A Challenging New Way to Play "Radio"

Operators get into this hobby for many reasons, and find new ones that keep them interested in the hobby for years. Several years ago, before my interest in ham radio I found one of the very first "networked" games on the Internet which consumed hours without me realizing it. But unlike "first person shooter" games, this "game" had nothing to do with "capturing the flag" or "wiping out evil zombies".

Created by 3 commercial pilots in 2000, (Virtual Air Traffic Simulation) VATSIM a free simulation software, would couple with the popular Microsoft "Flight Simulator" to create the world's first virtual, air traffic system. Their purpose; create a interest and appreciation for air traffic control by offering an interactive way to experience the job in the "first person".

The program contains the necessary communications software, screens, and instructions to create an "air chair" flight controller and link them to the a huge supply of wannabe Internet virtual pilots. Borrowing heavily from FAA Part 121, the official IFR flight rules used by real pilots, the "game" pits trained controllers to move air traffic from any spot in the world "safely" to any other spot.

So where does the amateur radio operator fit in, and how on earth can a game hone the skills of a licensed operator?

For the amateur radio operator it's a new challenge in sending accurate and technical instructions in an organized way. Learning to stack and monitor dozens of aircraft in 3 dimensional space will give a new appreciation of the men and women who "push tin" for a living.

During one of my stints as TRACOM for the virtual Detroit Metro Airport I had two aircraft taking off simultaneously from runways 21L and 21R. Somehow in the instructions I gave the aircraft on 21L a right turn and the other aircraft of identical type a left turn (instead of the other way around). As you can imagine, this created an instant problem as I almost had a major crash with the loss of "hundreds of virtual lives". A lesson learned: It's easy to make a serious mistake. The same holds true during civil emergencies - say the wrong thing and people, potentially could suffer from your mistake.

In the software a klaxon goes off and the aircraft icon changes to a "conflict alert" icon. Meaning - once the aircraft is handed off to another controller, they know that particular aircraft was in an "near collision incident". That usually prompts some comments from fellow controllers on your "flight control" capabilities.

For us, this game provides us a couple of curiously interesting things.

1. It forces us to work many situations at the same time. Whether it be APRS enabled "net control", for a bike run, marathon, Skywarn or other "spread out" civic event, successfully navigating aircraft to and from tightly controlled airspace via voice is a splendid way to "bone up" for your next event.

2. Using organizational and radio skills and attaching it to new rules and regulations concerning aircraft a whole new challenged comes to a skill you already have - radio communications. If you've "done it all" in the world of amateur radio, unless you're a pilot or flight control in real life, you've never experienced this fascinating hobby.

Try it out - I'm sure you'll be hooked in no time.

The software for this program is free and down-loadable.

Try it out.