[Q] intercom and radio power

[bnepethomas]

Hi guys

 

Cleaning up some pieces of the pit. One thing I'd like to do is blank the oleds of the radios and intercom if power isn't available. Has anyone explored what logic is needed to do this. In addition to checking the power switch position of the radio itself (already got that working), I'm guessing in its most simple format I need battery switch on and either of the inverters, is that a fair check, or is something more detailed needed?

 

Ta

Peter

[FSFIan]

The only radio-related displays I am aware of that are affected by the availability of electrical power are the UHF repeater and the UHF preset display. DCS-BIOS uses list_indication() to get those values, so it reflects changes due to power loss and shows "***.***" on the UHF repeater when the radio is initializing after power-up and when the DISPLAY TEST button is held down.

 

The VHF AM and FM radio frequencies as well as ILS and TACAN channel are painted onto the physical selectors so their visibility is not affected by the electrical system.

 

I don't know what you are referring to with regards to the intercom, as far as I know that does not have any displays?

[bnepethomas]

Ian;2368830']The only radio-related displays I am aware of that are affected by the availability of electrical power are the UHF repeater and the UHF preset display. DCS-BIOS uses list_indication() to get those values, so it reflects changes due to power loss and shows "***.***" on the UHF repeater when the radio is initializing after power-up and when the DISPLAY TEST button is held down.

 

The VHF AM and FM radio frequencies as well as ILS and TACAN channel are painted onto the physical selectors so their visibility is not affected by the electrical system.

 

I don't know what you are referring to with regards to the intercom, as far as I know that does not have any displays?

 

Thanks Ian

 

Yeap got it about the numbers being painted onto the radios, as I don't have those I'm using displays. Your UHF code got me thinks about the other radio and how to achieve a similar result, basically if the pit is cold and dark, and don't want to see any displays until the associated device is active (power rail live and unit power switch on).

 

The on the Intercom, I've added an OLED to reflect the status of the buttons which mute the different audio sources.

 

I know FSX is a completely different beast, but in FSX I watch the avionics bus to match radio displays to power availability.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[towsim]

If you go via export.lua, you can use the the DCS interface function [radio device id]:is_on().

Example:

if BoxOneRadio:is_on() then

Box1usable = 1

else

Box1usable = 0

end

if the returned value is 1 then it is ensured, that the radio is powered and usable. The logic covers the entire power chain like power switches, batteries, generators and external power.

[bnepethomas]

Too easy thanks for the tip, much easier than what I was going to try and do.

 

Silly question, how do you get the radio I'd mappi ts? And does that include TACAN and ILS?

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[towsim]

Example A10:

DCS World\Mods\aircraft\A-10C\Cockpit\Scripts\clickabledata.lua

for buttons and MainPanel IDs

 

DCS World\Mods\aircraft\A-10C\Cockpit\Scripts\devices.lua

for device IDs

 

I did not test whether TACAN and ILS support the the 'is_on()' function.

[bnepethomas]

Example A10:

DCS World\Mods\aircraft\A-10C\Cockpit\Scripts\clickabledata.lua

for buttons and MainPanel IDs

 

DCS World\Mods\aircraft\A-10C\Cockpit\Scripts\devices.lua

for device IDs

 

I did not test whether TACAN and ILS support the the 'is_on()' function.

 

Thanks for the pointers, I'll go digging.

 

cheers

 

Peter

[bnepethomas]

Hi guys

 

Thanks again for the pointers, the good news the the VHF and UHF radios nicely support the is_on() method. ILS and TACAN don't, so just built a call that checks the battery and generator switch positions along with the individual power switch settings for TACAN and ILS, job done.

 

Tripped over something new that I'm interested to see how others have solved. The VHF Preset thumbwheel. I'm using rotary encoders, and they work nicely on pretty much everything (including the UHF Preset), but on the VHF preset they seem to 'stick'. If I send a 'click' the thumbwheel often just keeps turning until it hits it limits, anyone else been there done that?

 

Whilst the rest of the pit is joystick inputs, I'm happy to add Ians DCS-BIOS if that solves the problem, just want to see if its been done elsewhere.

 

Oh - and on the lack of attention to detail thing (on my part that is :)), when building out the UHF panel remember the left most frequency dial is not a rotary encoder but a X-Position (can't remember if its 4 or 5) switch. Only discovered it when I went to map the darn thing after everything was installed... DOH!