To show somehow for the controller that I am beginner...

[Gabor Szász]

Guys,

I am planning to fly on VATSIM, but I affraid of speaking with ATC. I used to listen when I parked and for me, however I can speak English, and mostly I understand the phraseology, my biggest problem is that the speed of the conversation is very fast. Is there any ways to sign for the controller that I am beginner and if he is not busy then speak with me slowly and in a very much understandable way?

Do you have best pratcices?

Thank you for your answer.

Cheers,

Gabor

[Koen Meier]

best way is to ask the controller cause not all of them look in the remarks section to see if someone is a newbie.

[Nick Warren]

To be honest, it's usually pretty obvious when someone is a beginner.  I'm going to go my usual pace, however if I can tell someone is struggling (again, usually obvious and early in the encounter), I will slow down and cater my instruction set accordingly  :-)

[Alistair Thomson]

If you didn't get all of what ATC says, the standard way of indicating that is to use the phrase 'say again', eg. "Xxxx Tower, say again <followed by your callsign."

But if the problem is simply that ATC is speaking too fast (which is very common), your standard phrase is "speak slower" rather than "say again." 

The rate of speech from ATC shouldn't be more than 100 words per minute, and that's pretty slow.

[Nick Warren]

7 minutes ago, Alistair Thomson said:

If you didn't get all of what ATC says, the standard way of indicating that is to use the phrase 'say again', eg. "Xxxx Tower, say again <followed by your callsign."

But if the problem is simply that ATC is speaking too fast (which is very common), your standard phrase is "speak slower" rather than "say again." 

The rate of speech from ATC shouldn't be more than 100 words per minute, and that's pretty slow.

"Say again" is fine, or even ask the controller to please speak a little slower.  Worse case scenario, if they are issuing you, say, a flight plan reroute, have them send the plan via text.  Again, my rate of speech is pretty standard and consistent.  That rate will go up as needed if there is a lot going on.  It will also go down as needed to accommodate those in need.

[Andreas Fuchs]

For your first few flights and until you feel more comfortable add RMK/NEWBIE to the REMARK-section of your flightplan.

[Robert Vanderkam]

I spent years using text only with ATC. I still do it occasionally.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Please, please, please: do NOT use text, unless you have a good reason for it, e.g. not wanting to disturb people at your home, illness.

[Gabor Szász]

Also the sound effect during the conversation is a pain for a newbie, as this make the radio com more realistic, as this makes even harder to understand.

Well, I know it is a beginning and every beginning is the hardest part of the development. I have to start somehow.

[Jonas Helkey]

You're gonna stop feeling like such a beginner much more quickly than you might think right now, take my word for it. VATSIM is one of the most welcoming communities I have ever encountered, and that's even though the actual simulation that we're all here for is both challenging and requires high levels of performance by everyone involved. Anyone who's not into flight simming is actually missing out on what is in my opinion one of the outstanding communities out there.

As for the radio effect, if you're using vPilot as your client, you can turn it off in the audio settings. Probably can do that in other clients, too, but I wouldn't know.

As a little tangent on the whole speed of speech and understandability thing, do note that when you're actually having a conversation rather than just listening in, typically you will have plenty of context clues and in many cases you will be able to anticipate at least within some degree what the next message will be. As an example, if you're descending towards an airport, get handed over to the approach controller and he says something to you that sounds like "dry sweating hulu hero" to you, then you'd know that very likely it was "fly heading two two zero", so you read that back and if it's wrong, you will be corrected - that's what a readback is for. Granted let's not get into the whole expectation bias thing where you hear what you expected to hear and not what was being said, but that's just a crude example right there. I was exactly where you are now about a year ago, when just observing on frequency I wondered how everybody understands each other so well but when I went on my first flights I got it pretty quickly. It's just a huge difference between listening to an unrelated conversation on radio and being part of the conversation yourself.

Edited January 13, 2021 at 01:37 PM by Jonas Helkey

[Gabor Szász]

Wow, my virtual friend, this is something.

Thank you for your nice words, this puts everything in a different way of thinking.

I hope see you on the virtual sky sometimes, in the near future!

Have good landings!

[Jonas Helkey]

I'm happy to hear that that scanned with you. Have some nice flights and always three greens!

[Gabor Szász]

Three greens!

[Gabor Szász]

Captains, one more question.

I fly ToLiss A321 NEO with XP11, today I plan to fly on Vatsim LIME-LICR.

Usually there is no controller at departure side, this is true for my base which is LHBP.

In that case how to acquire squawk code? 1200 is not a good option, I believe.

Yesterday for example just LZIB tower was available as nearest Airport. There was no delivery at all , nowhere.

What to do?

Thank you.

Edited January 13, 2021 at 02:08 PM by Gabor Szász

[Andreas Fuchs]

The standard IFR code for most parts of the world is 2000. Set SQ2000 unless another one was assigned by ATC. Also, in many parts of the world the standard VFR transponder code is 7000, in case you were going for that. Both codes are like this in all of Europe.

In the US the standard IFR code is 2200, VFR is 1200.

More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transponder_codes

[Robert Shearman Jr]

What I've often said about new VATSIM pilots experiencing "mic-fright" is that you should just let go of the unrealistic expectation that you will sound perfect the first flight you do with voice.  You WILL sound silly the first handful of times.  We all did.  You may elicit a few giggles from others on frequency (hopefully to themselves, without their mic keyed) but just embrace it.  The only way to get to the point that you sound like an expert is by diving in, doing it, being bad at it at first, and getting better progressively.  Trust me, we will all understand.  🙂

[Gabor Szász]

Thanks Captain! 🙂

[Jonas Helkey]

1 hour ago, Robert Shearman Jr said:

 You WILL sound silly the first handful of times.  We all did.  You may elicit a few giggles from others on frequency (hopefully to themselves, without their mic keyed) but just embrace it.  The only way to get to the point that you sound like an expert is by diving in, doing it, being bad at it at first, and getting better progressively.  Trust me, we will all understand.  🙂

Spot on. It's baptism by flyer. Come a few weeks, you'll be the one doing the giggling.

[Robert Vanderkam]

On 1/13/2021 at 6:26 AM, Andreas Fuchs said:

Please, please, please: do NOT use text, unless you have a good reason for it, e.g. not wanting to disturb people at your home, illness.

I've never been told this before. What?!

[Lauri Uusitalo]

5 hours ago, Robert Vanderkam said:

I've never been told this before. What?!

You can use it, but it adds workload for everybody. IMHO as a pilot it is also inconvenient for situational awareness to be required to monitor also text transmission, nor it is very realistic.

[Trevor Hannant]

1 hour ago, Lauri Uusitalo said:

You can use it, but it adds workload for everybody. IMHO as a pilot it is also inconvenient for situational awareness to be required to monitor also text transmission, nor it is very realistic.

But for some it is essential.   VATSIM has deaf members of the community, those who work from home or live with people who work shifts so sitting talking isn't always convenient for these people.  

There is no CoC rule that states you HAVE to use voice UNICOM although it's preferred.  Until such time as the above uses are discriminated against by a CoC change (not going to happen), then text transmissions will need to be monitored by all.

[Lauri Uusitalo]

14 minutes ago, Trevor Hannant said:

But for some it is essential. 

And I do not doubt that.

[Matthew Bartels]

The official rule is that anyone may use text, receive only, or full voice. 

Now, some think using text only as a beginner is helpful, maybe it is, as you can see what the controller told you to do instead of hearing and understanding. However, as others mentioned it does add a significant amount of workload to both the pilot and controller. 

Mic fright is real, but the way you get over it is by doing your research, understanding the normal communications flow, which gives you an idea of what to anticipate ATC will say, and finally just jumping in and smashing that PTT button. It's not going to be perfect the first time, heck It might even be downright bad, but the most important thing is that you did it and it will get better every single time you make a transmission from then on. 🙂

[Tobias Dammers]

My $0.02 on mic fright: yes, it is real, but 90% of it go away after the first few transmissions you make.

The good news is that your first few calls are going to be very predictable, and once you've made it to the taxi clearance, the worst is over and you'll just roll along.