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How do you tune radios in MSFS2020 quickly enough to not be a problem to ATC?


Robert Vanderkam
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Robert Vanderkam
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Posted

I just took off in my A320 neo and Tower handed me over to Departure. But it was incredibly slow trying to get the radio tuned. I had to struggle to get the mouse on the exact right part of the radio button, and on the part for the first part vs after the decimals. It took me from 3000' to 8000' and many miles. Does anyone have any hints about getting it tuned quickly? I'm using vPilot.  TIA

Rob Vanderkam

Canadian Virtual Airlines (CVA) - in operation since 1997

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Matthew Bartels
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More Realistic: Have the departure frequency pre tuned in your standby, then you can switch quickly after the handoff. You’ll get this in the departure clearance in the US.

Less Realistic: Type .com1 XXX.YYY in vPilot and hit enter. 

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Dustin Rider
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Matthew's first bit of advice is the best way to set yourself up for success, especially when you're flying single pilot. Of course for subsequent frequency changes, it's not always possible to predict the next frequency. If you elect to use the .com1 command that Matthew posted, I'm fairly certain you'll have to type in the entire frequency. That is, if I say, "Contact Chicago Center 134.87," you'll have to type .com1 134.875.

To make a long and geeky story short, US frequencies that end with a xxx.x2 or xxx.x7 are technically xxx.x25 or xxx.x75, but the last five is left off for the sake of simplicity and saving a couple seconds on the radio. I think it's also typically left out in most aircraft radios. I recently had a pilot who wasn't able to receive or transmit on my frequency (voice or text) because of this issue until we figured this out.

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Ross Carlson
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Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Dustin Rider said:

If you elect to use the .com1 command that Matthew posted, I'm fairly certain you'll have to type in the entire frequency. That is, if I say, "Contact Chicago Center 134.87," you'll have to type .com1 134.875.

At least with vPilot, you can omit the 5 and it will add it for you. Not sure about other pilot clients.

Edited by Ross Carlson
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