walker450

E-3 Sentry Video

Snapped these yesterday near Tinker AFB in Oklahoma.

Took this yesterday when I was passing by Tinker AFB:

I took this picture of an A380 in my vicinity, caught a smaller plane passing by.

Old Discovery Channel Wings episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mJcYhuP3C4

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I live near Tinker AFB and see E-3s almost daily so this is quite fitting for me:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... here is a sketch I made... basically two metal plates with 10 springs between them with a means to keep tension on them and also prevent too much deflection. If adjustment is correct, when you reach 1/4" of deflection the stick would also be maxed out on the axis output.

I have a X-65F force sensing stick and I want to modify it to move slightly like the actual F-16 stick does... approximately 1/4" deflection in each direction I believe. Has anyone done this? I have some ideas... they may not be good ones but I have them 1. Place small springs between the desk and X-65F base. Build a bracket that prevents the top of the base from moving up, so that when you move the stick only the side that is being pushed down goes down against the springs, the opposite side stays in place. 2. Use rubber in some manner instead of springs. Imagine the whole stick base resting on a circle of vertical standing springs... they would have to be very stiff because you would be aiming for the full deflection point of ~1/4" (measured at the top of the stick) to equal full or near full output from the stick.... so when you first start to move the stick you are only "fighting" the stick resistance itself, so the controls may move slightly, then you deflect further, the springs start compressing, you get more control movement, then you reach full compression of the springs and if you are not at full control movement then you are only pushing against the sensors more... My gut feeling is that this will destroy accuracy and it will be much too sloppy... but I have to try it. However, if it works well, I may disassemble the base and package it all into a smaller assembly instead of the rather large base that it has. NOTE: This will all be mounted to a dedicated "desk pit" so I will be able to appropriately tighten down, screw to, clamp, etc. Any ideas? Any suggestions? Buying a new force sensing stick of any kind is not possible right now... so this is all I have to work with.

I have experimented with this... it has been a few years... from what I remember is that it would create conflicts with the flight director auto pilot. I would turn some of that off when flying without springs. I also added small hydraulic dampers to keep the stick in position if I took my hand off for some reason. I also removed the springs from my rudder pedals... I am just getting back into DCS after a 4 year hiatus and will most likely be flying the F-16 for a while so I can't give any recent feedback. Ultimately I no longer have the modded joystick and when I do want to fly the shark I just use my old ST-290 or X-52 and use the trimmer... on my X-52 I set it to the pinky button so it is easy to press before making movements. You should be able to find the information about the flight director in the blackshark manual IIRC. PS If you search my profile I have old posts about this topic and some youtube videos as well.

Hello, I just want to leave my contact information here in case anyone needs metal sheets cut out with a CNC Plasma machine. I am not trying to make money or advertise a business, this is strictly a hobby and I will only charge for materials and shipping as long as the demand is low and I have time to keep up. I love aviation, sims, and simpits, so this is just a way to help out other people with similar interests. I am located in Oklahoma, USA. You can send drawings and then I can mail the finished product. I can only cut parts up to 24"x26" max so I am thinking this might be useful for cockpit panels and mounting brackets, etc. I can also do custom aviation art as shown in the video below. I have built a wooden simpit in the past and I plan on creating a new one from scratch with a metal frame now that I have the proper metal working equipment. If you're interested just email me at walkerfabrication21@gmail.com Feel free to ask any questions in this thread and I will do my best to respond. I will see my email much fast than on the forums. PS- If anyone has examples of CNC Plasma cut sim parts, please post them just to help people imagine what can be made. Thanks! Here is a video of my first wall art project (I have always loved the YF-23, so it seemed like the perfect one to start with since it has such a great shape):

I'm all for more simplified models. I have a busy life, career, family, etc. I simply don't have the time to learn the new modules. I would love to just hop in and have a basic arcade like dogfight from time to time.

Great idea! You got me thinking... I wonder if there's a way to have an iPad synced with the game and displaying the map, you could then "draw" on the iPad... Like a virtual knee pad but with the actual F10 map. Just a thought. :)

Okay sounds good. Thanks!

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to assume the $1,100 Samsung will give the same frustrations plus some.

Are you still enjoying this monitor? I currently have a 40" Samsung 1080P 120Hz I'm using as my simpit monitor and I'm thinking about upgrading to a 55" 4k curved screen. I will probably be getting a Samsung in the $1,500 range.

Bumping a year old thread. We are doing this again this coming weekend, Sept 4-6 2015. Come on out to Lancaster, Texas. There will be an airshow going on at the same time with lots of WWII aircraft flying. Cockpitfest USA site:http://cockpitfestusa.org/?page_id=454

Thanks for your time Brisse. I won't be able to check on this further for a few days but I'll post back my findings at that time. Thanks again!

Woohoo it is sale time! Now to decide on what to get... huuuummmmmmm

It is not optional to not use an effect. Once DCS starts, my receiver display goes from "no digital input" to "pro logic II music" automatically. I can then change to movie, stereo, or stereo x2. It does this no matter what my sound card software is set to (PCM, Dolby, DTS). I'm beginning to think that DCS doesn't have true surround sound and it is just stereo that can be sent to rear speakers also. That's what it seems like to me so far. PS-It is set to 6 channel in sound card settings. Here is a link to my sound system manual, page 8 shows effects: http://www.logitech.com/repository/1411/pdf/13099.1.0.pdf Thanks for all of the help, I appreciate it.

Thanks guys. I have it set to DTS Interactive and it seem to be working okay in DCS. One thing that adds to my confusion is while in DCS I can change the "effect" setting on the surround system (Logitech Z550) from stereo, stereo x 2, Dolby Movie, Dolby Music. I've been leaving it set to Dolby Music and it sounds good. I can't tell that I am getting true surround from any settings. It just sounds like the same noise repeated on the rear speakers. Should I just hear engines, for example, on the rear speakers? Can anyone think of a good test I could do to test the surround in DCS?

Hello everyone. I am hoping someone can answer my question. I have done a little searching on the topic but have just confused myself further. I have a HT Omega Stiker 7.1 sound card http://www.htomega.com/striker.html hooked up to a Logitech Z550 5.1 system via an optical cable. My sound card setup has three options for the digital (optical) output: PCM, Dolby Digital Live, and DTS Interactive. Anyone know which I should leave it on for DCS?