One of these days....

[WagnerTenor]

One of these days, I will get through an IFR flight without screwing up. I always do something wrong. Very annoyed with myself: sugetis pedules

[NyyDave]

You can do it! When I was having a hard time with the flying portion I spent more time studying on the preflight, running through all of the frequencies and things to expect for the flight... you'll get there

[Keith Smith]

One of these days, I will get through an IFR flight without screwing up. I always do something wrong. Very annoyed with myself: sugetis pedules

If you can share what it is that seems to be giving you grief, we can try to help.

[WagnerTenor]

The real problem is that I have a use a trackpad for my mouse; due to carpel-tunnel problems. This presents no problem with my Heavy Metals, but in the Piper I like to fly. Carenado in my opinion has not implemented a good system for turning knobs; either quickly or accurately. So, I get behind trying to change heading or frequencies. Then I end up miss hearing or miss reading something. This then starts a cascade of frustration. Also, since I am only a simmer, I am still trying to learn, and I end up with workload overload.

Having said that, I now find Vatsim very one dimensional, and I will keep at it until I get it right.

Graham

[Matthias Geiss]

It may be easier/quicker for you to change radio frequencies with the keyboard.
If you're on X-Plane, then there is a plugin by Sandy Barbour called "command line": http://www.xpluginsdk.org/command_line.htm

Changing COM 1/2, NAV 1/2, transponder etc. can then be done via relatively simple lines like .c113525 to change COM 1 to 135.25

Or, if you just want a bit more flexibility for tuning COM 1, there is also the COM 1 Radio Tuner: http://www.xpluginsdk.org/misc_plugins.htm
It has the advantage of providing 5 slots for frequencies which you can pre fill, but you can also type and set a frequency "on the fly".



There are similar plugins for FSX, but I would need to dig through my old bookmarks or search the net for newer solutions as I have uninstalled FSX/P3D some time ago.

[wmburns]

but in the Piper I like to fly. Carenado in my opinion has not implemented a good system for turning knobs; either quickly or accurately.

I may have a simpler solution to your problem IF you are running an X-Plane Carenado model.

First make sure that you are using the latest version from Carenado as there has been updates to the mouse scroll wheel logic. New versions can be downloaded from where the product was originally purchased from. In my case I just go back to the X-plane ORG store and re-download from my account page. This will always pull the latest version.

Next I have encountered "issues" with the 3D cockpits on several Carenado aircraft. The mouse click area didn't seem consistent. Or the knob in question would not highlight when the cursor is directly over the knob. But somehow would highlight when off to the side. If this is your problem the fix is to MAXIMIZE the aircraft and location screen BEFORE clicking "fly with these options". In my case this has completely solved the issue 3D cockpit view problem. Now when the mouse cursor hovers over a knob, that knob will highlight and work as expected.

Going in a completely different direction, have you ever considered using the Saitek radio panel? For me, it really makes a ton of difference changing radio frequencies and VOR's. Plus it adds to the "realism" factor.

With the Saitek radio panel and throttle quadrant has drastically reduced the number of times one even has to touch the keyboard/mouse at all while flying.

[WagnerTenor]

Yes, I think it is time for the panel. The problem I find with clicking on say the Garmin, and opening the 2D version is that you cannot drag the the cursor, it only accepts clicks. Pain in the butt for coms.

Thanks for the script option, I will play with it.

[Keith Smith]

Saitek panel, good call. Alternatively, for free, you can map keystrokes to manipulate the com and nav radio stdby freqs. For example, I have mapped ctrl-up, down, left and right to manipulate the com1 stdby radio. I really should do the same for the navs because I pull my hair out trying to manipulate those sometimes.

[ridikamus]

If you have an iPhone or iPad lying around, another external option is an app called AirTrack. It's not free - in my opinion its price is on the high side - but it allows you to manage all of your radios via taps including keypad entry. It can do a lot more - the link I posted above has a better description - but the ability to tap touch your frequencies and course/heading bugs takes a lot of the frustration out of the process by avoiding mouse manipulators entirely. I own it, and it is not the most intuitive of applications, but it works well once you understand the design layout. I have used it with X-Plane, where the installation consists of dropping a plugin in the folder. I have not used it with FSX, but I believe the process on that side of the fence is far more complicated and has a list of limitations that aren't present in the X-Plane plugin.