OnCourse Software

I am still perfecting the art of using untowered airports. I had a problem today departing Kaimana (WASK) because, I suspect, the Multicomm and Departure channels were the same. After taking off I pressed 8 to indicate to local traffic I was leaving the area and would normally retune and press 0 to announce myself to Departure. But 0 simply announced me to local traffic again.

I know Departure was watching me because the nice lady there was quick to point out I had climbed higher than the original clearance altitude (something to do with mountains in the way) but despite much button pressing I couldn't open up any other dialogue with her. Some women can be like that :)

I failed miserably in establishing communications and would appreciate guidance on where I went wrong.

Best regards,

John

Hi John,

The problem was indeed caused by a duplicate frequency. All frequencies are checked for duplicates for each waypoint but it would appear I need to extend that to checking against the previous and next waypoints also. How strange these things lay dormant for years!

In the interim you could add your own Multicom frequency for WASK using the Options #2 'Add a Facility' feature.

dmarch wrote: *

Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:49 pm

In the interim you could add your own Multicom frequency for WASK using the Options #2 'Add a Facility' feature.

Will do, thanks. I hadn't thought of that.

John

She's talking to me today. :)

All solved and a very pleasant flight through a beautiful but underated part of the world even if it is "chookin' it down" there today.

Thanks again.

John

Good news. Thanks for letting us know. I must take a look around WASK when I next fire up the sim, I'm always looking for different places to visit as it's all too easy to get stuck in a rut.

Sorry to raise this one again - I encountered a similar situation again departing OEWJ today. The correct Multicom frequency is defined in FS as 122.8. No other channels exist so the remainder were generated by PFE. The problem I had was that both Unicom and Departure had been assigned to 118.6. When I switched from Multicom to contact Departure, I found myself talking to Unicom.

I realise that, as you said above, I can assign my own frequencies but I did not notice it until airborne so, just as on the last occasion, I had to abort the flight, re-assign the frequencies, and start again. That's just a pain in the pilot's seat.

I also have to ask why all un-towered airports are assigned both Multicom and Unicom frequencies by PFE. I may be missing something but I can see no purpose?

John

Your post actually highlighted another issue, so thank you. The Departure frequency given was incorrect anyway because you'd removed the first waypoint and that's the one we use for departure, but in your case it was the one after.

I've hopefully address this now and it will be in the next release... probably early next week

With regard to uncontrolled airports having bot Multicom and Unicom, is that a problem?

dmarch wrote: *

Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:02 pm

Your post actually highlighted another issue, so thank you. The Departure frequency given was incorrect anyway because you'd removed the first waypoint and that's the one we use for departure, but in your case it was the one after.

I've hopefully address this now and it will be in the next release... probably early next week

With regard to uncontrolled airports having bot Multicom and Unicom, is that a problem?

Thanks Dave,

Sorry to keep finding new problems. I guess I'm in a minority using smaller airports aswell as large.

No - having Multicom and Unicom is no problem, i was just puzzled at the provision of both. I only asked because in this instance a lack of Unicom channel would have prevented the problem. To be honest I don't understand the difference between the two in the real world.

I don't suppose the system could be made to automatically tune to Departure after you press 8 "Leaving the Area"? It would avoid retuning the radio during a critical stage of climb.

Best regards,

John