VoxATC and dynamic weather (FSGRW, Opus, ASN)?

[vonmar 123]

Jarkko,

 

Ok,

Thanks for the additional info.

 

So, fscaptain's FAQ left out the good part ...

 

Basically, if you tell fscaptain where the raw ActiveSkyNext-FSX, ActiveSkyNext-P3D, ActiveSky-Evolution etc data is located it can get the "current" arrival Weather/ATIS anytime during your entire flight ...correct?

 

Whereas ActiveSky will only give FSX your local 120 or so mile radius stations weather .... the area you are currently flying in ... which VOXatc still cannot access (like if you wanted a closer alternate airport e.g.), let alone your far distatnt destination weather / ATIS. Correct.

[Jarkko 59]

 

 

Basically, if you tell fscaptain where the raw ActiveSkyNext-FSX, ActiveSkyNext-P3D, ActiveSky-Evolution etc data is located it can get the "current" arrival Weather/ATIS anytime during your entire flight ...correct?

 

Correct, but with a nice twist. You send a weather request to your dispatcher using the FSCaptain ACARS. After a short delay, you get a beep from the ACARS device telling you that your dispatcher has send you the arrival airport weather

[vonmar 123]

Jarkko,

 

Thanks for the additional info.

 

So, ActiveSky is always providing world wide weather data (all stations) but only giving FSX 120nm mile radius of it.

 

So, if FScaptain can pull this data then VOXatc should be able to also  ... anytime for any airport in the ActiveSky database. And then assign STAR and arrival STAR transition for the correct in-use runway ...like a normal ATC / approach controller / facility would.

 

Edit:

I use FD Commander v9.5 for pre-flight planning prior to starting MSFS9/FSX/P3D or ActiveSky.

I can download worldwide weather for all airports in a few seconds and have the basic ATIS data available for any airport.

 

Example:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o1per34cfwbv3cx/FSC9-WX.JPG

[voodoo101 21]

If I understand right, VoxATC reads the weather when it is loaded and uses this. It then does not read it again throughout the flight. When it gives you the STAR and the runway it calculates this from the weather when you depart, so on a few hour flight, if the weather changes then the runway is wrong. Now the workaround is to restart Vox before it gives you the star and runway with the weather it reads at that point.

 

So isn't the solution to make Vox re-read the weather before it decides the information it gives.

 

The PMDG 777 new update can call up weather for the flight including descent weather, you can the get it to request the weather from the ASN weather file near descent. As far as I know, all weather programs have a current weather file which it updates continuously during the flight. It then uses this for the weather in FSX, simply for Vox to query the file and as it controls the AI, would solve all the problems.

 

I am surprised that this has not been done sooner.  

[guenseli 1,591]

Hello,

 

I asked Tegwyn via Mail about that problem (great and fast support!).

Unfortunately the answer isn't one we like:

 

 

My Question:

1)
I've been running into the same problems as reported in this forum thread:
http://forum.avsim.net/topic/445621-voxatc-and-dynamic-weather-fsgrw-opus-asn/

VOX ATC doesn't update the weather before approach what leads to the wrong runway in the end.

Do you plan to improve that, especially for weather addons like ASN etc.?
This is currently something what really keeps me off buying VOX ATC as nearly every flight during my testing ended in the wrong runway.
And I hope for a real solution not a workaround like restarting VOX ATC at T/D.

 

His answer:

These add-ons don't set the weather far enough from the user. VoxATC needs to know the weather at the destination airport when the user is 40-50 NM away. Thses weather add-ons do not do this. It's a problem with the add-ons not VoxATC.

[Jarkko 59]

Hmmm....

 

This is not true. As far as I know, both FSGRW and ASN set the weather 100nm around the aircraft. This means the the weather is set when you are 40-50nm from the airport.

 

I have verified this in one of my live streams. FSX ATIS is reporting the correct weather, but VoxATC is still reporting no weather situation.

[spesimen 135]

 

His answer:

These add-ons don't set the weather far enough from the user. VoxATC needs to know the weather at the destination airport when the user is 40-50 NM away. Thses weather add-ons do not do this. It's a problem with the add-ons not VoxATC.

 

yeah, that's unfortunate. i don't think it's fully accurate either, near as i can tell it needs it at the TOD or the first point of the STAR which can be up to 140nm or more in the usa.

 

i don't think it will be any easier to convince the weather guys... the active sky guys said, "in RL you couldn't get the ATIS from more than 120nm away anyway". to their credit they do already provide the infrastructure for getting the correct info even if the ATIS is not yet valid and they have a history of working with other devs to do more detailed stuff. 

 

the question i ask is this... if it's a problem with the weather and not vox, then why is vox the app that i have to disable and renable on every flight, just to get it to work at a subset of airports with short STARS? it may technically not be vox's problem but from a user standpoint i don't really care which one is at fault i just want it to work lol!

 

frustrating! especially since other than this issue vox is pretty much the most well-featured of the atc programs. 

 

it kind of stands to reason that the kind of people who want advanced ATC are not satisfied with default weather either.... i'd imagine a lot of users who use one probably use the other. (the recent poll in the pmdg forum kind of shows this, amongst 777 users 169 used ASN while only 5 vox users)

 

anyway for now all we can do is keep grumbling about it and raise awareness

 

cheers

-andy crosby

[zmak 331]

Unfortunately its going to be impossible to pin the Dev down on this since he doesn't visit the forums, crazy really as he is losing a LOT of potential sales 

[vonmar 123]

Maybe people who write reviews for :

AVSIM
Mutleys Hangar
Sim Reviews
FlightSim
P3D

And others, need to mention that VOXatc cannot assign correct STARs and give vectors to the correct destination approach runways if the weather changes during the flight because VOXatc cannot read the updated weather from weather providers like Active Sky or NOAA .

It would be good for the developer to mention this on his own sales site http://www.voxatc.com/Home.aspx in the "Features" section".
Pilots thinking about purchasing this program need to know about this.

[nam1394 10]

Maybe people who write reviews for :

AVSIM

Mutleys Hangar

Sim Reviews

FlightSim

P3D

And others, need to mention that VOXatc cannot assign correct STARs and give vectors to the correct destination approach runways if the weather changes during the flight because VOXatc cannot read the updated weather from weather providers like Active Sky or NOAA .

It would be good for the developer to mention this on his own sales site http://www.voxatc.com/Home.aspx in the "Features" section".

Pilots thinking about purchasing this program need to know about this.

They should, also, mention that it utilizes only one runway at a time. So departing KDFW, you will see a very long line of planes taking off and as many planes declaring a missed approach while the other six runways collecting dust.

[Jarkko 59]

FWIW I don't want this thread to end up bashing VoxATC. I personally think it is one of the best ATC add-ons there is. It would be the best, if this small arrival winds problem was solved.

 

To get back to the topic, here is a method, that VoxATC could use. If you look at the link below now, tomorrow or even two years from now, it will have the most current weather for EDDF in XML format (the same data format as the VoxATC navdata).

 

https://aviationweather.gov/adds/dataserver_current/httpparam?dataSource=metars&requestType=retrieve&format=xml&hoursBeforeNow=3&mostRecent=true&stationString=EDDF

 

Here is the same thing for KJFK:

 

https://aviationweather.gov/adds/dataserver_current/httpparam?dataSource=metars&requestType=retrieve&format=xml&hoursBeforeNow=3&mostRecent=true&stationString=KJFK

 

When using advanced weather engines (and real world weather) with VoxATC, all that VoxATC would need to do is check the current arrival weather at your destination airport from similar links that I posted.

 

And as mentioned, the other way would be, that VoxATC would read the weather from the snapshot weather files, that the weather engines generate. This would be better, because you could also fly with historical weather or with a custom weather scenario.

 

EDIT: I sent the developer an email about the subject. I hope he will be able to respond to my query.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Jarkko

[daan_vb 37]

FWIW I don't want this thread to end up bashing VoxATC. I personally think it is one of the best ATC add-ons there is. It would be the best, if this small arrival winds problem was solved.

 

To get back to the topic, here is a method, that VoxATC could use. If you look at the link below now, tomorrow or even two years from now, it will have the most current weather for EDDF in XML format (the same data format as the VoxATC navdata).

 

https://aviationweather.gov/adds/dataserver_current/httpparam?dataSource=metars&requestType=retrieve&format=xml&hoursBeforeNow=3&mostRecent=true&stationString=EDDF

 

Here is the same thing for KJFK:

 

https://aviationweather.gov/adds/dataserver_current/httpparam?dataSource=metars&requestType=retrieve&format=xml&hoursBeforeNow=3&mostRecent=true&stationString=KJFK

 

When using advanced weather engines (and real world weather) with VoxATC, all that VoxATC would need to do is check the current arrival weather at your destination airport from similar links that I posted.

 

And as mentioned, the other way would be, that VoxATC would read the weather from the snapshot weather files, that the weather engines generate. This would be better, because you could also fly with historical weather or with a custom weather scenario.

 

EDIT: I sent the developer an email about the subject. I hope he will be able to respond to my query.

 

 

Sounds like a good idea. I hope the Tegwyn can implement it. I don't think anyone is really bashing Vox, it is a great program and the potential for it to be so much better is there, I think that leads to frustration sometimes.

[wanabflyer 53]

Sounds like a good idea. I hope the Tegwyn can implement it. I don't think anyone is really bashing Vox, it is a great program and the potential for it to be so much better is there, I think that leads to frustration sometimes.

I am also a fan of VOX ATC and use it exclusively now and just love it, so I do hope that Jarrko gets a favourable response from Tegwyn. I also am using the restart before TOD right now, which seems to work.

[armchair_pilot 54]

Also interested in this if they can get it working. I am considering to buy this ATC addon mainly because I like to fly with fs2crew and voice controlled ATC would add quite much to it. From all that I've read, this is the only issue right now that is keeping me from buying it..

[voodoo101 21]

Information for the developer. Activesky Next can give you weather for the your arrival airport at anytime during your flight, even changes. This is how the PMDG 777 get's it's weather information. All it would take is for VoxATC to read the weather file before TOD and then set this.