Best Practices and Comm / Radio Discipline

[Stoopy]

Being as we have a whole forum section for SRS Radio, I thought I'd start a separate thread to discuss how to use it once you connect, to avoid cluttering the “Installation and Use” thread which is focused on setup and troubleshooting (and ironically to keep it from looking like a typical linear Discord conversation that jumps from one subtopic to another).

 

So as I understand it, when you first connect to a server and see the map (plus hear the little "bleep" sound") you are connected and able to communicate using the "intercom" channel.  Which is kind of like a lobby?

 

Then, once you pick an aircraft, and have essentially chosen a side, you are then automatically switched to the Radio 1 Channel, which has 5 channels per side, and you will only be able to hear users who are also flying the same side as you.

 

At that point you can stay on Channel 1 or switch to other channels depending on what pre-existing roles have been defined or agreed to (for example 1 for fighters, 2 for strike/bomber, 3 for tanks, etc).  How those channels get assigned is up to the users and may or possibly could be addressed in the mission description on the server.

 

Does that sound about right, and is what are the thoughts regarding good standard practices on channel assignment that we should collectively try to follow - naturally allowing for certain exceptions on special-use servers?

 

I think that to a very large degree the success of this feature is going to be up to us to collectively agree upon and follow good practices, using good comms etiquette and radio discipline - hence the purpose of this thread.

 

Thank you in advance for your positive contributions to this discussion.  ?

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by Stoopy

[Gora_]

In my oppinion it is not a good practise to split different roles to different channels. Sometimes they need to be in close contact. 

[NiiranenVR]

Im not real into talk like discord or other , I'm flying mostly on my own 

But about ppl talk a lot , and rubbish too - then - as I understand - there is a " push to talk " 

So I/we/them could keep it to only imported msg in the game 

[WIS-Redcoat]

6 hours ago, RavN_Gora said:

In my oppinion it is not a good practise to split different roles to different channels. Sometimes they need to be in close contact. 

 

Agreed,

 

Might be more useful to have:

1.  Airfields/Tower

2.  North Sector (however to define)

3.  South Sector

4.  Bomber/Escort

5.  Spare

[JimTM]

17 minutes ago, WIS-Redcoat said:

 

Agreed,

 

Might be more useful to have:

1.  Airfields/Tower

2.  North Sector (however to define)

3.  South Sector

4.  Bomber/Escort

5.  Spare

 

I like the sector idea. Here's a variation:

1. North Strike (i.e., bombers and escorts)

2. South Strike

3. North CAP (i.e., fighter sweeps and cover on friendly targets)

4. South CAP

5. Spare 

[ITAF_Airone1989]

6 minutes ago, JimTM said:

 

I like the sector idea. Here's a variation:

1. North Strike (i.e., bombers and escorts)

2. South Strike

3. North CAP (i.e., fighter sweeps and cover on friendly targets)

4. South CAP

5. Spare 

I like your too.

But if you connect automatically to channel one I do another little modify:

 

1) briefing/waiting for a wingman/available player for cooperate with somebody else/tower

2) North strike

3) South strike

4) North Cap

5) South Cap 

Edited July 10, 2020 by ITAF_Airone1989

[56RAF_Roblex]

I like the idea of splitting into North & South Strike & Cap but I also like the idea of using the spare channel for ATC so we can call 'P51 joining runway 01 at Krymskaya' in case some plonker decides it is OK to take off the wrong direction or across the runway' or call 'P51 turning finals at Krymskaya'  in case some plonker decides to join the runway without looking.   Also it is quite common for someone to see four bombers taxiing out and want to escort them so he can call 'P38s taxiing at Krymskaya. Do you need an escort?' and they can answer 'Yes please. We are attacking targets at 1812-2 and will be going to channel 4 after take-off'

Edited July 10, 2020 by 56RAF_Roblex

[=FEW=fernando11]

Claarification about intercom.

As far as I know. Intercom is for Free chat with other players in your aircraft/tank. Basicaly what an intercom is on real airplanes or tanks.

But I guess when you are spectating, like when you joing a server but haven't choosen a side yet, you're sharing the space with all other spectating, so you can comunicate  with all of the spectators through the intercom.

[Sketch]

On 7/10/2020 at 5:02 PM, ITAF_Airone1989 said:

I like your too.

But if you connect automatically to channel one I do another little modify:

 

1) briefing/waiting for a wingman/available player for cooperate with somebody else/tower

2) North strike

3) South strike

4) North Cap

5) South Cap 

This is good, but I propose a slight change:

 

1. briefing/waiting for a wingman/available player for cooperate with somebody else/tower
2. North strike
3. North Cap
4. South strike
5. South Cap

 

I propose this change, because I'm pressing up/down channel only once to change to the channel I need when I want to talk to the CAP or Strike in my sector. 

Say, I'm in the South as a strike, I press down channel once to talk to cap quickly, then press up channel once to go back to my strike channel. With your channel layout, I would get confused as to which channel I would need to talk to... "Do I press the button twice to get to the North Cap? Three times? Am I in the right chann.... Oh damn, I was to busy looking at the overlay and I'm dead now!"

 

[ITAF_Airone1989]

Yeah, probably the best way to avoid confusion is: channel selector as PTT

[Gora_]

It would be gr8 to have overlay in VR as in other sim If not it is very hard to switch between the channels.

[Jason_Williams]

13 hours ago, RavN_Gora said:

It would be gr8 to have overlay in VR as in other sim If not it is very hard to switch between the channels.

Apparently you can do it with OVR tools from Steam. $12 looks like. Hooves texted me a pic of it working with his system. That’s all I know at the moment.

 

Jason

[Alonzo]

Combat Box is experimenting with a "channel 1 is general, and specifically airfield operations" and the other 4 channels are regional strike/cap operations. Here's how we wrote about it on our server info page:

Use of SRS Radio

Thanks to the game developers and Ciribob, pilots can now enjoy realistic radio communications integrated into their IL2 experience. For full details and installation instructions, please read the guide on the forums. Once you have installed IL2-SRS and have it running, your SRS radio client should automatically connect when you join the Combat Box server. You'll initially be placed in the neutral 'intercom' channel, then channel 1 for your coalition once you spawn a plane.

On Combat Box, pilots should use SRS channels 1 through 5 for the following purposes:

1. Briefing / Waiting for wingman / Tower. Pilots should always monitor channel 1 when operating near an airfield.
2. North / West Strike
3. North / West CAP
4. South / East Strike
5. South / East CAP

See the mission briefing for each map as to whether a North/South, East/West or other operating area division is in effect.

[WIS-Redcoat]

On 7/12/2020 at 5:48 PM, Alonzo said:

Combat Box is experimenting with a "channel 1 is general, and specifically airfield operations" and the other 4 channels are regional strike/cap operations. Here's how we wrote about it on our server info page:

So we have played the last two nights on Combat Box and in practice I suggest it isn't quite perfect yet.  Everyone seemed to simply default to channel 1 as their isn't a ton of people using it.  I might suggest modifying it to limit the spread and increase function.

 

Channel 1. Briefing/ Tower

Channel 2. North Strike/Cap

Channel 3 South Strike/ Cap

Channel 4 Open use

Channel 5 Open use

 

For what it is worth the addition of SRS and support by the server has greatly increased the fun.  Good work all involved.

Edited July 14, 2020 by WIS-Redcoat

[JimTM]

31 minutes ago, WIS-Redcoat said:

So we have played the last two nights on Combat Box and in practice I suggest it isn't quite perfect yet.  Everyone seemed to simply default to channel 1 as their isn't a ton of people using it.  I might suggest modifying it to limit the spread and increase function.

 

Channel 1. Briefing/ Tower

Channel 2. North Strike/Cap

Channel 3 South Strike/ Cap

Channel 4 Open use

Channel 5 Open use

 

For what it is worth the addition of SRS and support by the server has greatly increased the fun.  Good work all involved.

 

Good thought. But perhaps it would be easier if they kept the potential North/West and South/East channels close together like so:

 

Channel 1. Briefing/ Tower

Channel 2. North/West Strike and CAP

Channel 3. North/West Alternate

Channel 4. South/East Strike and CAP

Channel 5. South/East Alternate

 

This way, for example, all North/West planes could start out on Channel 2 and if, let's say, the CAP people got busy, the strike group could go one channel up to Channel 3.

Edited July 14, 2020 by JimTM

[WIS-Redcoat]

Yes, that would be better Jim

[Stoopy]

On 7/12/2020 at 5:42 PM, Jason_Williams said:

Apparently you can do it with OVR tools from Steam. $12 looks like. Hooves texted me a pic of it working with his system. That’s all I know at the moment.

 

Jason

 

Thanks for this tip.

 

I looked into it and saw info about OVR Tools taking about a 10-15% resource hit in VR which could be a big hit for frame rates - although it seems a pretty nifty set of utilities, but a lot just to get needed information out of the SRS overlay.

 

Maybe at some point down the road the interface between SRS and IL2 could be slightly expanded to include the active channel information, which in turn could be displayed in the IL2 HUD  technochat messages when the SRS channels are switched.  Just a thought on how to get a lightweight integration.

 

[Alonzo]

On 7/15/2020 at 12:26 PM, Stoopy said:

I looked into it and saw info about OVR Tools taking about a 10-15% resource hit in VR which could be a big hit for frame rates - although it seems a pretty nifty set of utilities, but a lot just to get needed information out of the SRS overlay.

 

Latest IL2 SRS has a "text to speech" announcement for which channel you are on, you can enable this in options. It's not quite as good as a technochat overlay, but zero performance impact and you can select channels with confidence while in VR.

[Stoopy]

8 hours ago, Alonzo said:

 

Latest IL2 SRS has a "text to speech" announcement for which channel you are on, you can enable this in options. It's not quite as good as a technochat overlay, but zero performance impact and you can select channels with confidence while in VR.

 

Thanks - saw that in the release notes and enabled it right away, works great!  

 

[Adder***]

On 7/10/2020 at 8:45 AM, Stoopy said:

Being as we have a whole forum section for SRS Radio, I thought I'd start a separate thread to discuss how to use it once you connect, to avoid cluttering the “Installation and Use” thread which is focused on setup and troubleshooting (and ironically to keep it from looking like a typical linear Discord conversation that jumps from one subtopic to another).

 

So as I understand it, when you first connect to a server and see the map (plus hear the little "bleep" sound") you are connected and able to communicate using the "intercom" channel.  Which is kind of like a lobby?

 

Then, once you pick an aircraft, and have essentially chosen a side, you are then automatically switched to the Radio 1 Channel, which has 5 channels per side, and you will only be able to hear users who are also flying the same side as you.

 

At that point you can stay on Channel 1 or switch to other channels depending on what pre-existing roles have been defined or agreed to (for example 1 for fighters, 2 for strike/bomber, 3 for tanks, etc).  How those channels get assigned is up to the users and may or possibly could be addressed in the mission description on the server.

 

Does that sound about right, and is what are the thoughts regarding good standard practices on channel assignment that we should collectively try to follow - naturally allowing for certain exceptions on special-use servers?

 

I think that to a very large degree the success of this feature is going to be up to us to collectively agree upon and follow good practices, using good comms etiquette and radio discipline - hence the purpose of this thread.

 

Thank you in advance for your positive contributions to this discussion.  ?

 

Thank you NCS but its a fine line between functional communication and Fun. Our Wing,Group seems to be real close to the other spectrum and you cant be  effective like that. the guy who quoted "Even a Wise man knows the value of nonsense" was never in the Signal Corps with Flash Traffic to deliver. is there another way besides insta-ban to regain control of our air waves? FA for ever

 

[Avetorro-VR]

In vr it is a little tricky as the overlay can’t be seen. So I tend to just use channel 1 to talk to command to get missions, relay my position, check the área, get a bearing home and generally keep up to date with what is happening on the map. Channel 2 I use solely for talking to the tower/airfield when in its vicinity to get call signs, take off and landing permission etc. 
 

there’s a lot of people not using srs and just frantically typing away in the chat which is hard to keep on top off as it only flashes up briefly. Typing is another problem in vr as you can’t see your keyboard, that’s why I prefer srs. Is there any hope of having the overlay visible in the headset?

[ITAF_Airone1989]

40 minutes ago, drogo-joystick said:

Is there any hope of having the overlay visible in the headset?

Use "Enable text to speech" and tune the volume as you prefer. This will solve most of your difficults

[Avetorro-VR]

1 hour ago, ITAF_Airone1989 said:

Use "Enable text to speech" and tune the volume as you prefer. This will solve most of your difficults

Ah, wondered what that was, must give it a try tonight! Thanks.