jaylw314

Use mark points on the TAD to triangulate ground radar on the RWR: Drop an overhead mark point On the TAD, make a mark point in the direction of the RWR threat (3 or 9 o'clock works best) Fly a few minutes, then repeat 1 and 2 On the TAD, each pair of markpoints will be on a line. Where those lines would intersect is where the threat is. Drop a markpoint there on the TAD and slave your TGP there When you're given a mission to attack a target from a heading, use the HSI and CRS arrow to keep your position SA. Make sure you have a steerpoint near the target. If instructed "final attack heading 300", twist the CRS to 300. Now if you fly southeast of the target, when the CDI needle centers, you know to turn towards the target. If you follow the CDI needle in, you'll be tracking into the target on a heading of 300. If you get the instruction to "offset right", you just keep the CDI to the left. On CDU, from the WP menu, select the ANCHOR PT submenu. Press the LSK next to "HUD OFF" and it'll change to "HUD ON". now you have a persistent data block for your bullseye bearing and range in the upper right corner of the HUD. To get to the Inventory Store page to change a weapon's laser code, on the DSMS, simply press INV->select weapon pylon->INV STAT. The INV STAT OSB takes you directly to the Inventory Store page where you can change the laser code. Change it, then press LOAD or LOAD SYM to save the change.

Unless the A-10C has a TACAN fix to approach the airport for an ILS, it wouldn't. I don't believe the GPS/INS is IFR certified, nor are there approach fixes in the database. In DCS, of course, you'd simply pull up the airport waypoint, set it as the steerpoint, make sure the NMSP is on STEERPT, dial in your desired approach direction on the HSI CRS, then fly it as an ad hoc non-precision approach. If the CDU/EGI is busted and there's no TACAN or ILS and you're in IMC, well, then you're out of luck. The A-10C was not designed to be an all-weather aircraft.

FWIW, I'm not sure if helmet visors are polarized to remove sun glare anymore, since they also render LCD screens visible only at certain angles. Polarizing filters are great for removing surface reflections, but tinted unpolarized visors and glasses don't do that, they just reduce eyestrain. Anyone know?

I wouldn't argue with some compromise, though--IRL, you'd know instinctively how to move around to deal with glass reflections, but in DCS they don't behave exactly like they should IRL

Oof, nothing wrong or illegal about aiming for the numbers, but whenever I do flight reviews in a single-engine slow GA plane and land on a runway with an ILS and PAPI, my CFI smacks me in the back of my head when I aim for the numbers "What is this, a short-field landing? Aim for the aiming point!"

Only workaround right now is put the button binds into SRS and make sure "Always allow SRS hotkeys" is ON.

Pitot Heat? When off, DCS automatically triggers pitot icing after about 40 minutes. How are you measuring percent "power"? Fan speed is the best measure of % power, fuel flow is a reasonable alternative. I've never heard of auto throttles on the A-10C?

OK, that's weird, when I tried it when I tried to make the HMCS SPI with the JTAC target hooked, it attached the SPI to the HDC for me. When I had the HDC slaved to the crosshairs, the SPI became whatever point was under the crosshair. Something wonky is going on

Ah, you reminded me what the difference between TAD and HMCS was for JTAC targets. On the TAD, you can hook the JTAC target, make it TAD SPI, then slave everything to that location. With the HMCS, if you hook the JTAC target and make the HMCS SPI, you can't actually slave everything to the JTAC target because the HMCS actually is pointing at the HDC. Sure, you can look or slew the HDC in the same general area as the JTAC target, but you'd only be as accurate as your eyeball and slew control. Obviously, this is not a game stopper or a major issue, but picking up the JTAC target from the TAD might be a little faster and more precise.

Oooh, thanks for the reminder

You could make the TAD SPI by pressing TMS FWD Long before or after hooking the target, it doesn't matter. With the TAD as SOI, once you hook the target with TMS FWD short, and the TAD is set as SPI, you then press China Hat FWD Long to slew all sensors to the SPI. I'm not 100% sure because I haven't tried it in a while, but I don't think you can hook a JTAC data target (the red triangle) from the HMCS. I thought I remember being unable to, but I might be wrong on that. Can't remember the last time I used an AI JTAC, usually it's just my buddies yelling at me Anyone know for sure?

As a workaround, turning the SYM and BRT settings down 2-5 helps. Still unpleasantly bright, but at least not blinding.

Dang guys, you people are perfectionists, I need people like you at work! I figured you'd put that at the end of a list somewhere!

It's like a Eureka moment, isn't it? All of a sudden, it goes from inscrutable to the coolest thing in the world! Hard to know, but realize when you make a mark point using TMS Right short with HMCS as SOI, it marks the location of the HDC, not the center cross. By default, the HDC is slaved to the center cross, it'll look like an "iron cross" when so. But if you've slewed the HDC somewhere, the markpoint will created there, which might not be where you're looking

Are you talking about the Day/Night/Off knob or the BRT +/- rocker switch? I'll check it tonight Edit: Yes, it does appear the DISP +/- rocker switch does not adjust the backlight for the MFD's. BRT, CON and SYM all seem to work normally

I might have misunderstood, when you said "lasing from ~12 miles with precision hits" I assumed you were talking about a different scenario with laser-guided munitions. If you were still talking about AGM-65H, laser has nothing to do with it other than getting the range FYI. The seeker tracks the TV picture, regardless of how far away it is. For GPS/INS weapons, yes, using the laser to get the range to the target instead of the ground behind it is a thing, but for AGM-65H it should not be.

If you use a TGP-guided weapon using CCIP, like TGP-->CCIP-->GBU-12 or TGP-->CCIP-->APKWS, absolutely! Like I said, the SPI is irrelevant for that kind of weapons employment. If your SPI was STPT to a waypoint 200 miles away, those workflows would still hit the building. If, on the other hand You need to slave something to the TGP, like TGP-->CCIP-->MAV (EO or IR), you better make sure the TGP is SPI before you press China Hat forward long. If not, your MAV seeker will point the steerpoint 200 miles away You need to use CCRP, you better make sure TGP is SPI, otherwise the CCRP cues will direct you to the steerpoint 200 miles away. If the steerpoint was pretty close to the building, this might still work! You need to use a GPS/INS weapon, your JDAM will try to target the steerpoint 200 miles away unless you make the TGP SPI.

Of course it is, it's a fantastic idea for a lot of people. I believe you need to use a wired USB XBox 360 controller, I don't believe the wireless ones are compatible with PC's. If you have an XBox One wireless controller, newer ones can be connected via Bluetooth to PC's, but the older ones (with a shiny black plastic face around the Xbox button) cannot.

It's not nitpicking, just semantics. I did clarify that the sensor's target location is the SPI, but you seemed to miss that or deemphasize that. I try to explain it this way so that people realize when they move the designated sensor around, the SPI moves around.

Yup, you're right the TDC does get slaved to SPI when commanded, but the HDC on the HMCS does not.

Haven't had a chance to look, but that would make some sense. The discrete keybinds would make sense for a 3 position switch, not a keyboard

That is completely possible. The laser max range is more like 8 nm slant range, but if you fire from 12 nm out, laser guided weapons will track the spot in the air where the laser ends. If you get within 8nm before the weapon reaches it, it'll track that "air" spot until you get within laser range.

Glad that helped! To follow up, a couple reminders: "Setting SPI" does not designate a target, it's designating a sensor. When you do, that sensor's target location is the SPI, wherever it happens to be pointing. The ONLY place that confirms what sensor is set as SPI is the data block in the lower left of the HUD. Setting a sensor as SPI ONLY serves the following purposes. If you don't need any of those functions, then there's no reason to bother with setting a SPI sensor: When you press China Forward Long, TGP, TAD and MAV are slaved to the location of the SPI sensor (weirdly, I think TDC and HMD are not, but someone correct me if I'm wrong) When you release a GPS/INS bomb, it heads to the location of SPI sensor When you're in CCRP mode, the guidance cues are for the location of the SPI sensor When you set SPI as STPT, you're using the EGI as a "sensor', and it can provide the same above functions When you set SPI as IFFCC, you're using it as a "sensor" as well, but #3 is irrelevant. You might be able to use it as a weird "CCIP" mode for JDAMs by using the gun pipper as the designator setting their target. I haven't tried this and that's a pretty strange use case...

Once I've decided on the TGP --> CCRP --> GBU-12 workflow, I make my TGP SPI immediately (Coolie Right Long, then TMS Up Long). That way, I can verify I've done it in the HUD while I'm still heads up BEFORE capturing the target. Once I've done that, THEN I can spend my attention slewing the TGP around onto the target. In fact, I've generally found that for most workflows (with a few exceptions), setting the expected sensor as SPI as the FIRST step helps remind me what my workflow is. At the risk of being pedantic, I'd also point out that the laser doesn't care what your SPI is. It ONLY points where the TGP is pointed. Even if your TAD is SPI and pointed elsewhere, if you turn on the laser, it just lases the TGP location. The only reason we need the TGP to be SPI is because we're using CCRP, and the ASL and visual cues are all based on the SPI. Technically, you could have a nearby steerpoint by the SPI instead of the TGP. The ASL and all our bombing cues will send the bomb to the steerpoint, but when you fire the laser the bomb will chase the TGP's target, not the SPI. As such, it doesn't matter what the SPI is if you're using TGP-->CCIP-->APKWS or TGP-->CCIP-->Laser Maverick, since they follow the TGP whether it's SPI or not. As long as the TGP is pointed in the right place, anything else could be SPI and it'd still work.

That would certainly be nice if it did!