Continual hot mic in vPilot

[Werner Gillespie]

Good evening everyone,

I have been using vPilot since the inception, and I have not had much trouble with it.   In the last week however, I realised when other ATC and pilots reported back all they can hear is static when I try to transmit.  I am running in Administrator mode, both the sim (P3Dv4.5) and the vPilot app.   I am running Windows 10.

I have only had this issue the last week or so.   I have reinstalled, it worked for a day and back to the same issue.  I am using a Sennheiser pc mic plugged into onboard mic jack.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Werner Gillespie

[Dustin Rider]

The title of your post suggests a different issue than the post itself, so let's clarify what the actual issue is. When you say other users only hear static, do they hear that in addition to your voice, or they only hear static? Are you close enough to the other users that you can hear them without static? Remember, AFV simulates the approximate range of VHF transceivers, meaning that if you're far enough from other aircraft or ATC transceivers, you'll hear static in addition to the transmitted voice. 

If it's not related to that, you can do a little troubleshooting yourself. First, you should have a voice recorder app on your computer. Use that to make a recording of yourself using the mic you've been using with vPilot and listen to the quality of the audio. If there's an issue with a cable or a connection somewhere, you might hear sounds similar to static that way. Also, make sure you're speaking close enough to your mic that it's actually picking you up. I believe vPilot has a way to check your mic level visually. 

[Werner Gillespie]

Hi Dustin,

thank you for the reply - yes the mic is properly working and setup, works perfectly within Windows itself.   It is calibrated etc.  The device is fine.   The static is just when I transmit, I receive without issues.   I have the proper devices setup in my settings to transmit and receive.   I am aware of the range aspect, but I have this problems on any frequence at the very airport or station in which airport/station's range I am.   So it is not the range issue.   When I try transmit it is simply static, nobody can hear anything I say.

Kind regards

 

[Werner Gillespie]

Hi everyone,

Okay - I have played with every conceivable sound setting, and I have finally found the sollution for me.   I am posting this here for others who have the same issues and for future reference for myself in case I forget down the line.   What solved the issue for me was to actually switch on the background noise cancelling in Windows 10 sound settings.   The static stopped, and my mic works reliably now.  I can converse normally with ATC without issues.

I cannot say what caused it - I made no changes to my setup at all for this to occur, but there it is.

Kind regards

 

[Nikkos Papadopolo]

I´m having the same issue and it is driving me nuts. I´ll try with your solution!

[Nikkos Papadopolo]

Is this what you mean with hot mic?

[Werner Gillespie]

On 11/16/2021 at 5:13 PM, Nikkos Papadopolo said:

Is this what you mean with hot mic?

Hi Nikkos,

Yes, that is indeed it - it stays there, and all everyone else hears when you try to transmit is static.   I am fairly sure that you have the same issue I had, try it and let me know if it helped you. 

 

Kind regards

 

Werner

[Orest Skrypuch]

That is EXACTLY my problem.

How do you turn on Win10 active noise cancellation? I've poked and googled around, and can't find it.

Thanks!

* Orest

[Orest Skrypuch]

Looks like my headset config does not provide that option in Win10, as perhaps it provides that function itself. That is the Logitech G533.

I have now disabled the ability for any application to take exclusive control of the microphone. (Device properties | Additional Device properties)

That may have fixed it for me. Also be sure to set it to 44.100, that is a potential audio for vatsim issue if left in the default higher sample rates.

* Orest

[Orest Skrypuch]

No fix.

I have now experienced this on two machines, with different setups, with different mics, and even two different VATSIM login apps.

The common symptom to all of these is (1) seeing your MIC level on the AUDIO page in the settings of your VATSIM app full over, as you show, and (2) normal mic operation in the Windows mic panel.

It is actually NOT a stuck mic. If it were, then ATC would hear you normally. Instead what they hear is loud weird static. This is being generated somehow within Windows, interacting with the AFV module common to all the VATSIM apps, those are the only two commonalities.

It may relate to some Win10 update, and if so, there will be increasing number of folks that experience this.

I have tried everything to try to mitigate this without success, including running in Admin, changing to 44.100, removing the ability to take over a mic. I have now tried locking out all the other apps with microphone permission setting, and monitoring what is using the mic. I also uninstalled all the XBox junk that Windows installs.

Kind of desperate, but this essentially shuts down my ability to participate on VATSIM.

* Orest

[Orest Skrypuch]

Quote

"I have now tried locking out all the other apps with microphone permission setting, and monitoring what is using the mic. I also uninstalled all the XBox junk that Windows installs."

This (perhaps with all the rest), seems to be holding now.

Mic is remaining usable.

Fingers crossed.

* Orest

 

Edited November 21, 2021 at 09:12 PM by Orest Skrypuch

[Orest Skrypuch]

Spent a few hours today with the changes made, mic is continuing to work. I never see more than vPilot accessing it.

I think that was the problem, Win10 likely installed something in one of the updates, that was accessing the mic, and causing the static input. Not entirely sure which app (or service) it was, but removing all of them worked.

* Orest

[Andrew McCabe]

Ahh, just posted a reply on the other thread, but sounds like you have sorted it.     Similar scenario, I got rid of Cortana in Windows.

 

Andrew 

[Orest Skrypuch]

Unfortunately, NOT sorted out. Had another instance this morning. <sigh>

I did ask ATC what they heard, when my mic wasn't working correctly. They described it as a helicopter noise, thump, thump, thump kind of thing.

This has got to affect a lot of folks, perhaps some don't even realize it. It is not VATSIM app dependent, I've seen it personally on vPilot & Swift (beta), and I've seen it reported on an X-plane install with xPilot.

* Orest

 

Edited November 22, 2021 at 07:51 PM by Orest Skrypuch

[Orest Skrypuch]

I am going to try to completely remove (rather than just silence) Cortana.

OK, done, set the policy for Cortana to DISABLED. Fingers re-crossed.

* Orest

 

Edited November 22, 2021 at 08:05 PM by Orest Skrypuch

[Orest Skrypuch]

Probably fixed ...

* Orest