Newb question: Why do I hear ALL traffic?

[brianshell]

This might be covered on the website somewhere, and maybe there's even a setting for it, but I find it really strange that when I'm doing pattern work around SNA, I also hear everything else going on at the same time, elsewhere in the world. (SFO ground, for example -- and they're not even the same frequency).

Is there a way to make it so that I only hear the traffic on the frequency I'm tuned to, and for the field or area I'm working?

[Keith Smith]

it's a limitation of how we are staffed. you are hearing every transmission the controller makes, and the controller is working many positions. you don't hear the pilots unless they are on the same frequency as you.

this does happen in real life, btw, center controllers work multiple frequencies. ground and tower are often combined at a given field.

we are just doing it on a bigger scale, but it's conceptually the same.

the one exception right now is sfo. that is covered by our center controller even if a tower controller is online, but that won't be the case for much longer. sfo will soon be covered by the tower person, when we do have a tower person online, which is quite a lot of the time.

[Keith Smith]

this is always going to be an issue, btw, unless we have real world staffing, which requires literally hundreds of people for zla and norcal.

[Orest Skrypuch]

Haven't been on the network for a bit, but NorCal is being served again?

* Orest

[brianshell]

this is always going to be an issue, btw, unless we have real world staffing, which requires literally hundreds of people for zla and norcal.

I'm curious why this has to be the case... you already have code in place that makes it so I can only hear transmissions if I'm within X miles of other aircraft... why not extend this to include controller positions as well?

For example, if I'm more than 100 miles from a tower, I shouldn't be able to hear that tower. Maybe I don't understand the process the controllers go through on their end, and they're just blindly transmitting without knowing who or what they're replying 'as' (or 'from')... in which case I guess it makes sense that it would just blast the transmission to everyone, everywhere, on all frequencies.

This feels like a solvable issue to me. (Perhaps, justifiably, not a high priority issue, but certainly one that would add more realism... which I think is the goal of PE.)

Not a complaint... just a request to put it in the suggestion box for the future. =)

[Kevin_atc]

Haven't been on the network for a bit, but NorCal is being served again?

* Orest

Just SFO. Check out the information here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3139&start=20

this is always going to be an issue, btw, unless we have real world staffing, which requires literally hundreds of people for zla and norcal.

I'm curious why this has to be the case... you already have code in place that makes it so I can only hear transmissions if I'm within X miles of other aircraft... why not extend this to include controller positions as well?

When the controllers transmit, the system doesn't know who they are talking to. Therefore, the controllers transmit out on all frequencies across their area of control. This is actually rather common in the real world on a smaller scale. If you go to a smaller airport very early in the morning or late at night, one controller will often be working Tower, Ground and Clearance Delivery (if they have a frequency for that). Therefore, you might be taxiing out to the runway and hear the controller issue an IFR clearance to an aircraft who you never even heard call up because they called on the clearance delivery frequency.
This also happens in the TRACON or Enroute environment depending on FAA staffing levels so you may be at cruise and hear a controller giving instructions to an aircraft who is on a different frequency. Controllers have their voice going out across all of the frequencies that they are working as opposed to having multiple push-to-talks so a pilot doesn't try to call the controller with a request while he is busy talking on a different frequency.

[Keith Smith]

btw, here's an example of this happening real world:
http://youtu.be/e_CNPPIdwbw?t=50s

(the link takes you to the 50 sec mark where the first radio call occurs). If you watch the whole video and listen closely, you'll notice we never hear a single other pilot's response. This is because she's working multiple sectors/freqs.

[Keith Smith]

The solution to this is not technical. the solution is to have at least 3 controllers online 15x7, covering combined ground, combined tower, and combined radar. This way, you'll never hear a takeoff/landing/taxi instruction while you're talking to a radar controller. Beyond that, we'd like to have multiple radar controllers as we scale up (which did for a recent commercial activity last week, more on that in the next few days), so that you hear voice changes and more locally relevant transmissions.

That said, 3 flights ago, during an overflight of Allentown's airspace (KABE), I was talking to Allentown Approach when I heard the controller issue a takeoff clearance at Allentown airport. Yep, they had combined the tower and radar position.

Please understand that the cost difference between having 2 scheduled controllers online versus 20 scheduled controllers online is exactly how much it sounds like, 10x.

[Ryan B]

That said, 3 flights ago, during an overflight of Allentown's airspace (KABE), I was talking to Allentown Approach when I heard the controller issue a takeoff clearance at Allentown airport. Yep, they had combined the tower and radar position.

I just did this last night on the midnight shift... and I actually had some traffic for once....