vPilot and HF

[Adrian Barnett 1037621]

Hey Ross,

How does vPilot use the new HF functionality of AFV? In terms of how does it see the frequency in the aircraft.

Unlike FSX, P3D does simulate ComFrequencyRange=0.000-999.992 (FSX was only 118.000-137.000) basically able to simulate HF frequency tuning.

 

I'm trying to implement HF into one of my aircraft so that it can "properly" tune the frequency and not be "aliased" to a VHF frequency.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA

[Trevor Hannant]

From the AFV User Guide:

 

AFV uses an aliasing system to allow HF frequencies to be tuned via a VHF radio.

 

All HF stations must be configured by a local Facility Engineer, who will [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ign the position both an HF frequency based on real-world allocations and a VHF alias.

 

When the pilot client detects that an HF station is online and in range, tuning the relevant VHF frequency on the VHF COM radio will cause AFV to tune to the aliased HF frequency and operate in HF mode. This allows all VATSIM users to take advantage of HF communications regardless of hardware or simulator software.

 

There will be an SDK sometime after release that will allow aircraft developers to directly tune HF.

[Ross Carlson]

Hi Adrian,

 

When you say that P3D supports HF tuning, what do you mean exactly? Are you referring to a function in the gauge SDK that allows aircraft panels to set HF frequencies?

 

I ask because I'm not familiar with how aircraft panel developers work with sim variables such as radio frequencies. I only know what's possible through SimConnect, and so far I have not found a way to tune HF frequencies via SimConnect.

 

As of right now, vPilot [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umes that the frequency read from SimConnect is within the VHF air band, so currently there is no support in vPilot for HF frequencies. However, if there's a way for aircraft panels to SET an HF frequency and still have it readable via SimConnect, then adding support in vPilot should be relatively straightforward.

 

Note that vPilot uses the FSX SP2 version of SimConnect (which P3D is compatible with) so any change needs to work with that version of SimConnect. (That being said, I could look into supporting multiple versions of SimConnect in vPilot, but I would like to avoid that if possible due to the complexity it would introduce.)

[Adrian Barnett 1037621]

Hi Adrian,

 

When you say that P3D supports HF tuning, what do you mean exactly? Are you referring to a function in the gauge SDK that allows aircraft panels to set HF frequencies?

 

I ask because I'm not familiar with how aircraft panel developers work with sim variables such as radio frequencies. I only know what's possible through SimConnect, and so far I have not found a way to tune HF frequencies via SimConnect.

 

As of right now, vPilot [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umes that the frequency read from SimConnect is within the VHF air band, so currently there is no support in vPilot for HF frequencies. However, if there's a way for aircraft panels to SET an HF frequency and still have it readable via SimConnect, then adding support in vPilot should be relatively straightforward.

 

Note that vPilot uses the FSX SP2 version of SimConnect (which P3D is compatible with) so any change needs to work with that version of SimConnect. (That being said, I could look into supporting multiple versions of SimConnect in vPilot, but I would like to avoid that if possible due to the complexity it would introduce.)

 

Ok, I've played around with the aircraft.cfg file a little and i've come up with my com1 at 100.000 and it shows the same on vPilot. I'd like to figure out how to get it to show HF freq as well as tune them and NOT alias them.

I see VATSIM will be helping developers to get this implemented in various aircraft. I'm kind of trying to figure it out on my own with how it works.

Image to show what I'm seeing.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m3nmteEQrTm8kMz0bDl1CZog5xcqfyJa/view?usp=sharing

 

Did this by adding a line in the aircraft.cfg under

[Radio]

ComFrequencyRange=2.002,999.998

 

Now I see it only goes down to 100.000, anyway to get it down lower? In the HF range...

[Ross Carlson]

Now I see it only goes down to 100.000, anyway to get it down lower? In the HF range...

 

What is "it" in this statement?

[Adrian Barnett 1037621]

“It” being the frequency, but i guess not since that’s still only in the VHF range.