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Microsoft Flight Simulator Handbook

by Jonathan M. Stern

Communication Radio

The communication radio is used to communicate with various air traffic control (ATC) facilities. The ATC system's foremost responsibility is to separate aircraft and provide safety advisories. All other services are secondary.

On a typical IFR flight, the flight crew communicates with the following facilities or positions:

  1. Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS)
  2. Clearance Delivery
  3. Ground Control
  4. Local Control (or Tower)
  5. Departure Control
  6. ARTCC (Air Route Traffic Control Center) Control

Each of these is discussed in the following sections.

TABLE 11.1 Avionics Controls
Avionics Keyboard Mouse Menu
NAV 1 or 2
  1. Press N (followed by 1 or 2)
  2. Press + or -
  3. Press NN
  4. Press + or -
  5. Press V (followed by 1 or 2)
  6. Press + or -
  1. Place mouse pointer just left (to decrease) or just right (to increase) of frequency (each side of decimal point is controlled separately)
  2. Click, as appropriate
  3. Place mouse pointer just left or right of the omni bearing selector
  4. Click, as appropriate
  1. Nav/Com
  2. Navigation Radios
  3. Type Frequencies
  4. Type OBI Settings
  5. Select OK
ADF
  1. Hold Shift and press Tab
  2. Press A, AA, and AAA to select 1st, 2nd, and 3rd digits
  3. Follow each by + or -
  1. Hold Shift and press Tab
  2. Point mouse pointer at each digit to move up one digit per click
  1. Nav/Com
  2. ADF
  3. Type Frequency
  4. Choose Activate ADF
  5. Select OK
XPDR
  1. Press T, TT, TTT, and TTTT to select the 1st through 4th digits.
  2. Follow each by + or -
  1. Point mouse pointer at each digit and click to move up one digit per click
  1. Nav/Com
  2. Tranponder
  3. Type Squawk code
  4. Select OK
COM
  1. Press C and CC to select MHz and KHz
  2. Follow each by + or -
  1. Place mouse pointer just left (to decrease) or just right (to increase) of frequency (each side of decimal point is controlled separately)
  2. Click, as appropriate
  1. Nav/Com
  2. Communication Radio
  3. Type frequency
  4. Select OK
DME
  1. Press F (followed by 1 or 2)
  2. Press + to toggle between display of speed and display of distance
 Click with mouse on DME indicator to toggle between display of speed and display of distance NOT APPLICABLE
** All + and - should be made on the main keyboard.

Table of Contents
Previous Section: Avionics
Next Section: Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS)