pluff

I have solved the voice problem and all is now working well. I discovered that by clicking on the VATSIM label in the FSDT control panel voice section, there are 3 individual options for setting microphone, headset and speakers. I reset them to my specific Microset microphone and headset and bingo full voice was enabled. I tested at a few airports where controllers were on line nad I am now ready to fly. Cheers, Peter Luff.

My name is Peter Luff, callsign CGMTT, local airport Ottawa CYOW, a qualified instrument rated PPL in real world, trying out VATSIM as a relative newbie however. My problem is that I cannot get voice comms to work in my setup. This is FSX, windows7/64bit, FSINN/VATSIM client,using VROUTE to see network activity, Microsoft USB headset. Everything works very nicely i.e I can see all the other VATSIM traffic at any airport, I show up on the network after turning on VATSIM in the FSINN control box, I can text chat to and from any controllers who are online, my PTT button turns on a red transmit bar on the FSINN VVL comms bar as does someone trying to voice back to me, but no actual voice goes either way. I have tested the headset using my computer's voice record/playback utility and it works fine. I can also hear my own voice sidetone, my airplane's engine and any voice on the FSX commms eg ATIS. I have set up all the volume sliders in FSINN to max. The only oddity is that when I hit my PTT button, I dont hear any kind of beep which you might expect. So if anyone can give me some pointers on how to fix this I would be very grateful, Cheers, Peter Luff.

Dan, many thanks for your reply. I received an email notification of your reply from the AVSIM forum autoresponse system but did not get your email directly to my email at [email protected]. So I may have an email problem at my end although I did get the one from AVSIM. (I checked my junk mail and its not there). I also received an email confirmation from PMDG on the purchase of the 1 year redownload capability. So if I have a problem it is a 'partial' one with some email getting through and others not. Could you post me your originating email so I can contact Bell to find out what my receiving problem might be. Thanks again for your help, cheers Peter luff.ps I fly a Beech Sierra for real and have my instrument rating but am nowhere near your lofty experience.

I am unable to sign on to the customer support forum. The activation emails that PMDG sends to me to activate my registration do not arrive. My main problem is that I have purchased a redownload for my 747 400X (resetting FSX on a new computer) but can not get any instructions/emails on how to now redownload the file. I read somewhere on the forum that you have to send a request through the customer support portal to initiate this process but of course I can't register to the system because I am not receiving the sign on emails. My email address is [email protected] and it is working normally. Can anyone help? cheers Peter Luff.

I am very concerned about the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator. A recent and relevant editorial in Flying eNewsletter, 'Microsoft Flight Sim Down in Flames? by Robert Goyer' (link:http://blogs.flyingmag.com/left_seat/2009/01/microsoft-flight-sim-down-in-flames.html) has prompted me to express my concerns and propose that AVSIM consider taking a proactive role in preserving the future of FS2004/FSX. I am by the way one of those flight sim enthusiasts who migrated to flying for real at a later age when time and money permitted. I now simulate all my IFR trips with FSX/FS2004 before I go and it always, always adds value to my flights. There is at present an extremely active and vibrant flight sim community which has grown up with the evolution of Microsoft's flight simulator product line. This has been actively encouraged by Microsoft who has provided among other things multiplayer networking, third party development tools and very responsive website support for end users and developers alike. The enormous success of Microsoft's strategy can be seen in the substantial support forum that AVSIM provides; the global online flying networks such as VATSIM and IVAO; the vast array of third party commercial and freeware developers producing extremely high quality aircraft, avionics systems, scenery, flight planning tools, weather engines, performance enhancing software, voice recognition ATC software and on and on; the very rapidly growing hardware based cockpit and flight controls segment; the requirement for ever more powerful computing platforms to match the FSX product is driving the graphics card developers to delivering much better products and presumably higher sales numbers; and on and on. (I sometimes get the feeling that the whole of Australia is successfully employed in evolving the flight sim market!). I have not done the math but I believe that the flight sim market must now represent a very considerable investment in people and resources.For Microsoft to rip out the heart of this business, which it created with its third party strategy, without any word or warning seems to me to be a rather tough call. So, what can we do about it? I suggest that AVSIM take a lead role here and reorganise FANCON 09 sessions to include a structured review and discussion of strategies to preserve the flight sim business in which we all have a stake either as users or providers. The reviews should probably include:1. A current review of the size of the flight sim business that could be impacted by Microsoft's decision. They may not have realised how large the business has grown.2. If MSoft just abandoned us completely, how could we pick up the pieces and sustain a future.3. Are there ways we could persuade MSoft to sustain a minimum level of support eg maintain FSX compatibilty with future operating systems. ( I have by the way tried FS2004/FSX with Windows Beta 7 and it all seems to work very well at the basic level including SDK tools. I urge the flight sim community to organise and beta test the heck out of FS2004/FSX/Windows 7 now while there is still time to get updates made to Windows 7, the beta testing finishes August 09)4. If MSoft must abandon FSX can they attempt to license the platform to a third party developer to continue its evolution? 5. Can we develop a convincing argument to persuade MSoft to stay in the flight sim business? Thewre are likely many other approaches/angles which I have not thought about but I imagine that the AVSIM team are very well equipped to organise sessions to produce some forward looking strategies.Peter Luff.