DKS ATC: Positions & Teamwork

Controllers who open the same squadron server for the same side work one shared picture: a declaration, a group name, an assignment or a drawing one of them makes appears on every other scope within a second. Each controller also tells the others which position they work, so everyone knows who is talking to whom.

Your position

A position is the controlling seat you work, named by its radio callsign (DARKSTAR, MAGIC, NELLIS TOWER), with a role and a frequency. Set yours under Settings → Controllers (the gear in the top bar):

• Position. The callsign you answer to on the radio (up to 24 characters). Leave it empty to watch as an observer.
• Role. GCI, ATC, Tower, CATCC or Observer.
• Frequency. The frequency you work, in MHz. If another online controller already works it, DKS ATC flags it as you type.

Your position is remembered in this browser and is shown to the other controllers on your side. If you have DKS ATC open in more than one tab, a change in one tab reaches the others. It is used wherever DKS ATC needs to say who controls something: the {ctl} word in data blocks, handoffs, point-outs, and the Only on my frequencies filter in the Radios panel. You can work more than one position at once; see Working more than one position.

The shared session

The shared session is everything controllers on the same picture share. It starts by itself when you launch from a squadron server; there is nothing to set up.

Who shares with whom. A shared session is one squadron, one mission and one side:

• One squadron. The squadron whose server you launched from.
• One mission. The running mission on that server. A mission restart starts a new session, so one mission's picture never leaks into the next.
• One side. The side you launched for. You can only join your own side's session; squadron admins can join either side's.

Recordings, drills and direct connections by address are never shared: they work as a private picture.

The Shared chip. The top bar shows the session's state and how many other controllers are online; click it to open Controllers.

When two controllers change the same thing. The first change wins. The other controller's screen takes the winning value and the Controllers panel says who changed it first. Two controllers making the same change is not a conflict. Ctrl+Z only undoes your own changes. It never clears what another controller changed, and it leaves alone anything they changed after you.

Recent changes. Controllers lists what the other controllers just changed, by name.

Control of tracks

Taking control of a track says "this one is mine". You can control a friendly flight, a group or a single track.

• Take control from the track's right-click menu or the Coordination panel. You can take a track nobody controls, or one whose controller has left. A track another online controller holds needs a handoff. The server enforces this.
• If two controllers take the same track at once, the first one gets it. The other is told.
• The controlling position shows in data blocks through {ctl} (the default layouts include it).
• Release gives a track up.
• Assigning a group to your working flight (A) also makes you its owner for THREAT calls.

Handoff

A handoff passes control of a track to another controller, the way it is done on the radio. You can hand off only a track you control, so take control first.

1. Select the track and press H. With one other controller online, the offer goes straight to them; otherwise the Coordination panel opens to pick who.
2. The receiver sees a dashed ring on the track, HO and your position on it, and an HO chip in the top bar.
3. They accept with Alt+H (or from the chip or panel), or decline.
4. On accepting, control moves to them, and an assigned group's assignment follows, so THREAT suppression goes with it.

Only the controller an offer was made to can accept it. An offer that was withdrawn or has lapsed cannot be accepted, even if the accept crossed the withdrawal. An offer nobody answers lapses after 2 minutes. Declined and lapsed offers stay in your Sent list for a short while so you see what happened. While a handoff is pending, {ctl} reads OWNER>RECEIVER.

Point-out

A point-out draws another controller's attention to a track without handing it over.

• Select the track and press O (or use the menu), with an optional remark. Point it out to one controller or to everyone.
• The receiver sees the track ringed in the alert color, pulsing for 15 seconds, with PO and your position, until they answer it or 2 minutes pass.
• The receiver answers Acknowledge (Alt+O) or Unable, as in FAA JO 7110.65 5-4-3.
• A point-out to one controller shows you seen or unable when they answer.
• A point-out to everyone is dismissed by each controller on their own screen.

Track notes

N writes a short note on the selected track (up to 280 characters): a tanker's track, a pilot's request, anything the next controller should know. It shows as a small tab beside the symbol, in the expanded data block ({note}), and in the Coordination panel. There is one note per track, shared with your side.

When a controller leaves

A controller who closes DKS ATC drops off the online list within a minute. They keep the groups they owned and the tracks they controlled, so a network blip never strips a busy controller's picture. Everyone else is offered a one-click Release for those groups and tracks in Controllers, because owned groups do not raise THREAT for anyone else.

Closing one of several DKS ATC tabs does not sign you out. You leave when your last tab closes.

After a handoff, the group belongs to the receiver on every screen. It is never offered for release under the old owner's name.

After a reload

DKS ATC saves your picture (declarations, names, owners) as you work. After a reload it offers to restore it, from a chip in the top bar, if it is under two hours old. It never restores silently, and never for drills.

Radios and frequencies

With SRS set up for the server (see Squawks and radios), the Radios panel lists every player on SRS with what they are tuned to. Only on my frequencies narrows it to players on your positions' frequencies: the pilots you can hear. Other controllers on SRS are listed separately.

Working more than one position

One person often covers more than one position: GCI on two frequencies on a quiet night, tower and approach at the same field, or GCI plus the carrier. Air traffic control calls these consolidated positions: one controller is responsible for every position they hold.

Add each extra position in the Controllers panel, under Other positions you work: its callsign and frequency, then +. You can work up to four positions at once.

• Your active position is the one at the top of your sign-in. Tracks you take control of are controlled by it, and handoffs and point-outs you make come from it. Work as (the arrows next to another position) makes that one active; tracks keep the position that controls them.
• Moving a track between your own positions. Hand it off (H, the track's menu or the Coordination panel) to one of your other positions: it moves at once, with no accept, because you hold both. Other controllers see the new controlling position in {ctl}.
• Handoffs to someone working several positions go to the position you pick, and they take control as that position when they accept.
• Radios. Only on my frequencies shows players on any of your positions' frequencies, and the frequency check warns when another controller already works one of them.
• Other controllers see all your positions in their Controllers panel ("also MAGIC 251.000").

All your tabs share your positions: change them in one tab and the others follow.