What Am I missing here? Please Help.

[Jon Hagopian 1014727]

Flying x-plane, installed squawkbox and set up my preferences and callsign. I started at GA parking at my local airport KCDW after filing a flight plan. 1st off com 2 didn't work. I selected com 1 tuned delivery then ground and no response from either text or VOIP. And VOIP is set up properly. What am I missing? No one responded and I didn't hear any other comm.

 

Is there anyway to tell how many pilots and controllers are working a specific area?

 

I'm a Private Pilot, so the procedures are the same as real world? I'm [Mod - Happy Thoughts]uming I start at the gate/parking and contact clearance or ground to pick up my clearance. How do I know if someone is listening.

[Ernesto Alvarez 818262]

as mentioned in the other one, check out the PRC, itll explain lots.

 

there are a few differences here between the real world.

 

for one, we have whats known as top down service. meaning even tho there may not be a tower, ground, or clearance controller online at your airport, it will be handled by a controller above.

 

for example if you were on the ground at EWR and no clearance controller was on, you'd call ground for your clearance and taxi, and so on and so on.

 

im not familiar with xsquawkbox's functions, but there should be an ATC list on there. so if nobody is listed, means no controllers are on around you, all traffic goes to 122.80 (Unicom). now keep in mind unicom is text only online, you can transmit on voice if you want, but youll need to repeat on text as not everyone is on voice on 122.80.

 

i recommend downloading vatspy and/or servinfo. these are two online displays which will show you all traffic online and active ATC.

 

from what i understand, comm2 in xsquawkbox at the moment is receive only, youll need to use comm1 to transmit.

 

also as mentioned above, ATC isnt on 24/7. so even tho you may know the correct frequency, doesnt mean anyone is going to be there. when no ATC, you go to 122.80 regardless of what the real unicom/ctaf frequency is. theres only 1 unicom frequency online. (in the US, there are 1 or 2 other areas around the globe with a different frequency)

[Wade Williams 877539]

In the XSB menu, there's a "Who's Online" option, which will show you controllers in-range.

 

As was said, download VATSPY if you're on a PC, or QuteScoop if you're on a Mac. This will show you the controllers who are online.