Euroscope 3.1d Manual

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Euroscope:Euroscope

1

Euroscope:Euroscope
Previous: No previous pages Actual: Euroscope:Euroscope Next: Euroscope:Credits for v3.1

About EuroScope
Version 3.0 was introduced more than a year ago in March 2008. Since then my team and myself never stopped
adding new ideas and implementing new features to EuroScope. As we were a bit uncontrolled on what should be
available in the next release we simply lost the momentum several time to become public for a favor of some new
functions. We are still full of ideas and requests, but finally we decided to make a stop and prepare the next public
release. If we were alone we would have fixed more things we would have added some more gadgets to the program.
Therefore the beta team feels this is not the final version. But we know that it if far more better then version 3.0, and
we would like to share the joy of controlling with EuroScope 3.1 with all the controllers of VATSIM.
Some highlights of the new features:
• Plug-in development environment: Probably the biggest innovation in this release. Using it you can create your
own DLLs that can be loaded into EuroScope. As a programmer you can access nearly all the information
available about planes, flight plans, controllers around. You are free to make code to add elements to a TAG,
draw your own graphics to the radar screen or simply create a complete new view of the traffic. Some plug-ins are
available as source code in the installer package.
• Professional radar simulation: The main idea is to forget some data we receive from the VATSIM servers and
simulate how the radar stations receive back data from the planes, how these data is correlated to the flight plans
sent. And if all work fine you can associate a radar position to a flight plan (actually a plane). You can define
antenna positions, hole areas, primary and secondary ranges, A+C and S mode transponder readouts. You also
have simulated flight plan track display.
• Complete new TAG types to follow the new possibilities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

primary only
uncorrelated A+C
uncorrelated S
correlated A+C
correlated S
flight plan track
ground with S mode
ground without radar

• New simulator features:
• Connect to SweatBox server
• More than 100 AC performance data is stored in EuroScope with the possibility to change them in the scenario
file
• Accurate handling of the AC in high flight levels (simulating IAS and Mach change)
• Integration with Craig Phillip's ASE editor [1] and scenario file repository (download scenario directly from
there)
• Local FSD support for simulation sessions
• Automatic sector file publication and download.
• Metric units.
• Full VATSIM server status check at startup.

Euroscope:Euroscope

2

• The possibility to individually confirm all message types.
• The voice aliases: It is a complete new (and I hope revolutionally) way to control text only aircraft. We combined
the Microsoft Speech Recognition SDK with a regular expression like grammar definition (with sounds like
capabilities). These items altogether make the voice recognition stable and precise enough to be used for text only
aircraft.
• Arrival and flight plan lists.
• Support of VRC's SCT2 format files.
• All symbols are now freely editable via the symbology settings dialog.
• The autotext messages are using aliases to allow changing them.
And many many more fixes and new features.
Have you ever imagined you could control virtual flights as real as it gets? Download the latest version of EuroScope
and see for yourself.
Previous: No previous pages Actual: Euroscope:Euroscope Next: Euroscope:Credits for v3.1

Referenzen
[1] http:/ / www. craig-phillips. co. uk/ ase

Euroscope:Credits for v3.1
Previous: Euroscope:Euroscope Actual: Euroscope:Credits for v3.1 Next: Euroscope:Credits for v3.0

Credits for v3.1
Once again the new release was a real team work. I should say thank you for all the members of the beta team. It is
really hard to pick individuals from the team. But surely there are some points:
• Stephan Boerner - Who updated extreme amount of pages of this documentation. Without it the release date
would not be in 2009.
• Craig Phillips - Who made the ASE repository available directly from EuroScope. He also modified the ASE
editor to use the new features EuroScope is offering in the scenario file.
• Arthur Bocaneanu - For creating the default sounds set.
Previous: Euroscope:Euroscope Actual: Euroscope:Credits for v3.1 Next: Euroscope:Credits for v3.0

Euroscope:Credits for v3.0

Euroscope:Credits for v3.0
Previous: Euroscope:Credits for v3.1 Actual: Euroscope:Credits for v3.0 Next: Euroscope:Credits for v2.9

Credits for v3.0
Without the help of several supporters EuroScope would never become a public VATSIM radar client. Therefore I
would like to thank this help to:
• Attila Ábrahám - He inspired me to work on the new features and most importantly the ongoing Coordination. He
always supplied me all the information that was necessary to have it as close to the real life system as possible.
And I have to say that (among others) Attila has the most rigorous eye on the functionality. He also created a full
featured ATIS interpreter.
• Todor Atanasov, Bernard Candela and Stephan Boerner - They helped me a lot to finalize the documentation you
are reading just now.
• Sami Ylismäki - for creating UNIAtis, the customizable ATIS interpreter (http://www.uniatis.net/).
• Juha Holopainen - for collecting and converting all the aircraft data for EuroScope.
• Tobias Reimann - for creating a EuroScope extract function from his ICAO airlines database (http://vatdb.
tr-media.org/).
• All the beta testers - Once again they helped me a lot to fix bugs, implement the right functions you need for
everyday controlling.
Previous: Euroscope:Credits for v3.1 Actual: Euroscope:Credits for v3.0 Next: Euroscope:Credits for v2.9

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Euroscope:Credits for v2.9

Euroscope:Credits for v2.9
Previous: Euroscope:Credits for v3.0 Actual: Euroscope:Credits for v2.9 Next: Euroscope:Quick Start

Credits for v2.9
• Eric Bocaneanu - Who always believed that we can make a client that can be accepted by VATSIM governors. He
made all the discussions, advertisements to start the beta testing EuroScope. He also helped me a lot in testing,
writing documentation and making suggestions.
• Péter Selmeci - Who created the initial WEB site, redesigned my awful WEB pages. He helped in testing, writing
the documentation and also with lots of new ideas.
• Péter Selmeci and Iván Radó - For the name: EuroScope.
• Attila Ábrahám and Ádám Orbán - They made a really strong pressure on me to develop EuroScope to the good
direction. They also helped me a lot in testing.
• Dani Vértesy - To help me writing this page among others.
• Iván Nagy - Who registered euroscope.hu domain for me without any cost so far.
• Todor Atanasov - Who created the final WEB site.
• Ross Carlson and Ben Supnik - They helped me a lot how to make EuroScope VATSIM compatible. I received
immediate support when I had any technical question about the FSD protocol or VATSIM voice library. Ross
made the beta test possible and updated my beta test members regularly.
• Richard Stefan and Navigraph FMS Data Support - They allowed me to pack the FMS data with the installer of
EuroScope. If you need to update the AIRAC cycle visit http://www.navigraph.com/for the latest release.
Always download the version for FSNavigator 4.X.
• All beta test members - They tested EuroScope in different environments and surely in different ways. Many
things that I would have never thought were discovered by them. And they also helped me writing this
documentation.
• All VACCHUN members - Who was not part of the beta test team still helped me a lot on testing VRC and ASRC
compatibility questions.
Previous: Euroscope:Credits for v3.0 Actual: Euroscope:Credits for v2.9 Next: Euroscope:Quick Start

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Euroscope:Quick Start

5

Euroscope:Quick Start
Previous: Euroscope:Credits for v2.9 Actual: Euroscope:Quick Start Next: Euroscope:Installation

Installation
The step by step instructions are available in the Euroscope:Installation page.

If You Have a Previous Release Installed
All versions after version 3.0 save all relevant data in individual files as opposed to the registry. The different
settings are split into categories and may be saved in one or several setting files (.txt format) depending on your
preferences. This enables you to use the same settings in multiple profiles on your computer. Ensure you read
Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved for a more complete overview.

What You See
• Profile file selection - When you start EuroScope for the first time it will ask for the profile file to be used. Use
the one for Hungarian Matias if you do not have any other or simply cancel it for an empty one. If you do not
select profile file or your profile does not have a reference to a sectorfile then your radar screen will be
completely empy. In that case load the sectorfile manually. Any ASRC or VRC SCT or SCT2 file can be used.
• Radar screen configuration - Normally EuroScope saves your display settings to files with *.ASR extensions.
When you start EuroScope it will load the last opened *.ASR file. But if you start it for the first time then
obviously no such file exists. In this case the default settings will be applied to your first screen. It will contain
only the VOR symbols, airport names, high airway lines and ARTCC boundaries. Be sure to open the Display
Settings dialog to switch on and off the individual items, modify the radar layout to your taste and save it into an
.ASR file for your next session. If yo do not like the default coloring or line styles just go to the
Euroscope:Symbology Settings dialog and change.
• VATSIM servers data - In the bottom message are you can see that EuroScope collects data about the available
servers in VATSIM. Every time you start EuroScope a random server will be selected to serve as server data feed
and as statistical data feed.
• VATSIM statistics data - As you start EuroScope just wait for 10-30 seconds. After that period of time the radar
screen comes alive and displays controllers and aircraft just as if you were connected and online. That is because
EuroScope incorporates with VATSIM statistics data. It downloads data about the online members and starts
simulating them while you are offline. But in this state you can start analyzing the traffic, see who is online, what
is next on VATSIM.
• Tip: Open Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup and select any position as primary frequency. The radar
screen will be displayed as if you were online with that callsign of the voice connection name and frequency.

Euroscope:Quick Start

6

What You Hear
Before going online you should go to Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup dialogue to define your voice
connections abd to access the Hardware setup button in order to configure your sound hardware with the
Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup dialogue. Without these steps you will not be able to listen to or talk to
anyone.

How To Use Existing Sector And Position Files
To be able to use all of the features of EuroScope one has to create a sector file extension. This can be real hard work
and needs special knowledge of the area you are controlling within. The ESE files should be created by the
appropriate staff members of your FIR. We are ready to support all ESE file related questions via the support e-mail.
But to be able to start quickly you should do the following modifications:
Edit the runway section in the .SCT file. Add the airport name or code to the end of each line. Original:
[RUNWAY]
13L 31R 130 310 N047.26.43.520 E019.15.27.180 N047.25.22.620 E019.17.37.880
Modified to:
[RUNWAY]
13L 31R 130 310 N047.26.43.520 E019.15.27.180 N047.25.22.620 E019.17.37.880 LHBP Ferihegy

To use your POF file simply rename it to the same name as your SCT file with the extension ESE (eg. You have
myfir.sct and mypos.pof then rename the mypos.pof to myfir.ese ). Then add a new line to the beginning of the file:
[POSITIONS]
In this way you will be able to use both the sector and the position file without hard modification.
Previous: Euroscope:Credits for v2.9 Actual: Euroscope:Quick Start Next: Euroscope:Installation

Euroscope:Installation

Euroscope:Installation
Previous: Euroscope:Quick Start Actual: Euroscope:Installation Next: Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved

If You Have A Previous Release Installed
The installer of the new release will execute an uninstall of the previous version. The uninstaller will delete all files
that were copied to your computer by the installer. It includes the original settings, the ICAO airlines and airports
files and also the FSNavigator database files. It also deletes the ASR files that were provided for the LHCC
sectorfile. If you have saved any configuration to these files, or updated them manually, or downloaded a newer
AIRAC database, then be sure to SAVE THEM to another place before running the installer.
Please keep in mind that since Euroscope 3.1 all personal setting are stored in "..\My Documents\Euroscope\"
directory instead of root as it was in preceding versions.

Installation
Installation of EuroScope is really easy. Just download the MSI file from any of the sites and run it. Then follow the
instructions of the installer. Well, the only thing you should specify is the folder you would like to put the files.
The main download site is the home of Euroscope. This server is located in Hungary. Thanks to Ross Carlson and
Metacraft Internet Services we have a mirror site. It is located in Dallas, Texas. The mirror site my not be available
until the installers are copied there.
• Download from EuroScope home server or
• Download from Mirror.

7

Euroscope:Installation

Prerequisites
The installer requires that you have .NET framework 2.0 installed on you computer. The MSI will prompt for if you
do not have.

Installation Process
Download the MSI installer. When ready, simply start it. After some preparation seconds the installer Welcome
screen appears:

Just press Next to get to the location selector screen:

8

Euroscope:Installation

Select the appropriate folder where you would like to place EuroScope. Then press Next again to see the final
confirmation screen:

Simply press Next if you are sure to install EuroScope. The rest is automatic. The progress bar will go from 0 to
100% several times then the installation is ready:

9

Euroscope:Installation

Press the close button and go to the Start menu and under Programs you will find EuroScope current version. Just
start and enjoy using it.
If it is the first time you have installed EuroScope be sure to follow Euroscope:Quick Start page instructions.

Another Important Note About TrueType Fonts
It seems that the in some cases (mostly on Vista or WIndows 7, depending on the user right) the installer is unable to
install or overwrite the font set that was installed before. That will cause some symbols missing in the new release. If
you experience this then go to the EuroScope installation folder and install the EuroScope.ttf font manually.
Previous: Euroscope:Quick Start Actual: Euroscope:Installation Next: Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved

10

Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved

Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved
Previous: Euroscope:Installation Actual: Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved Next: Euroscope:Get Connected

About Settings
In EuroScope you can specify all files to store the indiviual settings in. The dialog for this is located in the Other
Settings menu.

In the dialog you can specify the files including the paths to the files. You can combine several settings into one file,
if you want them to be stored and loaded only in combination.

11

Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved

Settings Files
Those files contain several different kinds of settings. You can open them with a text editor to learn more since there
are many parameters, most of them being self explanatory.
You can specify individual files for the following settings:
• Symbology - Here you can find the values from the symbology settings dialog. It describes what colors, sizes, line
styles to be used for the map display.
• Ground to air voice channels - You frequencies / voice channels from voice communications setup dialog.
• Login profiles - The login profiles from the connect dialog. It contains the callsign, facility, range and ATIS lines.
• TAG definitions - The user defined TAG families.
• SIL, SEL, DEP, APP, FP lists configuration - The definition of the advanced AC lists.
• PlugIn settings - any plugin specific settings.
• General settings - All lines beginning with m_ are the general settings. You can change them via the Quick SET
menu or one of the settings dialogs. I suppose the names here are really readable.
• Screen layout - all settings related to the screen layout, which are not stored in the ASR-file.
You can also combine some of those settings into one file, for example you can create a screen layout including lists
by using the same file for list configurations and screen layout.
If you have a complete settings file from 3.0 then follow the steps to use them in 3.1:
•
•
•
•

Open the Settings file setup dialog box
Enter the file name where your settings are into EVERY group
Press the LOAD button to load the values into memory
Then you can save them to individual files (if you want to), or just keep all your settings in one file.

The Profile Files
The profile files are created to store all installation or workstation dependent information. They are not intending to
be moved from one workstation to another as there are full paths, video card size information there too. The profile
files are just plane textfiles (it is quite common for EuroScope) with the extension PRF. You can put them to any
place in your workstation.
The good thing about saving these data to a file instead of the registry is that you may have as many configurations
as you need. All profiles are completely independent from the others (except if they are referencing to the same
files). The name of the profile file can also be used as a command line parameter for EuroScope. In this way you can
setup as many shortcuts, desktop icons as you need, and start the right configuration with a doubleclick.
If you are version 2.9a user then you may noticed that several data is
stored
in
the
registry
(under
My
Computer
\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Csernak Gergely \ EuroScope
). From version 3.0 all this information is moved to a profile file. If you
run version 3.0 for the first time while you have saved data in the
registry EuroScope will detect and prompt to load the data saved in the
registry. If you accept then it reads the old data from the registry. Be
sure to save your newly loaded profile to a file just after loading it from the registry. If you decline then the default
values will be used instead. From this point only the name of the lastly used profile file and two flags (to indicate
auto load and auto save of the last profile) are stored in the registry. The rest may be removed.
Going into details about the profile file: As the data here came from the registry, it is structured like the registry
entries. First the section name after that the key itself. In the file the following information is stored:

12

Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved
• Last Session section - It contains data about your last EuroScope session. They are one by one related to the
filelds in the Euroscope:Connection Settings. The only exception is the ATIS airport and letter that is used in
Euroscope:Voice ATIS dialog.
• atis_airport - the airport served by voice ATIS
• atis_letter - the last time used ATIS letter in your airport
• atis2, atis3, atis4 - the text ATIS message lines (numbered from 2, as the first is always your voive channel
description)
• callsign - the connect callsign
• certificate - your VATSIM ID
• connecttype - a code how you connected last time
• facility - the facility of the last session
• password - the password entered - Important: your password is stored in this file without any encryption. Due
that you MUST NOT give your profile file to someone else.
• playback - the last playback file with full path name
• range - the visual range of the last session
• rating - your rating
• realname - your real name
• scenario - the last use simulation scenario file with full path
• server - the lastly connected VATSIM server
• Recent Files section - It is a simple numbered list of your lastly used ASR files. The files here will be displayed in
the SCT menu.
• Settings section - In this section there are data about how your environment are set up. What configuration files
do be loadedand what hardware elements do you use:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

aircraft - full path to the ICAO Aircraft file
airlines - full path to the ICAO Airlines file
airports - full path to the ICAO Airports file
airways - full path to the FSNavigator database
alias - full path to the alias file
Asel Key - the aircraft select key code
Atis Folder - full path to the voice ATIS description file
Freq Key - the primary frequency key code
ipaddr - full path to the VATSIM server descriptor file
sector - the main sectorfile (as it is from the last session it may be better to put to the Last Session section)
Settings Files - full path to the settings files (many installation independent data is stored there)
Loaded PlugIns - full path to the dll files

• Sounds section - Full path of the file names used for voice messages. They are not self explanatory, just
numbered.
• Voice section - Here are the settings about your sound hardware configuration.
•
•
•
•
•

bass_filter - enable or disable bass filtering
input_hardware - the primary mike input device name
input_hardware2 - the secondary mike input device name
output_hardware - the primary speaker/headphone device name
output_hardware2 - the secondary speaker/headphone device name

• PPPT - the primary push to talk button code
• SPPT - the secondary push to talk button code
• squelch - the value measured on primary mike

13

Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved
• squelch2 - the value measured on secondary mike
Important note: As you see from the above list, your last session user name and password is in the profile file. And
they are there without any encryption. Therefore be very careful and DO NOT give, send, share your profiles to
anyone else.

ASR Files
The .asr file contain your current Display Dialog settings. It describes what items are to be displayed from the
sectorfile. It also contains some screen dependent settings and the use of Euroscope:Professional Radar Simulation.
Once again without the complete description some notes about the lines inside:
• SECTORFILE - The path of your current sector file this ASR is used for. When you open an ASR it will look if
the sectorfile is loaded or not. If not then it loads the appropriate one.
• SECTORTITLE - Just a quick access to the title to show in the popup list.
• DisplayTypeName - The name of the screen type. The default value is 'Standard ES radar screen'. Other may be
created by the plug-ins.
• DisplayTypeNeedRadarContent - It indicates that background SCT file elements are drawn for the screen or not.
• DisplayTypeGeoReferenced - It indicates if coordiantes are lat/lon pairs or just pixels.
• SHOWC - (value if 1 if checked or 0 if unchecked) "Show squawk C aircraft" option.
• SHOWSB - "Show squawk STBY aircraft" option.
• BELOW - xxxxx. The value if you choose not to display aircrafts below xxxxx feet altitude (your floor level).
Zero indicates no filter at all.
• ABOVE - xxxxx. The value if you choose not to display aircrafts above xxxxx feet altitude (your ceiling level).
Zero indicates no filter at all.
• LEADER - The length of the leader line. Positive values are interpreted as NM, negaive as MIN.
• SHOWLEADER - Indicates if the leader line should be shown as default or not.
• TURNLEADER - It indicates a route following leader line.
• HISTORYDOTS - The number of history trails appearing for each aircraft.
• TAGFAMILY - The name of the tag family used (generaly MATIAS (built in)).
• WINDOWAREA - param1:param2:param3:param4 - The geographic coordinates in degrees of the bottom left
corner and of the top right corner of the scope. It is important that even if you do not change any settings, just
zoom in and out and pan, this value is most likely to be updated. In this way it is quite normal that you will be
prompted at nearly all ASR close to decide weather to save or cancel the update of the area.
• SIMULATION_MODE - The ID of the simulation mode (professional radar, easy radar and the two ground
modes).
• individual sectorfile elements - Then follows the list of all your checked items in the display dialog. You can not
save the SECTORLINE and SECTOR elements as they can be switched on just for debugging purposes and not
for next session display.

14

Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved

15

Sector Files
Sector files are the files which contain all information about the area you want to control. EuroScope can use the
same sector files as ASRC or VRC. There are two places where you should or can modify them:
The first is the Runway section. It is described in the Quick Start page too. You should modify this to be able to
display and use the runway data inside EuroScope.
Original:
[RUNWAY]
13L 31R 130 310 N047.26.43.520 E019.15.27.180 N047.25.22.620 E019.17.37.880
Modified to:
[RUNWAY]
13L 31R 130 310 N047.26.43.520 E019.15.27.180 N047.25.22.620 E019.17.37.880 LHBP Ferihegy

There is another option for the GEO section. In a ASRC/VRC sector file, GEO lines appear like that:
N036.58.51.798 E008.51.32.509 N036.58.50.305 E008.51.32.422 white
So in VRC, you can display GEO lines or not but always as a whole.
If you load a normal ASRC/VRC sector file in Euroscope, you see that:

You can display GEO lines or not, in the same manner than with VRC.
But EuroScope allows us to define sub-categories in GEO lines by adding a category name at the beginning of each
normal GEO line like the one below:
DTKA airport N036.58.51.798 E008.51.32.509 N036.58.50.305 E008.51.32.422 white
And when all lines have been modified (that's done very easily with Excel) the Display Dialog appears like that:

Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved

So, you can easily filter which kind of GEO lines appears on your screen, and this avoids overwhelming screen with
usefulness features.
NOTE: When sector files have been customized for EuroScope, they can't be used anymore with ASRC or VRC. So,
before customizing a sector file for EuroScope, don't forget to keep an original version for ASRC/VRC users.
In fact the name is only needed in front of the first line of each subsection. For example, the following [GEO]
section works fine:
[GEO]
Red triangle N000.00.00.000 E000.00.00.000 N000.00.00.000 E000.00.00.000
N060.00.00.000 E020.00.00.000 N070.00.00.000 E030.00.00.000 redcolor
N070.00.00.000 E030.00.00.000 N060.00.00.000 E030.00.00.000 redcolor
N060.00.00.000 E030.00.00.000 N060.00.00.000 E020.00.00.000 redcolor
Yellow triangle N000.00.00.000 E000.00.00.000 N000.00.00.000 E000.00.00.000
N062.00.00.000 E024.00.00.000 N066.00.00.000 E028.00.00.000 yellowcolor
N066.00.00.000 E028.00.00.000 N062.00.00.000 E028.00.00.000 yellowcolor
N062.00.00.000 E028.00.00.000 N062.00.00.000 E024.00.00.000 yellowcolor
In EuroScope you will get the two triangles selectable in the Display Settings. This section will also work with
ASRC and VRC. The N000.00.00.000 E000.00.00.000 coordinates in the lines where the names are would not be
needed for ES but since both ASRC and VRC seem to disregard those lines completely it's better to put coordinates
in there that aren't something you want to display.
If you pout the name in front of each line works in ES but it will not work with the other clients. But if you use the
above way, then the same SCT file could be used with the other clients without any problems.
The third extension is for the SCT2 files for the very same reason. If you have regions in your SCT2 file then they
can only be switched on/off all together. If you would like to use them individually add a new line before the start of
a new region:
REGIONNAME 
These lines are simply ignored by VRC and can be used to name you region elements.

16

Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved

Sector File Extension Files
This section is here just to make this page complete. The content of the sector file extension is described in the
Euroscope:ESE Files Description page, and also there is a Euroscope:Tutorial about how to build an ESE file from
scratch.

Runway Files
The runway files are saved along the SCT files, with the same names and the RWY extensions. They are also TEXT
files. There you can find information about the acitve airports and runways of your last session when the SCT file
was used as main sectorfile.
ACTIVE_AIRPORT:LHBP:1
ACTIVE_AIRPORT:LHBP:0
ACTIVE_RUNWAY:LHBP:31R:0
ACTIVE_RUNWAY:LHBP:31L:1
ACTIVE_RUNWAY:LHBP:31L:0
There are two different kind of lines here:
• ACTIVE_AIRPORT - It describes if an airport was active in the last session. The last 0/1 digit means if it was
active for departure (1) or arrival (0).
• ACTIVE_RUNWAY - The same for runways. It describes if a RWY of an airport was active in the last session.
Of course here you also have the airport name and the final number means the same.

Server files
The standard file for the server adresses is ipaddr.txt. The ipaddr.txt file will be overwritten after successful data
download without further notification. Put all your local definitions to the myipaddr.txt file. The SweatBox server is
always added automatically.
Previous: Euroscope:Installation Actual: Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved Next: Euroscope:Get Connected

17

Euroscope:Get Connected

Euroscope:Get Connected
Previous: Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved Actual: Euroscope:Get Connected Next: Euroscope:Connection Settings

Connection Settings
To learn how to set up the connection parameters, how to use the main connect dialog, go to the
Euroscope:Connection Settings section.

Voice Communication Setup
Details about the voice setup is in the Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup section.

Voice ATIS
The Euroscope:Voice ATIS section describes how to set up your own voice atis station. How to record an play the
atis message.

Connection Features
Much more detailed why and how the connection works can be found in the Euroscope:Connection Features section.
What ports are to be opened, how to forward ports when behind a router.
Previous: Euroscope:Where My Settings Are Saved Actual: Euroscope:Get Connected Next: Euroscope:Connection Settings

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Euroscope:Connection Settings

Euroscope:Connection Settings
Previous: Euroscope:Get Connected Actual: Euroscope:Connection Settings Next: Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup

Connect Dialog

By clicking on CONNECT in the toolbar,
the Connect dialog appears. Definitely, it seems more
complex than the ones we have been using so far, but shortly you will understand its advantages. Pay close attention,
because this is one of the most important chapters of this guide.

Select Connection

First of all you have to select a connection mode:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Direct to VATSIM - connect to the VATSIM network
To VATSIM via proxy - connect to the VATSIM using a proxy server
Start simulator server - be the host of a simulator session
Start simulator server via proxy - be the host of a simulator session via proxy
Start Sweatbox simulator session - connect to Sweatbox training server
Playback log file - playback a recorded ATC session

The rest of the connect dialog is divided into these 4 sections.

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Euroscope:Connection Settings

VATSIM Connection

This part of the window has fields that must sound familiar to you:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Callsign - desired callsign (PETER_OBS, LHBP_TWR, EURE_E_FSS, etc.)
Real name - your full name, as registered on VATSIM
Certificate - your VATSIM controller ID (6 digit numeric)
Password - your secret password
Logoff time - your estimated logoff zulu-time (displayed in your controller info, format: 2000, the z is
automatically added to the value)
Facility - category of ATC service you are to provide (Observer, Tower, Flight Service Station, etc.).
Rating - your VATSIM controller rating (Student1, Controller3, Supervisor, etc.)
Server - list of servers (VATSIM and simulator host IP addresses are read from ipaddr.txt), when joining to a
simulator session, simply the host IP has to be typed
Status - once successfully connected "Connected to VATSIM" is shown

Understanding the rest of this section might require further explanation:
• ATIS line 2 - 4 - This refers to your controller information line, not the _ATIS frequency of each airport. Since
VATSIM limits the number of lines used for it, only 3 additional lines are available (your voice channel is
counted line 1). The same aliases can be used as in ASRC ($altim(ICAO), etc.).
• Load Servers - update your server list

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Euroscope:Connection Settings

21

PROFILES

• Save Profile - This is something really cool! You can save various profiles, which store your callsign, facility,
range setting and ATIS information. So next time you come controlling, it will take a second to connect, you just
click the callsign you wish to be. (as shown in the picture below) Important: The changes in the profiles are not
saved automatically. On exit you will be prompted to save them, or call the Save all settings function to store the
profiles for your next session.
Note: Even accidentally its name is profile it has no relationship at all to the profile files. It is just a connection
profile. Actually the data is stored in the settings file not in the profile file.
• Delete Profile - delete selected profile
• Range - set your radar surveillance range from 1NM to 600NM but remember the limits: DEL/GND: 10NM,
TWR: 30NM, APP/DEP: 100NM, CTR: 300-600NM, FSS: 1500NM
EuroScope limits the maximum possible range setting based on the facility and the rating you are specifying. These
data are still higher than the values above:
• Observer - 300 NM
• Clearence/Delivery - 100 NM
•
•
•
•
•

Ground - 100 NM
Tower - 100 NM
Approach/Departure - 200 NM
Center - 600 NM
Flight Service Station - 1500 NM

Supervisors are allowed to set 600 NM range, independently from the actual facility.
Important: when joining to a simulator session as a client (as trainee) the connection mode has to be Direct to
VATSIM - just like with a normal connection - and the simulator host has to be selected from the server list or its IP
address can be typed directly.

Proxy Connection

The
proxy
connection is originally defined to allow multiple instances of EuroScope to be started in the same machine and

Euroscope:Connection Settings
share the VATSIM connection between them. On the other hand the implementation is general so there is no
restriction to one computer. The proxy connection needs two parties to be set up: one server and one client. To start a
server just press the Start Proxy Server. That will start listening the 6810 port in the local machine and accept
incoming connections. To connect to a proxy server from another instance of EuroScope select the To VATSIM via
proxy connection type, change the server if different from localhost and connect.
When connecting to a proxy server the secondary client does not need any authentication setup as it uses all the data
from the primary client. The primary client then can be connected to VATSIM and both clients will work with the
same rights with the same callisgn. When you have a proxy connection the two clients are sending special messages
to each other (e.g. when you type something in one client command editor it will appear in the second as well, when
you select an aircraft it will be selected in the other as well etc.). To disable this feature uncheck the Enable
advanced proxy communication menu item.
When you start the second instance of EuroScope on the same machine the voice subsystem will not be initialized. In
the toolbar you will see that the voice dialog icon is flagged by two red lines. That is because only one program can
listen the appropriate UDP port. The second instance will not be able to produce any voice related functionality (and
it is blocked by the code). Therefore always use the firstly started instance for voice setup.
In the new release you also have an option for Automatic proxy connection. This is really a handy tool. When your
first EuroScope instance starts then it will start the proxy server immediately. The furthermore instances will find
that the proxy is running and connect to it immediately. When you regularly use multiple instances (e.g. in a
munltimonitor environment) then it is really easy to connect them with this option.

Simulator Server

To host a simulator session
1. Select connection mode: Start simulator server
2. Do one of the following
• Click Browse and Select a local scenario file
• Or click download to download a scenario from the Aircraft Situation Editor [1] scenario repository

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Euroscope:Connection Settings

ASE Repository Download

1.
2.
3.
4.

Enter searchable text for possible ICAO, Description or Author in the textbox and click search.
Select the row of the scenario you wish to download.
Click Download. Save to your local system
Click OK. Notice the downloaded file is already selected in the local system box in the connection dialog.

For more detailed information see the Euroscope:Built In Simulator section.

Logging And Playback

To save your current session and play it back later is just as easy with EuroScope as pressing two buttons.
You can change the default log-folder by setting "ES_LOG_FOLDER" with the folder as value as a windows
environment variable.
Whenever you have an active session (direct or simulation) simple select a file name in the Logfile edit and press
Start logging. From that moment all data around your session is saved to the selected file. Even your primary voice
communication is saved to a file with the same name and an additional .vvl extension. When finished just press Stop
logging.
Important: Your authentication information is never stored in the file so that you can send it to others without
publishing your password. But everything else is stored there so all your private chat communications can be played
back later!

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Euroscope:Connection Settings
If you have a saved session just select connection mode: Playback log file and select the file name to the Playback
edit box. When you press the Connect button the file will be played immediately. With the speed buttons you can
make the playback faster. You can pause and restart the playback with the Pause and Stop buttons.
The voice data is stored in the logfile in 30 seconds splits. Whenever a new split is to be played it is copied to a new
file and its playback is started. So that when the speed of the playback is not normal the voice will be played at
normal speed but parts of it will be missed.
The buttons are really self explanatory:
• Play - It starts playing a paused or stopped playback, and also returns to a normal 1x playback after fast forward.
• 2x-32x - It increases the playback speed.
• Pause - It suspends the playback. During the suspended playback the timeout checking is disabled even no
position update is coming from the planes.
• Stop - It stops the playback, and reverses the file pointer back to the beginning of the logfile.
• +1-+120 - This is another fast forward tool. Using it you can easily jump some minutes forward. Be patient when
jumping longer times. EuroScope still executes all lines from the file and computes all necessary data along with
it. In this way a one hour jump in a busy session may take a few minutes to skip.

Connect / Disconnect / Close

Probably not necessary to write too much about these buttons.
Previous: Euroscope:Get Connected Actual: Euroscope:Connection Settings Next: Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup

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Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup

Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup
Previous: Euroscope:Connection Settings Actual: Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup Next: Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup

The Voice Communication Setup Dialog
All settings related to voice communication can be setup using the following dialog:
The main part of the dialog is the list on top. Every line here describes
one ground-to-air voice connection and also its status. The left four
columns (Name, Frequency, Voice server and Channel) are the
description part, while there are six check-box-like items on the right
(Prim, Atis, RCV TXT, XMT TXT, RCV VOI and XMT VOI) that can
be used to indicate and to modify the actual status of the voice
connection. When you select an item from the list its detailed
information will be displayed in the controls below, where you can
modify them. By clicking on the check-boxes you can change the
actual status.
Important: This dialog box never saves its modifications. You must call an explicit Save all settings or save on
closing EuroScope when asked for confirmation to save voice setup between sessions.
Also important: If you run EuroScope for the first time then before using this dialog to setup your voice
communication be sure to visit the Voice Hardware Test And Setup dialog to define your mike, speaker and
push-to-talk buttons.
Note: Here I used both voice1.vacc-sag.org and voice2.vacc-sag.org to indicate that you can use as many different
voice servers as you like. But remember that your vACC probably has its own preferred voice servers.

Dialogue Controls
• Name - In this textbox the actual name of the ground-to-air connection is displayed and can be modified. The
name is just a pure attribute not used for anything just for user information. Therefore it can be completely free
string like "Budapest Radar" or "Ferihegy Tower". But when you are offline and select a primary frequency it will
be used as your login callsign. And to be able to match the sectors associated with the callsign it is a good idea to
use the same name as the desired real callsign. E.g.: LHCC_CTR, LHBP_TWR. It is not necessary to have unique
names. As it is just a list you can define the values as you wish.

•
•
•
•
•

When you log in successfully with a callsign then EuroScope searches for the callsign here in the name fields
and also the channel name fields. Once a match is found then selects that voice communication setup as
primary frequency and connects to the voice server automatically.
Frequency - Here you can define the associated primary frequency. The value entered here will be sent to the
network if the definition is selected as primary frequency.
Server - The name or the IP address of the voice server. So far not possible to define ports.
Channel - The voice channel name in the voice server. Once again this field is scanned after a successful logon to
set it as primary frequency if matching.
New button - By pressing this button you can create a new entry to the ground-to-air communication list. All the
data will come from the edit controls, therefore they must be filled in.
Modify button - With this button you can change the description of one communication line. This button is
enabled only if no communication is selected at all. You can not update a description if selected for anything.

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Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup
• Delete button - It is used to delete one line from the descriptions. It is enabled at the same time when Modify
button is enabled.
• Hardware setup button - This button opens up the Voice Hardware Test And Setup dialog box where you can
setup the voice hardware configuration. Before you try to do anything with voice be sure to go there to specify
your hardware.
• Voice ATIS setup - As voice ATIS is closely related to this dialog it is available from here as well. It will open
the Voice ATIS dialog.
• Connect mike to playback device check-box - It is a funny test tool. It simply connects your primary and
secondary mike input to the speakers. When you press a PTT button and start talking your voice is extracted from
the mike device and directed to the speaker immediately. In this way you can listen back what you are talking.
And as it goes through all the encoding/decoding phases you will listen back exactly what others can hear from
you.
• Voice alias grammar / Browse - Here you can select your Euroscope:Voice Alias grammar file.
• Enable voice alias recognition - Activates the recognition of voice aliases.
• Voice alias style - This field has no use currently.
• Test grammar - Here you can activate a test mode for your voice aliases.
• Close - Just to be complete.
• Connected users list-box - This list box is filled with the users who are currently joined to the voice room of the
selected line. Your callsign will be flagged by an '*'.

The Check-boxes
In the top area there is a list control with all the ground-to-air communications definitions. Every line contains six
check-boxes. With them you can manage the status of your voice connections.
• Prim - as Primary frequency - By clicking any of the check-boxes in this row will select your primary frequency.
This frequency along with the voice channel definition will be populated via the network so pilots will ba able to
find your voice using this data. Important: By selecting the primary frequency you are not being connected to the
voice server. You should do it manually.
When you select your primary frequency the text send and receive check-boxes are set automatically and you
can not deselect them. If another primary frequency was selected before it will be cleared. You can deselect
your primary frequency by clicking on the check-box again (it will not deselect the text send and receive
flags).
The primary frequency description line is highlighted by yellow background even when not selected.
If you select your primary frequency when offline then EuroScope will assume that you are logged in as the
name of the voice communication and with the frequency. By that all the sectors defined to that position will
be assigned to you and you can see the offline simulated traffic arrival estimates.
• Atis - Same as primary frequency but it defines the primary frequency information of your secondary ATIS
connection (for more go to the Voice ATIS dialog). It is required by VATSIM that the channel name on the ATIS
primary voice server must be the same as the callsign of your ATIS connection. Therefore you can not select it
before connecting your ATIS user to the servers.
• RCV TXT - Receive text messages - By checking it you will receive text messages from this frequency. You can
not switch it off at primary. Important: When you are connecting to VATSIM via a proxy in the secondary client
you should set up the text receive in each client as they are independent from each other.
• XMT TXT - Transmit text messages - Your text messages will be sent to all frequencies that are checked. You
can not switch it off at primary.
• RCV VOI - Receive voice - It enables voice data to receive from this room. This check box also stands for the
connect and disconnect. When you press EuroScope will start to connect you to the server. In case of primary

26

Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup
frequency after a successful connect the send voice will be enabled automatically.
In the place of the check-box you can see the status of the voice channel. It changes the symbol from X to OK
when the connection is established and also indicates when voice is coming or sending via this channel.
When voice is being received or sent on the primary voice channel all secondary voice connections are muted.
That works quite well but notice that there may be certain situations when the communication ends, but the
program doesn't receive an end-message on the primary voice channel. In that case your secondary
connections are muted. To avoid this just press the secondary PTT for a while that will clear this flag and
enable secondary communications. (You can always check here if there is communication being sent/received
on the headphone icon.)
• XMT VOI - Transmit voice - It specifies if voice should be sent to this channel when pressing the PTT button or
not. When you press the primary PTT then the voice is sent to the primary channel only. When you press the
secondary PTT then your voice will be sent to all secondary channels simultaneously.
Previous: Euroscope:Connection Settings Actual: Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup Next: Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup

Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup
Previous: Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup Actual: Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup Next: Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles

Voice Hardware Test And Setup
The voice hardware setup and test dialog is rarely used. At the very first time just select what voice hardware you
would like to use, test them and only come back here if something is changed in your system.
EuroScope has two independent voice hardware connections and each can be set up individually. It is possible to use
the same device for both setup but there is the possibility to use different (e.g. send the primary voice to headphone
while the secondary to the desktop speakers). As it comes from the names the primary connection has a some
priority over the secondary. It means that whenever a voice is transmitted over the primary voice channel the
secondary is muted.
In the following dialog you can change and test your hardware:

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Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup

• Primary and secondary input hardware combo - Use this combo to select the primary and secondary microphone
to be used. They might be the same but can be different.
• Primary and secondary output hardware combo - Use this combo to select the primary and secondary headphone
or speaker to be used. They might be the same but can be different.
• Bass filter check-box - If checked the built in bass filter is enabled. Sometimes it sounds better, easier to
understand if only higher frequency voice is transmitted. But check it out yourself.
• Find squelch mode buttons - When you press the button keep silence for about 5 seconds. During that EuroScope
tests the background noise of your system. You should test your system squelch value before using voice
connection.
• Test buttons - After pressing the mike Test button speak normally for about 5 seconds. During this period
EuroScope tests the difference between your silent and normal speaking voice level. You might test to change the
volume level of your mike based on the test result.
• Set buttons - The Push To Talk buttons are used to transmit voice to the connected voice channels. It is not
necessary but highly recommended to set different buttons for primary and secondary voice transmit.
Previous: Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup Actual: Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup Next: Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles

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Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles

Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles
Previous: Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup Actual: Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles Next: Euroscope:Voice ATIS

Manually or Automatically Download Sectorfiles
Publishing and downloading the latest up-to-date sectorfiles has always required searching around the vACC's
websites. With the new innovative sectorfile publication and download feature, it becomes far easier for controllers
to find the latest sectorfiles, but also for sectorfile creators to supply the users with the latest builds of the files. It
only takes a few steps to prepare the files to be downloaded via EuroScope, and to setup EuroScope for the
automatic download.

Setting up EuroScope
The settings for the automatic sectorfile download are located in the "Open SCT"-menu.

The "Download Sector Files ..." entry leads to the "Sector File Providers"-dialog.

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Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles

The Descriptor File

The local data file for the automatic sector download is the descriptor file. It is loaded when You start EuroScope.
The file contains the information where the sector file provider files are located (URL and local filename) and what
provider data and what sector files are to be loaded automatically. Only data for active providers with a specified
local filename is stored here. The name of the descriptor file is stored in the profile. That means you may have
several completely different download lists of available sectorfiles if you use multiple profiles. However I think it is
better if all your profiles point to the same descriptor file.
When a profile is loaded without a specified descriptor file then a default ./SectorFileProviderDescriptor.txt file is
used. It is a relative path, therefore it works only if your startup directory is always the EuroScope root directory.
The content and the structure of the descriptor file is used only by EuroScope to store internal data. You do not have
to edit it manually, even it is a text file.
When the descriptor file is loaded and found to be completely empty, one default provider is added automatically
with the following attributes:
• Name: "EuroScope main sector file provider"
• URL: "http://www.euroscope.hu/sectorfile/euroscope_sector_providers.txt"
• File name: "./euroscope_sector_providers.txt"
• Download automatically.
This is the default provider. I will try to maintain and add as many provider's data as possible. In this file I will
provide information about sector file providers, but never about specific sector files.

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Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles
When you start EuroScope it loads the descriptor file. Using the data there it builds up a list of the known providers
and the available sector files in memory. In the Download Sector Files dialog, you can see the currently available
providers and the available sectorfiles:

Sectorfile Providers

The sectorfile providers section shows all available sectorfile providers. The provider files (described in the next
chapter of this section) are published over the internet and downloaded by ES if activated. The files contain the
information of additional providers and available sectorfiles. To be activated, You need to specify a
download-location for each provider.
The individual fields in this section are:
• (Provider) Name: The name of the sectorfile provider
• A: The checkbox in the column activates the automatic download of the provider file.
• (Local) Filename: The local filename where the downloaded provider file is to be stored. It can be a relative or
absolute path. The sectorfiles of a provider are downloaded to the same path. Currently it is not possible to store
the downloaded files somewhere else than with the provider file. EuroScope will extract all files from to the
downloaded 7z file to the folder to this path. All files will be extracted and after that the SCT file is checked for
availability. If the packed SCT file does not match the _.SCT naming
convention, then the extraction is treated as failed and the files will not be used.
• Last Download: The Last Download field indicates date and time of the last download of the provider file.
• Next Download: The Next Download fiels indicates date and time of the next planned download of the provider
file.
• URL: The URL field contains the web adress of the provider file. This is the identifier for the providers and must
be unique.
• Download: The Download button allows you to manually download the selected provider file.
• New: The New button creates a new entry for a provider that is not supplied by one of the other provider files. It
usually should not be necessary to manually create an entry as all files are supposed to be published via the
network.
• Update: The Update button allows you to update the selected provider entry.
• Browse: The Browse button allows you to browse to the local filename where the file is supposed to be saved.
If You want to delete an entry, uncheck the "A"-field and delete the Local Filename from the entry.

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Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles

Provided Sectorfiles

The provided sectorfiles section displays the available sectorfiles for the selected provider.
• Sector Name: The Sector name field contains the description of the sectorfile.
• File name: The file name is the name of the sectorfile, but is only part of the actual filename.
• Version: The Version field displays the current version of the provided sectorfile. It is the second part of the
actual filename.
• A: The "A"-checkbox is used to activate the automatic download of the sectorfile.
• D: The "D"-checkbox indicates that the sectorfile has been downloaded.
• C: The "C"-checkbox indicates that you confirmed to replace all occurrences of the sectorfile with the latest
version without further questions.
• Download: The Download button allows you to manually download the selected sectorfile.
The sectorfiles are downloaded to the provider's local folder and are extracted there.
Once an ASR-file is linked to a versioned sectorfile, EuroScope can automatically detect links to outdated files and
correct them with the latest downloaded version.

The Automatic Download

Once everything is setup for automated download, EuroScope checks for updates on the files as scheduled in the
provider files. When a newer version of the sector file is downloaded (manually or automatically) (by definition its
name is different from the currently used file's one) EuroScope saves this information to the descriptor file. From
that point on, every attempt to use any prior file (all SCT files with name /_*.SCT
where * is smaller than the latest sector version) (attempts may come from last sector file from the profile, or sector
reference from an ASR) EuroScope will prompt you to use the newly downloaded version.

After the download is completed, EuroScope informs you about the update and asks if it should load the new file
instead of the old one.

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Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles

You can confirm to replace the old version in every ASR file (if the ASR is not open now, it will be replaced the
next time you load the ASR file). It is important to keep in mind, that EuroScope will change all the references in
memory only until explicitly saved. When you save the ASR or PRF you will be prompted to save the memory
update to the files.

At the end, EuroScope lets you confirm whether you want to delete or keep the old version of the file.

If the update happened while you were using a different profile not using the updated sectorfile, EuroScope asks you
on first start of the affected profile if it should use the new file as active sectorfile.

Publish sectorfiles
This chapter describes, who vACCs or Divisions can prepare their sectorfile to be published via the Download
Sectorfiles feature within EuroScope. Users who just want to use the feature will not have any benefit from reading
this chapter.
First make sure and keep in mind that txt files intended to be used by EuroScope must be encoded as ANSI (or
ANSII). UTF-8 encoding will cause errors loading the files.

The sector file provider files
The provider files contain the description about the sector files you are providing and also references to other sector
providers in your neighbourhood. Using this linking I hope we can build up a worldwide network of all available
EuroScope sector files.
The sector provider file is downloaded by EuroScope. The download can be automatic (when the user checks the
auto download flag) or manual (by pressing the download button). The file itself is downloaded and stored in the
local file system without any modification. The content is loaded into the memory after download and at every
startup.
The format of the file is the following:
• First line
• "EuroScope Sector File Provider File” – the first line must contain this text. It is used to identify a valid
provider file.
• Self description

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Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles
• NAME: - it is just an update of the provider's name, for example the name of the
vACC.
• URL: - it is once again just an update as EuroScope can not download the file
without the URL. You can also use it to change the URL to another place.
• NEXTDOWNLOAD:20090720 – the next expected download time with the format YYYYMMDD. If set, the
automatic download will look for an update only after passing this date.
• DOWNLOADINTERVAL:48 – the regular download interval (if NEXTDOWNLOAD is not specified or
already passed). The value is in hours, the default value is 48.
Example:
NAME:LHCC - VACCHUN Sector Files
URL:http://www.vacchun.hu/es/vacchun_sector_files.txt
DOWNLOADINTERVAL:72
• Links to other providers - by linking to other provider files, you can build up a peer to peer network of provider
files, independent from the default provider file. Of course it is then imperative to keep those links up to date.
Otherwise, if an URL changed, an outdated link would create a duplicate of the provider file that would not be
working.
• PROVIDER_NAME:
• PROVIDER_URL:
Example:
PROVIDER_NAME:LHCC - VACCHUN Sector Files
PROVIDER_URL:http://www.vacchun.hu/es/vacchun_sector_files.txt
• Sector file descriptions
• SECTOR_NAME:
• SECTOR_FILE_NAME:
• SECTOR_VERSION: - be sure to make version numbers in a way that
the later version have an alphabetically bigger version number. And here “alphabetically” is important. Do not
forget that V3 is bigger than V21!!!
• SECTOR_URL: - see later about the packing
Example:
SECTOR_NAME:LHCC - Hungary (complete)
SECTOR_FILE_NAME:Hungary
SECTOR_VERSION:2009_05_08_v70
SECTOR_URL:http://www.vacchun.hu/es/Hungary_2009_05_08_v70.7z

How to pack a sector file
The EuroScope Installer contains the GNU public license 7-Zip command line utility (7za.exe). EuroScope uses this
program to uncompress the downloaded sector files. It is not necessary but highly suggested to use the very same
EXE for packing. This can avoid compatibility problems. EuroScope simply calls the 7za.exe without specifying the
full path. Therefore it is necessary to have this exe on the PATH or have it in the current working folder. If you start
EuroScope from the installer created shortcut then it is not a problem as it sets the current folder right. But if you
create your own links (e.g. using different profiles) then do not forget to set it.
Example:
7za a Hungary_2009_05_08_v70.7z Hungary_2009_05_08_v70.sct Hungary_2009_05_08_v70.ese

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Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles
The SCT and the ESE file name MUST be _.SCT/ESE. No other
file names are accepted as sector file.
You can define as many files to be put to the 7z archive as you like. The SCT is a MUST, the ESE is recommended.
After that you can put any additional files (like ESE or PRF files) if you need. They will be extracted to the client
machine but will not be used automatically. Only the SCT/ESE pair upgrade is programmed.
Previous: Euroscope:Voice Hardware Test And Setup Actual: Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles Next: Euroscope:Voice ATIS

Euroscope:Voice ATIS
Previous: Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles Actual: Euroscope:Voice ATIS Next: Euroscope:Voice Alias

Voice ATIS
Voice ATIS makes it possible for the pilot to listen to the actual information of the departure or arrival airport also
on voice rather than just reading it in few lines they used to receive when tuning in to a controller's frequency. This is
a major step to bring the simulation closer to real life. EuroScope is supporting this feature from the beginning.
To enable a second voice channel connection that can be tuned by pilots you need a second VATSIM connection
with its primary frequency set. Before setting up a voice ATIS station, make sure to read the relevant part of
VATSIM's Code of Conduct [1] or see the Member Policy change about duplicate connections at VATSIM forum [2].
This second connection is rather restricted. You can not specify your callsign freely. It is required to have _ATIS (eg. LHBP_ATIS ). Because of that restriction you can not define the whole callsign only the
airport code you are serving with voice ATIS. The _ATIS postfix will be added automatically by EuroScope. When
you select LHBP as the ATIS airport then your second VATSIM connection callsign will be LHBP_ATIS. There is
no way to alter this callsign and it is also required that the selected airport be defined in you sectorfile. When you
make a secondary ATIS connection you will probably see yourself back in the controller list as *_ATIS.
To set the primary frequency of the secondary connection go to the Euroscope:Voice Communication Setup dialog
and select the appropriate definition as ATIS frequency. It will define the primary frequency and the voice server
plus channel. There is one more restriction: the channel name must be the same as you secondary callsign. So if you
are going to serve LHBP with voice ATIS then be sure to define a connection that has LHBP_ATIS as channel
name. As in the primary connection by selecting the ATIS frequency and voice server you are not yet connected.
You should enable voice receive and transfer to the voice server. That makes you connected and also starts the voice
transfer when necessary. Do not be afraid of receiving voice from the channel it is never connected to your speaker
and will not disturb you.

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Euroscope:Voice ATIS

Common Setup

All the files necessary for the ATIS playback should be placed into one directory. At the top of the dialog box you
should specify the descriptor file. This file contains all the information about the records you have and also defines
the folder to be used. If you start the system at the first time it is possible that you receive the error message that the
atis descriptor file can not be opened. In this case create an empty folder and create the descriptor file there.
The voice atis setup is an exemption to the not saving anything rule. Any click in this dialog, any change in any data
will be saved immediately to the descriptor file.
The commonly usable controls:
• Browse - the descriptor file
This button opens a file create dialog box to specify a new folder and descriptor file. As normally you will
create new descriptor file this is a create file dialog. And so it will warn you to avoid file overwrite if you
select an existing file but it will open and read the content instead.
• Records list
The top list contains your records. The amount of records you need depends on the way you would like to use
the voice atis. When you select an item in the list the record content and the file name will be copied to the edit
boxes below where you can overwrite them.
• Record content edit
It is a free text that describes the content of your record. It is up to you what you write here but in some cases
it will be part of your text atis.
• File name edit
The name of the file to save the recorded voice. If the file extension is .wav then it will not be modified,
otherwise a .atis extension will be appended automatically.
• New button

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Euroscope:Voice ATIS
If you press this button a new record description will be added to the list. Both the record content and the file
name should not be empty to create a new item. It is not necessary for the record content to be unique, but file
name should not be repeated.
• Delete button
It simply deletes the selected item from the records list. It also deletes the file associated.
• Modify button
It changes the selected item in the record list by the content of the edit boxes.
• Start recording/Stop recording button
When you have an item selected in the record list, just press the Start recording button to record the message
or part of it. When the recording is in progress then the title of the button changes to Stop recording. To stop
the recording press it again. If the dialog is reopened and the record file exists then this button is disable to
avoid accidental overwrite of you records. In this case press the Unlock to enable rerecording.
• Unlock button
This button is used to enable rerecording of files. See the previous button description.
• METAR station edit
Here you can ask for a METAR of a station. Type the station name here.
• Connect ATIS button
This is a new button here in this dialog. Originally it was on the Connect Dialog but we found it much more
convenient to to all voice ATIS related work here in this form. Therefore this button is used to make your
secondary VATSIM connection to serve as Voice ATIS controller. The button is enabled only in case you
have a live, direct connection to VATSIM. The ATIS airport in fromt will be used for the callsign.
• Disconnect ATIS button
Use it to disconnect the ATIS controller. It is available only when you are connected.
• ATIS connect status
Just next to the Disconnect ATIS button there is a status field. It shows the actulal status of the voice ATIS
connection.
• Get METAR button
This button gets the METAR of the selected station. If it is the first time you use it then nothing will happen
when you press it as it may take some seconds to receive the information back from the servers. So press i
again in some seconds.
• Current ATIS info and + and - buttons
The current ATIS letter is displayed in the toolbar of the main window. By pressing th + and - buttons you can
change it. These buttons are also scan the Text ATIS and multiple record ATIS and if the current atis letter is
found there in a separated place (separated means space-letter-space) then it will be replaced by the new letter.
• Stop ATIS playback
It stops the current ATIS playback.
• Listen playback check-box
If you check this box the the actual playback is sent to the secondary output. In this way you can check what is
sent to the voice server.

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Euroscope:Voice ATIS

Voice ATIS Playback Modes
Before you start providing the voice ATIS you should decide which of the two methods you would like to use: single
or multiple record playback modes. That makes completely different how you can/should use the dialog. Therefore
there will be two descriptions even some buttons can be used for the same purpose.

Single Record Playback Mode
This mode is the easier, more simple way to provide the voice atis. In this mode you simply record your atis message
into a file and EuroScope plays it back in a n endless loop.
A typical content of a single record playback mode looks like this:

In the top side list box you may have several records, but in this case only one ATIS record is necessary. Just define
a record by providing the description and the filename. Press the New button (if the list is empty) to register a new
record. Then press the Start recording button, tell your ATIS message. When ready press the Stop recording and
press Start single record playback to play your message in an endless loop. That is all. If you would like to change
the message just press again the Start recording and tell your new message. It is not necessary to stop the playback
before you record your new message. It can be done parallel. When you have the new message, stop the playback by
pressing the Stop ATIS playback and start your new message play.

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Euroscope:Voice ATIS

Special controls
• Start single record playback button
It starts playing back the selected record in an endless loop.
• Text ATIS and multiple record ATIS edit
In this mode this edit box is "just" for a Text ATIS. Simply type your ATIS message and it will be sent to the
pilot who asks for it.

Multiple Record Playback Mode
I found that recording a complete atis message may take 20-30 seconds if you can do it at once without any error. At
peak times when you are alone in your sector you do not have so much time at all. Therefore a new way of atis
presentation was invented where the atis message is built up from prerecorded pieces. It might sound a little bit more
complicated at the beginning, but when it becomes a routine it requires less time and more importantly less silence in
the surrounding to setup your atis.

To be able to use this mode, first you should record all the possible pieces. You can do it in the same way as you
record the single records. You should however remember that concatenating records recorded here in this dialog is
not smooth enough. There will be too much silence between the pieces. To avoid that, EuroScope can handle WAVE
files. The best way is to record and trim your message parts in an external WAVE editor. There you can make more
precise trimmings. Then save and register the files in the record list. Do not forget to add the .wav extension to avoid
the automatic extension assignment. When using wave files the concatenation is far smoother and the result is really
close to a single record playback. Important: At this moment only 7350 Hz sample rate 16 bits signed mono PCM
files are accepted by EuroScope (do not ask why). It is not a big thing to convert the records to this format using any
wave editor.
Once you have all the recorded pieces you need, you can start building up your complete message from these. To
copy a recorded item just select it and press the Insert Item button or press ENTER. That will copy the record

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Euroscope:Voice ATIS
content string to the Text ATIS and multiple record ATIS edit box and places it between [] squared brackets. If you
press the ENTER it will move the focus to the editor allowing you to edit the message immediately. You can copy as
many items from the records as you wish. To go back to the list just press the TAB key. When you are back in the
list you can start typing the record content and the item will be selected.
You can also enter free text to the edit box that will be compiled letter by letter. When you press the Start multiple
record playback EuroScope gets the content of the edit field. First it extracts and replaces all function calls. In this
way you can enter free texts like $altim(LHBP) and before playback it will be changed to the actual value. Then
EuroScope extracts the pieces from the string. When a piece in [] squared brackets are found then the part will be
searched in the record content fields of the record list. If one matches then the recorded file will be concatenated to
the ATIS message.
If there is a number between {} brackets then EuroScope will tell this number not by digits but a well formed
number. Eg. {1500} will result like [1][thousand][and][5][hundred]. To be able to add all possible numbers
EuroScope requires the following prerecorded files:
•
•
•
•

Numbers from 0 to 19 - [0], [1], ... [10], [11], ... [18], [19].
The ten numbers - [20], [30], ... [80], [90].
Hundred and thousand - [hundred], [thousand].
and - [and].

If the next part is not between [] nor {} brackets then it will be compiled letter by letter. Every letter will be searched
in the record content and the matching record file will be concatenated. Therefore it is highly recommended to have
record for every letter and every number. Finally the created file starts playing back in an endless loop.
As the content of the edit box is compiled just when pressing the button you are free to edit not only the free text
parts but the [] bracketed parts too. But be careful to provide a string that matches one of the records. If not you may
receive several error messages like: "No matching record item".
On the other hand the content of the Text ATIS and multiple record ATIS will be used as text ATIS message (just
the []s and {}s will be eliminated from it). In this way in one editor you can build you voice and text ATIS in one
single step.

The special controls once again
• Insert Item button
It copies the selected record item into the editor. It will be placed to the actual cursor position. If there is a
selection then it will be deleted.
• Start multiple record playback button
It examines the content of the edit box, concatenates the voice files and also starts the endless loop playback.

External ATIS Interpreter
A really new innovation in the voice ATIS is that EuroScope enables external ATIS interpreter tools to be used. To
use such a tool you should specify a well parameterized URL that will be called from EuroScope. The URL should
be entered to the ATIS maker URL filed. Here you can use all the functions, aliases to extract information from the
system necessary for the ATIS. We specifically added new functions and aliases for the ATIS maker:
• $atisairport - The ICAO code of the airport you are serving with voice ATIS. Actually the content of the ATIS
airport edit filed.
• $arrrwy() - This function lists all the runway names separated by commas that are flagged as active
for arrivel in the Active Airports Runways.
• $deprwy() - The same for the departure airports.

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Euroscope:Voice ATIS
• $metar() - The long METAR of the selected airport.
• $atiscode - The current ATIS info set above.

The controls to be used
• ATIS maker URL edit
As said above you can enter the full parameterized URL to here. It will be saved along your settings.
• Extracted URL edit
It is just a debugging tool. When you press the Test URL button then EuroScope extracts the aliases and
functions from the base URL. The result will be shown here in a worm it is sent to the Internet. In this way you
can check if all the parameters are correct and how to fix invalid calls, missing parameters.
• Test URL button
When you press this button the original URL is extracted and the result is sent to the Internet. When
EuroScope receives the answer it is copied back to the Text ATIS and multiple record ATIS edit control.
There you have the chance to test or modify before it goes to the voice channel. This button will not start the
playback.
• Automatically generate new ATIS using the URL check box
If you check this box and a new METAR for the ATIS airport arrives to EuroScope, then it automatically stops
the current playback, increases the ATIS letter by one, sends the URL with the new METAR data to the
external interpreter, fills the result to the Text ATIS and multiple record ATIS and immediately start the
multiple playback. If you still has all the necessary prerecorded pieces then all works automatically without
any touch of a control.
By the time this documentation was created there are two external tool that can be used:
• The VACCHUN interpreter - It is built by Attila Ábrahám. You can find a complete set of wave files and also a
complete reference manual in the atis_demo folder of your EuroScope installation. Of course the wave files are
limited to LHBP only, but you are free to rerecord them to your area.
• UNIAtis by Sami Ylismäki - This is a really configurable ATIS interpreter. Currently it supports full METAR
decoding with the exception of remarks and every field can be customized to support a wide variety of formats. It
includes support for semi-freely customized fields in the ATIS. If you would like to join him and make your own
area specification contact him via the forum of UNIAtis at http://www.uniatis.net/.
Previous: Euroscope:Download Sectorfiles Actual: Euroscope:Voice ATIS Next: Euroscope:Voice Alias

Referenzen
[1] http:/ / www. vatsim. net/ library/ codeofconduct. pdf
[2] http:/ / forums. vatsim. net/ viewtopic. php?t=19500

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Euroscope:Voice Alias

Euroscope:Voice Alias
Previous: Euroscope:Voice ATIS Actual: Euroscope:Voice Alias Next: Euroscope:Connection Features

How to control text only aircrafts using voice recognition in
EuroScope
About voice aliases
It is a quite long problem how to control text only aircrafts. There are aliases you can use for most cases, EuroScope
also offers the automatic text message generators. But a text only aircraft still needs more time to communicate with.
And probably the most difficult thing is that other planes are not aware that you are typing your text message and the
radio channel is silent just because of that and not because you are just waiting for a call.
The would-be solution is here for a longer period of time. It would solve our problem if we had a speech recognition
engine. Then we could speak to the text only aircrafts and then send the recognized message as chat. Unfortunately
as I found the current speech recognition technology is a little bit far to be reliable and precise for doing that. They
are able to recognize many words, but there are too many mistakes, misinterpretations. As I tested I was never be
able to reach more than 70-80 % of successfully recognized words. That is far less then suitable for our purpose. I
also found that some words (e.g. zero) I was simply unable to teach to be recognized. Without that we can not
control.
To achieve a better and usable level of recognition we have to reduce the possible words and sentences that the
program is to recognized. If we do this then even if some words are missed or misrecognized the final result would
be what we want to send to the pilot. For that I created a simply grammar (with regular expressions). You can define
words, one-ofs, repeats, sequences and (probably the most usable) sounds like statements. From these blocks you
have to create sentences. These sentences are the real aliases. EuroScope will try to understand only these sentences
and nothing more. The output text message can be only one of the sentences you defined.

The grammar file structure
As nearly everything in the EuroScope environment the grammar files are also simply text files. You can edit them
by a notepad. Every line is compiled on his own and contains a complete description.

The words
The basic elements of the voice alias are the words. You have to define all words you would like to use in your
aliases. It is also a help for the voice recognition engine that only these words are to be recognized. No word that is
not defined here will be ever recognized.
There are two word definitions. The first is the simple:
WORD:approach
WORD:runway
WORD:squawk
WORD:land
WORD:takeoff
WORD:taxi
These lines are simply word definitions.

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Euroscope:Voice Alias
The second version is the word with replacement:
WORD:zero:0
WORD:one:1
WORD:two:2
WORD:alpha:A
WORD:bravo:B
WORD:charlie:C
WORD:thousand:000
WORD:hundred:00
In the second case if the engine recognizes the word it will enter the replacement string to the message. Here you
also can play with the spaces. When you have replacement string then no spaces are added around. On the other hand
if no replacement then there will be spaces around (multiple spaces are ignored later).
In this way "victor echo bravo oscar sierra" will be converted to "VEBOS", "squawk two six two two" is converted
to "squawk 2622". Also "one thousand" is "1000", "five hundred" is "500". There is only one extra tool inside the
compiler that "seven thousand five hundred" is converted to "7500" when the word "hundred" is recognized.
WORD:direct: proceed direct :
I also found that I was unable to make the "proceed" word to be recognized by the engine. So I added the "direct"
word to be changed to "proceed direct". It is just a trick.

The sounds like statements
There were words that were just unrecognizable by the engine. When I spoke them the engine found another word
from the list. To be able to cope with these regular misrecognitions you can use the sounds like statements. Using
that if the misrecognized word matches the regular expression then the good one will be used instead.
In the statement the first word is the one you are saying and you want to be recognized. While the second word is the
one the speech recognition engine understood. Only words defined before can be used in both places.
There are common sounds like words:
SOUNDS:four:for
SOUNDS:two:to
SOUNDS:descend:descent
SOUNDS:descent:descend
These can not be recognized without the rules at all. Then there are specific to the speaker:
SOUNDS:via:zero
SOUNDS:victor:zero
SOUNDS:gate:eight
Just try your words and if you receive another word regularly add a sounds like statement.

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Euroscope:Voice Alias

Regular expressions
From now on I am talking about expressions not only words. An expression can be a word or an element defined by
one of the statements below. There are some simply general rules:
• In an expression only words and elements that are defined in advance can be used. So there is no way for
recursion (that avoids some endless loop).
• All names must be globally unique (you can not have same name expressions or words).

The one of statements
It is part of a regular expressions definition. Using this statement you can define an element that can be exactly one
of the listed expressions. The first string is the name of the expression while the next ones are the options.
ONEOF:number:zero:one:two:three:four:five:six:seven:eight:nine
Here I defined the "number" expression that can be any of the "one", "two" … "nine".
ONEOF:direction:left:right
When turning we can add the “direction” expression and then it can be "left" or "right"

The repeat statements
When you need the same type of element zero, one or more times then create a repeated expression. You can use it
for optional elements with minimum 0 maximum 1 occurrence. The first string is the name of the expression
followed by the minimum and the maximum occurrence.
REPEAT:two_numbers:number:2:2
REPEAT:three_numbers:number:3:3
REPEAT:four_numbers:number:4:4
REPEAT:optional_direction:direction:0:1
In these examples the "three_number" is good for heading, the "four_numbers" are good for squawk for example.
The "optional_direction" can be used as optional runway designator.

The sequence statements
To concatenate some expressions into one you can use the sequence statement. It is as simply as it looks like. The
first string is the name of the expression while the rest is the expressions to be used.
SEQUENCE:qnh_data:by:QNH:four_numbers
SEQUENCE:badov:bravo:alpha:delta:oscar:victor
SEQUENCE:wind_normal:wind:three_numbers:at:two_numbers:knots:optional_gusting

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Euroscope:Voice Alias

The sentences
The sentences are the real voice aliases. From the technical part they are just nameless sequences. The alias matcher
code gets all the so far spoken words and selects the sentence that matches the best.

How to use it
Microsoft Speech Recognition engine
First of all you need to install the speech recognition engine. If you are using Windows XP, download the Speech
SDK
5.1
from
http:/
/
www.
microsoft.
com/
downloads/
details.
aspx?FamilyID=5e86ec97-40a7-453f-b0ee-6583171b4530& displaylang=en and install. You need the
SpeechSDK51.exe (ca. 70 MB). If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, the integrated speech recognition
should be sufficient.

EuroScope setup
In EuroScope open the voice setup dialog. In the bottom you can find the Voice Alias grammar. Put your grammar
file name here and press the Enable voice alias recognition check box. You may have the message dialog popping up
with all the problems in your grammar file. Fix and reload it again. You do not have to leave EuroScope to change
the grammar.
If the grammar file is OK, you can press the Test grammar button and start talking the words immediately. Say all
the words, test if the engine recognizes well. Where are the problematic words? Try adding sounds like statements to
make it more stable. And of course test all your sentences again and again. Be patient. To build up a usable grammar
file needs some time to practice. You can test your grammar without speaking. Just edit the content of the source edit
box to see what sentence is recognized (see the next chapter about it).

Use it in EuroScope
When the voice alias recognition is enabled you can use it in the following way:
• Press the primary PTT button. I expect to say the callsign of the text aircraft (I do suggest trying to recognize it).
• Then while the primary PTT is down, press the secondary PTT simultaneously. That will switch on the
recognition engine (and will not connect the secondary devices to the mike). When enabled, the bottom line
(prompt and message line) is hidden and two new read-write edit boxes are shown there. They are both empty.
• When you are talking the recognized words are put to the first edit box each after the other with space separated.
In the right place you can see the so far best matching alias. The matched words are shown without any sign, the
sounds like matches are flagged by {} around, while the non matches are flagged by [].
• When ready you can release the secondary PTT button. You can go and manually edit any of the edit boxes. If
you change the input edit, then for every keystroke the content is analyzed for a better sentence match. Here you
can use the replacement strings too (e.g. press just 2 instead of two, or A instead of alpha).
• If the result is OK, the press ENTER to copy the result to the command line. Or if you press the secondary PTT
again (when the result edit box is not empty) then the content is copied to the command editor and a new sentence
is going to be recognized. This can be used when multiple sentences are to be sent to the plane.
• Send the text message in the original normal way to the plane.

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Euroscope:Voice Alias

The ESGrammar.txt
I packed an ESGrammar.txt file to the setup (Settings folder). It works for me well, but I guess you need to adopt the
file to your environment.
I hope it will make some more fun when controlling text only planes.
Previous: Euroscope:Voice ATIS Actual: Euroscope:Voice Alias Next: Euroscope:Connection Features

Euroscope:Connection Features
Previous: Euroscope:Voice Alias Actual: Euroscope:Connection Features Next: Euroscope:Going Into Details

Connection Features
There are just a few things to be set up to assure a successful connection to the network without any problem.
However, if you miss them, you will not be able to use all the features of EuroScope.
• Outgoing connection - When you are connecting directly to the VATSIM or any simulated session hosted by
EuroScope you will go out on port 6809. You should allow outgoing connection on this port to reach external
servers.
• Built-in Simulator - When you are hosting a simulator session then EuroScope binds the 6809 and waits for
incoming connections. In that case you should open this port to enable incoming calls. When you are behind a
router you should forward this port to your workstation. Note: The tower view feature uses this port too. If you
are to run the Flight Simulator on another machine you need to open this port.
• Ground to Air voice communication - When you are joining to a voice room the connection is made via UDP port
3291. This port should be opened for outgoing connections. When you are accepting landline voice calls you will
use this port as well.
• Ground to Ground voice communication - When you initiate a landline voice call and the remote controller
accepts it then the remote computer will try to reach your computer UDP port. Therefore to be able to initiate
landline calls you should open UDP port 3291 for incoming requests. When you are behind a router you should
forward this port to your workstation.
• Proxy server - Normally you use the proxy server for internal communication only. That does not need additional
settings. But if you would like to allow controller from an external machine to be connected open the port 6810
for incoming requests. When you are behind a router you should forward this port to your workstation.
• Proxy client - Once again normally you use it internally and you do not need additional settings. But if you would
like to join to an external proxy server open the port 6810 for outgoing requests.
• HTTP requests - Several features are using standard HTPP requests (eg. VATSIM servers, statistics data,
sectorfile downloads, ASE repository) - They need port 80 to be open for outgoing requests. Normally it should
work if you have a proxy server. But if the proxy needs an authentication EuroScope will fail so far (or it needs a
third party SW that makes it invisible for the clients).

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Euroscope:Connection Features

Previous: Euroscope:Voice Alias Actual: Euroscope:Connection Features Next: Euroscope:Going Into Details

Euroscope:Going Into Details
Previous: Euroscope:Connection Features Actual: Euroscope:Going Into Details Next: Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles

Multiple Sectorfile Usage
The first public release 2.9a was unable to load more than one sectorfile at a time. An improvement is that in the new
release any number of sectorfiles can be loaded. But as several things in EuroScope depends on the sectorfile it is
extremely important to understand which file is used for what. It is described in the Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles
page.

Professional Radar Simulation
In the Euroscope:Professional Radar Simulation section you can read about how radar antennas, the non radar holes
are simulated. How you can correlate/uncorrelate radar positions with flight plans. How you can use the flight plan
tracks for radar invisible planes.

Sectors And Aircraft States
Before learning about how the software functions work, some basic principles must be understood. One of
EuroScope's main features is how it handles the sectors you are controlling and how the aircrafts are classified by
your sectors. All this is described in the Euroscope:Sectors And Aircraft States page.
Previous: Euroscope:Connection Features Actual: Euroscope:Going Into Details Next: Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles

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Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles

48

Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles
Previous: Euroscope:Going Into Details Actual: Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles Next: Euroscope:Sectors And Aircraft States

Multiple Sectorfiles
In the first public release v2.9a only one sectorfile was allowed to be loaded into one session. The cause of this
restriction was that the sectorfile itself and more the extension contains information that is global for a session. Such
information is the sector hierarchy and the automatic sector assignment. It would look quite awful if multiple screens
powered by different sectorfiles show completely different areas you are controlling and different active handoff
areas to the neighbor controllers.

Active Sectorfile
Actually the above statement is still true, we can have only one sectorfile that is used to extract these data. In this
way even it is allowed to load several sectorfiles there is one among them that is used more than the others. This is
the so called Active Sectorfile. When you start EuroScope it loads the last time active sectorfile before loading any
ASR files. If there is no information about the last active file or it does not exist the you will be prompted for the
sectorfile. Whenever you load a new sectorfile using the Open SCT/Load sectorfile command it becomes the active
immediately. One of the most visible information used from the sectorfile is the projection center point. This point is
where the display of the latitude/longitude coordinates are to most precise. You can easily notice that when you load
a new sectorfile the projection parameters of your screen might be changed and your active radar screen is stretched.
When you load a sectorfile then all already loaded ASR files referencing this sectorfile will be refreshed
automatically. But the ones not referencing it will not be changed at all. Therefore if you are loading a sectorfile that
is not referenced by the currently visible ASR then it is quite normal that you notice no change in the display at all.

ASR Files Are Connected To Sectorfiles
One change from 2.9a is that the ASR file itself holds a reference to the sectorfile (see the Euroscope:Where My
Settings Are Saved page for more about it). When you first time load an ASR file that was created by 2.9a and
therefore does not have the sectorfile reference will be connected to the active sectorfile automatically. When you
close the ASR you will be prompted to save this reference. When you load an ASR file it looks for the referenced
sectorfile. If the sectorfile is loaded then nothing will happen, it will use the already loaded information. If the
sectorfile is not loaded then EuroScope will load it automatically. After the successful load you will be prompted if
you wish to use the newly loaded sectorfile as active:
When you load an ASR that references to a sectorfile that does not
exist EuroScope will prompt you if you would like to use the active
sectorfile or if you would like to browse for the file manually:

Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles

49
If you accept then the active sectorfile will be associated with the ASR.
If you refuse you have to browse and locate the sectorfile to be used
with the ASR.

Actually there is no function in EuroScope that allows you to change
the sectorfile reference of an ASR (except the situation if the file does
not exists). If you need to modify it, delete the reference using a
notepad, or rename the referenced sectorfile, then you will be prompted.
Previous: Euroscope:Going Into Details Actual: Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles Next: Euroscope:Sectors And Aircraft States

Euroscope:Sectors And Aircraft States
Previous: Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles Actual: Euroscope:Sectors And Aircraft States Next: Euroscope:Professional Radar Simulation

Sectors
What is a sector? A sector is a piece of airspace with a polygon boundary as lateral limits and with defined bottom
and top altitudes/levels as vertical limits. The airspace controlled by the controller is his/her sector. (e.g. LHBP_APP
sector covers the Budapest TMA, LHCC_CTR covers all Hungarian airspace, or after a division, LHCC_E_CTR can
cover the Eastern part of Hungary)
NEW in Euroscope: An important feature of Euroscope is that it can make the airspace you are controlling visually
appear, and on top of that, since it "knows" the vertical and horizontal limits of the airspace you own, it can handle
aircrafts differently. Suppose you log in to control the Netherlands as EHAA_CTR, the territory between the North
Sea to the German and Belgian borders (practically the "FIR") lights up. Further suppose that heavy traffic makes it
necessary to split up this sector and your colleague comes online as EHAA_W_CTR to deal with the London
inbounds in the Western part, that part of your earlier "lit-up" will "go blank", since it is not owned by you anymore.
Another nice example is controlling multiple-sector airspaces, like the VATSIM Eurocontrol positions: with
EuroScope the controller's work becomes much easier - it will be discussed below in details.
You may ask, how does Euroscope know all this? The programming is surely very sophisticated, but the division and
handling of sectors is always the competency of VACCs and controllers. So once they are agreed on (and most
VACCs have been smartly using airspaces), it has to be loaded to the software so that it knows all the vertical and
horizontal sector information. Since other VATSIM controller clients did not have this airspace handling capacity,
technically these sector definitions are put in a separate ESE file. (So EuroScope uses two files to determine your
sector: (1) the earlier used SCT files and (2) the new ESE files.) This may sound complicated, but don't get scared: it
is a one-time issue (or only at AIRAC changes), and in fact it makes life easier! The philosophy of EuroScope is to
integrate all airspace information of a VACC into one SCT and ESE file; if you switch controlled sector in your
VACC, a different airspace is lit up, and you don't have to reload SCT files! Therefore VACCs are expected to take
care of updating the sector information so that controllers can use them easily. The complete definition can be found
in the Airspace section of the Euroscope:ESE Files Description page. Please, consult it how you can define your
sectors.
You can define any number of sectors for one sectorfile. Each sector may have a hierarchy list that defines which
controller will control that individual sector. In this way every logged in controller will be assigned by one or more
sectors to be worked within. These are completely dynamic in EuroScope. When another controller logs in who has
higher priority for a sector, it will be reassigned immediately. On the other way a leaving controller's sectors may be

Euroscope:Sectors And Aircraft States
inherited by the online ones. The hierarchy makes it possible to define the sector e.g. for a tower with the hierarchy
list that assigns the sector first to the tower controller, then to the appropriate approach and finally the control. In this
way if tower is online the sector belongs to him even if approach is online. But if tower controller quits the sector
will be assigned to the approach immediately.
The sectors owned by you and not owned by you are displayed with different background colors. That way it is
really easy to notice where you are controlling. This feature probably helps best for the Euro Control position
controllers, who can see immediately when a FIR controller come online or leaves the system.
In this picture I am controlling the Eurocontrol East sectors from Poland to Bulgaria. No other controller is online
and the whole area belongs to me.

Here you see that Praha came online. Therefore his FIR no longer belongs to me. Its color is changed. And you also
can notice the red line indicating an active handoff area where I should pass the aircraft tracking by me to the next
controller.

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We have now one more controller. Wien Radar is online. It does not change my sectors as Austria does not belong to
Eurocontrol East. But the red line indicating the active handoff area is visible.

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Flight Plan Extraction
We can say that EuroScope puts flight plan analysis into a new level. It incorporates the FSNavigator database and
uses all point and airway definition information to decide the exact route an aircraft will follow. (This requires pilots
to file valid flight plans (WAYPOINT (AIRWAY) WAYPOINT, e.g. TORNO Y56 GIGOR for a LHBP-LOWW
flight. EuroScope still can handles "slightly invalid" routings, but on the other hand we must see that since the route
section of the flight plan is a free text data, it is simply impossible for a software to understand all that a pilot have
filed if it is not a validated flightplan. That way the extraction of the route data works is good for 90% of the flight
plans - but there are still ones that are completely misunderstood. In these cases the controller can easily edit the
routings)
On top of the horizontal route data EuroScope extends it with a vertical profile. For that all the coordination point
(see again in the Euroscope:ESE Files Description page) descriptions are used and also a rough climb and descend
rate calculator is implemented. In this way a complete 3-dimensional flight route is calculated for each known
aircraft.
In this picture you can see that just from fixes and airway names the whole flight plan will be extracted point by
point.

It could happen that you or another controller gives a shortcut to a pilot. It can be very easily set through the TAG.
Once the waypoint is defined the extracted route is also changed (so does the distance-to-go calculation).

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Aircraft States
Now, as we have this complete three dimensional flight route estimations, EuroScope can compare them with the
sector definitions. The result of this comparison is that EuroScope is able to classify the aircrafts to the following
categories:
• Non concerned - an aircraft that is not inside any of your sectors and (based on the flight plan) will never ever
enter there. Basically you will never control that aircraft.
This picture is really interesting. I am controlling Budapest Radar, Budapest approach is also online and
DLH3446 is coming to LHBP. But as the coordinated flight level at Budapest TMA entry point (RUTOL) is
FL190 and approach is controlling up to FL195 this aircraft never enters to my sector at all just to approach.

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• Notified - an aircraft that is still far away but if follows the flight plan route will enter to your sector. Note that
approach has left, therefore I am controlling that sector too.

• Coordinated - in real world this is a very important state indicates that the neighbour controllers are agreed how
the AC will be handed off. As there are no such tools in VATSIM all Notified aircraft become Coordinated 15
minutes prior entering your sector.

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• Transfer to me initiated - another controller initiated a handoff to me.

• Assumed - you are controlling the aircraft. Note the sector indicator already indicating that the next controller I
will handoff the aircraft will be Ferihegy Tower (abbreviation used is FT ).

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• As the aircraft is within 3 minutes time to the next controller the sector indicator automatically changes to display
the next controller frequency.

• Transfer from me initiated - when I initiated a handoff to the next controller.

• Redundant - when the aircraft is still inside your sector but the next controller is already tracking it.

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• Non concerned - just to close the sequence, as the aircraft leaves your sector and will not come back its state
changes to Non concerned again.
Image is to be created.

Radar Connection States
With v3.1, some new radar states for the aircraft's target symbol have been introduced, mainly related to the new
Euroscope:Professional Radar Simulation. All radar targets can be freely customized using the
Euroscope:Symbology Settings dialog. The available standard radar targets are:
• squawk stand-by - If an aircraft's transponder is on standby, there is only a small cross at the aircraft position.

• primary radar only - If you are receiving only a primary radar response of an aircraft, its position is indicated by a
larger cross (plus).

• Mode A/C secondary radar only - If an aircraft is squawking C (VATSIM mode) and you are receiving only a
secondary radar response, the aircraft's position is indicated by an X.

• Mode S secondary radar only - If an aircraft is squawking C (VATSIM mode), the aircraft is identified as being
equipped with a S transponder by the equipment code and you are receiving only a secondary radar response, the
aircraft's position is indicated by a diamond.

• Primary radar + mode A/C secondary radar - If an aircraft is squawking C (VATSIM mode) and you are receiving
the primary and the secondary radar response, the aircraft's position is indicated by a cube.

• Primary radar + mode S secondary radar - If an aircraft is squawking C (VATSIM mode), the aircraft is identified
as being equipped with a S transponder by the equipment code and you are receiving primary and the secondary
radar response, the aircraft's position is indicated by a circle.

• Primary radar + mode A/C secondary radar - Squawk Ident - If a mode C aircraft is squawking squawking IDENT
then this special "4-legged" icon with text saying: SPI (Special Position Identification) indicates its position.

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• Primary radar + mode S secondary radar - Squawk Ident - If a mode S aircraft is squawking squawking IDENT
then this special "4-legged" icon with text saying: SPI (Special Position Identification) indicates its position.

• Flightplan track - the flightplan track's calculated positions are indicated by a triangle.

• Coasting - When there is no position update for 30 seconds, the target of the aircraft changes to #.

• History dot - The target's history trail is depicted by dots.

Previous: Euroscope:Multiple Sectorfiles Actual: Euroscope:Sectors And Aircraft States Next: Euroscope:Professional Radar Simulation

Euroscope:Professional Radar Simulation
Previous: Euroscope:Sectors And Aircraft States Actual: Euroscope:Professional Radar Simulation Next: Euroscope:Radar Screen

Professional radar simulation in EuroScope
Concepts
The main idea is to forget some data we receive from the VATSIM servers and to simulate how the radar stations
receive back data from the planes and how these data is correlated to the flightplans.
Basic elements of the simulation:
• Radar stations: There is a new section in the ESE file. You can define where radar stations are exactly positioned.
You can define the range where primary and secondary responses are visible for the radar. Also a linear slope can
be added to reduce the floor of the radar visibility in longer distances.
• As Hungary is one of the testing areas of the S-mode receivers the S-mode and A+C-mode transponders are
different in the simulation. They may be shown differently on the radar, but you can also disable S-mode if it is
not used in your area. S-mode transponders send more data than just the squawk code, therefore the correlation is
easier.
• Radar holes: You can also define radar hole areas, where no radar responses can be seen (even inside the range).
Those can for example simulate canyons and other areas with topographic conditions that make the receipt of
radar responses impossible.
• Complete separation of the radar response positions and the flight plans. They are maintained separately and will
be correlated only when certain criteria is fulfilled. You can manually correlate and uncorrelate the radar positions
and the flight plan tracks.
• Flight Plan tracks: All known flight plans are moved (just like statistical planes) if there are no correlated radar
positions. You can define estimates for uncorrelated flight plan tracks. That way they are moved back/forward
along their route.
There are already some improvements planned for future versions, so the current implementation is not what we
expect to be the final state of professional mode.

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How it is implemented
Enable/disable
It is not necessary to use the radar simulations. In the Euroscope:General Settings dialog you can configure several
aspects of the radar simulation:
• Correlation mode: With this setting you can define how the radar positions are correlated with the flight plans:
• Easy VATSIM: This is the old method used by older EuroScope versions and all other radar clients available.
In this case there is no way to uncorrelated the radar positions from the flight plan.
• A+C-mode: Only the squawk code is used for correlation. A radar position is correlated to a flight plan only in
case the pilot is squawking the assigned code (and the aircraft is within correlation distance to its flight plans
calculated position).
• S-mode: S-mode transponders send the callsign itself, so S-mode planes are correlated simply by matching the
callsign (but must be within correlation range), no matter what the pilot is squawking.
• Correlation distance: The distance between the radar position and the flight plan track for a successful correlation.
If the distance is bigger than that value, they will not be correlated even if callsigns or squawks match.
• S-mode transponders: As unfortunately there is no support for S-mode in VATSIM and most importantly in the
pilot clients, the only way to make a difference between the S and C mode transponders is to define what plane
capabilities are assumed to be S-mode. To do that, the equipment codes are used in the flight plan remark section.
Check the SB3/SB4 documentation about the codes. The default is “IEFGRWQ” that is nearly all RNAV capable
planes. Simply clear this box to disable S-mode simulations.
• Simulate radar coverage and outage: Check this to enable radar position simulation according to the data from the
ESE file.

Symbology dialog
This dialog is extended now. It contains an editor where you can draw your own symbols on the radar. Among others
there are several symbols for the aircraft positions:
• standby: It is used only in easy mode when you choose to show stand-by aircrafts, too.
• primary radar only: When a position is within the radar coverage area and the transponder is disabled.
• A+C mode secondary radar only: When the position is within the radar coverage area and it is too far out to
receive primary radar responses, but the transponder answers are detectable. When A+C-mode transponder
answer is received this symbol is used.
• S mode secondary radar only: Similar to the previous, but we receive an S-mode transponder response.
• primary and A+C mode secondary: When both, primary radar position is received along with a A+C-mode
transponder answer.
• primary and S mode secondary: Same as before, but we receive an S-mode transponder response.
• flight plan track: To display a position of an uncorrelated flight plan simulation.
• coasting: When no radar position (neither primary nor secondary) is received for 30 seconds up to 1 minute.
Whenever an aircraft is coasting within the last 10% of your visual range, after 1 minute the target is not deleted
but changed to be a flight plan track, which is used the very same way as all the other flight plan tracks
originating from statistical data.
• Ground aircraft: It is a new ground view, not related to the radar simulation.

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Display settings dialog
This dialog is also extended with a Simulation mode combo:
• Easy EuroScope mode: This is the original version. It works much more like the previous version of EuroScope.
The positions are always shown at the radar position and do not care if they are correlated with a FP or not.
• Professional radar: This is the real simulation mode. It can not be enabled if in the general settings you select
Easy EuroScope correlation mode. It displays:
• Flight plan tracks: for uncorrelated or no radar position aircrafts. This is used for the far away (statistical data)
traffic too.
• Primary only radar: Just TSSR and GS without any identification method.
• Secondary A+C or S mode: For secondary only positions.
• Primary and secondary: When both are received.
• Here there is no way to display stand-by aircrafts like it was possible before.
• Professional ground: This is a new funny radar screen. I tried to simulate what a controller can see from the tower.
Here the symbol is always put to the radar position and it is rotated to follow the aircraft heading. In the TAG you
can see the first three letter of the callsign (airline identifier – it can be visible from the painting) and the type of
the aircraft. If you enable S-mode simulations then the planes on the ground can show their callsign too. In this
mode you can not select anything on the screen. You must use the lists to manipulate the FP and the states.

TAGs
The list of the TAG types is extended:
• Untagged A+C-mode: This is the original untagged type. It is shown for primary + A+C-mode secondary radar
positions. If the position is not correlated to a flight plan, then you are unable to tag it up.
• Tagged: This is the original type, not too much change here.
• Detailed: Also no change.
• Primary only: The old Unidentified type. Used for primary only radar positions.
• Untagged S-mode: This is a new version of untagged type. It shows the callsign instead of the squawk code due to
the transponder answer.
• FP track: This is a third type of untagged type. When showing a plane just by using its FP estimation, we can
define some more information (like destination).
• Ground: To show the airline and the plane type.
• Ground with S-mode radar: To show the callsign with the plane type.
Whenever you select a TAG on the screen, the plane itself is selected. You can use the ASEL plane with many
functions. In the new version, when an unidentified TAG is selected (primary only or uncorrelated radar TAG) then
the plane itself is selected, but its data is not displayed. Nearly none of the functions will work with that kind of
ASEL. One important exception is the .contactme command. It is sent to unidentified planes, too.
In case of an unidentified radar TAG you can only see the untagged version. There is no way to tag it up. The flight
plan tracks can be tagged up, and even coordinated and be issued a or be accept as handoff. But it works only for
those flight plan tracks that have real data behind from VATSIM. The flight plans that are outside your range and are
only displayed from the statistical data can not be manipulated (even it is not easy to see the difference).

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The ESE file extension
There is a complete new section in the Euroscope:ESE Files Description: [RADAR].
In this section you can define the radar stations and radar holes.

Estimations
When there is no radar response and a plane is displayed by the flight plan track only, you may enter some
estimation when the plane will arrive to a certain waypoint. This is available as command line function, as TAG item
and in the flightplan dialog. The command itself is the following:
.est