight is heard. For
most flights this is the same as the number of times a flight is heard,
for some flights, such as 'GS0001' or 'AA0000' it is not.

3.3 Output

3.3.1 dBASE III+

Whenever a *.LOG file is viewed for the first time a *.DBF file is
created. This file contains the same information displayed on screen while
viewing. The name of this dBASE III+ file is the same as that of the *.LOG
file, except for the extension, which is now *.DBF. When leaving the
program another *.DBF file is created/updated: ACARSALL.DBF. This file
contains all information as seen when viewing the 'all heard' file.
Most modern database and spreadsheet programs are able to import a *.DBF
file.

3.3.2 ASCII

The above but now for ASCII files, extension *.TXT. Can be used for most
databases and spreadsheets as well, an ASCII file is easy to import in any
wordprocessor or e-mail program.

4. Description of internal operation

The chosen *.LOG file is read record after record. When a new record is
read the program does the following:

- It checks the flight number and registration for invalid characters. The
  only characters valid are:

                       0123456789-ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

  In other words, all numbers, capital characters and the dash. If a
  non-valid character is found the whole record is considered to be
  unreliable and the program skips to the next record. Since version 2.0
  the 'space' can be configured to be a valid character (section 5.7,
  configuration) 

- It checks if the registration and flightnumber were noted before in this
  logfile. If so the program skips to the next record. When a registration
  allready logged is logged again with another flightnumber it will be
  treated as a new flight, same goes the other way around.

- When a new flight - that is not logged before in this file - shows up a
  new record is created in the *.DBF file with the relevant info for this
  flight

- the program checks the 'all heard' database. If a registration
  and company are logged before the last noted date will be updated.

- If the registration and company are not in the 'all heard' file the
  program will add a new record to this file, first and last-noted dates
  will be the same. Also a asterisk (*) will be put after the registration
  in the *.DBF file, so the aircraft logged for the first time can be
  easily spotted when viewing a logfile.

- Next DACARS will repeat the above procedure with the flightnumber. The
  'All Flights' database will be updated, asterisks will be placed on
  first heard flightnumbers.

- It takes a look at the messagenumber. If the messagenumber is
  the same as in the last message for this flight the message will be
  ignored. If it's a different message number the message content will be
  copied to the *.DBT file, which can be viewed by pressing <Enter> on a
  flight (section 5.4) The DBT file will contain only unique messages per
  flight-id.

- If the auto update routes function is set to 'Y' (section 5.7.6), dacars
  will look up the company in the message definition table (section
  5.8). If the company is found the first characters of the content field
  are compared with the message types. If the content field is a known
  message type the flightnumber will be looked up in the flight route
  database, if found the 'from' column will be replaced by the departure
  airport and the 'to' column will be replaced by the destination
  airport. The airportnames are extracted from the airport database
  (F8).

- When leaving the program the output files will be created.

5. Operation

5.1 Installation

Copy all files on the installation disk or from the archive file your
dacars directory, e.g.


 C:\DACARS\ 

5.2 Basics

Start the program by typing:

DACARS <Enter>

In DOS. The screen will turn blue, on the left a list of logfiles is
displayed. Options:

- choose a logfile by moving the white cursor to the file you want to
  view, then press <Enter>. Files are sorted in reverse: the most recent on
  top. Files allready viewed are marked, unviewed files are not (see "5.3
  options"). While processing the file the following information is shown:

  ACARS-file         the name of the logfile being processed
  Done (%)           the percentage of the file that is processed
  Messages           the number of messages read
  Different flights  the number of different flights found
  First regs         the number of 'first noted' registrations
  First flights      the number of 'first noted' flightnumbers

- <F1>  enter the configuration menu
- <F5>  edit the aircraft database
- <F6>  edit the company database
- <F7>  edit the flightroutes database
- <F8>  edit the ICAO database
- <F9>  view the 'all flights' file
- <F10> view the 'all heard' file
- <F11> define message types

All database options support the following keys:

<down arrow>        move cursor one record forward
<up arrow>          move cursor one record backward
<page down>         move cursor to end of (next) page
<page up>           move cursor to beginning of (former) page
<ctrl page down>    move cursor to end of file
<ctrl page up>      move cursor to beginning of file
<any charachter>    move cursor to first record with key-field beginning
                    with given charachter. See "5.2 Advanced".
<delete>            delete current record. Only available in "view 'all
                    heard' file", to remove obvious invalid entries, not
                    filtered out by the program. DACARS will ask
                    for confirmation before deleting the record.
<alt-s>             search for a certain value in the key-field

5.3 Sort

It's possible to sort the files on screen.

<F1>                unsorted (only available in "view a logfile")
<F2>                sort on registration (flightnumber in 'all flights')
<F3>                sort on company      (counter in 'all flights')

Whenever a file is sorted, character keys can be used to move the cursor.
Example: when the database is sorted on company, pressing <k> will move
the cursor to the first record of which the company (key-field) begins
with a "K", "KL" for example. If no record is found beginning with the
right key, you'll hear a beep, cursor stays in position. Pressing <Alt-s>
will popup an inputscreen where you can enter a value to search for. This
option won't work in the 'all flights' screen when sorted on 'counter'.

5.4 View messages

<Enter>             view all unique messages for the highlighted flight

By pressing <Enter> all unique messages will be shown for the flight which
is highlighted. You can move around the messages with the same keys as
used for moving around the database. Note: a message is considered unique
when the message-number for the preceeding message from that flight is
different from the current message nr. When two messages are repeated one
after the other they will all be unique for DACARS. Another point: when a
read error occured reading a message, and the same message is reveived
again with the same messagenumber only the first message will be shown.

5.4.1

The messages for a flight can be printed by pressing <P>. The printer must
be connected to printerport LPT1. When no printer is attached, or the
printer is off-line an error message will appear.

5.4.2

The messages can be saved by pressing <S>. The filename for a saved log
will be the registration, extension is 'TXT'. For example when you save the
messages for British Airways Boeing 777 G-ZZZC a file named 'G-ZZZC.TXT'
will be created. When a filename exists (messages for this registration
were saved before) the extension will be '001' '002' etc. The next
filenames for this flight will be 'G-ZZZC.001', 'G-ZZZC.002' etc.

5.5 Databases

DACARS 2.0 comes with 3 databases: aircraft, companies, flightroutes and
ICAO codes. The flight route database was compiled originally by Hans 
Wildschut, the aircraft database is compiled by Nick Birrel, the ICAO
database is compiled by Markus Buttinger.
These database are used to compile the screen with detailed information
on individual flights. The databases can be entered from the first screen
or when a logfile is processed.

<F5> Aircraft
<F6> Company
<F7> Flightroutes
<F8> ICAO codes

When one of these databases is entered from a processed logfile DACARS
tries to find the value on which the cursor was positioned. For example
when on the record for BA0017 in a logfile, pressing <F6> will enter the
company database, cursor on BA0017. When the value is not found you will
be prompted to either enter a new record in the database or not to.

Active keys in the databases:

<Ins>        add a new record
<Del>        delete a record
<Enter>      edit the active record
<Alt-s>      search for a record

Note: when pressing <Ins> a new (empty) record is produced immediately. If
you decide to cancel the operation by pressing <Esc> don't forget to
delete the empty record!

5.6 Detailed information <F4>

When in a processed *.LOG file it's possible to view a screen with
detailed flight, aircraft and company information by pressing <F4>. This
screen is compiled with the data from the three databases mentioned above.
This screen can be either printed or saved to disk, the same way as the
messages are printed or saved (section 5.4.1/2).

5.7 Configuration <F1>

From the initial screen you can enter the configuration menu by pressing
<F1>. In this screen you can enter several parameters, like what kind of
output to create, paths and turn off the 'Beep'. Important:

5.7.1 Directories

It's possible to use DACARS in a different directory than your ACARS\LOG
directory. If you want to do this, fill in the directory for the *.LOG
files in the configuration screen. When you change the directory for the
*.LOG files the program will quit, you have to restart to activate this
new directory setting.

5.7.2 Create extended output, use 3 letter codes

It's now possible to create two output filetypes (both *.TXT and *.LOG):
the 'normal', showing only the basic data received on ACARS, and an
extended output, where further information is shown on aircraft type and
flight route.

When you choose for 3-letter codes in the output, the ICAO codes will show
up. This is not the case for the 'all heard' and 'all flights' files.

5.7.3 Allow spaces

Version 1.x did not process records containing a space in the
flightnumber. Some companies use flightnumbers with space(s) in them. You
can configure to allow spaces or not.

5.7.4  <Alt-p> Pack

When a record is deleted it will only be hidden. Pressing <Alt-p> will
pack all files, delete will 'deleted' records physically. When the
recordcount in the 'all heard' or 'all flight' file does not behave as you
expect it, choose pack as well.

5.7.5  <Alt-r> Re-index

When you experience strange behaviour of the program in any way use this
option to re-generate all index files. When you for some reason decide to
edit any of the databases without using DACARS (you might want to manually
import an existing file you have), use this option as well to update the
indexes. 

5.7.6  Auto update flight routes

This is a new feature in version 2.1. When switched to 'Y' Dacars will
try to extract flight route information from the logged messages.
Because messages may not allways be trusted it's possible to turn it off
as well ('N').

5.8  The auto update flight routes function explained.

The idea of this function is to extract flight route information from
the messages received. It works with user defined message types. To define 
message types press <F11> A message type could look like this:

 Company   Type      From   To
-------------------------------
 BA       ACM         6   10

Meaning whenever a British Airways (BA) flightnumber is encoutered and
the content field starts with 'ACM' dacars will look at position 6 of
the content field for the ICAO identifier of the departure airport, and
at position 10 for the destination. The codes are then looked up in the
airports database and the flight database is updated.

6. Appendix

6.1 Programming Language

DACARS was written in Clipper version Summer '87.

6.2 History

Programming started november 1995, several versions of the program were
released to a limited beta-test group. Version 1.0 is the first version to
be released to the general public.

V0.1   Private test version(s)
V1.0   First general release
V1.1   Supports Lowe Airmaster 3.0
V1.2   View all unique messages transmitted by a flight, save or print
V2.0   Databases are added, configuration screen, several bugfixes
V2.0#  several minor bugfixes. Version 2.0(h) is current and the problem
       with not all bizzjet messages showing is solved
V2.1   ICAO database added, auto update flight routes

6.3 (Contacting) The author

Bart Hoekstra (that's me), age 28 when version 1.0 was released. Spotter,
basically military aviation, some civil. Aviation radio-comms enthusiast,
anything goes: military, civil, bizz, props, jets, fighters, bombers
anything with a radio. And since november 1995: ACARS. I live in
Deventer, a place in the eastern part of the Netherlands.

When you have any comments, suggestions, complaints feel free to contact
me. You might even want to drop me a line if you are just a satisfied
user, would be appreciated. 

Bart Hoekstra
Vlaamse Gaai 16
7423 DH Deventer
The Netherlands

tel:          +31 570 651 593
e-mail:       bart_b@euronet.nl
www           http://www.euronet.nl/users/bart_b

7. Copyright

You have the right to use DACARS on any computer you are personally using.
You may not have more than one copy running at any time. You may not
distribute the registered full version to or for anyone else


8. Disclaimer

I won't take any responsibility for any damage caused by (the use of)
DACARS, directly or indirectly. Use of this software is at your own risk.

9. Trademarks

Lowe Airmaster is a registered trademark of the Lowe Electronics Company,
UK. All other mentioned product-names are trademarks of their owners.

10. Credits:

- The Lowe company for develloping the Airmaster system
- Hans Wildschut for being the first beta-tester and making his databases
  available
- Mark Zee for being the launching customer
- Iain 'Tigger' Taylor for betatesting versions 1.2 and 2.0
- Nick Birrel for his input and discovering several bugs and compiling
  the aircraft database
- Markus Buttinger for making his ICAO database available

11. Airmaster 3.0

Dacars was originally developped to work with Lowe Airmaster 2.0. When
3.0 was released I changed Dacars so that it would work with that
version as well. It needs LABELED fields like the examples below:

(Airmaster 2.0)

[17/01/1996   12:51]
ACARS mode: C  Aircraft reg: .C-GDSX
Message label: 4P  Block id:   Msg. no: 5228
Flight id: AC0879
Message content:-
S116C126C2//
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Airmaster 3.0)

ACARS mode: m  Aircraft reg:        
Message label: SQ  Block id:    Msg. no: 00XS
Flight id: MAN1 
-----------------------------------------------------------[08/02/1996 06:19]

If you're using Wacars or Kracars don't forget to set it
DACARS/Airmaster compatible output. Airmaster 2000 the date format must
be set to look like this: [08/02/1996 06:19] [dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm)
