ATIS Hosting - VATATIS and vATIS

[VATSIM UK Operations]

Summary

The formerly used native ATIS system employed by VATSIM UK in EuroScope, uniATIS, has become over recent years increasingly unreliable and unsupported. This led us to explore other alternatives, and following a successful trial of VATATIS, it has now been rolled out to be used in uniATIS's place. The UK Controller Pack now employs VATATIS as EuroScope's native ATIS provider.

Meanwhile, vATIS has seen a rise in popularity, and to accomodate those controllers who prefer this option, vATIS profiles for both Area and Aerodrome controllers are now included with the UK Controller Pack, in the vATIS folder.

This post explains the pros and cons of each system and how to set up an ATIS using them on VATSIM.

 

VATATIS

Pros:

• Native to EuroScope (set up for you already).
• Server side ATIS letter synchronisation (all controllers at the same airport know the ATIS letter).
• Automatic online station detection (it will automatically know who to tell departing aircraft to contact).

Cons:

• Less scope for customisation than vATIS.

Usage

VATATIS is very similar to use to uniATIS, and should be set up in the pack ready-to-go. The main difference is that due to the server-side synchronisation of the ATIS letter, you will need to bring your EuroScope ATIS letter into line with VATATIS's when first connecting it.

These are the steps to connect using vatATIS (an active connection to VATSIM is required):

1. Select the active runway in use using the EuroScope runway selection dialog.
2. Click the approriate '-' in the top bar to open the ATIS Setup Dialog (There are 4 - one for each ATIS you may host if covering multiple aerodromes).
3. Select the ATIS Callsign for the airport you wish to connect an ATIS at e.g. EGKK_ATIS.
4. Press 'Get METAR'.
5. To add any required 'extra' items into the ATIS, such a low visibility procedures or PDC availability, insert extra arguments into the ATIS Maker URL, e.g. &lvp or &dcl=EGKK .
6. Press 'Test URL'.
7. Press the '-' or '+' buttons to make the Current ATIS Info letter until the letter matches that in the 'Text ATIS' box.
8. Tick this box .
9. Press 'Connect ATIS'.

Repeat as required for the up to 4 airports you're controlling and hosting an ATIS for.

Support

For issues pertaining to VATATIS, you can contact the team directly on Discord

Custom Parameters

Similar to uniATIS, some additional parameters can be specified to enable more information to appear in the published ATIS, these are listed below:

Parameter	Result
&lvp	"Low visibility procedures are in operation"
&wndshrrwy=[text]	"Windshear reported at [text]"
&dcl=[code]	"Datalink clearances are available from [code]"

 

vATIS

Pros:

• Allows for more customisation (e.g. NOTAMs).

Cons:

• Requires a standalone piece of software.
• No server side synchronisation of ATIS letter.
• Doesn't automatically detect who's online.

vATIS is a standalone piece of software, which requires some first time setup:

1. From https://github.com/vatis-project/vatis/releases select the version of vATIS you want to use (I use v4.0.0 beta 14) and under Assets download the corrosponding Setup.exe.
2. Run the .exe and follow the steps to install vATIS per your preferences.
3. Run vATIS.
4. Click Import.
5. Navigate to your UK Controller Pack Install directoty (usually in AppData\Roaming\EuroScope\UK).
6. Open the "vATIS" folder.
7. Select the relevant profile for the position you are controlling e.g. "ADC\Gatwick(EGKK).json".
8. Double click an imported profile e.g. 'Gatwick'.
9. Click 'Settings'.
10. Fill in your VATSIM credentials and select your preferences for the settings, then press 'Save Settings'.

Your vATIS is now ready to use, and for this example will look like this when you load vATIS:

Usage

1. Double click the imported profile for the position you are controlling, e.g. Gatwick in the above screenshot.
2. Ensure you're on the correct tab at the top (ADC Gatwick only has one, but some other profiles have several).
3. From the bottom drop down menu select the runway in use, and if appropriate controller staffing e.g. 'Runway 26L (Delivery Closed)'.
4. Click the 'ARPT COND' text and select any that apply e.g. LVPs in force.
5. Click 'CONNECT'.
6. Left or right click the main ATIS letter to iterate it to the desired value.

To add NOTAMs, click the 'NOTAMS' text then click 'New' then type the description and contents of the NOTAM, press 'OK', and tick the required NOTAMs.

Once setup, to use less screen space, this button at the top-right will collapse it into a 'mini' mode.

REMEMBER Unlike vatATIS, vATIS will not automatically detect changes to who is online, so if the controller state changes, the ATIS needs to be switched from, for example, 'Runway 26L (Delivery Closed)' to 'Runway 26L (Delivery and Ground Closed)'.

If providing an ATIS for multiple airports, this is done from the other tabs at the top (e.g. Blackpool and Warton from the ADC Warton profile: ) using the same method.

 

Support/feedback/bug reports

If you need help beyond that provided in this post, either post below or use the VATSIM UK Discord.