Help with radio comm and navigation

[sublime]

First if anyone can help my emao is jeffreypclark86@yahoo.com

Now ive watched several youtube videos. I kinda get it but still get a lot of problems and would apprdciate a simple txt step by step guide or whatever of how to tune your adf and same with the fm.. and explaining the comms better.

While i noticed and got the fm homing working in the Elbrus Rescue mission, I kept playing the csar and airmobile user made mission which dynamically generates either infantry units needing resupply or pilots needing csar. The mission onstead of using the fm uses the adf. Thats fine but im still iffy on the adf and i had a problem. Basically downed pilots were assigned adf freqs at 20 khz intervals. So it was 200khz 220 240 etc.

What is the range for the adf or ndbs? Does flying higher help? I wasnt in mountains and some of the downed pilots i couldnt get a signal on at all. Some of the others i seemingly got a signal on however when itd be say 240 they were on the only signal id find at all would be close but be apparently say like 250mhz. And also when i followed the adf for one downed pilot i tuned to for about 20 min i still hadnt found him and the needle had me just going further and further towards nothing it seems. So i wonder if i quit too early or did something wrong? In the mission forum.discussion other people are finding the pilots fine so i feel im missing something. So someone please help a guy out :)

For FM i punch in the frequency and set the fm to home.

For adf i select adf and set the frequency. For homing navigation is it mecessary to turn the switch that has interphone 1 2 3 etc on it? Or is that voice comms only?

[CHPL]

Hey sublime

Did you get any help yet over your e-mail account?

What is your native language? German will be perfect.

Always happy landings :pilotfly:

[sublime]

No infortunately I havent received help. Im an Ami though I was born in Landstuhl next to Rammstein AFB in the 80s and lived in Wiesbaden until I was six. However my German is very limited and encompasses military terms only really and those circa 1914-45 ;)

I could always use google translate. I got the fm homing down the VOR remains a mystery as does the ADF though the ADF seems to work except in the CSAR mission that everyone else plays fine. I was able to definitively prove the ADF needles were tuned to something besides the downed pilots - i had thought perhaps my point of view or something meant that if I was tuning near like within 10 khz of the station a downed pilot was supposed to be on I was getting a signal from them. I was wrong. Using f10 map I could see where the pilots were and out of spite used just map navigation to grab one. However the ADF definitely wasnt directing me towards him.

So while I seem to have gotten a lot of this figired out some more info especially regarding VOR and when to use VHF UHF and FM, along with whether its a necessity to toggle between interphone to channel 1 2 3 etc. Would be appreciated.

[CHPL]

I did some investigation’s at the FAA website. :book:

 

Chapter 9 in the “Instrument Flying Handbook” will give you some basic understanding.

 

 

 

If you do have any further questions send me a message.

 

But don’t forget “flying is passion :pilotfly: not knowledge!!”

"And to much knowledge causes headache!" :cry:

 

Always happy landings

Edited March 10, 2016 by CHPL

[CHPL]

.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/media/FAA-H-8083-15B.pdf

Always happy landings

[sublime]

I appreciate it but can the FAAs handbook really be applied here? For example what happens in real life doesnt always translate to it being modelled in game that way or at all..?

[CHPL]

It's not a Game

 

I know what you mean

It’s the Knowledge about the difference between theory and practice - most Helicopter pilots act in accordance to that conclusion.

Theory = everybody know how it works - but nothing really perform very well. (Engineer)

Practice = everything works perfect – but nobody knows why. (Helicopter Pilot, witch by the way faces the same problem like a bumblebee. According to physics, it seems to be impossible to fly for both of them. :( Don’ tell her about it!!!) :music_whistling:

Not only in this case you can trust on the term “simulation” in the description to DCS.

NDB and VOR acting in the simulation exact in the same way as you expect in real life. :pilotfly:

Even “wind correction angels” (ADF and VOR) as well as “to and from Flag”(VOR) confirm to real life experience. If you understand how to deal with it, you may work out the exact aircraft position on the map only by using these both tools. :thumbup:

With more and more upcoming WW2 models in DCS, the ability to work with NAV Radios like ADF and VOR gets more and more important. Because there is no Flight Computer leading you from one point to the other, by simply following the arrow in the HUD.

I prefer to work with the VOR Radio, but unfortunately there are not many VOR’s on the Caucasus Map right now. But the Radio Compass with its ADF and VOR needle, in fact makes it’s very simple to triangulate your position in flight.

So, if you understand how the instruments work, we can talk about how to use it in flight.

Always happy landings

[Chipwich]

I had the same experience with the downed pilot missions that only give an NDB, which can reach 100's of miles. Think AM radio station. If we had a little more info, say from an airborne cp, awacs or the mission brief, it would make feel more confident about storming off into hostile territory. Not for rookies, that's for sure.

[CHPL]

VOR

 

The simple truth about ADF and VOR

An ADF is simply nothing other than a lighthouse, and by dialing the right frequency in the Radio, the needle points always in the direction where the “light is coming from. :cheer3nc:

The VOR instead, is much more sophisticated.

You may compare it with an archer, launches 360 arrow’s with a number on etch. The Numbers correlating with the cardinal direction the arrow is following. :book:

First try

To find out where you are in relation to the VOR, you already set the right frequency, and if you get closer to, or more far away from it, you simply have to watch the arrow, flying across your aircraft, and read the number on it.:book:

To do so, turn the Course selector knob (OBS) at the “Course deviation indicator” until the “Vertical pointer” moves into the center of the circle and there is a “From” indication by the small triangle (points downwards). At the top of the instrument you can read the Radial (number on the Arrow). It will always show the correct radial from the Omni that the aircraft is on regardless of the aircraft heading.

To use a VOR as a waypoint, flying to or away from it, aircraft heading and the “arrow” (Radial) selected with the OBS shod be the same, (except of wind correction). In this case the “To” or “From” triangle indicates the direction of movement in relation to the VOR in the right way. :pilotfly:

Always happy landings

[DeJohn]

Sublime

 

I haven't run that mission in a long time, so I just ran the mission 4 times for about 15min each to check findings.

 

1st time through.... ADF right on the money at 200khz for the pilot

2nd...................... pilot's signal was at 210khz

3rd ..................... Same as 2nd

 

Since that mission was written with the 1.2 editor, I loaded it up in the current editor and saved it under a new name and ran it once more.

 

4th ............ Pilot's signal was at 210khz.

 

The only advice I give you on the CSAR mission is, as you tune the ADF and get close to the frq you want, keep you eye on the signal strength needle, if it doesn't move, continue tuning slowly until you get a signal. Odds are that will be the one you want.

 

Hope this helps you.

[sublime]

De john thanks for your reply. It doesnt help however. Ive conclusively proved that im my case at least the ndbs dont work ill always get signal strength about ten khz after what its supposed to be. I watch the strength thing very closely and have endlessly fiddled with it from both right and left seats. Ive tuned and tried flying to the ndb and after abt 20 min flying i checked the map and realized the f10 map will alsp show the pilots location. And every time the ndbs were sending me in the wrong direction. Not 180 degrees wrong then the answer woild be obvious. No 90 degrees 110 whatever but definitely not towards the pilot.

I can nav pretty well in the huey. I dont think using the crtrl k is cheating. If it was real life your copilot could or would being doing nav and the ndb does work for other beacons just not the csar i want it to :(

Add to that i figured out my problems switching channels etc. I flew the last un pilot mission and was able to comm with two diff friendly groups on the fm. Now if only i could find out why sp works for me but not mp. Ive had an open ED ticket and to be honest have been pretty disappointed in your service. For whatever reason the guy in one help ticket decided to point out that dcs was a sim not an arcade game. Which is fine except that had nothing at all to do with my problem and i always have flown on sim mode and dont use like active pause or anything.

Anyways im digressing.

[CHPL]

I probably misunderstood your thread as a general NAV problem. :doh:

Sorry for that. :poster_oops:

By myself I don’t make any changes (mod’s, user scripts or so ever) because for me it’s like open Pandora’sbox. Changing one thing, leading to ten different changes I never expected.

So, if I trust the DCS functionality’s (sure there is always a bug left), and my skills to deal with it, problems appearing, may only related to programming. It does not solve any problem, but keeps the frustration level low. :crash:

So personally I’m locking for missions, developed only with tools already part of DCS.

Right now I’m spending a lot of time in creating missions where interaction is based only on basic DCS Tools (Trigger actions) . :juggle: I hope it will work even with DCS 2.0 when its available on Steam, whiteout any adjustments necessary. :blow: