Changing radio frequencies

[Abcdeflijus 1]

Hello pilots,

Not so long ago, I have discovered such an amazing thing as MCE, that has brought up my flight experience to a higher level.

So happy that I purchased it!

But as many of us here, I am also sometimes having issues with it.

I am flying CRJ700 in MSFS with PF3 and obviously MCE. I've set up PF3 and MCE to work together as per manuals and they do most of the things right.

I want to practice some ATC talking, so I do some requests and read backs while on the ground and hand off radios to FO before take off, that I could concentrate on flying. And he handles all communications better, than I would do.

However, the most recent issue that I have encountered and it now happens all the time, when approaching runway for ILS and PF3 tells me to contact tower when established on ILS, first officer takes no actions and does not tune to tower. I am not sure if MCE supports such a function. PF3 does it if it set properly, but as I said, I've switched Co pilot function and voices to off, that MCE officers voice could be used and he would handle the radios.

So on final, I tell FO to tune to tower and later request clearance for landing. He tunes to tower ask for clearance to land, but then I hear no answer.

It appears that as soon as he asks for clearance, radio automatically tunes back to approach or sometimes to some other frequency.

Then I tune tower again manually and ask for clearance to land by my self, but again sometimes it tunes to other frequency. 

So I am basically landing without knowing if I was cleared or not.

Need to mention, it also happens sometimes when handed over to departure, control or approach. 

Could anyone please tell me if there is some tweak in MCE that I have set wrong or this is PF3, CRJ or MSFS confusion? 

Really enjoy this setup and hope somebody knows what I am doing wrong, cause it must be me anyway :)

 

Thanks in advance!

Viktor.

[FS++ 708]

8 hours ago, Abcdeflijus said:

Hello pilots,

Not so long ago, I have discovered such an amazing thing as MCE, that has brought up my flight experience to a higher level.

So happy that I purchased it!

But as many of us here, I am also sometimes having issues with it.

I am flying CRJ700 in MSFS with PF3 and obviously MCE. I've set up PF3 and MCE to work together as per manuals and they do most of the things right.

I want to practice some ATC talking, so I do some requests and read backs while on the ground and hand off radios to FO before take off, that I could concentrate on flying. And he handles all communications better, than I would do.

However, the most recent issue that I have encountered and it now happens all the time, when approaching runway for ILS and PF3 tells me to contact tower when established on ILS, first officer takes no actions and does not tune to tower. I am not sure if MCE supports such a function. PF3 does it if it set properly, but as I said, I've switched Co pilot function and voices to off, that MCE officers voice could be used and he would handle the radios.

So on final, I tell FO to tune to tower and later request clearance for landing. He tunes to tower ask for clearance to land, but then I hear no answer.

It appears that as soon as he asks for clearance, radio automatically tunes back to approach or sometimes to some other frequency.

Then I tune tower again manually and ask for clearance to land by my self, but again sometimes it tunes to other frequency. 

So I am basically landing without knowing if I was cleared or not.

Need to mention, it also happens sometimes when handed over to departure, control or approach. 

Could anyone please tell me if there is some tweak in MCE that I have set wrong or this is PF3, CRJ or MSFS confusion? 

Really enjoy this setup and hope somebody knows what I am doing wrong, cause it must be me anyway 🙂

 

Thanks in advance!

Viktor.

Thankls for the accolade Viktor.

I'm guessing it's to do with MCE FO currently using old 25 khz spacd VHF frequencies and seeing different freqs to what PF3 instructs.

At some point, MCE will handle both. For now, try using PF3 in Legacy mode, where it uses P3D/FSX database. At least rebuild the PF3 database for legacy sim and try for a few flights and report back in order to see whether it's the root cause or something else in the MCE + PF3 integration that needs a closer look.

Thanks

PS: By the way, as aheads-up, is there anything broken witch FO support of the Aerosoft CRJ switches and dials after latest ASOBO update? You never know and I still got 15 GB to go before I can even check.

.

 

[Abcdeflijus 1]

Good day Gerald and thanks for you quick reply!

 

I think you hit the right point with rebuilding PF3 data base. Looks like I am still running in Legacy mode, as I had never rebuild data for MSFS 🤔 I've started to use MCE straight with CRJ in MSFS after seeing many tutorial videos of them both in action together.

What i will try, is to make a flight in P3D and see how things are going there. But I don't have CRJ in there only other third party aircrafts, so it might not be the same results. But at least something to start with. Later I'll try to rebuild PF3 data base for MSFS and see if any changes appear. 

As for FO support in CRJ, most of the things work fine. Sometimes when reading checklist, for example "after start checklist", when asking about generators, I am answering auto, and that's ok, but when it comes to "bleed valves" which should also be answered auto, FO always is asking "are you sure" or "please double check". And it doesn't matter how many times I am trying to spell it correctly, I always end up skipping the item. There are also some other items behaving the same from the check list, but can remember which, at the moment.

Oh and by the way, one more, that has never worked properly with CRJ in MSFS but works fine in P3D with other aircraft.

When I ask to engage VS mode, he does that, but doesn't matter what changes I ask, he always sets it to "nose up".

For example if I say vertical speed down-minus 1000, he will set it plus/up 1000.

And if I am trying to correct him, by saying it again, he just adds another 1000 on top and I end up plus/up 2000 feet and so on.

That function never worked for me properly and I am always handling vertical speeds by my self.

That's it for the moment that I can think is making small negative influence on the flight.

Hope that helps to improve things.

 

Regards, 

Viktor.

[FS++ 708]

On 11/20/2021 at 2:37 PM, Abcdeflijus said:

Good day Gerald and thanks for you quick reply!

 

I think you hit the right point with rebuilding PF3 data base. Looks like I am still running in Legacy mode, as I had never rebuild data for MSFS 🤔 I've started to use MCE straight with CRJ in MSFS after seeing many tutorial videos of them both in action together.

What i will try, is to make a flight in P3D and see how things are going there. But I don't have CRJ in there only other third party aircrafts, so it might not be the same results. But at least something to start with. Later I'll try to rebuild PF3 data base for MSFS and see if any changes appear. 

As for FO support in CRJ, most of the things work fine. Sometimes when reading checklist, for example "after start checklist", when asking about generators, I am answering auto, and that's ok, but when it comes to "bleed valves" which should also be answered auto, FO always is asking "are you sure" or "please double check". And it doesn't matter how many times I am trying to spell it correctly, I always end up skipping the item. There are also some other items behaving the same from the check list, but can remember which, at the moment.

Oh and by the way, one more, that has never worked properly with CRJ in MSFS but works fine in P3D with other aircraft.

When I ask to engage VS mode, he does that, but doesn't matter what changes I ask, he always sets it to "nose up".

For example if I say vertical speed down-minus 1000, he will set it plus/up 1000.

And if I am trying to correct him, by saying it again, he just adds another 1000 on top and I end up plus/up 2000 feet and so on.

That function never worked for me properly and I am always handling vertical speeds by my self.

That's it for the moment that I can think is making small negative influence on the flight.

Hope that helps to improve things.

 

Regards, 

Viktor.

It will for sure.

Feedback always welcome.

Those small imperfactions will be looked at the coming week.

With 50+ complex planes supported in one package, it's hard to keep a tab on all those updates airplanes go through, therefore, you flight simmers are more likely to spot them first.

[Abcdeflijus 1]

Ok, so I checked what was going on with my PF3 database and yes it was data for P3D.

So I have rebuilt it for MSFS. Did few flights and need to say there were some changes.

Now every flight is ok when getting clearance, taking off, connecting to departure, centre/control and approach.

FO does everything right, changes frequencies and gets in touch with controllers. 

But landings are still the same. When cleared for ILS approach and instructed to contact tower on frequency when established, FO does not tune to tower and does not initiate contact. 

But I was wondering if MCE does that like PF3 co pilot does it if set to co pilot mode 2? 

Or FO in MCE is just waiting for captains command to tune to tower and command to request clearance to land?

How ever, even if I tell him to do that, after asking for clearance radio tunes to other frequency. 

Need to mention here, that when I check frequencies in PF3 displayer, such a frequency does not exist. So I check in P3D and it was frequency for approach! So you were right about MCE using frequencies from P3D. 

As I have mentioned before, it appeared that I was running on P3D data base when I've noticed that issue. 

So after rebuilding database issue is still there.

I tried to take over radios before arrival and still same thing was happening. But one test was very strange.

Radios was on me, and when tuned to tower, I just pressed PPT button, but said nothing, just to see what's going to happen.

Obviously there was nothing back from the tower, but radios have changed frequency again automatically!

So I am completely confused, what is doing that thing... 🤔

I was thinking maybe it's an issue with CRJ, but I also did tests with MSFS Cessna 172 and it was still happening. 

It's really confusing, as flights now are getting better, but I know that every time it will be partly ruined by this issue on finals... 😞 

That's it for now from my test flights. Will report if will find something else. 

 

Viktor.

[Abcdeflijus 1]

Ok, so here's something else 🙂

 

I did few more test flight and this time, kept native ATC window always open. I have all AI assistance turned off in the sim.

However, I can see that sometimes frequencies mismatch what PF3 gives me and what's in the sim.

Shouldn't they be the same, as I have rebuilt data base for MSFS?

So when this happens, after approach is handing me over to tower, as soon as I make first contact, radios tune automatically to sim frequency. Sometimes it's a frequency of near by airport tower. And it can happen multiple times until stabilizing on tower, but it's always too late. Not sure when exactly, but I think in the sim ATC window, there is still some communication going on with ATC and ghost co pilot. And while it's still happening, radio tunes automatically. I think it happens until "radar service terminated", or something.

I've seen this issue also reported on other forums and this is a big issue also when flying on VATSIM.

Now it is getting really annoying, as every flight, doesn't matter IFR or VFR is messed up at the end... 

[FS++ 708]

22 hours ago, Abcdeflijus said:

Ok, so here's something else 🙂

 

I did few more test flight and this time, kept native ATC window always open. I have all AI assistance turned off in the sim.

However, I can see that sometimes frequencies mismatch what PF3 gives me and what's in the sim.

Shouldn't they be the same, as I have rebuilt data base for MSFS?

So when this happens, after approach is handing me over to tower, as soon as I make first contact, radios tune automatically to sim frequency. Sometimes it's a frequency of near by airport tower. And it can happen multiple times until stabilizing on tower, but it's always too late. Not sure when exactly, but I think in the sim ATC window, there is still some communication going on with ATC and ghost co pilot. And while it's still happening, radio tunes automatically. I think it happens until "radar service terminated", or something.

I've seen this issue also reported on other forums and this is a big issue also when flying on VATSIM.

Now it is getting really annoying, as every flight, doesn't matter IFR or VFR is messed up at the end... 

Since you're using both MSFS & Prepar3D, you would be better off building PF3 database for Prepar3D and leave it at that.

At least under that scenario, MCE FO can dial ANY freq PF3 suggets through the captions in "Clearance.log"

I assume you read this already.

 

[Abcdeflijus 1]

Hi Gerald,

 

Thanks for your help. Yes I did checked that topic that you suggested and many many others everywhere on internet.

How ever, I just found what was the problem yesterday!

Surprisingly, it was PF3 and MSFS! 🤗

So here's what was happening:

I was flying with native MSFS ATC window opened and was monitoring what was happening there also.

It appears that even if you switch off all AI assistance (for radios and piloting), it anyway sometimes does speak to native ATC.

But obviously it is muted. So when  I was approaching the airport and was instructed to contact approach by PF3 for example on 124.7, at the same time native MSFS approach frequency was 120.7. But things here still worked ok.

And when instructed to contact tower on lets say 118.5 it might have been the same frequency, but the trick was hidden in the PF3 hot keys. In the PF3 displayer you can see what you can do with hot keys with the current frequencies and for the tower, to initiate contact and request clearance to land is hot key No.1

But it appears, that on native ATC window, selection no.1 is approach frequency for that airport!

So when FO or my self is asking for clearance to land, PF3 assumes you are hitting how key no.1 or does actually hit it secretly for you.

And because in MSFS keyboard control those numbers are also assigned to native ATC, you are basically doing two things simultaneously -  requesting clearance and changing frequency immediately.

Solution for that is to go to keyboard controls and remove all bindings to the native ATC which are from 1-9 😊

Tested this few times already and now it works absolutely perfect. Even with data base for MSFS.

The boys are back in cockpit again 😏 

Can't express how happy I am to solve this problem! Hope somebody else will also find this useful.

Now it's time to train my computer to understand me better and keep talking a lot in the air!

 

Once again thanks for you help, Gerald!

 

Regards, 

Viktor.

[FS++ 708]

5 hours ago, Abcdeflijus said:

Hi Gerald,

 

Thanks for your help. Yes I did checked that topic that you suggested and many many others everywhere on internet.

How ever, I just found what was the problem yesterday!

Surprisingly, it was PF3 and MSFS! 🤗

So here's what was happening:

I was flying with native MSFS ATC window opened and was monitoring what was happening there also.

It appears that even if you switch off all AI assistance (for radios and piloting), it anyway sometimes does speak to native ATC.

But obviously it is muted. So when  I was approaching the airport and was instructed to contact approach by PF3 for example on 124.7, at the same time native MSFS approach frequency was 120.7. But things here still worked ok.

And when instructed to contact tower on lets say 118.5 it might have been the same frequency, but the trick was hidden in the PF3 hot keys. In the PF3 displayer you can see what you can do with hot keys with the current frequencies and for the tower, to initiate contact and request clearance to land is hot key No.1

But it appears, that on native ATC window, selection no.1 is approach frequency for that airport!

So when FO or my self is asking for clearance to land, PF3 assumes you are hitting how key no.1 or does actually hit it secretly for you.

And because in MSFS keyboard control those numbers are also assigned to native ATC, you are basically doing two things simultaneously -  requesting clearance and changing frequency immediately.

Solution for that is to go to keyboard controls and remove all bindings to the native ATC which are from 1-9 😊

Tested this few times already and now it works absolutely perfect. Even with data base for MSFS.

The boys are back in cockpit again 😏 

Can't express how happy I am to solve this problem! Hope somebody else will also find this useful.

Now it's time to train my computer to understand me better and keep talking a lot in the air!

 

Once again thanks for you help, Gerald!

 

Regards, 

Viktor.

Good catch.

And thanks for sharing. Forgot about that.

EDIT: You may want to add your latest post to the other thread specific to PF3, as it's important NOTAM to MSFS users. Thanks

Edited November 24, 2021 by FS++