Toybasher

For the MiG-21, what's the difference between emitters 1 2 and 3? This is coming from a MiG-21 main who's always doing research into whatever aircraft is added to DCS to figure out the best tactics. My radar only has 2 "modes" more or less. Scan, and Track. Why is there 3 different emitters listed? What can you see that I seemingly can't?

What is wrong with SORC? (AKA the red "Something is broken!" light.) All I can think that's wrong with it is from what I've read by the past devs, (Before LN took over) there was supposed to be a tone when it comes on?

Well, from what I've read (And some guessing on my part) the continuous filter is for Active Jamming (AKA ECM jammers, etc.) Passive filter is for stuff like Chaff, etc. which is not currently modeled in DCS. All Chaff does is act like a flare for radar guided missiles code-wise, they don't show up on radar. Intermittent Filter switches between the two or something like that. Currently only Active and intermittent combat ECM jamming.

I tested ground radars a while back. I noticed NO indication of lock as far as I could tell with SA-6, SA-3, and SA-10 SAMs. I tried naval SAMs and had the same problem. No radar lock indication other than all 4 lights coming on when you're too close.

Only issue I've noticed is the way it detects ground radars like from SAM sites. I tried SA-3, SA-10 sites etc. I never noticed a change when locked. From what I've been reading I should be seeing the lights blinking faster, etc. but with ground targets I get no lock warning whatsoever aside from all 4 lights coming on when I'm close enough. I get scan warnings (Beep and a blink) from the search radars, but when I actually get locked I can't notice any change in RWR behavior. Often I'd get startled when I eat a missile without any warning whatsoever I've been locked or fired upon. From what I've read, it looks like air radars show locks, but not ground based radars.

Can you describe the new RWR behavior? I know IRL you're supposed to see the RWR lights flickering more and more when locked, and only all 4 lights when up close, but... ...I ran a test map (MiG-21 on the ocean, SAM site on the other end) with different SAMs and even when I seemed to be locked, I'd only get the scan warnings unless I was close. I didn't hear the beeps rise in frequency or anything, just the search radar spikes while I was locked. This was happening on steam, by the way. Can someone make a video of the new behavior?

RWR seems finicky. I did some tests (Fly over ocean, with a SAM site on the other end) and I tried SA-10's, SA-3's, HAWK's, SA-11's etc. but I could never seem to get a lock warning. I know you're not supposed to get all four lights unless you're close and locked, but I was just getting scan pings. I was almost certain I was being locked because I'd see the tracking radar tilt towards me in F9 view, but I'd only be detecting the search radar. Eventually (usually around time of launch) all 4 lights would come on. I dunno if the steam openbeta isn't updated yet, or what. I know this is more realistic, but I remember hearing the frequency of the tones should increase or the light would flash more when locked, but I'm not noticing that. I am noticing now, when I'm locked and close, all 4 lights don't stay on continuously. They light up and stay on for a few seconds all at once, then go out for a second, then they all light up again, and the cycle continues.

Seems like a good question to me. Maybe at night it's so bright you can see it through the periscope? I actually don't know either. Cockpit is too far "in front".

Can you upload a video showing different types of radar locks and scans?

I have the same problem on steam. Says integrity fault of activation key. Hitting exit lets me launch DCS but I can't fly the MiG-21.

Can someone take some video footage of the new RWR behavior? Show off locks at different distances from different threat types? What was the low altitude compensation mode problem with the radar?

I myself am confused sometimes with that. Basically, below the stick there's a light that says "CENTER FUEL TANK". You list it as your guide as indicating when your center fuel tank is empty. It simply tells you when you have a center fuel tank attached. When you jettison the tank the light goes out. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=140754 The manual and this post explains it in more detail. It's really, really confusing. When you're low on fuel in your center tank, the "FUEL PODS EMPTY W" light on the right side of the cockpit starts blinking/flickering. Once it's empty, the light will stay on. At this point eject your center tank. When your wing tanks are low, the "FUEL PODS EMPTY A" light near the bottom of the stick (It's the one directly to the left of the "CENTER FUEL TANK" light) starts flashing. Once they're empty, it will stay on and you should eject the wing tanks. Like I said, W = center tank, A = wing tanks. You have them mixed up. Can you also update the section on jamming now that it was updated?

xxJohnxx needs to make a video about this. We should do extremely detailed testing on an empty server with a partner, flying around and seeing what happens if the jammer is set to different modes. According to the manual the left most switch is the power switch. Up is on. The next switch from the left says "ACTIVE" (up) and "PASSIVE" (down) the manual refers to it as "Reception (Down)" and "Emission (up)" Maybe the power switch simply powers up the container and the "Active/Passive" switch turns the actual jammer off and on? The third switch says "PROGR". In the Russian cockpit there's a 1 and 2 but they are missing in the English cockpit. According to the manual up is 1 and down is 2, and they're referred to as "Jamming Patterns." (Which is odd considering what comes next.) The fourth switch says "Cont" (up) and "Impulse" (down) Manual says they're also jamming patterns (Continuous and Impulse). Why do we have two switches for jamming patterns? We have 1 and 2, and then Impulse and Continuous. Like I said, we should do testing together. Fly around with switches on various positions and see how various radar equipment reacts. I'm assuming the MiG-21 will be effected the most by the different patterns if they put the effort to model them in. (assuming they actually make a difference) I'm most curious how the filters on the MiG-21 deal with the different patterns. Normally with the "generic" ecm you turn on Continuous or Intermittent filtering and the jamming lines go away like magic, but maybe it'll be more detailed against the SPS-141. Give me a PM if you're interested in testing on an empty server together.

Can I see a gif or something? I tried drawing it in paint and got super confused.

I remember reading somewhere MiG-21 pilots were told to fire the radar missiles first so the radar wouldn't see the IR missiles and get confused or something. Not sure where I read that, and it might have been the other way around (Fire heatseekers first, otherwise if you fire SARH then heatseekers the heatseekers might lock onto the flames from the radar missiles)

Not sure. I think there's a master arm switch or something for all weapons, but I could be wrong. I DO know if your landing gear is down your gun won't fire. (otherwise you'd blow off your nose wheel.)

I agree the way chaff works needs to be looked at. SARH missiles can get fooled by chaff (Realistic? I honestly don't know, but if he dumps chaff and it goes over the tracking beam, it shouldn't "Block the beam"), Chaff doesn't show up on radar, (even in the MiG-21 which has ground and cloud reflections shown on it.) and it won't ever break a lock (Which it should, if you're right behind him and he's dumping chaff, the radar will get confused by all the reflections and lose the lock.) And why does chaff come out in little balls? Looks weird!

The MiG-21 even now still has issues from what I've read in 2.0. RWR behavior is not correct, canopy lighting doesn't work, oxygen system is buggy and you get hypoxia at a certain altitude (but not above or below that altitude for some reason), SPS jamming pod doesn't work, engine can only be re-lit once, bugs when ejecting, brake assigned to an axis slowly loses pressure, flares and chaff doesn't release sometimes, etc. When we went from 1.0 to 1.5, the MiG completely crashed DCS when you loaded it up. Hotfix released, and missions didn't work. Also the model was buggy, textures weird, etc. Went from 1.5 to 2.0 and the entire cockpit lost all functionality. So people who say the MiG-21 had a perfect launch and all that are sort of wrong. (And I'm a huge LN and MiG-21 fan!) Mirage isn't having a perfect launch either. Either way the MiG-21 has improved quite a bit since launch (But some bugs are still present!) and I'm assuming the Mirage will too.

Are the RWR sound effects unique? Do different threats make different tones or is it one generic "beep beep" for scans, the "Blooper" for locks, and the "Buzzer" for launches? Or does for example, only the SA-3 buzz, while a F-15 radar beeps, etc?

Maybe intended behavior? I swore this was mentioned in the manual. (maybe it was Chuck's MiG-21 guide.)

The manual recommends 48 Flare 16 Chaff. I think it fires them off in a "Ratio" like 2 flares for every 1 chaff or something, and if you use a different ratio and run out of one or the other it just stops working completely. Not sure if accurate or a bug. Try loading 48 Flares and 16 Chaff and see if you can dispense the entire pod.

Will radar clutter be modeled like the MiG-21? (not sure if realistic because I assume the F-14's radar had stuff to auto-filter clutter. No idea though.)

Some reason the image isn't loading for me. Can you re-post it?

It's this thing. Found it on this forum. http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=50410&start=1125

Isn't the RS-2US a beam rider? Or can it also be fired in SARH or even I.R. mode somehow? I've read on the forum conflicting info if it can or can't be used as a SARH missile.