Lost COMMs

[Joris]

Hi,

I'm new to PE - live in Belgium - and completed my first traffic pattern yesterday, flying went well, but almost froze up when talking to the controller. Hope i did not ruined his day. I can say i'm hooked and will try to get my ratings.

Tried again today at Riverside but when reporting midfield all communications went dead. Could not hear anything anymore, even on other frequencies.
Since not cleared to land circled the pattern for a while and landed the Mooney eventually after making sure no other traffic. Reading the forum i should have squawked 7600 and land asap.

Anyway,how can i check that on my end nothing is wrong with the system? is there a way to IM the controller or check the system status?

Thanks

Joris

[Keith Smith]

Joris,

If you're using X-Plane, make sure your alternator/generator was turned on. Losing comms in mid flight is often a sign that your battery is dying in the airplane (many sim pilots have not been concerned with the alternator/generator in the past). The PilotEdge plugin monitor bus voltage and if it drops below a certain point, it effectively fails the radio.

If it's more of a system issue, then disconnecting/reconnecting is one method (that will re-establish the connection to the voice server). Alternatively, you can try swapping from the tower frequency to the local approach frequency. That is often staffed by a different controller and will rule out comms issues on the controller side.

Welcome to the network, I hope it goes well for you!