Lost comms during a rating test

Questions and comments about the PE Pilot Training Program
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coblej
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun May 03, 2015 5:37 pm

Lost comms during a rating test

Post by coblej »

I was wondering if anyone had advice about the best way to handle a lost communications situation during a rating test. I have had this happen to me twice, once during the V3 test and again today during the I8 test. I know what the lost comms procedure is in real life and can certainly follow it in the sim while on PilotEdge but I wonder if there is anything I should / could do to salvage the test ... or should I just consider the test lost at that point and try it again later? Today during the I8 test, I got my clearance and release just fine from SoCal but was unable to contact them after departure on the frequency I had just been using to talk to them. I tried a couple of other frequencies but still got no response. After about 10 minutes or so of trying to contact someone, I disconnected and reconnected (while in flight). At that point, I was able to reach SoCal but the controller said that, since I was past my void time, the flight wouldn't work for the I8 test. That was okay and I restarted the test from the beginning a short time later. I was just wondering if there is some way to find out in real time if the problem is on the PilotEdge side of things (which was apparently the case during my V3 test) or on my end (which I assume was the case today with I8 test). I put a message on the PilotEdge IRC channel at the time but didn't get a response. (Maybe my message wasn't specific enough.)

Anyway, if anyone has advice on the best way to deal with lost comms during a rating test, I would appreciate it.

Thanks.
--Jim
wmburns
Posts: 474
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 7:28 am

Re: Lost comms during a rating test

Post by wmburns »

Just wondering. How many more times could this situation possibility happen to you (I8 out of I11)?

It's not clear to me the nature of the "lost comm"? Internet disconnect? Volume too low? Sim problem? Random failure? Can't get a word in edgewise?

The post does not state anything about your set up (sim used, airplane, OS, headset type). Then maybe we could help trouble shoot the base reason for the lost comms which would give a better long term solution.
coblej
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun May 03, 2015 5:37 pm

Re: Lost comms during a rating test

Post by coblej »

Sorry I didn't post more details about the comm loss. I wasn't really trying to diagnose what caused the problem; more just trying to figure out what I should do if I encounter a comm loss during a rating test. For the record, I was using Flight Simulator X on a Windows 8.1 PC and the airplane was the default FSX Cessna 172 (not G1000). The symptom was that, having successfully communicated with ATC during the early part of the flight, I stopped receiving any responses to my transmissions. The PilotEdge client display -- the one that shows COM1 and COM2 Tx, Rcv, etc., along with the Transponder mode (Standby, Normal) -- continued to show Tx when I keyed my microphone. I just stopped getting any response to my transmissions until I disconnected and reconnected to PilotEdge. I assume that somehow I lost the communications portion of my connection to PilotEdge. Not a big deal but I was just curious if I should have done anything any differently than I did (eventually just disconnecting and reconnecting).
--Jim
stevekirks
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Re: Lost comms during a rating test

Post by stevekirks »

I have had issues with the PE client on FSX/P3D where a firewall was blocking the traffic in combination with NAT issues unique to that network. Once I moved it to another wireless connection, the problem disappeared. The comms issue would usually show up after about two minutes and the client would be "locked up". Any chance your Windows firewall could be an issue here?

Steve
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mm007.emko
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2015 1:11 pm

Re: Lost comms during a rating test

Post by mm007.emko »

Yes, of course there is a chance, same with the NAT (the devices which provide the NAT function usually have some kind of firewall too). There are also hundred and one things which can screw it up.

Assuming you have Windows in English, the easiest way what you can do in Windows is go to Control Panel, search for "firewall" (through the top right searchbox) and select "Allow programs to communicate through Windows Firewall" from the search results. There you can add the simulator to the list of programs which are allowed to communicate over the network. There are ways how to set the firewall rules in a more precise manner but this is the easiest one which allows all communications FROM the simulator to the server - in technical speech this is outbound communication because it's initiated by the simulator.
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