Re. suppression for next build

[Guest flight]

As there is a toggle to either suppress local updates or all updates while on the ground, would it be possible to have a toggle like this to suppress all updates when below the suppression altitude instead of just suppressing local updates?The reason I ask and suggest this is because whether Active Sky is loading local updates or updates that are several hundred miles away, it still causes stutters. Some times I'm coming in for a landing and everything is smooth, then Active Sky hits that 10 minute time interval for loading updates, and although I have local suppression checked off at the default altitude, it still begins to load the weather at the other stations which causes stuttering and ruins a smooth landing.Any chance of that getting into the next build?... or at all?

[JSkorna 137]

Disable All Updates Below Suppression Alt.An idea for Damian!Pretty soon we'll have a whole page of Disable items!!For now I can suggest a longer update interval such as 60.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[bobbyjoh 11]

That is what I used Jim and it works just fine. Constant updates IMO don't really add much since METARS are only updated once an hour anyway.Bob

[quantumleap 1]

While METARs may only update every hour, there may be any number of SPECIs in-between (for example I was planning to go on a real-world flight today and one of the weather stations I needed to check was averaging 3 to 4 SPECIs per hour between the hourly METARs!). This is important if you are flying in conditions which are MVFR or IFR.

[Guest flight]

Thanx quantumleap. Much appreciated.

[JSkorna 137]

But with your helpful suggestion it wouldn't matter because you would not get any updates anyway. So what difference would it make if the METAR changed every 5 minutes?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Guest flight]

Gentlemen,Please explain to me why the option to have updates at any time interval you want is allowed if it makes no difference at all because "metars are only updated every hour". Would this be just a meaningless option then for a selling point?Would you also just give straight answers please? If you think the suggestion is not valid, instead of being sarcastic, could you just state so please?And please be consistent. I remember Jim advising someone in this forum to set their update option to 10 minutes. I believe it had something to do with the TAF option (which I use). Also, why are the default settings for this option set at 10 minutes? Why not just set the default to an hour, if it makes no difference?Explain some of the reasoning behind your different answers, because if it truly makes no difference whatsoever, I'll gladly set my download interval to one hour.However, this is not really a valid solution as I may still be doing a landing at the time the program decides to download the weather, and still experience stutters, and still have a ruined landing.I apologise if you found my request/suggestion annoying, as it wasn't meant to be. I thought it was valid, but after reading your responses, I guess it wasn't.Sorry to have bothered you.

[JSkorna 137]

Now I am confused. Setting to 10 minute refreshes will catch the specials and off hour METAR updates. But your suggestion of disabling all updates will not process these updates. So do you want to catch the changed METARs or no? I was offering you a work around for AS 2004.5 because a interval of 60 will more than likely not occur during a landing. If right now you want a 100% solution then turn AS off before you land. In future versions it may be an option and that is why I said it was an idea for Damian. Yes, for a user that has stutters or someone on dialup paying big money for Internet time a 60 minute interval may work out fine. Please be mindful that none of this is meant to be sarcastic. Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[quantumleap 1]

>Please explain to me why the option to have updates at any>time interval you want is allowed if it makes no difference at>all because "metars are only updated every hour". Would this>be just a meaningless option then for a selling point?Maybe I did not explain my input on this well enough.While it is true that in the real world METARs are scheduled every hour, other aviation selected special weather reports can be provided in between these intervals. These special weather reports are called SPECIs. Any number of SPECIs can be provided, and are usually done where there is a significant change in one element from the previous METAR (or SPECI). For example, maybe the cloud base and/or type is moving up or down, visibility is increasing or decreasing, type of weather or obscuration is changing, etc..As I mentioned in my last message, I was planning a real world flight earlier this week and there where 4 SPECIs in between two of the METARs from one of the weather stations I checked. Here they are:METAR CYBN 211300Z AUTO 32002KT 9SM SCT004 SCT072 BKN088 M01/M01 A3007 RMK SLP194=SPECI CYBN 211301Z AUTO 00000KT 9SM BKN004 BKN072 BKN088 M01/M01 A3007=SPECI CYBN 211303Z AUTO 31002KT 9SM BKN003 BKN070 BKN088 M01/M01 A3007=SPECI CYBN 211308Z AUTO 32002KT 9SM FEW003 FEW065 FEW088 M01/M01 A3007=SPECI CYBN 211332Z AUTO 00000KT 9SM BKN005 OVC061 OVC088 00/M00 A3008=METAR CYBN 211400Z AUTO 35007KT 9SM OVC005 OVC047 OVC061 00/M01 A3008 RMK SLP197=So, if you only looked every hour, you'd miss all that interesting weather inbetween :-) (Note also how the first SPECI came just 1 minute after the METAR, and then another SPECI 2 minutes later)From what I can see, ActiveSky is able to process and send you these SPECIs in its updates. This is great for really keeping in touch with what is happening (and in my case, as I'm working on my IFR rating and using Active Sky to get as close to real as possible when practising procedures in the sim, it's highly benefical). If you only looked every hour and did not have the option to look say every 10 minutes, you'd miss a lot in the cases as illustrated above.I would therefore contend that having an option to update weather more often than every hour is not meaningless. In my mind it allows Active Sky to give a more real experience.BTW I just use the product and have no affiliation with the good folks at HiFi Sim.

[Damian Clark 1,031]

All,I must be missing something here...It appears that the original suggestion is to disable updates below a certain altitude. Do I have this wrong? This has been there since day one, Altitude Suppression. Setting your suppression altitude to say 15K will prevent any updates below your approach. You can adjust as neccessary.Or is the report that this feature is not working correctly? I have just done a flight with B175 checking for this specifically, and it is working fine over here. If anyone experiences differently can you please e-mail me @ damianc@hifisim.com with your as2004.ini and flight plan and I will attempt to duplicate. Thanks!!

[Guest flight]

The original suggestionquestion was to disable ALL updates (not just LOCAL) below a certain altitude. So I guess my first question should have been this.When I have my suppression altitude set at the default (I believe that's 4000'), does that suppress ALL updates? or just LOCAL updates?The reason I thought it suppressed just local updates is because there's a toggle to suppress LOCAL updates while on the ground, plus a toggle to suppress ALL updates while on the ground. So I naturally concluded that as there is only one toggle for the suppression altitude, it would also just be LOCAL, and a universal toggle would have to be implemented, just as you did w/the universal toggle for updates while grounded. But from your answer it seems the weather programming is different when you're airborne than when you're on the ground; meaning the suppression altitude was made to suppress ALL updates, not just LOCAL.Am I correct then w/ this conclusion? that the toggle for disabling updates while under the suppression altitude is ALL updates? at ALL weather stations?Or does it just disable LOCAL updates? at LOCAL weather stations?If the suppression altitude just disables updates LOCALLY, what I am asking for is a toggle to disable ALL updates while under the suppression altitude, so that there will never be ANY weather being loaded while I may be landing.If Active Sky is already doing this, (suppression toggle disabling updates UNIVERSALLY when beneath the suppression altitude) then my suggestion/query is moot, for which I am then sorry for even bringing it up.Of course all of this also could have been avoided if Jim had told me that the suppression altitude toggle already disabled ALL updates when below the suppression altitude, not just LOCAL.

[Damian Clark 1,031]

Hi,Yes, altitude suppression is for ALL updates. When flying jets it is best to set this around 15,000ft to keep things from updating when on your approach. LOCAL suppression is just that, it only prevents wx updates to your local stations, but the update still happens.Sorry for any confusion on this!