Unable to use the radio to communicate with ATC

[San_A]

I am quite new at DCS. I have recently acquired Flaming Cliff 3 and did the basic training missions for the SU 27. I am OK with landing, basic navigation and weapon systems (I guess...). I have no idea how to use the radio whatsoever.

 

I have tried a couple of times to fly the SU-27 mission where you need to defend your base (I can't exactly remember the name of the mission, but it's a night mission).

 

At the beginning of the mission I can see other SU-27 taxiing to the runway and going airborne. I am not sure of what to do there. I tried to wait a couple of minutes to see if the ATC will contact me and give me permission to head to the runway, but nothing happens. I tried to use the backslash key \ to activate the communication menu, but again nothing happens.

 

The only thing I can do is to go my self without any clearance. When I get to the runway the ATC informs me that I am unable to taxi. Once in the air, the ATC says I cleared to take off, and my wingman follows me. Usually I get immediately shot down but that's another story...

 

Is there anything I am missing?

 

Cheers

[DarkFire]

Welcome to the DCS forum :)

 

The radio menu in FC3 aircraft is opened with the "\" key. From there you have various options to talk to your wing, AWCS, EWR etc etc. If I remember correctly after pressing \ the F5 key opens the options to speak to your local ATC.

 

That being said, radio messages in DCS are sequential, i.e. you hear them in the order they're broadcast. At busy times the reply can therefore take a bit of time while the game engine is playing other messages.

[San_A]

Hi Darkfire,

 

Thanks for your reply

 

Perhaps I was unclear: when I press "\", nothing happens at all: no communication menu. I have also tried in other missions (with less busy traffic), same problem

 

Do I need to switch on the radio or something? But that wouldn't make sense since I can hear communications

 

Thanks!

[Sryan]

no you don't. none of the FC3 planes need a radio turned on by hand. go back to the mission, hit escape and go to edit keys. once there and in the su-27 menu. simply press \ and it should show you what that key does. if nothing happens, go to the drop-down menu ( the white one ), click it and then hit "search..." Once there. look for "communication menu" and see what is bound to and if necesary bind it to \

[DarkFire]

Hi Darkfire,

 

Thanks for your reply

 

Perhaps I was unclear: when I press "\", nothing happens at all: no communication menu. I have also tried in other missions (with less busy traffic), same problem

 

Do I need to switch on the radio or something? But that wouldn't make sense since I can hear communications

 

Thanks!

 

Ah, apologies for misunderstanding. I'd try what Sryan suggested. I had the same problem once. I have a mechanical "gaming" keyboard and for some reason DCS thought that the "\" key was some weird & wonderful other thing, so it may be worth you manually re-mapping the comms menu key.

 

None of the FC3 aircraft require you to turn the radio on or off, as long as you have elecrtical power the radio should work.

[San_A]

no you don't. none of the FC3 planes need a radio turned on by hand. go back to the mission, hit escape and go to edit keys. once there and in the su-27 menu. simply press \ and it should show you what that key does. if nothing happens, go to the drop-down menu ( the white one ), click it and then hit "search..." Once there. look for "communication menu" and see what is bound to and if necesary bind it to \

 

Just did that, I manually mapped \ to the communication menu. Great, thanks! By the way, how am I supposed to know which airfield I am flying from?

 

none of the FC3 planes need a radio turned on by hand

I am puzzled by this. Do you mean that FC3 planes differ from the other? For example, does the SU-27 from FC3 differ from the one from the SU-27 package?

[DarkFire]

Just did that, I manually mapped \ to the communication menu. Great, thanks! By the way, how am I supposed to know which airfield I am flying from?

 

The closest airfield to you will always appear at the top of the list. Obviously when you start up, taxi & take off the one at the top will be your starting airfield but it's worth bearing in mind for approach & landing because the airfield you want to land at may not be the closest to you.

 

I am puzzled by this. Do you mean that FC3 planes differ from the other? For example, does the SU-27 from FC3 differ from the one from the SU-27 package?

 

No. The FC3 aircraft are identical to their stand-alone module counterparts. FC3 aircraft have simpler system modelling than the "DCS-level" aircraft like the A-10C, Ka-50, MiG-21 etc. The DCS level aircraft have full systems modelling (to varying degrees) and clickable cockpits.

 

Some of the FC3 aircraft also have simplified flight models. The Su-27, F-15C and I think the Su-25T all have advanced flight modelling whereas the A-10A, Su-33, MiG-29 and I think the Su-25A all have simplified flight models. I think all of the FC3 aircraft are scheduled to get advanced flight models at some point in the future. Just to make things more complicated, some of the DCS-level aircraft don't yet have either advanced or external (3rd party) flight models, usually because they're still in beta. Examples would be the Hawk and C-101.

 

Hope this helps :)

[joey45]

The only 2 FC planes that still use the SFM is the Mig-29s and the SU-33.

Al other FC planes use AFM

[DarkFire]

The only 2 FC planes that still use the SFM is the Mig-29s and the SU-33.

Al other FC planes use AFM

 

Ah cool, I didn't know the others had been updated.