Difficulty Contacting FSS

[JoTayhen 6]

I am having difficulty contacting my local FSS to open my flight plan.  Here is the sequence of events VOXATC 7.41 takes me through:

1.  Bring up P3dv4

2.  Load flight

3.  Load flight plan

4.  Enable VOXATC 7.41 (receive instructions to tune ATIS in panel)

5.  Tune ATIS (receive instructions to tune clearance in panel)

6.  Tune clearance (radio check then receive departure instructions and squawk code then receive instructions to tune ground)

7.  Tune ground (receive taxi instructions)

8.  At "hold short" I receive instructions in the VOXATC panel to request temporary frequency change to contact FSS.  When I request a temporary frequency change I am instructed to contact the tower.  If I repeat my request for a temp freq change I am stuck in a loop where ground continues to instruct me to contact the tower.

9.  Tune tower frequency (receive T/O clearance).  Any request to permit a temp freq change at this point is ignored by VOXATC.

If I attempt to request a temporary frequence change at any point prior to taxiing I either receive instructions to repeat my request whereupon I get stuck in a communications loop or my request is ignored and  VOXATC simply repeats its prior instructions.

This is happening at a controlled airport (KCAE - Columbia, SC metro)

Any suggestions and/or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John   

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Are you using the stock V4 version of KCAE? I checked it with ADE and like many airports, it has two FSS frequencies, 122.1 and 122.65. fsaerodata adds an additional FSS frequency at 114.7 . Which one does VOXATC try to use?

Also if you have My Traffic 6 installed for AI traffic, it installs an updated version of KCAE. Lastly, if you have the ORBX NA freeware airport package installed, it also installs a revised version of KCAE. Make sure that only one of the two 3rd party versions of KCAE are installed and rename the other one with a qualifier of ...BGL.orig. The use of multiple 3rd party versions of the same airport causes all kinds of problems in P3d.

You probably won't be able to resolve this, unless you contact official VOXATC support.

[JoTayhen 6]

Thanks, jabloomf1230.  I do indeed have the Orbx NA freeware airport package installed.  I do not have My Traffic 6 installed.  I appreciate your assistance and the information and will contact official VOXATC support.

John

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Try temporarily disabling the ORBX NA airport package using the Scenery Library menu within the sim. Then see if VOXATC works with the default version of KCAE.

[jaybird1nyc 24]

Hi John,

This has happened to me on a number of occasions. So, as you're aware, this behavior is only seen when flying VFR out of a towered airport. You are given taxi instructions and then the prompt tells you to contact FSS to open your flightplan when at the runway hold after runup, at least that's how I remember it being presented. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If you wait until you're at the hold point you get stuck in the loop you've described. My workaround is to contact FSS immediately, don't wait until you're at, or even anywhere near the runway. This has to be done BEFORE the prompt changes to "contact tower on xxx.xx" That always works for me. Try that out and let me know. Good luck!

Jay

 

[JoTayhen 6]

Thanks, Jay.  Sorry to be so late with a response.  Went to Savannah for the weekend.  I'll check it out and get back to you.  I appreciate your help and will let you know how it goes.

John

[Mad_Mac 21]

On 9/29/2017 at 8:01 AM, jaybird1nyc said:

Hi John,

This has happened to me on a number of occasions. So, as you're aware, this behavior is only seen when flying VFR out of a towered airport. You are given taxi instructions and then the prompt tells you to contact FSS to open your flightplan when at the runway hold after runup, at least that's how I remember it being presented. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If you wait until you're at the hold point you get stuck in the loop you've described. My workaround is to contact FSS immediately, don't wait until you're at, or even anywhere near the runway. This has to be done BEFORE the prompt changes to "contact tower on xxx.xx" That always works for me. Try that out and let me know. Good luck!

Jay

 

Jay, 

I’ve also encountered the loop if the ramp spot is too close to the active runway. In those cases, the only solution is to disable VoxATC, choose a different (further) parking spot and re-enable VoxATC. 

[jaybird1nyc 24]

Mac,

Yes, that's a good point. I've also noticed that sometimes the prompt changes to "Contact tower on xxx.xx" very soon after beginning taxiing. After it does that, it's too late. That's why I try to contact FSS before taxiing. This is one of those, "I'm going to report this to the dev" items that I never get around to reporting because I always seem to be waiting on a fix to a much more important issue that I reported. Of which there always seems to be...

Jay

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

2 hours ago, jaybird1nyc said:

Mac,

Yes, that's a good point. I've also noticed that sometimes the prompt changes to "Contact tower on xxx.xx" very soon after beginning taxiing. After it does that, it's too late. That's why I try to contact FSS before taxiing. This is one of those, "I'm going to report this to the dev" items that I never get around to reporting because I always seem to be waiting on a fix to a much more important issue that I reported. Of which there always seems to be...

Jay

I think that due to the complexity of VOXATC, there will always be issues like this. I use Pilot2ATC for XP11 and the same type of minor bugs keep showing up and are immediately swatted down by the developer. In general, both ATC add-ons do an effective job.

[JoTayhen 6]

Hi fellas,

Requesting temp freq change and contacting FSS prior to taxiing is working for me. I appreciate the help. I also noticed something that complicated this issue.  I am familiar with KCAE since it is close to my home and I have a favorite FBO (Eagle Aviation).  I've taken to saving flights with my aircraft parked next to the FBO rather than at an established parking spot defined by P3dv4.  When I start one of those flights using my selected parking spot, VOXATC appears to have difficulties.  If I start a flight at one of the "published" parking positions VOXATC is much happier. Might just be coincidence but I thought I would mention it.

John

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

That actually makes some sense as it's likely that VOXATC bases it's instructions on the assumption that the user aircraft starts at a formal parking area. Think about it. What if one tried to start a flight outside of the airport boundary fence, as an extreme example? In real life one can't just park an aircraft anywhere on the tarmac. Those lines on the pavement do mean something.

I guess that you could use ADE and add your favorite parking spot.😀

[Mad_Mac 21]

17 hours ago, jaybird1nyc said:

Mac,

Yes, that's a good point. I've also noticed that sometimes the prompt changes to "Contact tower on xxx.xx" very soon after beginning taxiing. After it does that, it's too late. That's why I try to contact FSS before taxiing. This is one of those, "I'm going to report this to the dev" items that I never get around to reporting because I always seem to be waiting on a fix to a much more important issue that I reported. Of which there always seems to be...

Jay

I have reported this, along with submitting the log, but I agree, there are bigger fish to fry. 

[JoTayhen 6]

Your correct, Jay.  I agree it would be chaos if everyone decided to park his aircraft wherever he wanted.  Although P3dv4 does not recognize several spots located in front of Eagle Aviation they do exist in real life and so I elected to "appropriate" one even though the parking lines do not exist in the sim.  I have since moved my aircraft to one of the existing parking spots in P3dv4 that is closest to that FBO and, as a result, everyone appears to be happy.

John

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

1 hour ago, JoTayhen said:

Your correct, Jay.  I agree it would be chaos if everyone decided to park his aircraft wherever he wanted.  Although P3dv4 does not recognize several spots located in front of Eagle Aviation they do exist in real life and so I elected to "appropriate" one even though the parking lines do not exist in the sim.  I have since moved my aircraft to one of the existing parking spots in P3dv4 that is closest to that FBO and, as a result, everyone appears to be happy.

John

I checked the ORBX KCAE ADE file and there's no parking spots directly in front of the Eagle Air canopy, but the airport has 5 GA Ramp parking spots, just to south of the canopy, 28, 29, 38, 46 and 58

[JoTayhen 6]

Yes Sir.  I'm in one of them.