Black Cat ACARS

A full featured program that decodes and displays VHF ACARS transmissions, available for macOS and Windows.

Tune your VHF radio / scanner to an ACARS frequency and feed the audio into your computer's sound card input, and start receiving and displaying ACARS transmissions in minutes.

Works great with SDR software and virtual audio cables! Run up to 16 ACARS decoders in parallel at the same time, each tuned to a different frequency.

In addition to a pane for each decoder, decodes are also sorted and organized by message type and plane ID, making it easier to find the messages you want without wading through lots of uninteresting messages.

You can change the color scheme and font type/size to your preferences.

Black Cat ACARS is available for download and trial prior to purchase, so you can make sure it works correctly with your setup. It's available for Windows 8, 10, and 11 (Windows 7 is not supported) as well as macOS.

"Have compared your new ACARS decoder to Multipsk and a very expensive commercial decoder. The commercial one would show 4 received and decoded, Multipsk (has never been a great ACARS decoder) did one where your new decoder had 15 received and decoded in the same time frame. Very impressive. Also discovered your Plane list, and Message list windows which are very handy."
- Jerry Schmidt

Buy Your Copy of Black Cat ACARS Today

Start decoding ACARS transmissions in just minutes!

$29.99 Registration code sent by email, software download

Black Cat ACARS is only $29.99, which entitles you to all updates and new versions released over the next full year, free of charge, which of course you can continue to use forever.

Free To Try!

Not sure you're ready to buy Black Cat ACARS? You can download a fully featured copy to try out, before you buy it.

As updates can always break things, or change program features/operation, please be sure to keep a copy of your existing version when download a new version.

Download a copy of Black Cat ACARS version 2.0.1 for Windows 8, 10, 11: https://www.blackcatsystems.com/download/ACARS-Windows.zip (October 28, 2021)

Download a copy of Black Cat ACARS version 2.0.1 for macOS 10.10 and later, 64 Bit Application: https://www.blackcatsystems.com/download/ACARS-macOS.zip (October 28, 2021) A virtual audio cable/driver is required for use with SDR programs. We have a list of third party programs here.

Nils Schiffhauer DK8OK has written a guide for setting up SDR Console for multi channel reception.

Received messages are also sorted by plane:

View a sorted list of message types:

Click on a line in either list to view all the messages from that plane, or of that type:

Beta Versions:

Remember these are betas, and updates can break things. When downloading a new copy, please keep your existing copy, in case you need to go back to it. As updates can always break things, or change program features/operation, please be sure to keep a copy of your existing version when download a new version.

Download a copy of Black Cat ACARS version 2.1.0b2 for Windows 8, 10, and 11: https://www.blackcatsystems.com/download/ACARS-Windows_beta.zip (January 27, 2024)

Download a copy of Black Cat ACARS version 2.1.0b2 for macOS 10.10 and later, 64 Bit Application: https://www.blackcatsystems.com/download/ACARS-macOS_beta.zip (January 27, 2024)

If macOS complains it cannot open the app, right click the app icon, and select Open.

Email your comments and questions to info@blackcatsystems.com

Last modified January 27, 2024