miloguy Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 G'day guys , just wondering, since I started fsx up again, should I try using or learning vatsim instead of using the default fsx atc?? is it hard to lean ? how do you talk to the vatsim atc guys? do I need to buy anything to do that I have a standard head set with mic , need to learn how to use that too.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonvs Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Hi Milo, it seems to be a long process I have been trying the whole VA thing for some time but find it very time consuming. First you need to apply for a VatSim account (not difficult) then you need a means of connection and there are only two choices now - Squakbox or FSInn. Squakbox is older and a bit clunky but easier and more widely used. Your headset/mic should be all you need hardware wise. Once you have a Vatsim account and set up your comms connection, you can login to a given location (airport) and sit and listen. You need to announce (either by voice or txt chat) that you have logged in and that you are new and would just like to sit and listen. Often if you pick an airport that is not too busy the controller will offer general help and advice on what you do next. The idea is that you sit and learn the protocol and build up your confidence. When you do feel you are ready for a flight there are two rules to remember, not to load your plane/flight onto the default runway but to a gate somewhere out of the way. And two never use the pause button. I have been advised by controllers that you can really logon and have a flight from anywhere to anywhere but bare in mine that you have to be able to complete the whole fight in real time (without the pause button). The next extension from ATC is to try joining a Virtual Airline (VA) of which there are many and most affiliated with VatSim. I hope this helps you a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 ATC in ALL MS Flight Sims has been a joke. because they think that the US system is the ONLY system and that this is used world wide which of course it is not. VATSIM is in reality the only thing that is halfway believable IMHO because they are human and we as pilots can talk directly , While VATSIM may not be perfect it is significantly better than the inbuilt ATC in FSX . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miloguy Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 what happens if fsx crashes during a flight or some weird crap happens for what ever reason do they get angry with you or if you go down the wrong taxi lane etc?? also do they see your planes livery ? and do you see other planes around the airport other than ai?thanks for the replies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petfy Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Vatsim is a huge jump. You may want to do an intermediate step in one of the multiplayer environments that offer human ATC. http://www.fsxbeyondgamespy.com/sessions.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobnobs Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 VOXATC is also very good but on the pricey side. This uses voice recognition to provide a virtual ATC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teecee Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 I have been a member of Vatsim for years,mainly to fly Aus, as I found that the manned towers in the US were arrogant and rude.I mainly wanted to fly in Aus anyway but gave up on it because it is (or perhaps was) almost impossible to find a manned tower in Aus. This may have changed now, and I truly hope that it has, but I have my doubts. Teecee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrykensett Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I have been flying Vatsim for years, mostly in Europe but US as well. I have found the controllers and the other pilots very helpful and I have never found them rude but they can be direct if you do so something really stupid (like trying your very first flight at a busy airport like EGLL). There is plenty of training material and other pilots will often mentor beginners. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teecee Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Barry, good to hear that things have changed,but the main problem for me was, and I think perhaps still is that it is difficult to find manned towers in my area of choice, Australia. Tell me that this is no longer so and I will resurrect my membership tomorrow. Teecee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvic Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Barry, good to hear that things have changed,but the main problem for me was, and I think perhaps still is that it is difficult to find manned towers in my area of choice, Australia. Tell me that this is no longer so and I will resurrect my membership tomorrow. Teecee. Well TeeCee, I am a Vatsim controller, FIR Chief & Supervisor. Rudeness is not in any way acceptable on any network. As we do this for fun, some do take it to the next level and when not everyone understands the FULL procedure thing with lots of traffic, some pilots and controllers can get a angry when not everyone can follow their instructions. Again not acceptable to be RUDE and goes against the COC rule A1" Be courteous". Try Vatsim again, and if you experience a rude controller or pilot, ask for assistance from a supervisor, we are there to help. As recommended, find a less busy airport and ask the controller(s) questions. Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teecee Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Marvic, Thanks for the input, and I will take on board all you say. I have been a member for I guess ten years now, and in the early years spent many hours on Vatpac and Vatsim, and the outcome was as you read above.. I stopped flying the big iron back a few years, and am a dyed in the wool low and slow pilot now..All this said, it still comes down to the coverage where I love to fly, Australia, and it is my guess that the coverage there is still sparse, but I will most certainly "give it another go" as it is much better to talk to real people..Teecee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripcord Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 One day I will get to a point where I will go VATSIM as well. Maybe when I get a decent sim pit built. For now though I am using PRO-ATC-X and I like it much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windquest Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Just a perspective from a Vatsim C1 controller and avid ORBX flyer. First of all, consider downloading VATSPY. Now you can see the entire airspace you are considering for your flight and plan your route to include the manned airspace. Also remember that VATSIM uses the top down order for controllers. In some cases a C1 controller will be center, approach, tower and ground. An S2 might have tower and ground. Of course if there are enough controllers on line then there will be realistic hand offs etc. We are trained along the guidelines of real world controllers and expect that if you are flying in Bravo airspace, you are qualified to do so. I think most controllers are very helpful and many ARTCC's have newbie nights for both pilots and controllers. I think the biggest problems are 1) pilots don't treat the flight as you would in real life...training, planning and skill level and 2) controller training and currency. Each ARTCC has different standards so some areas may be better than others. One of the real problems is that there isn't enough traffic and there aren't enough controllers. On the controller side, it will take most would be controllers more than a year to train all the way up to C1....more than many want to commit. From the pilots side, some are afraid to give it a try....kinda like real life....start small and work up. Others don't want the formality or they don't want to make a complete flight. Something to remember, put in the comment section that you are new and would appreciate a little extra help and, don't fly at the very busiest times when just starting out. Give it try, I think every avid flyer will enjoy the journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I quite like Radar Contact. It's fairly simple to use and its only fault I can see is that it will only work if you're flying IFR. At least you get a variety of accents and you don't get the number of contradictory directions you get with FSX ATC. I've had a look at Vatsim in the past and found it too complicated but perhaps will again. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrownCityMisfit Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 VOXATC is also very good but on the pricey side. This uses voice recognition to provide a virtual ATC. Are the voices as good or better than the FSX stock voices? Does this work well with IFR? I am interested for sure. I signed up for a VATSIM account a while back, but haven't had time to learn. And probably won't in the near future, considering I have a 2 month old baby girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miloguy Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 do you have to fly IFR I mostly fly VFR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sawatzky Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 There is also IVAO href='https://www.ivao.aero/%C2'> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrownCityMisfit Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 After an evening of research, I'm gonna stick with default ATC lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobnobs Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Are the voices as good or better than the FSX stock voices? Does this work well with IFR? I am interested for sure. I signed up for a VATSIM account a while back, but haven't had time to learn. And probably won't in the near future, considering I have a 2 month old baby girl. I used VOXATC to help with my Radiotelephony training for PPL. The voices are better than the default FSX ones and you can get voice sets online, some freeware, some payware. It generates it's own traffic so you have to disable any traffic add-ons and FSX traffic. This is a deal breaker for some people I know so consider carefully before investing. Outside of VATSIM, I haven't found anything nearly as good as VOXATC. It now has P3D2 support too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qantas747 Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Hey mate, I would have to highly recommend VATSIM. The default ATC doesn't even come close, and while there are applications like VOXATC, they lack the real human contact of real life flying. It defiantly was a big learning curve, and that first call to tower is one that will make your heart beat a bit faster, hoping that you won't screw up. While it is good to go in there with a good amount of background knowledge, I found the best way for me to learn was actually making mistakes. The controllers is OZ are all in my opinion really nice guys, who are more than happy to out if things go wrong. Every Wednesday nights, VATPAC (the Australia division of VATSIM) run a Newbie night where controllers come online and are there to help any newcomers to the network. I would highly recommending going on then and just asking questions before you take your first flight. More details can be found here: http://www.vatpac.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=512:where-do-i-start&catid=98:newbie-night&Itemid=180 and that link also has step by step guide. Also, you are welcome to fly VFR if you want to, however the majority of flights seem to be tubeliner flights (my kind of stuff). However VATPAC regularly run VFR ops events that travel all around Australia. If you have any more questions let me know and I will be happy to help. There are a number of YouTube videos which can show you the basics. A user by the name of 'Belynz' (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7SryNncikhgt5tp3rPn0RQ) has a number of videos. Hope this helps in getting you onto the network. The more pilots the better!! Cheers, Ollie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew 737 Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 I'd use Vox ATC if it worked on a networked PC but it doesn't sadly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VAL067 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Hey mate .. Vatsim is great fun if you are in the right region and airport to start of with and learn.. by all means try US but i would recommend Australian or EU airspace first as the controllers are usually very supportive and quite laid back so if you dont get all your calls right or make a blue they usually laugh it off and help you along..I like Teecee found the Nth American guys to be a bit rude and arrogant at certain airports and regions and it put me of Vatsim many years ago when i first started simming. This is because they have alot more pilots to deal with and their tolerance for dickheads like me is low. I hopped onto Vatsim recently in Aus and had a ball and its a good learning experience and after a little while you will pick it up no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sawatzky Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 I use IVAO, I am a member of the Canadian division. I found learning the online scene easy and fun flying in Canadian airspace because of the low traffic, and the ATC is usually your buddy and you have it all to yourself. I also love the WebEye it uses, which shows all the online traffic in real time, just click on an aircraft and the left side column will show all the details of that pilots flight... plus more if you are a signed on member. http://webeye.ivao.aero/p/58.0000;-98.5000;4 Not to mention the ORBX regions of western Canada and Alaska are spectacular to fly around!...I also see as I type this , there is ATC open at CYVR I also see KZNY_CTR and KZOB_CTR are open and traffic free at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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