Online ATC and FO talking...

[Egbert Drenth 250]

Hi,

 

Is there a way to temporarily lower the volume of online ATC when for example checklists and briefings are performed?

 

When flying online regularly both FO and online ATC interfere with each other, making it difficult to hear what either of them are saying.

How do you cope with this?

[byork 2,259]

Interesting idea.

 

It's not realistic because in real planes there's no such functionality.

 

Not sure if the new pilot clients offer 3rd party access to volume controls.

[Egbert Drenth 250]

Interesting idea.

 

It's not realistic because in real planes there's no such functionality.

 

Not sure if the new pilot clients offer 3rd party access to volume controls.

 

That's true, but I guess in reality they stop temporarily with the checklist/briefings readings.

Maybe an extra keypress option in FS2Crew that stops temporarily the reading of checklists/briefings when key is pressed.

The current sentence is finished and then stops temporarily until keypress is released. 

 

I'm not saying it should be done automatically by FS2Crew, the PF (i.e. me) could do it manually if it were possible.

The PMDG NGX (or better: FSX/P3D) do not facilitate volume control as far as I know.

In real life there is of course volume control available. 

 

I was just wondering how other pilots cope with this.

[Melchor 18]

I second that. I fly on Ivao so a keypress to pause the FO as soon as you hear your call sign would be a good idea.

[byork 2,259]

 

 

I second that. I fly on Ivao so a keypress to pause the FO as soon as you hear your call sign would be a good idea.

 

I can tie this to the current Soft Mute button.

 

Sound good?

[Egbert Drenth 250]

I can tie this to the current Soft Mute button.

 

Sound good?

 

I considered that too, but that is not a good idea....  :smile:

 

Many connect the FS2Crew Soft-Mute button to the PTT key of SB/FSInn/VPilot, so with your suggestion, if you mute/stop the FO, you also start transmitting to ATC.

In the above situation that is not what you want. You only want to mute/stop FO talking (and not transmit to ATC)

That's why it has to be an separate keystroke.

[Melchor 18]

Agree with Egbert. Thanks byork for considering our feedback.

[byork 2,259]

So every time ATC contacts you, you want to hit a separate button to essentially pause the FO audio.

 

Then you press a button again to unpause the FO.

 

You're going to be hitting that button a lot, especially during Approach... it just seems awkward... turning your FO On and Off will be the biggest part of your workload.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

The commercial airliners I'm familiar with allow for adjusting the volume of ATC, cabin announcements, etc. though it's rarely modelled in simulator aircraft (there is one, I can't remember which it is). The volume control is usually located on or by the radio select switch/knob.

 

You most certainly can adjust VATSIM ATC when using either FSINN or VPilot (I don't know about IVAO). It's built into the audio settings for both pilot clients. For Vpilot, go to settings and the Audio Tab, and you can leave that tab open and adjust at anytime during your flight.  This is helpful because different controllers have different audios settings (pilots too) which they rarely if ever check, so it's often helpful (if not necessary, at least in Shared Cockpit or an AI FO) to adjust volume going from one controller to the next.

 

I hope this has been helpful.

 

My very best wishes.

[Egbert Drenth 250]

So every time ATC contacts you, you want to hit a separate button to essentially pause the FO audio.

 

Then you press a button again to unpause the FO.

 

You're going to be hitting that button a lot, especially during Approach... it just seems awkward... turning your FO On and Off will be the biggest part of your workload.

 

Yes and no....

It's only during lengthy FO conversations, like the approach briefing and maybe once during a checklist, most likely the descent checklist.

That are the moments, ATC is most likely to call you (with descent instructions)

I don't see any other moments where it will be an issue that both FO and ATC will interfere.

 

As far as I'm concerend, the keypress should operate just like the soft-mute button.

While keeping it pressed, FS2Crew Checklist/FO/Briefing halts until key is released.

Through FSUIPC the keypress can be connected to a (yoke) button.

 

It's no big deal, only a minor inconvenience. 

Maybe other pilots can chime in about their experiences/views.

[SKeller 5]

As far as I'm concerend, the keypress should operate just like the soft-mute button.

While keeping it pressed, FS2Crew Checklist/FO/Briefing halts until key is released.

Through FSUIPC the keypress can be connected to a (yoke) button.

 

But then you would need to release the Pause button in order to press your PTT button for your readback, so the FO would continue his speech while you're talking to ATC.

[Melchor 18]

Yes and no....

It's only during lengthy FO conversations, like the approach briefing and maybe once during a checklist, most likely the descent checklist.

That are the moments, ATC is most likely to call you (with descent instructions)

I don't see any other moments where it will be an issue that both FO and ATC will interfere.

 

As far as I'm concerend, the keypress should operate just like the soft-mute button.

While keeping it pressed, FS2Crew Checklist/FO/Briefing halts until key is released.

Through FSUIPC the keypress can be connected to a (yoke) button.

 

It's no big deal, only a minor inconvenience. 

Maybe other pilots can chime in about their experiences/views.

Skeller is right. Its just better press key-pause FO , press again unpause. Besides you might want to do something more urgent first like setting heading or altitude. 

[Egbert Drenth 250]

But then you would need to release the Pause button in order to press your PTT button for your readback, so the FO would continue his speech while you're talking to ATC.

 

Hmmm... there you have a valid point...  :smile:

[Melchor 18]

So every time ATC contacts you, you want to hit a separate button to essentially pause the FO audio.

 

Then you press a button again to unpause the FO.

 

You're going to be hitting that button a lot, especially during Approach... it just seems awkward... turning your FO On and Off will be the biggest part of your workload.

 

Funny thing  I get confused while flying online. Sometimes doing check lists I press PTT by mistake so everyone is listening to me talking to FS2crew

[Egbert Drenth 250]

Funny thing  I get confused while flying online. Sometimes doing check lists I press PTT by mistake so everyone is listening to me talking to FS2crew

 

Hahaha, same here.

It will not be the first time, I'm asking the controller for 'Descent Checklist Please'