Two newbie questions

[Charlie Chew 0]

Hi All,I'm completely new to ATC phraseology and protocol, and I've recently purchased VOXATC, and I'm really enjoying it. I've also purchased Comm1 VFR Radio Simulator so I can better understand what's being said in VOXATC and why.There two simple things I'm having a tough time figuring out however, and I'd really appreciate some help.1) Utopia Radio - Before taxiing, VOXATC prompts me to contact Utopia Radio to request that they open my flight plan. Why is it called Utopia Radio? As I understand it, what I'm actually doing is contacting my area's Flight Service Station. I believe in the area where I'm flying (southern Ontario), the FSS is based in London, Ont. Is "Utopia Radio" a generic term that is used when then proper name of the FSS isn't known by VOXATC?2) Opening a flight plan/Zulu time -- As I understand it, Zulu time is five hours ahead of EST. The trouble is, with the VOXATC prompt window closed, I can never predict the corrent time to say I'm opening my flight plan. At first I thought the correct Zulu time would be my clock's time (EST) plus five hours, but the time listed in the prompt box is sometimes +5 hours and 14 minutes, or +5 and 23 minutes. Is there a simple way to determine the right time to open the flight plan without looking at the prompt box.Hope this makes sense. Many thanks,Charlie

[zfehr 1]

Hi Charlie,Glad you are enjoying VoxATC and that you've gone the extra step to learn radio communications with the Comm1 software too.Let me answer your questions:>1) Utopia Radio - Before taxiing, VOXATC prompts me to contact>Utopia Radio to request that they open my flight plan. Why is>it called Utopia Radio? As I understand it, what I'm actually>doing is contacting my area's Flight Service Station. I>believe in the area where I'm flying (southern Ontario), the>FSS is based in London, Ont. Is "Utopia Radio" a generic term>that is used when then proper name of the FSS isn't known by>VOXATC?Not all of the airport facility files have the FSS frequency included. When this happens VoxATC will default to "utopia radio." Your option if you are using this in FS9 is to use AFCAD to program in the FSS frequency with its proper name. I have done many of these for the Pacific NW USA where I do most of my flying. You do have to remember to perform an indexing after making these changes. If you are using FSX I am not aware of a program that allows you to add these frequencies to the airport facilities files yet, hopefully soon though.>2) Opening a flight plan/Zulu time -- As I understand it, Zulu>time is five hours ahead of EST. The trouble is, with the>VOXATC prompt window closed, I can never predict the corrent>time to say I'm opening my flight plan. At first I thought the>correct Zulu time would be my clock's time (EST) plus five>hours, but the time listed in the prompt box is sometimes +5>hours and 14 minutes, or +5 and 23 minutes. Is there a simple>way to determine the right time to open the flight plan>without looking at the prompt box.VoxATC is actually not gonna be nitpicky about this particular item, you can actually give any time, if the clock in your aircraft displays zulu time read it off of there. I've messed my phrase up and said all kinds of goofy times and the readback is what I said, not what was in the prompter.

[Charlie Chew 0]

Thanks Zane! I appreciate your clearing up the Utopia Radio mystery, and everything seems to be working fine when opening my flight plan. I've downloaded AFCAD and will crack it open tonight or tomorrow.Between VOXATC, Tileproxy, and custom models from Flight Ontario, I just can't believe how immersive FS9 has become! Thanks again,Charlie