Lack of ATIS and positions around KSNA - is it me?

[Mark Maunder]

Hi there. I've had to migrate over to VATSIM from PE because my m1 architecture on may laptop isn't supported by PE while I'm travelling. Training for a real world instrument checkride in 1 month and really need to practice copy clearances etc. I tried out KSNA but there is no ATIS, no response on ground, no response on tower, raised someone on socal approach and they said riverside was staffed, tried that with no joy, went back to SNA with someone on ground, but still no atis which was manually read to me. Is this inconsistency normal for VATSIM? Is there an airport or region where I can get reliable ATIS, clearance delivery, ground, tower and departure approach? I'd have thought the center of socal would be that but maybe there's a better area? Time I tried was around 1pm socal time on Saturday Feb 4th. I don't think it's something I'm doing - I'm chatting with the staffed positions just fine and I tried US east coast, east coast 2 and west coast servers although I'm assuming they're all connected? 

Thanks in advance,

Mark.

[Dustin Rider]

vATIS has historically had issues with not always transmitting the ATIS on the air. However, unless someone is actually staffing KSNA's tower cab (or unless an overlying radar controller has one set up for KSNA) the ATIS may simply not be available. The best way to know if it's available at all is to look for it on the controller list on your pilot client and see if KSNA_ATIS is online. If it is and you don't hear it, you'll just have to get the text version by double-clicking or by typing .atis KSNA_ATIS--again, only if it's available.

As for ATC coverage, typically the Class B airports get the most frequent staffing. Class Cs still get decent coverage, but it just depends on the area. VATSPY is a good program for getting a big-picture look of which ATC positions are staffed. The overlying approach and center controllers also provide top-down service on their primary frequency (that which is listed next to their callsign on your pilot client's controller list), but unless the airport you're flying into or out of has its own tower cab staffing, you'll be unrealistically talking with approach or center for taxi and runway instructions. Events are a good time to get a more true-to-life staffing level and those typically have decent coverage for the Class Cs and occasionally Class D airports.