VRC Documentation

The SELCAL Panel

VRC's SELCAL Panel is one of several "Tool Windows" available to you during a controlling session. To open the SELCAL Panel, choose "SELCAL Panel" from the "Tools" menu. Here's a screenshot of the SELCAL Panel:

The SELCAL panel allows you to quickly see which aircraft within range have specified a SELCAL (SELective CALling) code in their flight plan remarks. SELCAL is a system used mainly by oceanic controllers to get a pilot's attention during long overseas flights when the pilot may have turned his com radio down due to the noise commonly found on long-range radio frequencies. When the controller sends a SELCAL signal, using the code assigned to the aircraft he wants to reach, it sounds a chime within the cockpit, alerting the pilots to turn up the com radio and respond.

When VRC detects that a pilot has specified his SELCAL code in his flight plan remarks, his callsign and code are added to the list in the SELCAL Panel. The controller can then simply double-click on the entry to send a SELCAL signal to the pilot.

Note that just because an aircraft is in the list, doesn't mean the pilot is actually tuned to your frequency, which means he won't necessarily hear the SELCAL tone in his cockpit.

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