jaybird1nyc

My quadrant is the stand alone type.

Hi, I have a PFC serial throttle quadrant. The output shown on the power brick label is 5.0 amps (60 watts) max.

I have a 50" TV and have the TrackIR camera sitting at the base of the TV, just left of center. Works great with my Track Clip Pro. Not sure how it might work with the standard hat clip, never tried it. I have it calibrated nicely and I never lose tracking vertically, only horizontally, which is bound to happen if you turn your head too far left or right. Jay

Hi Klaus, Actually, this very topic was discussed a couple of months ago. Check out this thread and if you have any more questions after, just let us know: http://www.avsim.com/topic/473986-considering-purchasing-general-questions/ Jay

Let me just chime in here to say that the FO is NOT available while flying VFR, only IFR. Everything else the other guys said is correct. Jay

Richard, Yes, you are correct on all you said. I have confirmed everything you mentioned. VoxATC is not terrain aware. It is always best to fly the star as published and then request an approach yourself.This way you get to fly the published approach without vectors. However, you could allow Vox to vector you all the way down, if terrain is not an issue. Your choice. I will attempt to troubleshoot the issue with declaring emergencies and, if neccessary, contact Tegwyn. @Giovanni & Richard: I have just completed the return flight from earlier. I used the same process as described, however, this flight was from towered to non-towered and it still worked flawlessly. Most excellent! I'm totally psyched to discover this previously unknown (at least unknown to me) ability in Vox. You see, flying is about learning, every time! Regards, Jay

Giovanni & Richard, I just tried the test and I have to report SUCCESS! Richard, you are absolutely correct, and that was exactly what I was planning to do. I created 2 identical flightplans, only difference is one was VFR and the other was IFR. Identical waypoints and destination. Only other change was VFR plan was at FL045 and IFR was at FL050. This plan was from a non-towered field to a towered field approx. 75 miles apart. I started the VFR flight normally, took off, climbed to my assigned VFR altitude (FL045) and headed to my 1st waypoint. I was told to contact center, which I did. I was assigned a squawk code and told to proceed to my waypoint. At this point I simulated a VMC into IMC situation. I paused the sim and disabled VoxATC. I went to the FSX flight planner and loaded my identical IFR flight plan and chose 'No' when asked if I wished to move my aircraft to the starting point. I then un-paused the sim and enabled Vox. I was told to contact some controller and I was told to climb to my IFR altitude of FL050. EUREKA it worked! I proceded thru my flightplan and was eventually told to contact approach where I was given an instrument approach. It worked flawlessly. Nice! Ok, so that is one big obstacle out of the way. We have shown that VMC into IMC can easily be done, without detracting at all from the immersion of being in the cockpit and simply filing simulated pop-up IFR with ATC. @Richard, have you had any luck declaring an emergency? I've tried in the past and I remember just hearing "unable at this time" or "last aircraft, say again". Did it ever work for you? Also, @Richard, what do you mean by "Voxatc don't manage the relief during approach"? Regards, Jay

Giovanni, I definitely agree with you that filing IFR while airborne, or pop-up IFR, would be a very cool feature to have in VoxATC. As would the ability to cancel IFR and proceed VFR. Those are two of the suggestions I sent to the developer. I've never heard that pilots would actually do pop-up IFR just to avoid queuing on the ground, pretty sneaky, hehe. Thinking about a way around the fact that once you are on either method of flight, IFR or VFR, would there be any way to change without starting completely over. I have one idea that I'm going to try when I get a chance, probably tomorrow. I'll definitely let you know if it works. Regarding emergencies. Yes, you can declare an emergency. However, the method to do it is somewhat convoluted and not very intuitive. It was on my list of things to look at more closely and try to make some recommendations to the developer. Now that you reminded me I'm going to try and do that. I do remember that you do get cleared to the nearest field but I don't know if it clears all traffic for you. I have never tried VATSIM or Pilot Edge, and I have never tried any other ATC replacement software other than VoxATC, so I am in no position to make any first-hand comparisons. There are numerous threads in the forums about comparisons, so I'll leave that part of it alone. Seems to be similar arguments to those comparing weather engines, with no one program coming out clearly on top. They all have positives and negatives, but, the one feature that is a must-have for me is VFR ability. I'll get back with the results of my test. Regards, Jay

Hi, First off, I would wholeheartedly and without reservation say that VoxATC is worth it. I have been using it since FS9 and I continue to use it EVERY time I fly. I simply would not fly without VoxATC, just like I won't fly without TrackIR anymore. However, is not without it's warts. I'll get back to that later. While I have used Vox extensively while flying big iron on IFR flightplans, for about a year or so now I been flying the incredible GA offerings from A2A on both IFR and VFR plans. I find that Vox adds tremendously to the GA VFR experience, although, as I said previously, it does work better for IFR flights. Let me first try to answer your specific questions. It won't handle VMC into IMC. If you file a VFR plan, that's what you're stuck with all the way thru. You cannot even request an instrument approach if you've filed VFR. You will only be given pattern entry instructions to either towered or non-towered fields. It's not that you can't do it anyway, but you won't be cleared for the approach. One of the features I've asked the developer to implement is the ability to request an instrument approach even when flying a VFR flightplan. However, as you may already know, this is not done in real world situations, as far as I'm aware. If you're VFR you're going only going to get pattern entry instructions. I just think it would add to the experience if you could request an approach anyway, just for fun, like you said. I also sent the developer a very (long) detailed list of improvements that could be made to enhance the VFR experience. He welcomed my suggestions and maybe one day we'll see them happen, no promises from him tho. I use MyTraffic 6 for AI and it works great, but I do know that UT2 will also run great with Vox, so, no issue there. The voice recognition works great for me. It actually uses Windows built-in speech recognition app to handle all that. Once you get it set up and train it properly, it has been outstanding at understanding my commands. I use a mono headset which also allows me to attach my TrackIR to it. Vox does handle VFR flight following very well. It provides traffic advisories, issues squawk codes, and gives handoffs. It will also do runway changes (you can request any available runway), gives proper taxi clearances, gives you ground holds for both taxiing and landing traffic, and accepts go-arounds (you are told to fly the published miss and then handed back to the approach controller to request another approach). Now, let's take a step back and talk about those "warts" I mentioned. Vox has issues, always did, maybe always will. It occasionally freezes (this is usually fixed by simply disabling and re-enabling), but it has not been a problem for me in the recent past due to the developer working hard at eliminating, or at least reducing the likelihood of these freezes. That's the really big issue, because if it doesn't work then what have you gotten for your money? However, as I said, it is not, and has not been an issue for me at all recently. Secondly, if you read this forum (and you should), you will see that many users have brought up many issues over many years. Some of these issues are not actually problems in the software, but the user themself. Some are legitimate problems that are part of Vox and have not been addressed by the developer, or just shortcomings in the software itself. If you are expecting perfection then you ARE going to be disappointed. Thirdly, VoxATC has been around more than a dozen years and the developer has continually supported and updated the software for free and only charged for major version changes (at a discount for existing users) over all these years. While he doesn't have a dedicated forum for support, he responds to emails sent very quickly. I have been in contact with him many times over the years and he has provided me with above-average support. I think I've covered everything you asked, if you think of anything else, just fire way! Regards, Jay

Carlos, At least we can use ADE to update the approaches. I'm very grateful to Jon Masterson at ScruffyDuck Software for providing this invaluable tool to our community FOR FREE. However, if you start using ADE regularly I would strongly recommend purchasing the ProKey. It provides many helpful functions, and is an absolute steal at only $9.99US. Writing approaches seems daunting at first, but with a bit of study (and alot of trial and error!) anyone can do it. Jay

Carlos, AFAIK, once you are cleared for an approach VoxATC uses whatever is coded in the bgl exclusively. The approaches that are shown when you hit '0' are the ones coded in the bgl, not the ones from Navigraph. I have modified many airport bgls to update the approaches and that is the only thing you can do to reflect current, real-world instrument approaches. Regards, Jay

Yes, you make some excellent points. Didn't really consider the height of a screen that big and I don't think I can put it anywhere other than the desk, unless I mount it to the wall behind the desk. I think I need to see them in person before I get ahead of myself. Also, I see that OLED sets are around at a decent price. Have to do some research on those as well. Thanks for the advice, Jay Oh, and good luck Mike, sorry to go all OT on you!

gb, Approx how far do you sit from your screen? I sit about 3 feet from mine (currently a 50") and I'm wondering if 65" would be too overwhelming at that distance. Seems like it would, but with the curve and all, maybe it would really improve the peripheral effect?? Jay

Steve, Just to report back, I successfully edited the dx10.ini, as you outlined. Worked great (no surprise there) and I've settled on 55% (for the time being!). Thanks for your help and many thanks for your efforts! Jay

That's disappointing to hear. I was shopping around for a curved 55" 4k set to replace my 50" 1080p set I have. I was really hoping to hear that the curved sets improve the immersion factor by increasing the peripheral coverage. Are you saying that if you had to do it over again you would get a flat set? Jay

Steve, That's excellent. I'll try it out later on. Best Regards, Jay Thanks Erich, but I actually already own REX4 and the only water texture options are Light, Medium and Dark, and the even the dark is still too bright. I know that REX Essentials has sliders to adjust the base color but I already own REX4 and it doesn't have that (very needed) ability.

Hi Steve, As the title says, I'm looking for a way to get darker water, ocean water, to be specific. My current settings in the fixer are Sky Reflection min and max are at 5% and Ambient Light is at the minimum, 75%. The issue is that the water base color is still too light, and too blue to accurately appear as Atlantic Ocean water. Is it feasible to have a wider range for the Ambient Light slider, or, as an alternative, are there any settings I could change myself? Thanks, Jay

Yes, yes and yes! Lol Jay

Yes, exactly. I think the consensus would be leading towards the fact that aircraft of the era we're talking about, 60's/70's/80's, are just going to be unique. The simulation of such aircraft is left up to the developer to decide on one particular setup. IMHO, A2A has done the finest simulation of GA aircraft of this era. If you're looking for a perfect replica of the aircraft you intend to train/fly in RL it may be an unrealistic (!) expectation. Jay

Hi Brett, I'm a long-time user of VoxATC. I have used it extensively in both IFR commercial fights, and more recently, VFR GA flights from both towered and non-towered flights. I would have to say it works better using IFR flight plans, and also flying jets at higher altitudes in general. That is not to say it's not light-years ahead of default ATC, because it is. Using it at towered airports is better than at non-towered airports. It does 'control' other traffic in and around the airport. You will hear other aircraft in the pattern, approaching the airport, asking for airport information, and on the ground requesting various things. At non-towered airports, you hear traffic self-announcing while in the pattern, doing touch-and-goes, etc. It works better when you file a flightplan because if you just want to fly closed patterns at a non-towered airport it doesn't work too well. However, it does work fine for that purpose at towered airports. If you have any more specific questions/concerns just fire away! Jay

+1 Every RW aircraft of this era will be different in so many ways, especially the panel setup. Don't get attached to any one configuration because the very next aircraft you rent/fly WILL be different.

Mike, I don't own these airports, so I can't test it, but, one thought comes to mind. Have you run the indexer after installing the airports? Very easy to forget, I've done it (or not done it, technically) many times Jay

I have REX 4, and there really aren't too many choices when it come to water textures. You're not supposed to pick any textures that have 'burned-in" wave patterns, if you're using the DX10 fixer. So, that basically leaves 3 choices: bright, medium and dark. I chose dark and the coastal water is still too bright and too blue. No way I've found to correct it. Also, using any REX wave animation (I did try alot of them) resulted in horrible, unrealistic wave action. My REX settings were DXT1 wave animation and DX10 enabled. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, REX E+ has alot more options and flexibility when it comes to water textures than REX 4 does.

Ok, fair enough. What do you do to adjust your water textures? Let's say you were flying near the coastal Atlantic ocean, what would you do?

Thanks Mark, I am using 2x-Low at the moment, although I have tried Med and High, just to see. Now, as far as adding some nice REX textures, what exactly are you using, and are are also using the paid version of Steve's DX10 Fixer? Ok, great. I'm gonna try those settings and report back. Thanks guys!!