Nearest freq: a/p ID bug, and missing a/ports? |
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MysticCobra
Senior Member Joined: 29 Jan 2013 Status: Offline Points: 661 |
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Posted: 06 Dec 2014 at 4:25pm |
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IFD540 install is coming soon, so I'm spending time with the sim to try to climb the learning curve. Here's the first of what's likely to be a number of potentially-dumb questions.
In my sim I'm flying north out of T41 (Houston area, La Porte Muni), en route to KDTN (Shreveport Downtown). About halfway en route, I press the NRST button and look at the list of freqs. The list is not intuitive. The first several are; they're freqs at Shreveport Downtown. But then there are a bunch of freqs from Houston Bush Interncontinental (KIAH) listed as "Houston Tower (KDTN)", "Houston Tower (KDTN) 8L/26R", etc. Why are KIAH freqs listed with "(KDTN)" next to them instead of "(KIAH)"? That sure looks like a bug, to me. Is it sim-unique? Also, I was surprised that only freqs from these two airports (KDTN and KIAH) were included in the list. At this point in my simulated flight, I was ~100+ miles from both fields (maybe not quite that far from IAH, but still not close). There were probably dozens of smaller fields much closer to me. Two examples: KLFK and KOCH. Why would those not appear in the list?
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Not sure what that wrong parenthetical ID is doing in the sim - will have to check out on Monday. Flight units don't do that in my experience.
Did you notice that the Freq List has three tabs across the top - Airport, Enroute, Recent. See page 1-20 of the Pilot Guide for the definitions but you should find it working per design in that case.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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MysticCobra
Senior Member Joined: 29 Jan 2013 Status: Offline Points: 661 |
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Here's a quick way to view the issue: - When the sim boots up to the FMS/FPL page/tab, press the "Insert" LSK, and enter T41 as the Origin. - Press the FREQ button, and notice all the Melbourne freqs with the "(T41)" label next to them. If you let the plane fly a bit and press the FREQ button again, the list may change; it appears to pick up the airport ID from the top row and apply it to all rows. BTW, I'm using a US version of the sim downloaded in October, but the files inside the compressed package are date-stamped 4/22/2014 2:50pm. The AUX/SYS page/tab says S/W Ver R10.0.0.0, S/W Part# 510-00286-096. (How can I uniquely identify my sim version for you?)
Edited by MysticCobra - 07 Dec 2014 at 10:35am |
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MysticCobra
Senior Member Joined: 29 Jan 2013 Status: Offline Points: 661 |
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Here are a couple of illustrations, if it's helpful (first is what I see when I follow my own instructions in the previous post; second is after flying a few minutes when the list changes):
Edited by MysticCobra - 07 Dec 2014 at 10:48am |
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MysticCobra
Senior Member Joined: 29 Jan 2013 Status: Offline Points: 661 |
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(BTW, Welcome back, Steve!)
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Gring
Senior Member Joined: 30 Dec 2011 Location: Kingston, NY Status: Offline Points: 737 |
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The frequency list does change depending on where you are on your flight. When you first start the avionics, the FREQ button will show the departure airport frequencies, and will continue to do so until 5NM (I think) away from your departure airport where it then changes to the next airport in your FMS. I'm not sure what happens when you do not have a flight plan, but are Direct-to another airport using the Direct To feature. I haven't tried that.
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chflyer
Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1034 |
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I too have received my IFD540 and am waiting for my AXP340 to arrive to schedule the installation. In the meantime, I've been working the sim so my questions may not be relevant to the real box, but it would be useful to have that confirmed.
It would seem that only IFR airports show freq appearing via NRST button. I am in Switzerland and start up the sim, LSK insert LSZK which is near Zurich (LSZH). When I then push the NRST button I get a list of nearby airfields with direction, most of them (VFR fields) are missing the frequency. It appears that the frequency is populated only for IFR airfields. Is this correct? If I select the FREQ tab, I see all the Zurich frequencies under Airport, but neither Dubendorf Twr (LSMD) nor the airfield of departure (LSZK 120.350). The standard Information freq for Switzerland (ZURICH INFO 124.700 for eastern Switzerland) doesn't appear anywhere (not under Enroute, and not under any of the NRST cols ARTCC or FSS). Also, when I try to enter the airfield frequency (LSZK) I am unable. The sim insists on selecting 120.355. A 2nd issue is that when I prepare the approach to LSZG (Grenchen) via WIL VOR (WIL.VORDME 25), the approach VOR is not auto-populated in the standby freq as I would expect, and when I manually load either the WIL or GRE VOR freq up, the info box remains blank (just shows the 3 headers VOR/RAD/DIS) with ---). I hope that these are just sim issues. Vince |
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Vince
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chflyer
Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1034 |
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I would add that the info box remaining blank makes sense to the extent that the active nav freq is never ID'd... that is, the active (green) nav freq (WIL or GRE) has a small "ID" box in the lower right corner rather than the VOR ID in the lower left corner, which I believe indicates that the VOR has not been ID'd. It would seem that the sim navigates only with GPS and doesn't simulate VHF nav tracking.
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Vince
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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The logic is not based on the
presence of an IAP. If there's a tower frequency, that gets
displayed. If there's no tower, but there is a unicom, the unicom is
displayed. If no tower and no unicom, but there is a multicom, the
multicom is displayed. If none of those, then no frequency is displayed.
The only frequency in the database for LSZK is an INFO frequency of
120.35. That doesn't appear on the nearest page because of the above
rule.
Similarly, the frequency list contains only a subset of frequencies for an airport and that subset does not include INFO frequencies. I think we will add an item to our future feature candidate list that includes INFO in the mix since those are more prevalent for non-US operations. I believe the second issue is indeed a sim thing. |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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chflyer
Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1034 |
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Thanks for the explanation Steve.
Adding INFO is really more important than you seem to believe, and I would claim that it should be a priority. Unicom/multicom are essentially unknown terms in Europe, and INFO is the common term used for any airfield that has an AFIS. Another common term is RADIO, used rather than INFO as Air/Air or Air/Ground when there is no AFIS. I note your point about no relation with IAP presence. This is confirmed by the Coburg airfield (EDQC - Brandensteinsebene) in Germany, which has an IAP but only INFO (AFIS freq). There is an ATIS, which is in the freq list in the sim, but not the AD freq so one certainly can't depend on the IFD540 to get the freq to contact/listen for traffic once released from radar/approach freq. |
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Vince
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jhbehrens
Senior Member Joined: 15 Dec 2012 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 128 |
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+1 info and radio are default for uncontrolled airports in Europe
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Awful Charlie
Groupie Joined: 24 Oct 2013 Location: LFGB Status: Offline Points: 53 |
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+2
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Understood. We're looking at the scope now. Thanks for the input!
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3061 |
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FWIW, in Canada CTAF = ATF.
But, ATIS is ATIS.
* Orest |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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roger
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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So after a little bit with playing with some changes, here is our current state of affairs for which we're soliciting your input.
Specifically note the third example. We think the call sign should just be Genk Radio even though it's an Info frequency. We generate the data in the row by appending the frequency type to the call sign. We already have some special cases in the code, though. For example, if the call sign is listed as "Albuquerque Approach" and the frequency type is Approach, we ditch the frequency type so that you don't get "Albuquerque Approach Approach". So, it may be reasonable to implement a similar rule saying "if the call sign ends with radio and the frequency type is information, then just don't append the frequency type". In this example, do you think the call sign should just be "Genk Radio" or if it should be "Genk Radio Information"?
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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jhbehrens
Senior Member Joined: 15 Dec 2012 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 128 |
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Genk Radio
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roltman
Senior Member Joined: 04 Aug 2011 Status: Offline Points: 173 |
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Thinking out of the box here...
I notice some are too big to be displayed on one line anyway, why not use the currently vacant 2nd line to just always say the type? Albuquerque Approach (Approach Control) Genk Radio (Information) I'm sure there's reasons for it all being on the first line, but doing above negates all expenses with programming special cases and it'll more or less be future proof. Just a thought. <EDIT> Of course I didn't re-read the whole thread so this post could be pointless </EDIT> Edited by roltman - 19 Dec 2014 at 4:11pm |
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KIM
Groupie Joined: 12 Oct 2013 Status: Offline Points: 63 |
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Do you add the FIS frequencies in the "Nearest FSS" section for Europe too? Klaus |
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Klaus
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chflyer
Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1034 |
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Agree with your proposal (& jhbehrens' reply).
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Vince
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KIM
Groupie Joined: 12 Oct 2013 Status: Offline Points: 63 |
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Steve, does the software update 10.1. fill the empty windows of "Nearest FSS" (with FIS) and "Nearest Airspaces" and the gaps (frequencies) of 90% of the "Nearest airfields" in Europe?
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Klaus
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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I think so. That was the intent and you guys in Europe will be a good real-world test of that success. Looking forward to feedback on the improvements when you load/use the new software.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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KIM
Groupie Joined: 12 Oct 2013 Status: Offline Points: 63 |
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Great! Thank you Steve |
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Klaus
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KIM
Groupie Joined: 12 Oct 2013 Status: Offline Points: 63 |
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Will this be done with the next update? |
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Klaus
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