Both radios have the ability to simultaneously monitor selected frequency/channel and guard frequency (243MHz).
On the front seat radio (AN/ARC-159) this is activated by setting the Function selector to BOTH (image in DCS: F-14B manual, p. 21, indicator 8 ).
On the back seat radio (AN/ARC-182) guard monitoring is activated by setting MODE knob (manual p. 108, konb 7) to T/R & G.
This feature does not work on both radios.
Let me be the first one to embarrass myself. :D
Well, here's my first attempt, literally after flying for just a couple of minutes, having no clue what I was doing. Jester wasn't impressed... :D
Definitely, if you have enough space. Before 2.5 merge I had all three available versions: alpha, beta and stable. DCS grew much larger since then, so now I'm down to only one version, beta.
Quick test, E-3 detects head-on Su-27 at 390km, E-2 at 320km, same conditions.
All aircraft were flying at 8000m, skill set to Excellent, don't know if it makes any difference.
There is an Auto feature, the button is in the bottom right corner of SA and HSI.
If you keep HSI or SA always on the same screen, you can assign appropriate buttons to your HOTAS.
Open Options/Controls
Select F/A-18C Sim from the list on the top left corner
Scroll to or search for Sensor Control Switch - Depress
Choose controler which you want to bind it to (or keyboard) and doubleclick on the field where its column intersects with the Sensor Control Switch - Depress row
when the windows opens, press the key or button you have chosen.
Press ok to confirm and exit
Yep, that would make mission kill a posibility. Imagine crew abandoning a damaged vehicle. :D
Also I'm not sure how armor penetration currently works, it would be nice to have it properly modeled, with different kinds of warheads achieving different level of penetration depending of armor but also on hit angle (with possibility of ricocheting).