by Simworld2020 » Tue Jan 05, 2021 5:16 pm
Hi Kez, I'm glad to see somebody working on FGCom.
I tested yesterday or the day before, and again today. Today January 5 I connected to the FGCom server and tested at approximately 1500 hours to 1530 hours UTC.
I used FG version 2018.3.6
Observations:
I heard the music box, I think it was some kind of love song! I think the name of the song must be "Will you dance with a stranger?" .
Echo test:
First, my microphone is working, I tested it in another application before doing your test.
When pressing the space bar to transmit on Com1, I hear only radio static while I am transmitting.
When I release the PTT space bar, I hear nothing.
HOWEVER:
If I am talking at the same time as releasing the space bar, then I will hear, very briefly, my own voice.
So I am receiving two distinct audio signals from the test.
First, the "radio static" .
Then, only if I am talking at the exact moment when I release the space bar PTT, I will hear very briefly my own voice as it was at the very moment I released the space bar.
But while transmitting into the echo box, I hear nothing at all except "radio static", even if I talk for a good amount of time, even transmitting for 30 seconds or so.
Some confusion I had, and suggestions on how other testers might avoid that confusion:
1. I was unsure whether or not I needed to be connected to the MP network in order to use FGCom. I have now concluded that FGCom is a separate network, and I do not need to be connected to the MP network in order to use FGCom.
2. I was unsure whether or not I should see myself on the FGCom status web page once connected. During my tests, I was also monitoring the FGCom status web page, I never saw myself there.
3. When launching FG, I used the startup --prop commands that you listed but still could not get any results at all until I activated FGCom in the dialog box.
4. I tried the tests on both COM1 and COM2 and ultimately concluded that COM2 is not working on FGCom and should not be part of the test, or instead, I do not know how to transmit on COM2 (As the spacebar PTT is only for COM1).
I would like to test more, and may I suggest the following limitations on the test so that other users might save some time:
A. Limit the test to COM1 unless there is a specific reason to also test on COM2.
B. Specify that it is not necessary to connect to the MP network in order to do these tests.
C. Either include another --prop command to enable the appropriate dialog box options or instead specify which options in the dialog box must be checked.
D. Specify whether or not your server is connected to the FGCom status website. When we are connected to FGCom for the tests, should we also appear on the FGCom status website?
E. Finally, I loved the music on the "music box". Would it be a good idea to replace the music with an "audio key" so that you can test specific changes against specific audio keys? For example, instead of the music, maybe the music box could play a looped audio file containing a specific test number. Maybe the audio file could say "This is FGCom test ALPHA. When giving feedback about this test, please specify that you heard information ALPHA", much like we hear in ATIS messages.
-------------
About a good time for an online gathering to test your server in a real time, multiuser environment, I will do my best to connect at whatever time is posted here in this thread, I'll check this thread regularly for updates and for any changes in the test parameters.
Best wishes.
EDIT: To add another point: I never knew that COM1 and COM2 could tune frequencies in the 900 MHz range. From the 3D cockpit, they cannot. But from the F12 dialog box, they can. It took me a while to figure that out. So, maybe it is also a good idea that in the test parameters, you mention that the 910 MHz and 911 MHz frequencies cannot be tuned from the 3D cockpit, but must instead be set using the F12 dialog box.
Flying DHC-6, MD-11 and A320-family
FG 2020.3.11 / 2020.4.0 nightly
Lenovo Thinkpad W540
Windows 10 Pro vers. 21H2 - 64 bit
Intel core i7-4800MQ @ 2.7 GHz
24 Gb DDR3 RAM
NVIDIA Quadro K2100M/2Gb RAM