ATC-pie user guide: Difference between revisions

=== Voice radio ===

In FlightGear and FSD network sessions, multiple radios can be opened and tuned in simultaneously. You can transmit on either one by holding down the PTT button of the chosen radio, or on a selected set (''Kbd PTT'' boxes ticked) using the {{key press|Ctrl}} key. This lets you PTT on multiple frequencies at once (merged frequencies), for example to service GND+TWR frequencies in view of splitting them seemlessly again later. To monitor frequencies without attending them, a trick is to set their volume to "soft" to tell them apart.

=== CPDLC ===

When [[CPDLC]] is serviced (location setting), aircraft can establish a data link from their cockpit for a direct text communication channel supplementing the radio frequency. You can monitor connections from the CPDLC dock and open a window for each active or terminated connection in the CPDLC history. Combining the {{key press|Alt}} key with a double-click on a strip or radar contact opens the current or latest dialogue for the selected callsign.

Created message elements are appended to the message buffer in the connection dialogue window until you send the message manually. The other party must then acknowledge it before it times out.

Although voice communications should be encouraged for realism whenever possible, ATC-pie has a powerful text chat system for keyboard interaction with pilots in network sessions. In FlightGear sessions, all messages from within at least 100 NM and up to the radar range are visible in the chat. In FSD sessions, whose protocol simulates text frequencies, ATC-pie tunes the chat to the "publicised frequency" in the radio panel.

Moreover, ATC-pie strips everything up to the first '''pipe character''' (<code>|</code>) in the message if any, before it is processed and sent. You may test this by sending "stripped part|sent part" and observe that only the "sent part" makes it to the message contents. You can therefore make your life easier with piped shortcuts in your preset message list. They will pop up like any other message in the filtered menu as you type. For example, the following preset message enables something like a dot-command for sending a bearing to your base airport in a few key strokes:

* Controlling the traffic is done in the same way as in solo sessions without voice, i.e. using the click&drag vector and taxi tools and the instruction dock. The only difference is that you control the selected aircraft directly, regardless of your strip links and details. You therefore do not need a strip and a correctly filled callsign to instruct a pilot, though it is a good idea to have one if you want your vectors registered and drawn on the radar. The traffic creation dialog offers to create a linked strip with every new aircraft.

* You may pause the whole simulation, or freeze each aircraft individually. Frozen aircraft will result in stationary flights on the student's radar.

* To exchange strips, drop them on "Student" and select whom the strip should appear from on the student's side. Note that for your convenience in further control of the traffic, teacher strips do not disappear on handovers;

* CPDLC is supported, the dialogue windows reflecting the change of perspective (ACFT instead of ATC) and the {{key press|Alt}} key combinations generating requests rather than instructions.

[[Category:ATC-pie]]