Newbie - I think I missed something....

[Jeremy Gardner 923418]

OK, I've read through a bunch of posts on this forum and can't seem to find what I'm looking for (obviously 'cus I'm posting this).

 

I logged on for the first time last night, after several hours of figuring out how to make it all work. Here's what I don't understand:

 

1. I'm on text, no voice, but shouldn't I be able to at least hear the other pilots and ATC where I'm flying? I was expecting to be able to hear ATC's calls to other planes in the area (and yes, there were several), but all I could do was send ATC a text message and they could respond to me in text and that was it... If this is how it's supposed to work, how am I supposed to know if another pilot is on approach at the airport I want to takeoff from if there is no way for me to hear his announcements?

 

2. Is there an easy wat to see the frequencies and designations for ATC controllers where I'm at? I had to flip to the VATSIM site and looked at who was logged on to get this info and I think there might be a way to get those frequencies while in FS, but can't figure out that part...

 

3. What happens when I fly out of a controlled airspace into a non-controlled airspace. i.e. I fly from say Denver to Kansas City and there is no controller logged on once I get outside of the Denver area. Can I still use ATC from FS9 to give me vectors for an ILS landing, or am I on my own if there is no controller out there?

 

Thanks for the help, I'm sure I'll have more questions very soon...

[Jeremy Jeffreys 812733]

1. You have to use a program called AVC to be able to hear the othere people. Check th PRC for details.

 

2. The easiest way is to use Serve Info which you can get from AVSIM.com and install the guage in the panel, the readme tells you how to do this. Once SI is open you can see all the controllers in your area.

 

3. If you leave a controlled airspace you are on your own. You do still need to go to 122.80 and text your intents as you would onb real unicom.

[Jason Harris 877712]

... If this is how it's supposed to work, how am I supposed to know if another pilot is on approach at the airport I want to takeoff from if there is no way for me to hear his announcements?

 

 

If it's a controlled airport then ATC lets you know and will only let you t/o or land when it's safe to do so. If it's an uncontrolled airport then calls are made on unicom and the other pilots are supposed to make their calls on text in this case. Some don't so just like in real life keep your eyes open and make the appropriate announcements on unicom. This way they at least know what you're doing and if they don't want to get hit will do something about it. Make sense??

[Jeremy Gardner 923418]

2. The easiest way is to use Serve Info which you can get from AVSIM.com and install the guage in the panel, the readme tells you how to do this. Once SI is open you can see all the controllers in your area.

 

I have Serve Info in my panel, but when I open it it's just blank and nothing works... Maybe I need to go back and reread the files to see if I did something wrong...

 

Thanks for the info guys, I'll be at it again tonight trying to get it all worked out...

[Owen Catherwood 903683]

If you're in range of a controller, right-click on SB then choose 'ATC Directory' to get their frequency

[Lennart Vedin]

Welcom to VATSIM Jeremy Gardner !

 

Just to add one more viewpoint. As first step.

 

Most easy to see if there are ATC is ServInfo.

If you downloaded the Vatsim pilot software "Complete VATSIM Software Package for Microsoft Flight Simulator Convenient one download package for Microsoft Flight Simulator pilots." Then ServInfo is included.

 

Or you find ServInfo here http://www.avsim.com/hangar/utils/servinfo

 

As Owen Catherwood say If you're in range of a controller, right-click on SB then choose 'ATC Directory' to get their frequency + double click the ATC freq you want.

 

Use FS in a window first, so you see SB and AVC easy.

 

Second step use Vatsim pilot software AVC Tuner , so you can change freq. directly from your airplane radio.

 

Good luck and regards !

[Jeremy Gardner 923418]

Got it working, I needed to load the AVC software. I could hear everyone just fine.

 

Next problem... I managed to get clearance, take off and fly a short route. However, during the flight I experienced some very strange bahavior. My airspeed indicator completely quit working, which resulted in my AP hitting full throttle and sending me to mach .80 when I wanted .55. Then, when I checked my throttles only the left engine would respond to commands, the right engine just stayed right where it was. Needless to say, this made it almost impossible to fly, much less land, so I had to abort my flight. Anyone else experience this sort of thing?

 

I was flying the POSKY CRJ-200ER and I have a logitech Extreme 3d Pro joystick. I've flown this bird at least 20 hours so far and never had this happen before. I'm thinking that one of the software installs for vatsim messed it up, like the servinfo. Realism settings were all at minimum levels....

 

And thanks for the help, so far you've been right on the money.

[Kiel McGowan 813486]

Try the pitot heat....could have been icing, not sure with low realism settings if that goes into effect or not.

 

But your pitot heat will remove the icing from the air intakes that feed your airspeed indicators.

 

(before I ever flew in real life, I always thought it said "Pilot Heat", I figured it was a heater for the cabin )

 

As for the engines not responding...I think theres a way to make sure your key strokes are going for both engines and not just one, and theres a way that it can get messed up so your only engaging one. Did you try to manually click the other throttle up with the mouse?

 

Those are my suggestions....

[Richard Hennessy 869493]

For the Pitot heat, you should have a switch somewhere in your panel to turn it on. However not all panels have this switch so you need to use the keyboard shortcut of Shift + H.

 

To get your throttle working for both engines you need to hold down the E key then press 1 and 2 in quick succession. It can be quite tricky to get it and I have had problems with this in the past myself.

[Jeremy Gardner 923418]

Got everything worked out guys, thanks for the help. Pitot heat did the trick and I got servinfo working on the gauge as well.

 

Now my new problem is that somehow between navigating and responding to ATC (I'm on text) I keep decoupling my throttle levers. If you haven't tried it, the result is rather interesting, the plane sways from side to side as it increases and decreases the 1 responding lever to maintain airspeed. And of course, your AP is also desperately trying to maintain your heading while this is all happening as well. Rather annoying when on approach too.

 

Maybe a good reason to invest in a headset!

[Marvin Thompson 810254]

Jeremy,

 

You need to make sure the chat box is the active window before you enter text.

I'm sure you've figured that one out by now, but just in case.

 

 

Marv

[Leonard Jungck 905087]

If you don't have the chat box active, and you hit the "E" key by accident you will disable one of your throttle levers. It sucks to fly with just the one working. As with what Richard said about holding the "E" key then 1 & 2 quickly, can be a trick to get down.

 

Two ways I have found that works, 1st reload your aircraft while in flight, resets everything or 2nd disable the "E" key. It can be found under the Options menu under [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ignments - Engine Controls. This prevents that from ever happening again. Thats what I did.

 

Hope this helps with the throttle problem.

 

REGARDS,