Transmit Modes
The Transmit Config section defines how your microphone behaves during calls and, depending on the selected mode, during radio transmissions.
Each transmission mode determines when your microphone is active and how it reacts to the assigned hotkey.
Opening Transmit Config​
The Transmit Config can be accessed from the settings page, by clicking the Transmit button.
Available Modes​
There are multiple transmission modes available in vacs, allowing you, to facilitate different hardware constellations.
Voice Activation​
Behavior during calls:
- The microphone remains unmuted.
- You can toggle the RADIO PRIO button to mute your microphone.
In this mode, your microphone is permanently active, unless it is manually muted using the RADIO PRIO button. This allows immediate speech transmission without pressing a key.
Voice activation may transmit unintended background noise if your microphone isn't muted manually.
While filtering of background noises is performed using this mode, the corresponding input-gate is very low, accordingly, background noises can be transmitted. Therefore, consider your microphone to be permanently unmuted.
Push-to-Talk (PTT)​
Behavior during calls:
- The microphone is muted by default.
- Press and hold the assigned key to unmute your microphone and to speak.
Audio is transmitted only while the corresponding key is pressed.
Push-to-Mute​
Behavior during calls:
- The microphone is unmuted by default.
- Press and hold the assigned key to mute.
This mode allows continuous transmission while providing the ability to temporarily mute when necessary.
Radio Integration​
This mode integrates vacs with external radio communication software (e.g., TrackAudio, Audio for VATSIM standalone client).
Behavior:
- When not in a call:
- Press and hold the assigned key to transmit on the radio.
- During a call (as soon as the connection is established)1:
- The assigned key behaves like a Push-to-Talk key within vacs, and does not transmit on the radio frequency.
- Toggling RADIO PRIO forces transmission on the radio frequency during a call.
This allows you to seamlessly communicate on the radio frequency and coordinate on vacs using only one button assignment.
For Radio Integration, the use of TrackAudio is recommended.
TrackAudio provides reliable radio transmission handling and seamless integration with vacs.
Configuration of Transmit Modes​
Depending on your chosen Transmission Mode, different settings are nessecary in the Transmit Config window.
Voice Activation​
If you decide to use Voice Activation no key-binding in the Mode Part (top part) of the Transmit Config dialog can be set.
The Radio Integration (lower part) of the Transmit Config dialog can be ignored.
Push-to-talk/Push-to-mute​
If you decide to use Push-to-talk or Push-to-mute, the relevant key has to be assigned in the Mode Part (top part) of the Transmit Config dialog. You can assign a key, by clicking into the field next to your selected transmission mode, and then pressing your desired button-assignment once. A key binding can be cleared by clicking the ✕ button next to the assignment field.
The Radio Integration (lower part) of the Transmit Config dialog can be ignored.
Radio Integration​
If you decide to use the Radio Integration option, you have to assign a push-to-talk key in the Mode Part (top part) of the Transmit Config dialog. You can assign a key, by clicking into the field next to your selected transmission mode, and then pressing your desired button-assignment once. This key will then act both as your Push-to-talk key on the Radio Frequency, and as your Push-to-talk key for coordination, if in a call, as described above. A key binding can be cleared by clicking the ✕ button next to the assignment field.
When using Radio Integration, the configured transmit key in vacs must not be assigned as Push-to-Talk in your radio/audio client (e.g., TrackAudio).
Assigning the same key in both applications can cause transmission conflicts, unintended behavior.
If you decide to use the Radio Integration option, the bottom part of the Transmit Config dialog, labelled Radio Integration also has to be configured correctly. This configuration is dependant on your choice of audio client:
- If you are using the Track Audio client select the corresponding option in the drop-down dialog of the Radio Integration part of the Transmit Config window. In normal cases, this suffices.
- In this case, no distinct push-to-talk key has to be assigned in the Track Audio client. To avoid conflicts, we recommend to remove all push-to-talk key assignments in your Track Audio client.
- If you are using the Audio for VATSIM standalone client select the corresponding action in the drop-down dialog of the Radio Integration part of the Transmit Config window.
- Using this option is slightly more complicated. A pseudo-push-to-talk2 key has to be assigned in the relevant field next to the drop-down-dialog, in which you selected your chosen client. Choose a key, which you do not use frequently while controlling.
- Set this pseudo-push-to-talk key as your push-to-talk key in the Audio for VATSIM standalone client.
When Radio Integration mode is selected, vacs must be running during every controlling session.
If vacs is not running, no radio transmissions will be triggered, and communication on radio frequencies will not be possible.