Hi JD / AllI am new Radar Contact user and not sure how to utilise active Sky 6.5 into the mix. I have the below programsFS9Radar Contact 4.3Active Sky 6.5FsbuildNot sure of the exact order of operations but I want to be able to follow the real weather from Active Sky forcast in FS9 using Radar Contact for ATC. Also do i need to load the plan I create in Fsbuild in all of the below. Sorry if a stupid question just a little confused. I did see a similar type post but still unsureRadar ContactFS9Active Sky 6.5ThanksWayne

i would say, fsbuild - does it matter? make your .pln file, and it's out of the picture, right?fs9active sky - let it get the weather, and load it, and let it settle downrcthen rc should see the weather active sky has put into fs9make sure you have the latest fsuipc for fs9!jd

JDThanks for the response great program, just confirming that I need to load the flight plan into FS9 as well, thanks again you guys are legends for building such an awesome ATC engineOne more thing what did you mean by load it when you were referring to getting the weather in Active Sky 6.5RegardsWayne

let active sky get the weather, and push it into fs9jd

JDOne final question do I need to load the flight plan in FS9 as well as RCThanks a lot, by far the best service I have across in the sim world, i get the impression that there is far less AI chatter than we are used to using the default ATC in FS9. Is it just the fact that FS9 ATC was way over done and RC AI chatter and communications to the controllers is more realistic.RegadrsWayne

"One final question do I need to load the flight plan in FS9 as well as RC"OK, let's see if I can clarify the situation. You do NOT need to load the flight plan in FS9 as well as RC in order for RC to work. However, you may well want to load it in FS if, for example, you're using the FS GPS to navigate with. If you're using an add-on aircraft with its own navigation system, you will, of course, need a copy of the plan loaded to that system. I see you use FSBuild so you'll have no problem producing identical plans for RC and your nav system in the appropriate format(s)So, to sum up, you need 1 copy of the flight plan in .pln format for RC and an identical copy in an appropriate format for your nav system. If by some chance you're not using a nav system but are doing it the "old" way by twiddling the knobs on your nav radio and using raw data from VORs and NDBs then you only need load the plan to RC.Petehttp://www.jdtllc.com/images/rcv4bannerbeta.jpg

thanks for the explanationRegardsWayne

Wayne,Although Active Sky 6.5 will work fine without loading your plan into it the weather should transition better with a plan loaded. Use the New Route option to load your plan.Cheers,

Here is what I do:Load AS and (my choice) get the archived weather for the Z time of the of the origin time of flight. This will save the weather. If you decide to download current weather and your flight will be locally current save the weather.Do your FSBuild plan creation and export to FS9 for RC, AS6.5, and any aircraft controlled by the FS9 plan. Export at the same time to any FMC format for import into an aircraft with a proprietary FMC.In AS import the plan and process the weather. Print out the AS navlog with the ALL selection.Hit the Build button in FSB. Also under User categories save the plan (in FSB format) for reuse for later updated for weather plan exports. Before this last build make sure your aircraft is selected (or one like it) and your TAXI, EXTRA, and HOLDING allowance time is set. Look at the route map for a visual check. If the route needs touch up edit the route table and choose the option to build from the route table. If you do this build again with the exports to FS9 and any other format.Now print out your FSB navlog for navigation and fuel estimates.Now I shut all down, turn off my Internet connection and restart Windows. After restarting windows I use a shutdown utility to kill any unneeded processes (which is why I killed the Internet connection - no protection now.)Start AS, load the weather you saved and the FS9 plan and process it. You have already printed out the AS navlog which will furnish weather data for your FMC (if used) and expected altimeter settings.Start FS and load your startup situation. (It should have the clear weather theme for the benefit of AS.) Alt-tab to AS and click refresh. When the weather is done processing I force an immediate FS ATIS and AI patterns by clicking Refresh AI. This insures the weather "takes" in FS. It does not seem automatic as AS indicates in the options.Now you are ready for RC. Load it and your plan. Select the aircraft, callsign, and other options like RSVM if you are so equipped. Open the controller page and make any airport changes such as NOTAMS, departure restrictions, MSA, etc. Start RC and if needed alt-tab to FS and prepare your aircraft (load plan if needed and set altimeter and fuel), get weather, get clearance, set transponder, push and start, gnd for taxi, switch to tower, ack when ready to line-up and wait (or position and hold), and then when instructed take the runway prepared to go.Now the description about all the planning, weather processing, windows restart, takes less time than the description. It means you are starting with a clean slate with only needed resources and with with weather, your aircraft, and FS and RC all seeing the same environment.

RonAwesome, thanks for the time to explain this processRegardsWayne

HiWhen I build my flight plan with Fsbuild2.3 and export it into FS2004 format I then load it into the FS9 planner but also import it into Active Sky 6.5 for winds and then load the weather into FS9 With Activesky, I then load the Fsbuild saved plan into RC and start the flight. I must not understand this process as I cant see how FS and RC are aware of the winds as the flight plan loaded into RC and FS9 is the simple plan from FSBUILD that does not give any wind information, unless Active Sky saves an updated plan allowing for winds and I should be importing that into RC, sorry if this is a stupid question I just cant get my head around that, a couple of times I have allowed for wind on my track in FS9 and RC told me I was straying off heading, thanks for any clarification offeredRegardsWayne

>When I build my flight plan with Fsbuild2.3 and export it into>FS2004 format I then load it into the FS9 planner but also>import it into Active Sky 6.5 for winds and then load the>weather into FS9 With Activesky, I then load the Fsbuild saved>plan into RC and start the flight. If I'm reading the above correctly, you are loading two different "versions" of your flightplan...one with winds and one without.I believe FSBuild will create a flightplan taking winds into account, but you have to run Active Sky FIRST to update the weather. Then FSBuild will use that weather in creating the flightplan. It sounds like you are creating the flightplan first in FSBuild with no winds. Then you are loading it into FS9 and THEN into ActiveSky. ActiveSky then adds winds to it. But then you say you load the "original" FSBuild flightplan into RC. Your "original" FSBuild flightplan WON'T have winds incorporated into it, because you created it prior to ActiveSky furnishing the winds info for it.Check out the FSBuild documentation to see how to make it use the active weather from ActiveSky while building a flightplan. Then the flightplan you load into ALL your addons will be the same.

You are correct. After the plan is loaded in AS6.5 and processed run the FSB build again with the FS9 export on (and FMC format if used). I always save the weather for use with the same plan and FS flight keeping both the FSB and AS6.5 navlogs noting the aircraft used.As far as RC only the target, destination, and waypoints in the .pln file count. The same is true of avionics although some might use the altitudes at the waypoints. In FSB the weather is used along with the aircraft profile and various extra durations entered for holds, extra, alternate, and taxiing to calculate fuel needed as displayed on the FSB navlog.

thanks for the adviceRegardsWayne

Hi JDSome time ago that the active sky 6.5 used I bought the RC, of which I am very satisfied, but I have a doubt. On your page you say that it is that unmark the pigeonhole of ' VOICE ATIS/FLIGTHWATCH ' in the version 5 of Active Sky with the version 6.5, also is it that unmark? It receives a cordial greetingRamón