RealAcars going to the next level

RealAcars, for context is an excellent free program that aims to emulate having an ACARS (Similar to what Fenix does) stations as-well as simulates a "ROPS" station for getting PDCs and usual CPDLC communication like Direct To, Speed Change etc.

They're now making some big changes as below

Quote

We’ve implemented a global database of 811 real-world VHF Datalink Stations. 

Additionally, we simulate approximately 141 real-world ACARS satellites that orbit the Earth. 

Our new aircraft profile system allows you to specify whether your aircraft is equipped with SATCOM, which enables satellite-based communication. 

Every message sent via RealAcars Plus will have a custom delay, simulating the actual transmission and processing time based on the location and infrastructure involved (station or satellite). 

Depending on your location in the world, a different ground station or satellite will handle your message, just like in the real world.

Why This Matters: 

In real-world ACARS messages, you might see headers like: 

"AES:71004B GES:50 2 .HZ-AQB
RLOHYDA001*LOADSHEET PRELIM"

AES identifies your aircraft's ACARS system.

GES is the ground station the message was transmitted from.

These headers will now be dynamically generated and simulated in RealAcars Plus—no more static text.

They plan to discuss some more changes in the coming months, so really exciting stuff. For those that use it.

However! The devs have made mention that unfortunately due to rising costs a lot of this new feature set will now be locked behind a paywall titled, "RealAcars Plus". They also will disable certain features in the free variant that have ongoing costs that can't be supplemented by donations alone. What those features are, hasn't been discussed yet.

Edited April 30, 20251 yr by Lucky38i