Can you change the radio range?

[Guest]

One thing that bugs me about FS2002 is that I cannot get in touch with the airport that I wish to land at soon enough. An example - I was approaching KSFO in a 747, at 20nm out I finally get the airport listed on the ATC list, so I get in touch and by the time I get all the relevant landing information I had to turn around to line up with another runway, go to the map feature and look up different ILS frequencies and the rest - very frustrating and unrealistic in my opinion. Surely 747 pilots get more warning in real life?Ideally I would like to get in touch with the landing airport at about 50 nm out to give me time enough get all the frequencies punched in and to manouver the bigger birds into place for finals - Is there a setting tab that allows me to achieve this greater range?I have my radios on auto tune if that helps (or not as the case may be!)Thanks in advanceMatt:-zhelp

[flyking 0]

Matt,This is a very good question and it's something that has bothered me also. Sorry I don't have the answer for you, but I'm very glad you brought up the topic. I hope someone out there can help.flykingHappy Jet Trails To You

[Guest]

"very frustrating and unrealistic in my opinion. Surely 747 pilots get more warning in real life"well,I find it more unrealistic that you're flying VFR with a 747

[Guest gasebah]

Believe me, it is alot more unrealistic flying "IFR" with the MS ATC than flying VFR especially with one of the heavies.You cannot stick to a decent flightplan with MS IFR ATC. Descent starts way too late with the MS ATC, resulting in unprofessionally steep descents and a lot of useless fuel consumption. The vectoring to the runway is ridiculous. You cannot use SID/STARS. Whatever problem you have with weather there is no way to ask for another Flightlevel ... to be continued.Apart from that it is no answer to the question that was asked here Mr. Wiseguy.Alex

[Guest gasebah]

All you can do is find the radio freq of the airport (Atis), tune it into your Com2 radio and set RX to both. This way you will get informed as soon as you get in range of the airport's radio which is approx. 40nm out. At least it is considerably before the airport appears in the ATC window and gives you a little more time to adjust. Also you do not have to check the ATC window every few secs.Alex

[Guest]

That works for me - although occaisionally you run into an airport with s really small ATIS range. It would be much better if you could manually tune the radio to the airport (ie turn off autotune) since you can also get problems where there is a high concentration of airports as AUTOTUNE only shows 9 !!!!!!!

[Guest Flyingdutchman]

Hi Matt,Here's a solution......... :-jumpyOn the big airfields around the world ATIS is active. During you flight planning look for the ATIS frequency of your destiantion airport. And about 40nm out of the airport you switch the ATIS on!!! and you'll hear/see the active information!!!!!And about flying VFR or IFR.......I think everybody flies how he likes to fly.......but!!!!!I agree that IFR with heavies a bit challenging :D but did you know you can turn just as fast as a Beech King Air as with an 747-400? the trick is........fly with about 160-180kts (depends on fuel weight) with full flaps and gear down..then the baby will turn fast.For me.......I always fly with Jeppesen approach charts and High/Low Altitude ChartsWell hope this helps,Regards,Evert

[Guest gasebah]

Ahem...isn't that what I suggested above?Alex

[Guest]

Thanks to all who gave constructive advice and thought on this topic - I will tune the ATIS to get the information earlier on! If MS do read these forums for pointers as they say they do, hopefully they can integrate a longer radio reach for FS2004.Cheers,Matt

[Guest]

"Believe me, it is alot more unrealistic flying "IFR" with the MS ATC than flying VFR especially with one of the heavies"a heavy will never be VFR,so how could that ever be more realistic?starting descend when you want,no clearance del.,no vectors,... is not what I would call realistic.in my version IFR works perfectly,I use PSS A320.descent starts nice around TOD and vectoring is just perfect.I noticed some people have that issue witht the late descend clearance and others don't,strange.btw,you didn't give a response to the guy either in your response to me :)

[Guest gasebah]

I did but not in this post, which was adressed directly to yourself.I made a separate post. Have a look below:-):-).And even if the TOD would be at the right spot, which it never is at least with my DF737 or my PSSAirbus it is still highly unrealistic. C the other reasons I mentioned.But never if you like to fly IFR, just do it. We could open another thraed with this topic :-beerchug. Cheers,Alex

[Guest]

don't get me wrong,I have nothing against flying VFR,if it is with an appropriate aircraft,thus not with a heavy :)last post here,seems you're die-hard-VFR's :-lolcheersSebastian

[Guest]

I fly both VFR and IFR equally but I rarely use auto pilot (I tend to fly everything by hand), so when it comes to IFR and hand flying I need the ATIS info asap hence the reason for my radio range Q. Hand flying takes more time and skill than just clicking headings etc and I also hate ATC messing it up for you on within a 20nm range having spent an hour or so in the sky!Cheers,Matt