Intercom: Possible solution?

[Adam Arkley 1031024]

All,

 

I've been trying to figure out what's going on with Intercom recently. I tried connecting today to 2 different VRC users - 1 connected fine and worked fine, the other connected by there was no voice transmission or receive. From my understanding, a P2P connection is created to accomodate the ground to ground communication. Can this be avoided by having the "hosting" caller create a temporary voice room?

 

Example being that EGKK_TWR wants to call EGLL_N_APP for a release. I, as EGKK_TWR, right click on LL_APP, and click Intercom. LL_APP accepts. At this point, my Euroscope takes details from my Primary frequency, finds the Voice Server (voice2.vacc-sag.org), and creates a new channel, call it KKTLLNA for example. These details are p[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ed to LL_N_APP, and his/her Euroscope joins the voice channel. Secondary PTT Keys are used as normal, and when the call is ended, the voice channel is removed.

 

I think I'm right in thinking this would only be possible between 2 Euroscope clients (as VRC would have to be re-coded to allow the transmission and receipt of the voice room information), but this would definately be a step forward in the right direction. Personally I use UPnP on my router; this allows inbound traffic to p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] through any port that I initially send packets through. This means that if a hacker decides to try and obliterate me through a port, it will be denied. However, if I connect to a website, then UPnP allows data through becasuse I initiated the connection.

 

A valid workaround?

[Adam Arkley 1031024]

A bit sad that in 12 days nobody has even posted if it's a rubbish idea.

 

ANY input please anyone?

[Todor Atanasov 878664]

I wonder what VATSIM would think about this....using the voice servers bandwidth for intercom.

[Martin Loxbo]

Pilots are allowed to create private voice rooms, just for chatting. Why would it be a problem to have private ATC voice channels for coordination, which is a vital part of ATC?

[Todor Atanasov 878664]

I just want to know their position, before such a feature is applied. There was a similar issue with the auto ATIS of ES.

[Gergely Csernak]

Adam,

 

Sorry for the late answer (I myself was on a holiday without internet access).

 

The intercom really works on a P2P base. When you initiate an intercom call you sent your IP address to the other party and he tries to connect your computer directly. That means that the caller computer has to have portforwarding in his router (if he has one). To be honest I can not really see the difference between your successful and unsuccessful connection, but I feel that the second party has probably some wrong settings in his environment.

 

The server based intercom can be implemented, but actually is not in the TODO list as the current version works several times.

[Dan Arsenault 949706]

HI,

 

I have not had any issues with connecting to other ATC via intercom, either Euroscope or VRC. I would guess that the problem would be a port through your router that might have to be opened.

I do not use the firewall in my router so it does not block any communication ports so it is not any issue for me. I am not sure what port needs to be opened in order for you to connect to other atc via intercom.

The easiest way is to "demilitarize" you router while you are controlling to open up all the ports.

 

Good luck

 

Dan

CZQM/CZQX Instructor

[Adam Arkley 1031024]

A DMZ around my system is not an option. We run UPnP and it works 99% of the time... However, my main qualm is on behalf of people who also run UPnP (To my knowledge, 2 UPnP systems trying to intercom each other will not work), or those who do not know how to, or do not want to re-configure their routers...

 

I'm also interested in the BoG's view on using server bandwidth for intercom. Few people use the intercom at the moment, so I can't imagine THAT big an increase in server bandwidth...