Air Traffic Control Programs.

[brianwilliamson]

Anyone with cockpit sims come to any conclusions about ATC programs ??

I have been trying out Voxatc on my home computer to see how it runs, which seems to be ok, especially when using its co-pilot, which is probably the best idea in a full size cockpit. It is simple and seems to work with one drawback. that the back-up service seems to zero.

Just installed the trial of P2ATC, again looks good BUT....way too complex for a cockpit, as it is more of a flight planner than anything else. They have to keep it simple.

Anyway just a couple of brief views on these 2 so far.

Regards............Brian W.

[FredK]

Brian....I tend to agree with your assessment.  I have investigated every one of them.  Unfortunately there really is not a good one for cockpits.

In my opinion Radar Contact is the best of a very bad lot in that regard.   It is straightforward and convenient to interface into a cockpit.  But the problem is that it is ancient and unsupported....and shows its age.

Now that I have become comfortable with VATSIM and Pilots Edge using one of the computer ATC programs just does not cut it at all.  When I want to fly with a full complement of AI planes I just "wing it" and ignore the ATC.

Fred K

[brianwilliamson]

Yes Fred, seems to be one of those programs that is not going very far.

I guess we will be doing what you do and listening to Atis and Tower on P3d  !!

............Brian W.

[tennyson]

Hi Brian.
I agree, there is a huge void when it comes to ATC. I recently saw a review on ProATCX, so I went over and had a look, it's been upgraded to work with P3D V4.2.

From what I saw from the woeful web site, I was so discouraged, I let it go.

Unlike Fred, I haven't taken the plunge yet with Live ATC, but I'm thinking very serious about it.

I installed a very expensive three station intercom that works beautifully and then invested in a couple of Blackshark headsets, but that's where it ends, all that tech and I'm not using it....



Frank

[seedosip]

Hi,
Since about a year I am flying with VoxATC and I am quite happy with what it does. It is very immersive as you can actually talk and have not found any speech recognition issues. You barely have to enter any menus and do clicks as most of the communication is done by voice. It does control AI traffic as well, though there are TCAS advisories form time to time ?
I drawback is that it is extremely sensitive to AFCAD and had to spent a fair amount of time improving AFCADs.

Kind regards,
Sergej

[blueskydriver]

Over the years I did VOXATC and went as far as installing new voice sets that were done by AT&T, as well as redid many AFCADS. It was great fun, but in the end I found VATSIM ATC a little more involved, even though the staffing could be limited at the times I'd like to fly. However, if you follow VATSIM event(s) calendar you could always find an area to fly in and have all ATC operations online.

One thing about VATSIM though, you just have to understand it's main focus and it's hierarchy that's based on regions. The main focus area is here:

https://www.vatsim.net/

With the regions being here:

https://www.vatsim.net/region

Once you choose a region to base out of, it's not difficult at all to fly on VATSIM and learning the lexicon/terminology is really simple. Just like real ATC it's all a matter of following procedures and repeating given instructions. After doing this for awhile you come too know what will be said before the ATC will say it, much like VOXATC (or others). Still, at some point you might find this even boring, so this is where I suggest you also join a Virtual Airline that tracks all your flights and all aspects of your virtual pilot career. I joined Virtual Northwest Airlines, but sadly have not flown with them since taking my sim a part; luckily, they have kept me as a member, where normally if you don't log flights they'll terminate your membership...it's all about flying like in the real aviation world..."if you don't fly, you don't have a job"...lol!

Seriously, I know some would find VATSIM and a Virtual Airline membership even a little more intimidating, but it's not like that at all. Besides, they want virtual pilots to stay members because it would be nothing without you, and without pilots there is no need for ATC (a little joke that the ATC guys always think it's the other way around...LOL). Anyway, here is the best way to get started:

https://www.vatsim.net/pilots/getting-started

Before I conclude about online style ATC, let me mention PilotEdge here:

https://www.pilotedge.net/

PilotEdge is a fee based ATC service that is based on two North American Regions. You pay for the dedicated ATC staff who follow real world operations. I personally haven't used it, but other members here have and like anything else in the Flight Simulation world, there are always "argumentative" Pros and Cons. So, rather then any of us discuss those aspects (please don't), let me just say checkout PilotEdge for yourself, as they do have a free two week trial period.

Follow these links for a good start:

https://www.pilotedge.net/join
https://www.pilotedge.net/pages/pricing
https://www.pilotedge.net/pages/comparison-to-other-networks
https://www.pilotedge.net/pages/introduction-videos

Lastly, I know this topic was about Air Traffic Control Programs and since VATSIM and PilotEdge do require software programs to make them work, I figure it's relevant to include them. And, for stand alone programs like VOXATC or Pro-ATC X, they are easy to use, but do remember they require system resources from your main simulator computer, so do account for that when considering adding it to your setup...

Here are some links for VOXATC and Pro-ATC X:

http://voxatc.com/Home.aspx
http://voxatc.com/Home.aspx/Register
http://voxatc.com/Content/voxATCXHelp.pdf

http://www.pointsoftware.de/proatcx_e/index.html
http://www.pointsoftware.de/proatcx_e/order.html
http://www.pointsoftware.de/proatcx_e/proatcxfeatures.html

Kind Regards,

John

[jackpilot]

Good research...Thank you John.

[brianwilliamson]

Thank you to Frank, Sergej and John for all that info. I guess we are all hopeful that something may eventuate one day.

Have been aware of the Voxatc problem with afcads, which I guess can be fixed, but the same problem I would expect applies to all ATC programs.

Vatsim I have really not looked at, mainly because I do not allow my 6 Sim computers to connect to the internet, as the amount of control and rubbish now going on there, it is not worth the risk.

I will keep looking at Voxatc again on trial when I get time to install on the Sim and see how it performs in real life.

Thanks all................Brian W.

[FredK]

Vatsim I have really not looked at, mainly because I do not allow my 6 Sim computers to connect to the internet, as the amount of control and rubbish now going on there, it is not worth the risk.

Brian...

As long as you keep your computers dedicated to your sim the internet risk is minimal.....no email, no google searches, no clicking on things you need to avoid, etc.  Do all that on another computer,  and it is best to keep the junk bloat off your flight sim computers anyhow.

The opinion of someone I know and respect at a senior level in a cyber security concern claims that 99.999% of all "hacking" intrusions (including government) are due to (1) indiscriminate user issues or (2) insider malfeasance.  Windows 10 is very well protected otherwise!

Fred K

[brianwilliamson]

Thanks Fred........................Windows 10 on a flight sim  ??

Will never go past windows 7 64 bit............no  need to.

..........Brian W.