Interphone (and VSCS)

Alex Ramos · « **on:** November 05, 2009, 04:11:54 PM »

I was wondering what people's stand on using the Interphone is, including the VSCS program for those who know of it.

the chat is fine, and so is using an external program (ie: ventrilo or teamspeak), But i'd like to take the reality a step higher.

Ramos

Tom Seeley · « **Reply #1 on:** November 05, 2009, 07:32:12 PM »

Use of the interphone and override functions is certainly realistic, acceptable and in some cases maybe preferable, but it's more a matter of what the practice is at the facility you control at, rather than what you might be told here. In the absence of a local policy or practice, you may find that some controllers dislike being overridden or hailed on the intercom, some are fine with it, still others aren't clear on how to use it. I would suggest you check local policy and/or poll the folks you control with.

Harold Rutila · « **Reply #2 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:37:22 PM »

I've found intercom to be especially helpful when working Center during events or high traffic situations. Other ARTCCs can call me to ask about routing and coordinate between sectors instead of having to hunt down Teamspeak IPs. Using a Teamspeak server can allow for a more informally-phrased coordination to take place, and really that's what usually happens in the real world when controllers are in the same facility (a tower cab, for example). There is phraseology specified in the 7110.65 for intercom calls if you want to make it even more realistic, although it is not really that much more intense than a typical phone call .

Ian Elchitz · « **Reply #3 on:** November 12, 2009, 06:48:30 PM »

I've never been a fan of the intercom since it requires me to actually do something to answer the call (as if I'm not busy enough already - some nights at least). Harold makes a good point for the use of the VSCS functions and certainly some people don't like, know how to, or are not correctly configured for override and other g2g functions.

I personally love the override function. When working a busy sector it is a great way to coordinate with another controller - especially if they understand how to use it without yakking away while you are trying to control. It doesn't work well when your wife is yelling at you however

One use I found for override (but haven't done it in a long time) is training. I've found that for some people, a session of observing someone else controlling can be extremely valuable - but only if the person controlling is able to produce a running dialog of what they are doing and thinking in conjunction with the voice and text frequency traffic. Having a student override me not only allowed them to hear the frequency, but I was also able to provide them a commentary when my mike wasn't keyed - and they could ask questions.

Aside from that, the best use I've found in the past for override is transfer of control/shift changes. I've found that as Teamspeak has pushed its way into mainstream controlling that people seem to enjoy it for coordination. I few things I DO NOT like about teamspeak is that you can get people on your TeamSpeak channel who aren't actively listening to your frequency start blocking you transmissions (or at least confusing your brain). If you mute them then you lose the ability to respond to actual priority calls. On top of this, if they want to listen to your frequency at the same time - you can't use the voice activated feature in teamspeak since they would get a funky delay/echo when hearing you transmit on both Vatsim and TS simultaneously. This leaves you with the option of having two separate PTT keys. I've already initiated and witnessed enough scenarios with dual PTT keys that didn't go so well and I try my best to avoid this situation when actively controlling.

Chris McGee · « **Reply #4 on:** November 13, 2009, 05:41:08 AM »

Does anyone know of a place where VSCS can be downloaded? I appears that the homepage of the program is down.

Ian Elchitz · « **Reply #5 on:** November 13, 2009, 08:43:15 AM »

Quote from: Christopher S. McGee

Does anyone know of a place where VSCS can be downloaded? I appears that the homepage of the program is down.

It's built into both VRC and ASRC (unless I'm missing something). I think in VRC it is called the "Comms Panel".

Andrew Doubleday · « **Reply #6 on:** November 14, 2009, 01:45:31 AM »

Peter Sagar developed it... http://ggcomms.freeforums.org/vscs-for-vrc-t3.html

It replaces the comms panel in VRC.

Chris McGee · « **Reply #7 on:** November 14, 2009, 06:26:41 AM »

Those forums in the prior post have a link to download VSCS. Thanks!