Hello,

on today's flight it happened to me again that MCE didn't recognize the call-sign correctly and wouldn't read back or react in any way to ATC messages. The only thing he actually did react to is ATC's call to us when we didn't contact them in time ("Aircraft at flight level ... squawking ... contact ... on ..."). The call-sign was "ABC Air Bridge" (ABC319). I've encountered this before, see this older topic. Almost forgot: This is with PF3.

Is there anything that can be done about this? Or, alternatively, is there a list of tested call-signs?

Thanks & kind regards,

Dimitrios

On 7/27/2024 at 3:41 PM, d.tsakiris said:

Hello,

on today's flight it happened to me again that MCE didn't recognize the call-sign correctly and wouldn't read back or react in any way to ATC messages. The only thing he actually did react to is ATC's call to us when we didn't contact them in time ("Aircraft at flight level ... squawking ... contact ... on ..."). The call-sign was "ABC Air Bridge" (ABC319). I've encountered this before, see this older topic. Almost forgot: This is with PF3.

Is there anything that can be done about this? Or, alternatively, is there a list of tested call-signs?

Thanks & kind regards,

Dimitrios

The problem with this is that it could be seen as GA with registration ABC319

Did you set it as an Airliner?

What is the actual call-sign string PF3 outputs to clearance.log?

Which Airline (or call-sign) code is in "pf3.ini"? MCE usually needs to translate this to the proper airline via a file inside MCE installation folder.

 

Edited July 29, 20241 yr by FS++

Hi Gerald,

this is the first line from the clearance log:

"roger ABC Abridge 319 cleared to LOWS   Lima India Delta Romeo 3 Juliet departure climb to 9 thousand   squawk 2346"

While I don't have access to the pf3.ini at the moment, the appropriate id (?) in the PF3 callsigns-file is "Pfac1058".

1 hour ago, d.tsakiris said:

Hi Gerald,

this is the first line from the clearance log:

"roger ABC Abridge 319 cleared to LOWS   Lima India Delta Romeo 3 Juliet departure climb to 9 thousand   squawk 2346"

While I don't have access to the pf3.ini at the moment, the appropriate id (?) in the PF3 callsigns-file is "Pfac1058".

For a start, there is no way the human recorded voices would handle "ABC Abridge". It would require custom coding, like telling Fo when he sees that he should say "A B C Air Bridge" or simply "Air bridge" (which one do you prefer?)

Second, MCE will get "pfac1058" from pf3.ini and normally translates it to proper airline name by looking up "PF3_Airline.dat" (which is a text file) located inside MCE installation folder.

Currently doesn't have the 1058 entry, therefore, add the following line to the end of the file. WIndows will prevent you editing file in situ, therefore copy it to desktop, edit it then overwrite file inside installation folder.

1058=ABC Abridge

Once you add it and the ATC tab in MCE is showing expected call sign as seen in Clearance.log, it's likely FO will see the PF3 instructions, and reply but won't be able to spell the call sign (unless you use a TTS voice) except the flight number.

Let me know when he does. After that we'll work something out for "Air bridge".

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, FS++ said:

For a start, there is no way the human recorded voices would handle "ABC Abridge". It would require custom coding, like telling Fo when he sees that he should say "A B C Air Bridge" or simply "Air bridge" (which one do you prefer?)

"Air bridge" - it's shorter 🙂

1 hour ago, FS++ said:

Second, MCE will get "pfac1058" from pf3.ini and normally translates it to proper airline name by looking up "PF3_Airline.dat" (which is a text file) located inside MCE installation folder.

Affirm. I copied the string from a local file that is most probably a local copy of the PF3_Airline.dat, albeit from 2016. I will check if my PF3 installation to see if a newer file exists.

1 hour ago, FS++ said:

won't be able to spell the call sign (unless you use a TTS voice) except the flight number.

I believe I asked the FO for the call-sign, and he replied "3 1 9" - so that worked, I think.

On 7/31/2024 at 12:06 PM, d.tsakiris said:

"Air bridge" - it's shorter 🙂

 

I'm afraid dynamic replacement of "Abridge" for "air bridge" not possible because recorded audio doesn't have "bridge". We'd need to update all 10 ecorded voice packs and the actors aren't all available since this was done many years ago..

Can do "air cambridge" though because that airline was included.

Edited August 1, 20241 yr by FS++

No worries. The flight number is enough for me, as long as the FO reacts to ATC transmissions...

So, the .dat files I have are from December 2020, and the pf3_callsigns.dat has the line for Airbridge: "ABC Abridge,1058,98"...ok, "Abridge"...close enough.