Bearfoot Posted May 10, 2016 Posted May 10, 2016 I'm almost certain that this must have been covered before somewhere, probably more than once. But I couldn't find it, so I thought I'd post a few notes. (1) Go to the rotary you want in the Saitek configurator, and select bands. (2) In the lowest band, select "New Advanced Command". (3) Enter key strokes to either open or close the speed brake depending on what you want done here. For e.g., for the A-10C, I wanted pushing the rotary forward to close the speed brake, so I pressed and released "Shift+B". This resulted in for key-actions: "Shift"[down] "B"[down] "B"[up] "Shift"[up]. (4) Right-click on above and select "Quantize time", with a value of "0". (5) Right-click on the second "B" (i.e., the release of the "B" action) and select "Set Delay". Set a delay of 3 seconds. (6) Leave the middle band blank. (7) Repeat steps (2) through (4) for the highest band, but for the opposite motion. So, in my case, I wanted rotating back to correspond to opening up the speed brake. So in the "New Advanced Command", I pressed and then released "CTRL+B". I then repeated the quantize time with 0, and delayed the release by 3 seconds. (8) Adjust the band widths to taste using the "Edit Bands". I set my middle zone to 45%-55%. Now pushing forward on the rotary and keeping it in the pushed forward position starts opening up the speed brake. If you want to stop at an intermediate position, just roll back the rotary to the middle band.
fitness88 Posted May 11, 2016 Posted May 11, 2016 With the amount of use I get with my speed brake I prefer having an actual button. It's quick and I don't need to let go my throttle. Just as an example on landing approach to actual landing I may engage/disengage SB several times.
Bearfoot Posted May 11, 2016 Author Posted May 11, 2016 With the amount of use I get with my speed brake I prefer having an actual button. It's quick and I don't need to let go my throttle. Just as an example on landing approach to actual landing I may engage/disengage SB several times. Hi, the rotary I use is the one on the top of the throttle, so no need to let go of my throttle as well. And it is precisely the latter requirement that led me to explore this. Unfortunately, I do not have two buttons to spare on my throttle! Which buttons do you use? I use the front buttons to emulate the china hat (on the A-10) because I find the four-way hat switches finicky.
fitness88 Posted May 11, 2016 Posted May 11, 2016 I use the x52 Pro, 'E' button is my designated speed brake, on top of my top rotary.
Pocket Sized Posted May 11, 2016 Posted May 11, 2016 I always use the bottom 3 switches (right of the mode switch) for speedbrake, gear, and flap respectively. This reflects the usual layout of an airliner but I've found it works pretty well for all aircraft. Chances are if I'm opening the speedbrake the throttle is already at idle, so taking my hand off isn't really an issue. DCS modules are built up to a spec, not down to a schedule. In order to utilize a system to your advantage, you must know how it works.
Bearfoot Posted May 11, 2016 Author Posted May 11, 2016 I always use the bottom 3 switches (right of the mode switch) for speedbrake, gear, and flap respectively. This reflects the usual layout of an airliner but I've found it works pretty well for all aircraft. Chances are if I'm opening the speedbrake the throttle is already at idle, so taking my hand off isn't really an issue. That's exactly what I had! Though I think my order was different. Will change to update to that layout (left to right: speedbrake, gear, flap). I found the speedbrake hard to reach easily when trying to practice formation flying here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=2773963 But that is most likely because I have been flying helos for a long time now, and have to retrain my muscles / mind in a number of ways including not need to wonder "OK, which switch is the speedbrake again?"
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