Before you start, it’s important to know that Acarsdeco2 has not been updated for several years. The original developer “sergsero” disappeared from the forums around 2018–2019. The last public versions for Windows are (November 15, 2017) and 20181201 (December 1, 2018). The later 2018 version introduced some changes to command‑line options, which can confuse users who find older tutorials online.

Cheaper SDR dongles drift in frequency as they heat up. Use the --freq-correction command followed by your dongle’s specific PPM offset value to lock onto the center of the signal accurately. If you need help setting this up, please let me know: What geographic region are you testing from? What model of SDR dongle are you using?

Before running the software, ensure your RTL-SDR dongle is correctly set up:

A Windows Command Prompt window will open. If successful, it will display your RTL-SDR hardware details and initialize the selected frequencies. Accessing the Web Interface

To clarify:

To receive data, you must tune to the ACARS frequencies active in your region. Common ones include: : Primary global channel. 131.725 MHz : Primary European channel. 136.900 MHz : Secondary European channel. 129.125 MHz : Additional North American channel.

Acarsdeco2 does not use a traditional configuration menu. Instead, it relies on Command Line Arguments. The easiest way to manage this on Windows is by creating a batch ( .bat ) file. Step 1: Create a Batch File Open Notepad in your Acarsdeco2 folder. Paste the following configuration template:

Download the compressed file (typically named acarsdeco2_windows_*.zip ). Step 2: Extract the Files

: If the software fails to detect your RTL-SDR on Windows 10 or 11, try re-installing the Zadig driver. Common Troubleshooting