Controller Unicom

[Collin Koldoff]

I recently have been controlling ground and have received unresponsive aircraft that land at my airport. These aircraft are most likely on unicom and I was wondering if there was a way to tune into unicom and request them to contact me if sending me a contact me has not worked. I frequently send contact me's with no response. I hate giving out wallops because it wastes the time of a SUP for a problem that could be solved so easily. Is there any way to setup a unicom channel and easily prime up on it when needed.

[Kenneth Haught]

This is easily accomplished by setting a frequency in the Comm Panel (VRC, but can be accomplished by the relevant "communications" platforms for any client). Simply use whatever you wish for the name (I suggest UNICOM for clarity), frequency 122.800, and leave the Voice Server and Channel fields empty.

 

Quite honestly though, as a ground controller especially, if they've chosen not to respond to your .contactme message, they are unlikely to respond to a hailing on UNICOM (one is a directed message that is quite distinctive on most clients, while the latter is seen the same as a general message on frequency). Still worth a shot, but unfortunately some pilots just refuse to contact ATC when there is just a ground station online. I'd suggest to still follow-up with a Supervisor if they do not respond (via the .wallop command), as even if they have disconnected we are able to send them an email message to remind them of the need to contact ALL appropriate ATC when they are online.