TSACD and dispatching?

Im curious why you are against voice communications. I think you've said before that it can become a free for all just like channel 0 does, but I think you could set up a channel for dispatches that only active dispatchers are in and everyone else is in their respective channels. Then when there is a tone you can jump to their channel to respond then back to the dispatch channel. The servers discord is already set up for this type of communications.

Here's a couple of things from my perspective. Just my opinion and observations.

We use Channel 0 way too much. Nice to be able to say hello to everyone at the start of the session, and as they leave the session. Other than that engineers should be on their road or yard channel. Dispatchers should be on Channel 1 so they can coordinate movements at the route boundaries. Following these two practices would help a lot to start with.

Voice communications, I'm personally a huge fan of it if used in the same way the real railroads use it. When I'm out railfanning in the real world, I always have a scanner with me, and I really enjoy the communications between crew members or with the dispatcher. However I hesitate to "force" us to get 100% voice as I know it's not for everyone, and as we are using CTC (not issuing radio track warrants), there should be limited communications on the mainlines anyways. To me the ideal place to use voice is when a train or area are being worked by multiple crew members.

TSCAD from a text/chat perspective is an overall step backwards from External Dispatcher. I do agree though that being able to join a channel and see communications that have happened prior to joining the channel is pretty cool. Last night I was doing some testing where I was using both External Dispatcher and TSCAD at the same time. OK, it wasn't extensive testing, and primarily I was using TSCAD for the LA area desks, and External Dispatcher everywhere else. I think a hybrid approach would be to have both running, use TSCAD's desk approach for dispatching (which I really enjoy) and use External Dispatcher to filter the channels the dispatcher needs to monitor.

By the way there are basically two defects that we experienced during the Sunday night Ops session related to TSCAD. CANNOT ALIGN ROUTES OFF SCREEN TO UNPURCHASED ROUTES, and can't align route for a Westbound BNSF train at Kern Jct when attempting a UP Main2 to BNSF Main 1 routing. Potentially another issue I observed but couldn't reproduce on my own in testing was having multiple dispatchers logged into the same TSCAD desk.

Thanks,
Mike

Radio Feed: bit.ly/2NbpuII

That's a radio feed that covers the BNSF and NS channels along the BNSF Marceline Sub. I found it on the La Plata MO Virtual Rail Fan Youtube site while watching the cameras there.

Mike

As far as not being able to produce the issue Mike, it's likely because I was logged in the Bakersfield desk. I kept getting a pop up box every time you tried to initiate that I didn't have the route (or something to that effect).

To eliminate that issue I'm willing to take on Central. I could dispatch BNSF Mojave Sub, Cajon Sub, & Needles up to Minneola (or the place it's handed off to the east end). I could also do the south end Mojave if it helps (forget where this hand off would be but at least this will keep Kern Jct working better for hand off. Needles should also work fine as will anything going into LA's section. Let me know what you think and I'll go ahead and purchase Cajon.

As for DS channels 1 is fine as hand offs are not a big deal. Reducing talk on 0 would be better for sure. As mentioned having each dispatcher having their own channel for hand off communications may work as well say 2=North 3=Central 4=East etc. But 1 should be fine with less headaches.

As far as having multiple programs open the issues we are experiencing in the actual program itself saying blocks are occupied or the other way around is likely a resource issue. If you are having similar issues it's likely because you are running the server with this. Adding ED to the mix may only make things worse for resources.

But I'm open to try whatever you guys want. Just let me know ahead of time so I can decide if it's worth spending the extra 10 bucks for Cajon. At this point what I have now is only going to be used on this server.

Thanks

Sean

A couple of data points - Returning to Run8 after a long hiatus... I barely got going last time, and thanks to Clint I got some training. Then it faded away as a perishable skill. Anyway to respond to two things here:

1. Sean, the main thing that drove me away from Run8 (and it was here on SRS) was the TAB-type-TAB text messaging as a form of communication. The last straw was trying to do switching from the ground with Clint, and trying to text-message with him, while at the same time not letting my switcher go too fast... bang bang on [-] (power) key and the Page Up (indy) key - WTH why is it speeding up? Damn, I forgot to hit TAB the second time, damn. So I learned from Clint how to deal with broken couplers ha ha. Being a lifetime aviator with over 3000 hours, and listening to RR communications as a way to learn how to effectively communicate in THIS environment, the text messaging thing just turned me off. So unrealistic and klunky. I am not a touch typist. I fly the helicopter under X-Plane and use the Pilot Edge air traffic control system with live ATC controllers and a radar . It's super immersive, and you can just hear the new people learning how to behave and communicate in the ATC system. The controllers are patient and helpful, not critical. Excellent. There is an opportunity here to bring new people into railroading in a positive way, learning how to behave and communicate in the environment. Text messaging isn't it in my opinion.

2. I have spent the last week-ish trying to learn how to dispatch (necessary skill for Run8 as AI does not self route). After a fairly extensive comparison of the F3 dispatch screen, External Dispatcher, and TSCAD, I have decided that TSCAD is going to be my DS system of choice. I've learned a lot just using it, and I think it's going to help keep me from developing bad habits. It clicked with me. The clincher was learning how to ^W stack routes... just hovering with the mouse in STACK mode, and seeing where, how, and eventually why the routes would or would not turn yellow as I simply hovered over occupied blocks and in what direction the stack route would appear... it was a flash.

I didn't know that SRS was still alive. I may be back. I just stopped by here tonight to get a sense of it. Clint please know that I really appreciated your help here last year.