Selcal is SELective CALling. It is basically a DTMF squelch so that only the
called aircraft will be able to hear the page from the ground controller. It
might be fun for us to listen to all the commo between the air and ground,
but the Flight Crew would probably tire of hearing all of the chatter, so
they use SELCAL. Besides, it makes it much easier for a crew to know that
they are being called, since the squelch will be broken only when a call is
directed to them. They don't have to try to listen through all of the other
communications to try and pick out a call directed to them.
ACARS is Aircraft Communications And Reporting System. It is a data
communications link between the aircraft and the company dispatchers.
Go to http://www.airnavsystems.com for the best ACARS and SELCAL decoders
there are.

"Robert11" wrote in message
news
Hello:

Might someone please describe the differences between Selcal and Acars
that
are
used by commercial aero for air to ground reporting messages ?

Any suggestions for good (free ?) decoders for either ?

Thanks,
Bob