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Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)

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martinlest
Post subject: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:13 pm
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Optimist though I am (?), I post this without much expectation of a solution: I know PF3 wasn't created with X-Plane in mind and there are consequently a number of things that don't work. But those of us who used to use PFE/PF3 in FS9 and want to carry on using it in X-Plane (thanks to the third-party plugin) - an ever-increasing number I'd think, as MSFS grows ever more archaic and XP11 ever more amazing - live in hope...

Many of my COM frequencies in X-Plane are different from those in PF3 (and presumably therefore, FS9 and FSX). This messes up a number of things in XP11 and it would be great therefore to get PF3 to use the frequencies in the XP11 apt.dat files. But apart from doing them all manually (unthinkable - I'd have gone to meet my maker long before I got even half way through) can anyone think of a way that might work? A clever batch file? I often write batch files, but very rarely clever ones, so I am a bit stuck...

Thanks for any ideas (or total gratitude for any solutions!),

Martin :)


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Dave March
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:46 pm
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At the risk of asking you to do something illegal please zip and email me a copy of that data file and any supporting document pertaining to its format and I'll take a look... But no promises of course.

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martinlest
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:35 pm
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Thanks Dave!

The biggest problem at the moment with this is in an ATC 'chat' programme (payware) I added to XP11 called X-ATC-Chatter. It is a pretty ingenious programme, providing some cockpit ATC background chatter, but it uses the COM frequencies to select the right mode (ground, clearance, tower etc. etc) for the airport and region in which you are flying.

I mentioned this problem and PF3 to the developer and he replied saying he'd be happy to contact you to try to integrate your programme and his. Is it OK Dave if I give him your e-mail address? I dare say you two gurus would do better without me as a middle man!

Thanks,

Martin


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Dave March
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 9:38 pm
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Sure, go ahead

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martinlest
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:32 pm
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Done. I hope you (plural) will be able to sort out a way for XP11 users to import the XP11 COM and NAV frequencies into PF3 (and maybe even runway designators - I am quite often asked to go to "Runway 28", for instance, when it is actually Runway 27).

Many thanks for looking at this,

Martin


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Dave March
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:10 pm
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Martin, I have been in touch with Mark and have looked at what could be done. Initially I had hoped I could simply merge the PF3 frequency data into the X-ATC data file, as that would be the simplest change to make, but unfortunately it looks more involved than that.

Mark suggested I just add a feature to play their files from within PF3 and whilst that is feasable it would still mean a lot of work and testing. At this moment in time there are too few x-plane users on board PF3, so I don't really think I want to devote any time making such changes. Should the number of XP users increase in the future I will of course revisit this.

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Dave March

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martinlest
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:52 am
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OK Dave, thanks for the information.

Martin


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martinlest
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:31 pm
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I suppose if I want this to work, I will in fact need to edit the files by hand myself. Not all in one go, that's not possible, but I could do each airport I use before I load up X-Plane - two at a time (departure and destination). I need to do this correctly though, needless to say, so can I just check here first?

Using Houston KIAH as an example. PF3 shows this in 'Tab', and when I open the file PF3_FS9_Freq.dat
Quote:
KIAH,0,0,"G.Bush Intercontinental-Houston"
KIAH,1,124.05,"KIAH"
KIAH,3,122.95,"G BUSH INTERCONTINENTAL/H"
KIAH,5,118.57,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,5,121.70,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,6,125.35,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,6,127.30,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,6,135.15,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,7,128.10,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,8,120.05,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,8,124.35,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,8,119.70,"HOUSTON APPROACH"
KIAH,8,123.80,"HOUSTON APPROACH"
KIAH,8,133.60,"HOUSTON APPROACH"
KIAH,8,134.45,"HOUSTON APPROACH"
KIAH,9,119.70,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,9,123.80,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,9,133.60,"HOUSTON"
KIAH,11,122.40,"MONTGOMERY CO"
For Ground, PF3 tunes to 118.57, whereas XP11 uses 121.70 for the ground frequency. For the tower, PF3 tunes to 128.10 (I think - I may have remembered incorrectly for that one?), but XP11 uses 135.15.

The X-Plane frequencies are in the PF3 list, but not used. I'd be really grateful Dave (or anyone!) if you could just answer a few questions, so that I can amend these properly:

1. How does PF3 select a COM frequency when there are several for the same facility in the PF3_FS9_Freq.dat file? Always the first one listed?
2. Could you just confirm the codes after the ICAO (the numbers) and which facility they represent. So '5' must be ground, I assume?
3. Any other file in PF3 I'd need to edit, or just this one?

I will back up the original file (of course) and then, I suppose I just substitute the XP11 frequency for the PF3 one. So

KIAH,5,118.57,"HOUSTON"

would become

KIAH,5,121.70,"HOUSTON"

I could even delete any duplicates (different frequencies for the same facility), so there's no confusion: PF3 only seems to use one of them anyway (the first listed?). Though maybe that's not necessary.

I wonder why there are so many discrepancies between the COM frequencies. Maybe PF3 uses older ones (from the inherited PE2000 - or whatever it was called - database. I haven't yet checked against the real-world frequencies..

Thank you.


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Dave March
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:49 pm
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1. PF3 will use the first one in the list when there's multiple entries

2. This info is from the MakeRwys documentation

CommsType is: 0 = Special entry with airport name, zero frequency 1 = ATIS 2 = MULTICOM 3 = UNICOM 4 = CTAF 5 = GROUND 6 = TOWER 7 = CLEARANCE 8 = APPROACH 9 = DEPARTURE 10 = CENTRE 11 = FSS 12 = AWOS 13 = ASOS 14 = CLEARANCE PRE-TAXI 15 = REMOTE CLEARANCE DELIVERY

3. Just the one file should suffice although I would be inclined to change the X-ATC file otherwise each time you do a PF3 database update your changes will be lost
Quote:
I wonder why there are so many discrepancies between the COM frequencies. Maybe PF3 uses older ones (from the inherited PE2000 - or whatever it was called - database. I haven't yet checked against the real-world frequencies..
As far as I know X-ATC uses real world data whereas PF3 uses the data from either FS9, FSX or P3D, after running MakeRwys of course.

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Dave March

Email: dmarch@oncourse-software.co.uk

I don't know if my memory is getting worse as I get older...
...I just can't remember how it used to be!

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martinlest
Post subject: Re: Synchronising COM frequencies PF3/X-Plane 11 (??)
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:02 pm
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Thanks for the quick and helpful reply Dave.

You may be right about which to amend, but XP11 is also updated and that would also erase my changes (though, that said, the XP11 installer does cleverly scan for user changes in all files and ask, one by one, if you want to keep or overwrite them: a very nice feature!).

If I change the PF3 file, it will be backed up and I can just overwrite the updated file with mine. As I say, I'll have the PF3 original as well (I am an obsessive 'backer upper')

I'll give it a go on my next flight. ;)


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