selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Keith Smith
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Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by Keith Smith »

Yes, this is still the case in XP11, nothing has changed from XP10. The stock audio panel changes the RECEIVE setting only. To change the TX radio selection, you need to trigger the "Transmit audio: COM1" or "Transmit audio: COM2" commands as shown in this xp11 dialogue...
xmit1_2.png
xmit1_2.png (27.03 KiB) Viewed 13675 times
This is no different than what I outlined for XP10, but I figured I'd show you the XP11 equivalent for clarity.

And yes, by triggering those commands, it will actually reset the receive settings, too (this is stock behavior for Xplane's audio panel unfortunately). That is, if you were receiving on COM1 and COM2, then you swap the TX radio, the RX settings will change to match the TX settings (ie, you'll only be receiving on COM1 or COM2). If you want to continue receiving on both radios after changing the TX radio, then you need to click the button again on the audio panel for the unselected radio.

In the example above, I mapped ALT-1 and ALT-2 to toggle between having COM1 or COM2 selected for transmitting.
sono
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Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by sono »

Thank you Keith

This is actually a pain that even the latest xplane doesnt do the right thing to simulate real world behaviour. I thought it was FAA approved software generally..

If you buy a hardware radio panel and attach that to your computer does xplane do a better job in this respect as a matter of interest ?
PE CAT-11, I-11, SKY-8
EASA and FAA (61.75) Private ASEL AMEL Instrument
wesyin
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Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by wesyin »

This post is very clear about how to select COM1/2 for PE transmitting. Great job!

I have some questions on the receiving side.

I am sometimes told to "monitor Ground" by PE Tower controllers. How do I do this in XP? If my aircraft only supports receiving on one radio at a time, then I am certainly not able to monitor another frequency. But suppose it does support two radios simultaneously, will COM2 receive the PE audio stream while COM1 is also receiving (and used for PE transmitting)?

Another question: Suppose COM1 receiving is OFF and COM2 receiving is ON. When PE is set to COM1 transmission, will the controller hear me but I cannot hear him (unless COM2 has the same frequency as COM1)?
Keith Smith
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Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by Keith Smith »

"monitor ground" doesn't imply that you should remain on the current frequency AND monitor ground. ATC never assumes you have two radios, nor is there an operational requirement for them to instruct you to be on two freqs at once.

So "monitor ground" is like "contact ground" except you don't check in on the new freq.

Regarding what happens if you're not receiving on the radio which you've selected for transmitting...ATC won't hear you as we move you to another voice room if your radio is not configured to receive anything. So, you're transmitting, technically, but you're doing it in a dead room.
wesyin
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Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by wesyin »

Keith Smith wrote:"monitor ground" doesn't imply that you should remain on the current frequency AND monitor ground. ATC never assumes you have two radios, nor is there an operational requirement for them to instruct you to be on two freqs at once.

So "monitor ground" is like "contact ground" except you don't check in on the new freq.

Regarding what happens if you're not receiving on the radio which you've selected for transmitting...ATC won't hear you as we move you to another voice room if your radio is not configured to receive anything. So, you're transmitting, technically, but you're doing it in a dead room.
It's really good to know! Thanks.
Salire
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Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by Salire »

I tried to fly inPE using X Plane today, but when I switched from Com 1 to Com 2, the PE controller could still only only hear my COM1 frequency despite me having switched to COM2. I displayed the data output in XP and it is showing it toggling between values 6 (COM1 xmit) and 7 (COM2 xmit), as expected, yet the PE controller always hears COM1. It looks like my system is attempting to operate correctly. Is there a data link/UDP problem? Not sure what to do next. This has worked flawlessly since I joined PE, until now.
Sally
PPL Asheville, NC
FDXDave
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Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by FDXDave »

Salire wrote:I tried to fly inPE using X Plane today, but when I switched from Com 1 to Com 2, the PE controller could still only only hear my COM1 frequency despite me having switched to COM2. I displayed the data output in XP and it is showing it toggling between values 6 (COM1 xmit) and 7 (COM2 xmit), as expected, yet the PE controller always hears COM1. It looks like my system is attempting to operate correctly. Is there a data link/UDP problem? Not sure what to do next. This has worked flawlessly since I joined PE, until now.
I'm no expert. But I believe it has more to do with the model developer, than the PE network. Same thing on VATSIM. Com2 you can always listen / monitor but you can only TX on COM1.
I usually monitor PE's center on COM2 if I'm VFR. and I also use it to get X=plane's ATIS to get the proper weather the sim is using. Otherwise, the only Aircraft developer that has figured out how to use both com's is Aerobask. The Aerobask 550 Biz jet you can use both COM1 and COM2 to transmit. Any other plane, I can only transmit on COM1. There may be other models out there that have the capability, but I'm unaware. The 550 is cool, cause I can prep 4 freqs before I even taxi.
Dave.
Keith Smith
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Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by Keith Smith »

Dave, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but the functionality on VATSIM is irrelevant as the software is completely different.

Sally, if you verified that the COM1/2 value was indeed 7, then it absolutely should've been transmitting on COM2. It could be that the controller was misreading the output which shows which frequency was being used (it's a little tricky for the controller to be able tell which freq you're actually transmitting on if both radios are set to a frequency which maps to them).

A good solution would be try setting the com1 radio to a non-ATC freq, such as 123.45, or one of the non-towered CTAF freqs (122.70, 122.80, 122.90, 123.05, etc), then transmit on COM2. That should remove any doubt as to which radio you're transmitting on. If ATC hears you, then you're clearly on COM2.
Salire
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Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:20 am
Location: Asheville, NC USA

Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by Salire »

Let me try to be precise in explaining what is happening. I use both COM1 and COM2 to xmit, along with swapping stby freqs. In the problem that arose, I taxied with COM1 tuned to ground and COM2 to tower. In my pre-takeoff check I switched to COM2. I saw on my G1000 display that COM2 was GREEN, meaning active. Yet, your controller only saw COM1 as active, although he said he had a display of both frequencies. So after some testing with your controller (who was quite helpful on a busy Saturday), I didn’t want to bother him any more and logged off to test. On looking at the data, I could see that X-plane is indeed generating the codes (6 for COM1, 7 for COM2) correctly as I switch. So then I logged back on to PE while set to xmit on COM2 and pulled up my icon on your map. It showed my freq as 199.98. When I changed xmit to COM1 it correctly showed the setting. If I switched back to COM2, it showed the COM1 setting and die not change again.

So, I think I’m sending your servers all the COM data, including the xmit switch command, but I can’t be totally sure beyond looking at the data log on my computer. But there’s clearly a problem, and I’m not sure it is on my side.

I need to emphasize that this has worked perfectly fine until Saturday. Is there a way you can capture the raw data coming from me and see if you’re getting this? Maybe there is some network error, but I’d think if you’re getting all my frequencies you’d also get the xmit unit code, too.
Last edited by Salire on Mon Mar 05, 2018 7:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sally
PPL Asheville, NC
Salire
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:20 am
Location: Asheville, NC USA

Re: selecting COM1 or COM2 for transmitting

Post by Salire »

Hi Dave, actually the Laminar G1000 implementation allows xmit switching. Pull up the G1000 172 and push COM2 MIC on the audio panel and you will transmit and receive on COM2. This actually works on the Cirrus SF50 as well, but you have to map the switch to a keyboard command because there is currently no functional implementation of a cockpit switch.

The problem is it all worked fine, until Saturday. So I know it’s possible. But it torpedoed my Saturday flying for a couple of hours to troubleshoot this.
Sally
PPL Asheville, NC
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