Skip to content

Update install-acarsdec.md #33

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
f00b4r0 wants to merge 2 commits into
base: main
Choose a base branch
from
+11 −21
Open

Update install-acarsdec.md #33

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
2 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
78bc93c
Update install-acarsdec.md
f00b4r0 Jun 24, 2026
6e5f65b
Update docs/decoders/install-acarsdec.md
f00b4r0 Jun 24, 2026
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
32 changes: 11 additions & 21 deletions docs/decoders/install-acarsdec.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -29,55 +29,45 @@ sudo ldconfig
### Build acarsdec

```bash
git clone https://github.com/TLeconte/acarsdec.git
git clone https://github.com/f00b4r0/acarsdec.git
cd acarsdec
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -Drtl=ON
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
```

Build options for other SDR hardware:
- Airspy: `cmake .. -Dairspy=ON`
- SDRplay: `cmake .. -Dsdrplay=ON`
- SoapySDR: `cmake .. -Dsoapy=ON`

## Configuration

### Basic usage

```bash
acarsdec -o 4 -j feed.airframes.io:5550 -i MY-STATION-ACARS -r 0 130.025 130.450 131.125 131.550
acarsdec --output json:udp:host=feed.acars.io,port=5550 -i MY-STATION-ACARS --rtlsdr 0 130.025 130.450 131.125 131.550
```

### Key command-line options

| Option | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `-r <device> f1 f2 ...` | RTL-SDR device number followed by frequencies (MHz) |
| `-s <device> f1 f2 ...` | Airspy device number followed by frequencies |
| `-o <level>` | Output format: `0` none, `1` one-line, `2` full (default), `3` monitor, `4` JSON, `5` route JSON |
| `-j <host:port>` | Send JSON messages via UDP to the specified destination |
| `--rtlsdr <device> f1 f2 ...` | RTL-SDR device number followed by frequencies (MHz) |
| `--airspy <device> f1 f2 ...` | Airspy device number followed by frequencies |
| `--output <format>` | Output format: see `--output help` for details |
| `-i <station_id>` | Station identifier included in output messages |
| `-g <gain>` | Tuner gain in dB (use `-10` or values over `52` for AGC) |
| `-g <gain>` | Tuner gain in dB (leave unset for AGC - not recommended) |
| `-p <ppm>` | Frequency correction in PPM |
| `-A` | Only display aircraft (downlink) messages, not uplink |
| `-e` | Exclude empty messages |
| `-l <logfile>` | Log to file instead of stdout |
| `-H` | Rotate log file hourly |
| `-D` | Rotate log file daily |

### Feeding to Airframes

To feed VHF ACARS data to Airframes, use the `-j` flag with JSON output (`-o 4`):
To feed VHF ACARS data to Airframes, use the `--output json:udp:host=` format:

```bash
acarsdec -o 4 -j feed.airframes.io:5550 -i MY-STATION-ACARS -g 42 -r 0 130.025 130.450 131.125 131.550
acarsdec --output json:udp:host=feed.acars.io,port=5550 -i MY-STATION-ACARS -g 42 --rtlsdr 0 130.025 130.450 131.125 131.550
```

**Important parameters for feeding:**
- `-o 4` enables JSON output (required for Airframes)
- `-j feed.airframes.io:5550` sends data to the Airframes ACARS ingest (UDP port 5550)
- `--output json:udp:host=feed.acars.io,port=5550` enables JSON output (required for Airframes) and sends data to the Airframes ACARS ingest (UDP port 5550)
- `-i MY-STATION-ACARS` identifies your station (see [Station ID format](#station-id-format) below)

### Station ID format
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -158,7 +148,7 @@ After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/acarsdec -o 4 -j feed.airframes.io:5550 -i MY-STATION-ACARS -g 42 -r 0 130.025 130.450 131.125 131.550
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/acarsdec --output json:udp:host=feed.acars.io,port=5550 -i MY-STATION-ACARS -g 42 --rtlsdr 0 130.025 130.450 131.125 131.550
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

Expand Down