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Radar Contact


John York

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I see this is available for P3Dv3+

 

I had it years ago and it really was good.  No mistakes and very convenient.

 

However, it's rather expensive so before I buy it again, I was wondering if anyone has it and what they think of it?

 

John 

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Hi John. There is a new one out, well it's a completely rewritten one by Oncousre software called PF3. You can download it and use it free, all that happens is I think every 10 minutes it pauses for a few seconds then carrys on, and if you like it, it will cost you £35 to register it. Plus you can use it for VFR as well. Check it out on YouTube. Derek.

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Yes, I liked the sound of PF3 and downloaded and installed the demo version but couldn't get it to work.  So, its probably back to Radar Contact for me even though its older, more expensive and doesn't handle FIR flights.

 

I'll wait a while, although  I'm peed off with LM ATC and would have thought they would have done something about it by now.  I feel real sympathy with the would be pilots who will get a real shock when they get real ATC in a real aircraft!

 

Ah well.

 

John

 

 

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I finally got the the demo working this morning.  All except my own voice! It needs a bit of tweaking for my 'ears' and hearing aid but I think it'll be alright so I'll be investing in the full version.

 

Thanks Kevin.  You'll be able to claim your commission from them soon!;)

 

John

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Yes, Sue.  The RC manual was a bit 'overboard'.  However, it was easy enough to use but was only for IFR flights.

 

It looks to me as if PF3 can be used for VFR as well so once I've got it I'm hoping I'll be shot of the FSX/LM ATC for good.  They only tried to bring me down on the wrong runway for the aircraft at Templehof, Berlin yesterday.  They wanted me to visually land on 4L which was far too short for the EMB500 Phenom.  It should have been an ILS preferably, or a visual landing on 4R!  Damn nuisance when you've flown nearly 350nm to get there.

 

I use the LM flight plan panel Dadtom and when I get PF3 I can transfer that into it.

 

John

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Yep.  Got the PF3 full version and just done my first flight.  VFR EHRD Rotterdam to EGGD Bristol.  It took a bit of

searching to find the flight plan under 'C' and enter it into the ATC but I think there's propably a way to bring up the flight plan without having to go to the folder first.

 

There were a few adjustments I to make along the way; 

The voices were too loud so I toned down the backgound voices more than my pilot and traffic control (trial and error). 

I had forgotten to put my call sign in and they gave me default 4.  Unfortunately, some other pilot had 4 too so it was sometimes difficult to discern who was talking to who!  I've corrected that now.


With this ATC its like having a co-pilot or navigator who carries out all the communications for you.  I suppose I'll get used to not having to operate ATC and I must say it does help you to control direction, speed and altitude without the

interference of a controller usually just as you're about to make a height or course adjustment.

 

I found it strange that it was London ATC who issued the landing instructions and no attempt was made to apply to Bristol for permission to land.  There was no 'clear to land' communication which I found a little daunting.

 

Another thing is that with VFR the ATC always requests 'Flight Following' which I think helps PF3 with the connections to the next controller.  Some of the altitude instructions back are a bit unnerving e.g. flying at 12,500' it is worrying to say the least to hear an instruction to fly at 30,000'!

 

I did like that I was able to control the range and height at which I should receive warnings of nearby aircraft but it was a bit unnerving to hear my co-pilot report 'aircraft in sight'.  It is true, I did see them quite easily but not always before he'd

reported they'd been seen.

 

All in all.  I enjoyed my first flight and as time goes on I'll probably be able to fathom out what I need to adjust it further.

 

The next flight will be IFR and I'm hoping that the instructions will be shown in the FSUIPC panel as well as audible.

 

John

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, JohnY said:

The next flight will be IFR and I'm hoping that the instructions will be shown in the FSUIPC panel as well as audible.

Try using the 'Remote Text' facility that came with the package ;)

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2 hours ago, JohnY said:

I did like that I was able to control the range and height at which I should receive warnings of nearby aircraft but it was a bit unnerving to hear my co-pilot report 'aircraft in sight'.  It is true, I did see them quite easily but not always before he'd reported they'd been seen.

Well, that's good though, eh ? He was doing his job properly :D  If not happy with that, you can always change which 'virtual co-pilot' mode you're in - even whilst in-flight ;)

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2 hours ago, JohnY said:

Some of the altitude instructions back are a bit unnerving e.g. flying at 12,500' it is worrying to say the least to hear an instruction to fly at 30,000'!

That's definitely not right and if you're 100% certain that what you'd done up to that point was correct then there might just be a bug.  The best way to resolve that would be to post in their Support forum with a zipped copy of your flightplan and you'll get a very quick response from the support guys ;) http://www.ocs-support.co.uk/forums/

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Thanks for these helpful suggestions Kevin.

 

If I fly IFR I could well have use for the text facility but I've not seen that in the control panel which is all I got when I installed it.

 

I'm using P3D.3.3.5 and I remember seeing that some things were available with FSX but not P3D.  It might be one of those,  I'll check.

 

John

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Hi John, if you go to your 'main' PF3 folder, therein you'll find a file 'PF3_Displayer' inside which are the utilities 'pf3_display' and 'remotetext' - just fire 'em both up and away you go;  remotetext will give a textual display of the voice commands and pf3_display will show you available commands and frequencies ;)

 

hth

 

btw - all functions, as far as I'm aware, are available across all sim platforms ;)

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20 minutes ago, KevinJH said:

Hi John, if you go to your 'main' PF3 folder, therein you'll find a file 'PF3_Displayer' inside which are the utilities 'pf3_display' and 'remotetext' - just fire 'em both up and away you go;  remotetext will give a textual display of the voice commands and pf3_display will show you available commands and frequencies ;)

 

hth

 

btw - all functions, as far as I'm aware, are available across all sim platforms ;)

Except the kneeboard - not available in P3D.

 

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5 minutes ago, chumley said:

Except the kneeboard - not available in P3D.

Well, there you go then, that's something I wasn't aware of - but then I don't have P3D... thanks for the enlightenment ;)

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Yes, well, that buggered it up completely!  All I can get it PF3 to do now is show the frequency.  I've got no communication at all!

 

I'm thinking of uninstalling it completely and staring again.  But that's for another day.  We're out all day to-morrow and it's my dinner time soon ..... I hope.

 

John

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Thankfully there was a demo. ++ Thankfully a restore point was made when I installed it. After fiddling for several days I could get the demo to work but it seemed that is had issues when loaded under some circumstances. Then Windows 10 began to have problems. I went back to the restore point when PF3 was installed and all was well. I do not intend to deal further with the product.

 

As others has commented, for Lockheed Martin to continue offering such a primitive Air Traffic Control system is confusing. It is a major component for flight, except in the most remotes areas of the world. It would be like someone driving a car but knowing nothing about signage and traffic signals.

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I've tried three times to register with the forum Kevin and never received the email confirming registration or anything from them.  I've written a

letter of complaint and not even received an acknowledgment.

 

I know its no good asking for my money back because I won't get a reply.

 

I'm really disappointed as it started off seeming such a good alternative to the default but it really looks now as if I'll have to soldier on with LM's laughable excuse for an ATC and accept that its £40 down the drain.

 

John

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1 hour ago, JohnY said:

I've tried three times to register with the forum Kevin and never received the email confirming registration or anything from them.  I've written a

letter of complaint and not even received an acknowledgment.

 

I know its no good asking for my money back because I won't get a reply.

 

I'm really disappointed as it started off seeming such a good alternative to the default but it really looks now as if I'll have to soldier on with LM's laughable excuse for an ATC and accept that its £40 down the drain.

 

John

John, obviously something's not right here as I've just created a second account there without a problem.  Knowing Dave, if you want you're money back, I'm sure he'll sort something out for you.  I'll get in touch with him directly and get back to you as soon as..... ;)

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Yes got it and have written to Dave March thanks,   I sent  you a copy of the letter but don't think you received it?  It was quite a polite one!!

 

Thanks for your efforts Kevin.

 

John

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Just a heads up to those interested in ATC products... PF3 is not the only new kid on the block...

 

Pilot2ATC version 2 was released several months ago and, like PF3, is also receiving regularly updates and active support. There's a free 10 day demo available.

Home page is here: http://pilot2atc.com

and support forum here: http://www.avsim.com/forum/713-pilot2atc-users-forum/

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Hi Kevin

 

I've now heard from Dave who say's he's activated my account for me.  Thanks again for your help with this.

 

Which is good BUT he said he'd also written to me earlier this morning something about runtimes. That message never arrived.  Neither have any of their alleged responses to my previous complaints.   Personally, I think they're getting my email address wrong. 

 

Thanks for that information paj.  I think for the time being its going to have to be PF3 or nothing.  I can't keep sending good money after bad....my wife would have a fit!<_<

 

In any case, nowhere can I see on their 'blurb ' for that beta version that its suitable for P3D v3.3.5 so I with LM being such a sensitive soul will a risk anything that doesn't say quite positively that it is.

 

John

 

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1 hour ago, JohnY said:

Hi Kevin

I've now heard from Dave who say's he's activated my account for me.  Thanks again for your help with this.

 

Which is good BUT he said he'd also written to me earlier this morning something about runtimes. That message never arrived.  Neither have any of their alleged responses to my previous complaints.   Personally, I think they're getting my email address wrong. 

 

In any case, nowhere can I see on their 'blurb ' for that beta version that its suitable for P3D v3.3.5 so I with LM being such a sensitive soul will a risk anything that doesn't say quite positively that it is.

 

John

 

Morning John, really glad to hear (and see) that you're registered in their support forum now.  As you'll see, if you haven't already, it's pretty active and response times to queries are very good so hopefully things'll get ironed out for you sooner rather than later.  Regarding P3D v3.3.5 - as PF3 sits outside of the sim, there shouldn't be anything untoward happening but maybe once you've re-installed the programme it'll all fall into place but of course, any problems, just post over there and you'll get pointed in the right direction ;)

 

btw, if you've still not received Dave's message about 'runtimes', again, just post in his forum and he'll sort it :)

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Thanks Kevin.

 

Dave's still insisting he sent something to me which I didn't receive.

 

Anyway, I picked up 'runtimes' whatever they are and installed them.  Still nothing works, so I'm hoping now that someone tells me how I can re-download the software. and start again.

 

It was ok at first.  It was only when I thought using the display features that it all went haywire.  Unfortunately, I can't undo whatever it was that the display stuff did, so I'm thinking to uninstall the lot and reinstall from a new download and then not let myself be persuaded to install the display features.

 

I'm awaiting a reply on the forum on that one.

 

What's a 'Client' machine?

 

John

 

 

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56 minutes ago, JohnY said:

....What's a 'Client' machine?....

Erm, in this case ? Perhaps the pc/laptop to which you downloaded the programme to originally ?  Sorry, I'm no tecchy so open to offers here..... :D

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John, a client machine is usually referred to when you are running your flight sim on one PC system, and then you have a second PC system for other, flight sim related utility programs....such as PF3, Active Sky, REX, etc and run the two systems in a networked configuration..

 

In such a scenario, the 'client' machine is the PC system that you have your flight sim program installed on, whereas the system where PF3 is installed is the 'Server' system.. If you have one PC system for all of your flight sim software period, than that one system IS the client AND server machine, all in one.. Bottom line, which ever system your flight sim (in your case P3D 3.3.5) is installed on is the 'client' system.

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Ah.  I see Sniper.  Thanks for that information.  I thought it might be something to do with running a machine for somebody else.  So I was on the wrong track completely. 

 

Not unusual.

 

Bloody computer speak.  I'll never understand it!

 

John

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Well.  I've just completed a long, well, for me, IFR flight from KBOI Boise to KBFI Boeing Field using PF3 ATC and I must say I'm impressed.  It was nice having both the voice and script.

The slight downside was the Phenom 500 didn't actually grab the ILS so I had to manually land it.  However, once I got down I was instructed to exit the runway left  and when I got there they kindly told me the parking space number.  Unfortunately, I didn't know where that was so I grabbed the first available.  There doesn't seem to be a progressive taxiway with PF3?

Anyway, I like it and its working well.

Thanks for all your help and advice guys, especially Kevin.

 

John

 

 

 

 

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Really pleased to hear that things went pretty well for you and that you liked it - that's what it's all about.  You're most welcome for what little assistance I could give, John and hope you get much enjoyment from the product - though there's quite a bit that you can tweak and adjust until you're happy/comfortable with it.  Regarding the progressive taxi instructions - don't forget you can activate either a separate gauge or, as I use, the heading bug to indicate the direction you should take towards your parking space (and of course, you have the voice commands telling you too) - they're in Options 1 under Taxi Guidance System in the Command screen ;)

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