Frequency isolation logic is going to change

[Keith Smith]

Par, the PE FAQ is in the works.

What's funny is that I did an 800 mile flight yesterday (real world) and lost count of just how many times I was hearing only one half of the conversation. I'm glad that there are still plenty of cases on PE where you are isolated from other pilots. If you're coming from VATSIM, frequency isolation is going to be completely new. If you're coming from real world, it should be old hat. The only new part is that we have controllers working a wider range of positions, but conceptually, it's the same stuff.

[Keith Smith]

As of 10/10/15, the voice isolation logic has changed again. While it has reduced the number of blocks, especially under single controller conditions, it's essentially turned the system into a party line where everyone is hearing everyone else a lot of the time. Also, due to the simplicity of the first change, pilots were able to hear other pilots even when those other pilots were out of range of the controller they were wanting to reach.

So, I changed the isolation logic as of this morning. It's considerably simpler to understand now, too, as a pilot.

We now have a series of repeaters for the clearance and ground frequencies within the coverage area. Those repeaters are utilized except in cases where there is a dedicated ground or clearance controller at a given airport (this basically only happens during events). You will NOT hear 'all pilots' when you're on the tower, dep/app and center freqs, regardless of staffing configuration (ie, even if it's single controller).

This is likely to be the best compromise between reducing blocks on the clearance/ground level while still maintaining as much voice isolation as possible.

TL;DR: you won't hear pilots on tower or above unless they're on your frequency. Maintain a good listening watch to anticipate when calls are taking place on the freqs you can't hear, as you would in real life.

[trigger_fsx]

While it has reduced the number of blocks, especially under single controller conditions,

Not sure if we got used to hearing each other with the previous voice configuration but I did a flight yesterday morning (October 12) and we had a single controller and even though I tried my utmost best to anticipate calls and read backs we were constantly stepping on each other numerous times to the frustration of the controller. Just my initial observation and only based on one flight with a single controller but thought I'd share my experience. Kudos to the controller for still do doing a great job in managing us all.

Cheers!
J

[Keith Smith]

I've now included tower as a repeated freq. there will still be more blocks than the party line config, but this is a necessary change.

[overload]

Just a thought - but might it be possible to have some sort of indication that a transmission that is outside my range is taking place? Something like the green light on the PE software that comes on when a Controller transmits, so I could glance at it and know that even though the frequency is quiet at my end, something is going on elsewhere, allowing me not to step on others?
Eugene

[Keith Smith]

I've considered it already. It would be tricky to implement across all platforms, would require some fairly complex redesign, and doesn't really have any parallels in real life. I have lost count of the number of times I've been flying in real life with a controller working multiple frequencies. In some cases, they've been fairly busy on both freqs. It does happen.