Airhunter Posted November 8, 2019 Posted November 8, 2019 I've recently beein flying as RIO after a little break from the Tomcat and made some interesting observations about the radar's performance as of late. On numerous occasions I simply lose bandits that are below, usually on the deck and hot aspect on my 12, even though I am in RWS (4 bar narrow scan) or TWS (4 bar narrow as well) and am adjusting the elevation up to -3 degrees. I'm really having a hard time picking people up that are below me on the deck, which shouldn't be the case with Pulse Doppler. As a result of this, guys just slip through below and I lose my SA in the cat. Something else that I find weird is STT, I can PD STT a guy, tell my pilot to do a 40° offset for the press and as soon as we get to maybe 30° off our nose the lock drops - and good luck reacquiring the guy since when you switch back to RWS the elevation gets reset. Same goes for when you switch from PD STT to P STT. I dont remember it being that difficult to pick up and maintain hot bandits on the deck over flat terrain in the past. Has something been changed on that regard? Like, it can't be that the AWG-9 in a 40° 4-8 bar scan, looking down doesn't see people with a high closure rate below.
bonesvf103 Posted November 8, 2019 Posted November 8, 2019 Pulse doppler has a filter to take out ground clutter so if he is down on the deck it would be hard to pick him up. You'd have to go to pulse, but then the ground returns would show up and you'd have to pick him out from it. If you are in in RWS ot TWS, you are using pulse doppler. For the PDSTT part, since it is pulse doppler, the notch filters apply so if the target is around 90 deg to you (little to no doppler shift) or if he is at around the same airspeed as you, or if he is really slow in ground speed, he will be filtered out. Pulse STT would work better but again you will have the problem of picking him up out of false returns. v6, boNes "Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot
IronMike Posted November 8, 2019 Posted November 8, 2019 once STT, pulse works actually really well even against the ground imo. Also Airhunter, are you working with your TID or DDD? In such situations I concentrate almost exclusively on the DDD, which seems more effective. Heatblur Simulations Please feel free to contact me anytime, either via PM here, on the forums, or via email through the contact form on our homepage. http://www.heatblur.com/ https://www.facebook.com/heatblur/
RustBelt Posted November 8, 2019 Posted November 8, 2019 How far over are you banked in the crank? You may be hitting a gimbal limit on the antennas. Or the turn rate may be too fast for the steering motors to keep up. The F-14 is a great simulation to show everyone exactly why the Tomcat needed a whole crew member just to run the AWG-9. The RIO has to problem solve for the radar because 1970 AI just wasn’t there. A RIO can’t set it and forget it. Running the radar is a full time job.
Airhunter Posted November 8, 2019 Author Posted November 8, 2019 Pulse doppler has a filter to take out ground clutter so if he is down on the deck it would be hard to pick him up. You'd have to go to pulse, but then the ground returns would show up and you'd have to pick him out from it. If you are in in RWS ot TWS, you are using pulse doppler. For the PDSTT part, since it is pulse doppler, the notch filters apply so if the target is around 90 deg to you (little to no doppler shift) or if he is at around the same airspeed as you, or if he is really slow in ground speed, he will be filtered out. Pulse STT would work better but again you will have the problem of picking him up out of false returns. v6, boNes Yes, PD filters non moving objects or objects with a low closure rate. An aircraft on the deck that is closing on you with 500+ kts should be easily picked up. once STT, pulse works actually really well even against the ground imo. Also Airhunter, are you working with your TID or DDD? In such situations I concentrate almost exclusively on the DDD, which seems more effective. Primarily with the DDD and using the TID for ranging once it builds a track. How far over are you banked in the crank? You may be hitting a gimbal limit on the antennas. Or the turn rate may be too fast for the steering motors to keep up. The F-14 is a great simulation to show everyone exactly why the Tomcat needed a whole crew member just to run the AWG-9. The RIO has to problem solve for the radar because 1970 AI just wasn’t there. A RIO can’t set it and forget it. Running the radar is a full time job. It was well within gilball limits, bank wasn't more than 45° and the guy was roughly at our 10 O'clock. AWG-9 gimballs are pretty large.
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