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A number of IYP users have stated that they don't fully understand the IYP Push-To-Talk feature,
and want a clarification as to its proper use. So... here we go!
Push-To-Talk (PTT)
The PTT feature in It's Your Plane can be used for several reasons:
- Using IVAO/VATSIM, etc.
PTT permits you to use voice communications with IVAO/VATSIM
(or any other) Air Traffic Control system to increase your sense of "realism" by
actually communicating with "live" people. e.g., Center, Approach, Departures,
Tower, Ground, etc.
- Deactivating an Open-Microphone
Suppose someone calls you on the phone and you're microphone is still HOT. You can
imagine what will happen! You'll say "Thank you" to the person on the phone, and Michelle/Mike
will respond with... "You're welcome." Worse, Michelle may misunderstand your phrase, and
turn off the Auto-Pilot, or set the Altitude to 100 feet. Not a good idea, especially if you're
flying over the Rocky Mountains!
- Multi-Player Voice Communications via Skype
Let's say that just about every Saturday morning, you and a few of your fellow pilots hit the skies in your
Cessna 172s and use Skype (or whatever) voice communications to talk to each other.
Here again, you'll need to ensure that Michelle is not listening to, and more particularly, not responding
to your chat.
Activating Push-To-Talk:
All of the above uses have one thing in common: you need to Activate PTT.
It's really easy. As soon as Michelle says, "It's Your Plane... We're ready to go!", simply say:
The PTT feature status is "remembered", meaning that the next time you launch the It's Your Plane application,
Michelle/Mike will say, "Push to talk is active."
The Scroll Lock Key:
By Activating PTT, the Scroll Lock key on your keyboard now acts as a "switch" to turn the Speech Recognition
system On or Off. When the Scroll Lock is ON, your microphone speech is processed by the
Speech Recognition system and Michelle will respond. When the Scroll Lock is OFF, your mike
remains HOT, but the Speech Recognition system is now OFF, thus Michelle will ignore all voice commands
(well, almost all... more later).
Air Traffic Control (ATC):
Let's address ATC functionality. As you already know, if you are running FS9 or FSX using the normal
Microsoft built-in ATC functionality, when you say the simple phrase, "ATC", the
ATC window will pop up if it's not up, and disappear if it's already up!
In other words, saying the phrase "ATC " acts as a "voice toggle switch".
The above functionality only holds true IF the PTT is DEACTIVATED.
Earlier I stated that if PTT is Active, and the Scroll Lock is OFF, Michelle will
ignore your commands. Well, not exactly.
She will still respond to the command "ATC".
Saying the command "ATC" with PTT Active will toggle the Scroll Lock.
Here's the logic.
Keep in mind, that your microphone is ALWAYS HOT! Now, let's suppose that you've assigned the
Top Hat button on your Joystick, or a button on your Yoke to act as the PTT switch to
communicate with the Tower on VATSIM. Each time you push this button, your VATSIM program
permits you to speak to the controller. When you release the button, you are then
listening to their instructions.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
DO NOT USE THE "VOX" MODE ON VATSIM OR ANY OTHER ATC SYSTEM!
Naturally, you need to ensure that Michelle is not going to be listening to the conversations
you are having with the controllers. So, before you speak to the Controller, you simply say,
"ATC". This has the same effect as actually pushing the Scroll Lock key to the OFF position.
After you have finished communicating with the Controller, you say, "ATC" once again, and the
Scroll Lock is turned back ON so that you can speak to Michelle.
Employing this methodology seemed to make sense, since you
have no need in the VATSIM mode to use the built-in Microsoft ATC system.
Deactivating Push-To-Talk:
Naturally, you can always Deactivate PTT by simply saying:
"Deactivate Push-To-Talk."
I hope this overview has cleared up any confusion about the proper use of PTT and ATC.
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