Newbie Questions

[MikeMcDonnell]

Hi,
I just signed up and had a few questions.

I went to KSBP and loaded a Skyhawk on the ramp. I tuned to the ATIS and could not hear the ATIS...I could hear the controller giving instructions to pilots at John Wayne. It seemed not
to matter what frequency I was on...is this normal? Is it just that I'm connected to the server and the freq. selection is irrelevant..

I didn't hear anyone say they were taxing with information Alpha etc...is that not used in PE ?

Can the controller see where I am on the field and give appropriate taxing instructions or is he just giving generic taxi instructions..via Alpha etc

Is there a text chat area where I can ask questions in real time?

I was able to confirm that my headset/mic is working so that a step in the right direction.

Thanks, MIke

[zengei]

Hi,
I just signed up and had a few questions.

Welcome.

I went to KSBP and loaded a Skyhawk on the ramp. I tuned to the ATIS and could not hear the ATIS...I could hear the controller giving instructions to pilots at John Wayne. It seemed not
to matter what frequency I was on...is this normal? Is it just that I'm connected to the server and the freq. selection is irrelevant..

If you were tuned to the correct ATIS frequency you shouldn't have heard anything (except for your sim's ATIS, probably). The PE client might not have thought you were on the frequency you thought you were on. You can doublecheck what frequency PE thinks you're on by looking at the live map: http://map.pilotedge.net/map/
Once you're on the right frequency it will be normal to hear controllers talking to pilots at other airports. You won't hear the other pilots unless the controller is also working the clearance/ground positions or (obviously) they're on the same frequency as you. See: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3681

I didn't hear anyone say they were taxing with information Alpha etc...is that not used in PE ?

People can choose whatever weather they want in their own sim. The specific ATIS information is irrelevant, you'll often just hear people say they "have the weather". Plently of people will give an ATIS code (I do), but this code will be specific to their own simulation until PE distributes its own ATIS.

Can the controller see where I am on the field and give appropriate taxing instructions or is he just giving generic taxi instructions..via Alpha etc

The controller will give specific instructions based on where you say you are or where you want to go (feel free to give named locations on the field). If you don't state where you are, they'll ask. Tower/ground controllers can see exactly where you are on the field on their scopes, but will feign ignorance if that's not information they would have in the real world.

EDIT: Rereading this, when you say "specific taxi intsructions" do you mean the controller telling you when to turn, i.e. progressive taxi? Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can get that if you request it.

Is there a text chat area where I can ask questions in real time?

Nope, but if they have time controllers are usually willing to answer quick questions. They won't be having a 5 minute long discussion with you though.

I was able to confirm that my headset/mic is working so that a step in the right direction.

Indeed.

[MikeMcDonnell]

Thanks!! Super helpful!

[ridikamus]

A couple more possibilities that I ran into:

-If you're using stock FSX for ATIS but using real world/Skyvector A/FD plates you'll find a lot of frequencies have changed since FSX was last updated.
-If you're using FSX with Active Sky Next for weather, ASN's ATIS is always 122.0 for the "closest airport". There are a few other freqs in the ASN documentation.
-PilotEdge only listens/sends on COM1 as far as I'm aware (I'm still new myself, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong). PilotEdge definitely does not support monitoring COM1 and COM2 simultaneously, but if your aircraft is capable of simultaneous monitoring you can use COM2 to get ATIS and keep ATC/CTAF on COM1.

If none of this is relevant because you're running X-Plane, well...you should be in good hands because most of the PE staff seem to be X-Plane pilots! They are super active on the forums as well, so doing what you did - coming here and asking questions - should work pretty well, although not quite real-time.

[par2005]

-PilotEdge only listens/sends on COM1 as far as I'm aware (I'm still new myself, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

That is incorrect. I often use both COM1, and COM2 to transmit on PE. I use P3D.

ATIS freq in your sim might not match the frequencies in real life. Look up the frequency in your sim (you can simply use Garmin for that).

In some places the same frequency can be the same for airport ATIS and PE tower/ground whatever. It is annoying, rare, but it happens.

To check the frequency you are on, you don't have to check the map. Just alt-tab to pilot edge application, and it shows the active frequency in the bottom right corner.

You might hear the same controller on the numerous frequencies, but it definitely matters which frequency you are on. You will not hear other pilots on every frequency though. The reason for this is explained in other numerous posts but basically imagine that the controller has a single button to transmit, and he might transmit on numerous frequencies at the same time.

For the chat area, no such thing except for IRC channel where some of the PE users socialize, you might drop the question there and maybe someone will answer.

My understanding is, the controller sees squawk codes on his screen. If there will be numerous airplanes on that airport with 1200, he might not know which one are you. In PilotEdge they might still know though. Nevertheless when contacting the ground just get into the habbit of saying: 1. who you are addressing 2. who you are 3. where you are. 4. You have alpha/beta ATIS 5. Your request (ready to taxi) <-- 5) is optional though if you had your clearance beforehand

[kullery]

Welcome Mike,

RE: ATIS
As zengei mentioned, PilotEdge does not currently distribute ATIS messages so controllers will accept any ATIS code (or "with the numbers"). ATIS messages are available here which are based on R/W actual weather and are coordinated with the PilotEdge controllers. These messages include the current operational status of the runways on PE however you are free to indicate that you are using different weather and request a different runway. There is absolutely NO requirement to use these messages however they are available if you desire an ATIS message that is synched to PE operations.

RE: Text chat
Pilotedge does offer an IRC at http://irc.pilotedge.net/ where you can ASK a question in real time. No guarantee on the response however it is typically monitored by some regular PE users and PE staff members.

[zengei]

To check the frequency you are on, you don't have to check the map. Just alt-tab to pilot edge application, and it shows the active frequency in the bottom right corner.

Good to know for FSX/P3D, but not true if he's using X-Plane as there's no separate external app.

[kullery]

-PilotEdge only listens/sends on COM1 as far as I'm aware (I'm still new myself, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

For X-plane this can depend on the specific aircraft. As I understand it, there is a dataref for the audio panel (Sim/cockpit/switches/audio panel out) which can be manipulated to control which radio is "communicating" with PE. From what I have seen, not all developers set this data ref when inputs are made on the audio panel. I also qualify this with "someone please correct me if I'm wrong", but I did have some luck with making changes in the Carenado F33A BONANZA to allow use of COM2.