DKS ATC: Keys, Settings & Data

Everything you can press, set and connect in DKS ATC, in one place.

Mouse and keyboard

Press ? in DKS ATC for this list, or Ctrl+K to run any command by name. On a Mac, Ctrl reads ⌘. Keys never fire while you type in a field. The tables below are generated from the same list the scope's keyboard uses, so they always match the app.

Mouse

Declare

A declaration key acts on the hovered or selected contact's whole group; to declare one aircraft use its right-click menu (Declare TN …). With nothing selected the key arms: the next click applies it, Shift+click sweeps whole groups within 30 px.

Select and follow

BRAA and calls

View

Layers

Panels

General

Esc clears one thing per press. While you draw, Enter finishes, Backspace removes the last point and Esc cancels.

Settings

Open settings from the gear in the top bar. Everything here applies at once and is kept in this browser, together with dock sizes and saved views.

• Display. Text size (0.9× to 1.5×), distance (NM or km, shared with the planner and debrief maps), altitude (ft or m), coordinates (DDM, DMS, decimal or MGRS) and the clock (Zulu, local or mission time). Recordings and drills always show mission time. Bullseye readout puts the pointer's bullseye and working-flight bearing/range in the corner strip (default), in a tag beside the pointer, or both.

• Controlling.

  • Bearings: Magnetic, or Grid/True (see Which north).
  • Hide true coalition: never show a track's real side next to your declaration, for a realistic picture.
  • Measure snap: what a right-drag measure snaps to: all contacts, only blue (friendly) or only red (everyone not friendly or neutral) as the scope colors them, or nothing. Bullseye and airfields snap unless it is off. Hold Alt (⌥) while dragging to place an end freely.
  • Open in: the mode DKS ATC starts in, GCI or ATC.

• Sensor picture.

  • Radar sweep: every aircraft steps once per sweep and holds still in between; with the modeled sensor picture, contacts step to where your radars painted them (see Radar sweep). Off by default.

• Data blocks. Pick a layout, each shown with a sample block:

  • Standard: callsign, squawk and fuel over altitude, speed and type; hostiles show their group and track number.
  • Callsign and altitude: one short line per aircraft, nothing on ground units.
  • Detailed: callsign and type, altitude with climb rate, then speed and heading.
  • Approach and tower: callsign and squawk, altitude, speed and type, then ETA and frequency; ground units hidden.

  Every layout shows the full read-out when you hover or select a track. Customize… edits the text of each block (see Data blocks); your edits show as Custom, and picking a layout again replaces them (Undo brings them back).

• Reset panel layout puts the docks back; Reset all settings returns everything to the defaults.

Alt+N and Alt+K cycle units and coordinate formats from the keyboard; clicking the coordinates in the cursor readout cycles them too.

Data sources

DKS ATC works on Tacview alone; better sources unlock more. The Feed panel lists exactly what the connected feed carries and, for anything missing, why: an older exporter, a feature the server switched off, or data that comes from DCSServerBot instead.

A server bound to DCSServerBot also supplies airfield owners, frequencies, drawings and routes when the feed does not. Sharing needs a launch from a squadron server; a direct connection by address is never shared.

Which north

The map is drawn true north up. Every number you read or say is converted in one place, so the same bearing reads the same in every panel.

The cursor readout and the bullseye card name the frame in use, for example "MAG · DCS grid (Caucasus)", and the bullseye card shows the grid convergence there. Magnetic declination uses the mission's date, not today's. For missions dated 1990 to 2025 it agrees with the variation DCS itself uses to within about a tenth of a degree; for older or far-future dates it can differ by up to about 0.8°.

Troubleshooting