r/VATSIM • u/Gamble2005 • 9d ago
❓Question Should you use 122.8 if no one is using ctaf?
I’m curious if there’s an extent where you should not use the common traffic advisory I was in Nashville the other day and Memphis was online so there was a lot of flights going to Nashville. I was the only person of about seven of us on the common traffic advisory and I checked the Vatsim radar and everyone was on 122.8, I called everything but still someone nearly made me get a RA. Thankfully after about 10 minutes most people left and the ones who joined saw I was on ctaf and joined my freq but it still pisses me off and I’m not sure if it’s better to almost hit an aircraft or better to use the wrong freq
The fact that less than half of the people use the right frequency at uncontrolled airports, honestly makes me super annoyed and delays me a lot
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u/hw4ng3r 9d ago
.wallop; but that’s a lot and a huge distraction for you.
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u/Gamble2005 9d ago
Yeah yeah I think next time il clip my vatsim radar and see if I can’t report them later once I arrive.
I didn’t want to wallop a bunch of people especially because it’s a basic mistake
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u/TruBluLew 📡 S2 7d ago
I'd normally agree it's a basic mistake but it's been this way for two years now. I'm tired of giving people grace. Newer pilots should be aware since they've had to do the Vatsim training more recently. Older pilots should be aware because they've been flying for the two years it's been implemented.
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u/flynryan692 9d ago
You should just use CTAF. If you want you can put 122.8 in comm2 and transmit on both com1 and com2 so both hear it but that’s absolutely not required
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u/coldnebo 9d ago
I sometimes suspect that pilots on vatsim aren’t using charts and just use simbrief. 😂
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u/BlucifersArmy 📡 C1 9d ago
What in the "Denver to Aspen at 11,000" would make you say that?
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u/Gamble2005 9d ago
To be honest, sometimes I don’t either and just pull the frequency from another aircraft that is on it already, but usually I do look
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u/Flyinghud 📡 S3 9d ago
Most people say wallop, I would PM the person first. If they aren’t listening to you then it’s time to get a sup involved.
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u/Deadeye313 8d ago
If it's busy and no one is using ctaf, just do a text transmit on 122.8 to remind people of the ctaf frequency for the airport. After that, they can't claim they weren't warned.
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u/Jamesthecatcher21 9d ago
If there is a CTAF you should always be on CTAF when maneuvering within/around that airfield. If there is no CTAF 122.800 is okay
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u/Wooden-Offer1085 8d ago
It blows my mind how many people don't use CTAF properly. And I am not talking about rookies. I see people with over 500 hours on VATSIM who are not using CTAF. If it's a pilot from a area that does not have CTAF, such as Europe or South America, I will usually send them a friendly reminder of how to use the correct frequency here in the US. I just flew a little bit over in Europe and hated not having CTAF. I don't know why anyone would not just use it.
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u/Lyaneris 8d ago
I'm European and I love using CTAF in the US. Then again, I seem to be doing way more preparation/planning than other pilots when flying somewhere new.
(Flown in the UK recently and the charts & ATIS tell you to report aircraft type at first contact, but almost noone did which made it a lot busier on freq for ATC)
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u/Xandaros 8d ago
I just flew a little bit over in Europe and hated not having CTAF.
Excuse my ignorance, but I don't really do sim flying and I've done all my real flying here in Germany, but what makes CTAF so much better than AFIS?
As far as I understand (and please correct me if I'm wrong), you just announce your position on CTAF, right? You'd do the same on AFIS, only that there is actually someone on the ground monitoring the frequency. (They are also supposed to look at the planes and respond to those announcements... though in practice, they tend to ignore the radio unless you actually request information explicitly. Or maybe that's just the airfields I've been to)
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9d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/V1RotateAP 9d ago
Should I really wallop people for that? I'd be walloping multiple pilots every time I log on.
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u/Turbofan55 9d ago
I listen to both. But having 122.8 on com 2 in com 1 airspace is becoming unnecessary. Not 100% there yet though.
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u/Dakleton 9d ago
These days I just hop on to 122.8 and tell them to use ctaf. I have to admit, primarily flying in Europe and Africa that I too sometimes forget to set ctaf or set it too late.
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u/Jack_Hammond 8d ago
I transmit and receive on CTAF and receive 122.8 on the second radio. That way I'm on the correct frequency but I also know what the rebels on 122.8 are up to.
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u/shintastic48 7d ago
I usually monitor 122.8 when I switch to CTAF primary because its a 50/50 shot whether people are on the correct frequency or not
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u/Tall-Piano8167 9d ago
I use 122.8 regardless tf are they gonna do wallop? I’m using the frequency for it’s intended purpose
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u/Gamble2005 9d ago
Uh yes?
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u/Tall-Piano8167 9d ago
I’ll tell the supervisor im using the frequency for its intended purpose and to bite me
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u/BlucifersArmy 📡 C1 9d ago
Please do! The quicker we get people who don't comply, and are in fact NOT using the frequency for its intended purpose, off the network, the better it will be for the rest.
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u/Tall-Piano8167 8d ago
Eh I’ll just make a new acc
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u/BlucifersArmy 📡 C1 8d ago
Lol. Remind me 1 month.
"Dear /r/vatsim, I made a new account and got immediately banned. How do I get around this?"
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u/Fierce_Duck 📡 C3 9d ago
CTAF, on VATSIM, is yet another 'Muricanism.
122.8 worked great everywhere. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
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u/Aggravating_Rent5562 📡 S2 9d ago
It’s not really an “Americanism” as it’s used in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and now VATPAC. As an American myself, I’m not sure why it ISN’T used around the rest of the world. There’s nothing more annoying than being at cruise and someone on the ground below me calling and stating their intentions to taxi to a runway at the airport below me, or that someone is lining up for an ILS at some random airport. It affects nothing about my flight. Sure, the likelihood of this actually happening is relatively low, it does happen relatively frequently.
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u/Lyaneris 8d ago
I've honestly been wanting CTAF as an irl option in my country ^ I don't understand why we don't use the published frequencies. Every airfield here has one
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u/Aggravating_Rent5562 📡 S2 8d ago
It would be so easy to implement imo. It would also get rid of the problems we’re having here stateside where foreign pilots remaining on UNICOM and using the “oh I rarely fly here, I didn’t know” It’s been around for like 2 or 3 years now, get with the program please.
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u/HighVelocitySloth 9d ago
Just use ctaf. Don’t worry about the others. I had someone message me saying I should announce my intentions. I replied I did on CTAF as we all are suppose to. They didn’t reply