Radar will not keep lock. What am I doing wrong?

[Hoggorm]

Hi,

 

I'm learning the F-18 and have a lot of things I do not understand. This is one of them:

 

While locking a target and seeing the diamond in the HUD the radar suddenly loses the lock. Looking at the radar I can still see the target, but the lock has been lost. Locking the target up again only to lose the lock another time within a few seconds.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Bonus question: My AIM120 stays on Visual mode even though I STT a target. How can I get the steering, range and shoot ques back?

 

Thank you

[Moafuleum]

How do you acquire a lock? I mean, button press wise. I suspect that you only soft-lock the target in LTWS mode. It is not a real lock like STT would be and does not provide enough information for a missile shot. Therefore the Aim120 is still in visual mode. Also the "lock" is only kept when the target is updated often enough which is barely the case in a 140°/4 bar scan.

 

To STT lock a target you must press the TDC depress button twice or turn off LTWS in the DATA subpage of the RDR ATTK page

[Harker]

For the AIM-120 symbology, you should be getting targeting information with an L&S target (star HAFU + TD box/diamond on the HUD) present. If you don't, make sure you didn't accidentally press the Cage/Uncage button, which toggles the AIM-120 between Slaved and Visual mode.

 

 

You can set an L&S via RWS and TWS. If you want to get an STT lock, you need to press the TDC twice, assuming you're in RWS with LTWS enabled. First TDC depress will mark the contact as the L&S target (star HAFU), but will not change anything in the way the radar tracks it. A second depress of the TDC over the L&S target will enter STT on it. If you're in TWS, then all you need to do is make sure that the contact is the L&S target; you can switch L&S targets quickly through your first 8 ranked trackfiles, with NWS/Undesignate.

 

Also, what's the range to the target? If it's very far away, it could be possible that jamming comes into play or that your radar has a hard time tracking it. In those cases, you'll see MEM on the bottom of the Radar page.

[Hoggorm]

Thank you both for your assistance :)

 

It might very well be that I've mixed some buttons up. I tried a mission just now and did lose the track a couple of times. This was a helicopter target that might very well been shortly behind terrain. Also, it appears as I did not tilt my radar enough down sometimes. I assume it is necessary to make sure the radar sweeps over the target to keep track of it (L&S?) in TWS (when the target is marked by a star - not STT)?

[Harker]

Thank you both for your assistance :)

 

It might very well be that I've mixed some buttons up. I tried a mission just now and did lose the track a couple of times. This was a helicopter target that might very well been shortly behind terrain. Also, it appears as I did not tilt my radar enough down sometimes. I assume it is necessary to make sure the radar sweeps over the target to keep track of it (L&S?) in TWS (when the target is marked by a star - not STT)?

Yes, you need to make sure that your radar cone keeps the target inside, of course. In TWS, if you select the AUTO option on the right side of the Radar display, the radar will automatically adjust for both azimuth and elevation around the L&S target. The Mission Computer of the Hornet will still maintain the track file of the target for a certain amount of seconds after it's lost (the amount of time depends on the setting at the top right of the display, you can cycle through 2,4,8,16,32), so you can attempt to find the target again in the meantime.

 

Also, you can use AACQ with SCS Right (assuming the Radar is on the Right DDI) to immediately transition to STT on a contact. The priority for that is: 1) the contact under the TDC, 2) the L&S if the cursor is not over a contact and 3) the highest priority track file if no L&S is present. At least that's how it's supposed to work,but AACQ is a still WIP in the DCS Hornet.

[Hoggorm]

Yes, you need to make sure that your radar cone keeps the target inside, of course.

 

I just did a flight now where I had an enemy in RWS at about 10.000'. The range was about 20NM. My radar was set so that at the location of the enemy my radar would see from 19.000' down to 7.000', hence the target should be within sight of the radar and no obstructions in between. Still, the target L&S was dropped after a short time. While in TWS it appears to work better though.

[Harker]

I just did a flight now where I had an enemy in RWS at about 10.000'. The range was about 20NM. My radar was set so that at the location of the enemy my radar would see from 19.000' down to 7.000', hence the target should be within sight of the radar and no obstructions in between. Still, the target L&S was dropped after a short time. While in TWS it appears to work better though.

Are you talking about a simple L&S designation in RWS or going STT? If you stay at a 140 azimuth /4 bar scan pattern, the track might be dropped, since the update rate is low. If that's the case, increase the fade-out time. TWS enforces a smaller scan volume (80/2 or 40/4, for example), which ensures higher update rates.

[kengou]

To expand on Harker's answer, you can reduce the number of bars from 4 to 2 to improve the chances of tracking the contact, as well as increasing the brick fadeout time under the DATA submenu. In RWS with LTWS turned on, one click with TDC depress over a target gets you launch and steering info on that target, but it doesn't STT lock it so it can get lost like any contact if your settings aren't ideal. Depressing again will put you in STT, which reduces situational awareness and spikes the target, but you'll drastically reduce your chances of losing the contact.

[flankerjun]

For the AIM-120 symbology, you should be getting targeting information with an L&S target (star HAFU + TD box/diamond on the HUD) present. If you don't, make sure you didn't accidentally press the Cage/Uncage button, which toggles the AIM-120 between Slaved and Visual mode.

 

 

You can set an L&S via RWS and TWS. If you want to get an STT lock, you need to press the TDC twice, assuming you're in RWS with LTWS enabled. First TDC depress will mark the contact as the L&S target (star HAFU), but will not change anything in the way the radar tracks it. A second depress of the TDC over the L&S target will enter STT on it. If you're in TWS, then all you need to do is make sure that the contact is the L&S target; you can switch L&S targets quickly through your first 8 ranked trackfiles, with NWS/Undesignate.

 

Also, what's the range to the target? If it's very far away, it could be possible that jamming comes into play or that your radar has a hard time tracking it. In those cases, you'll see MEM on the bottom of the Radar page.

 

hello haver,usually i track the target in TWS 4b BIAS mode,and i used to launch the AIM120 in about 10 miles, but I have many times that i'm going to launch the missle but the target lost track in tws around 10 miles RNG, what is the reason you think?

[Harker]

hello haver,usually i track the target in TWS 4b BIAS mode,and i used to launch the AIM120 in about 10 miles, but I have many times that i'm going to launch the missle but the target lost track in tws around 10 miles RNG, what is the reason you think?

The way that BIAS currently works in the DCS Hornet is that it essentially overrides the AUTO setting, so this might be the issue. It definitely overrides the azimuth setting, I'm not sure for the elevation, I don't remember right now, but it's reasonable to assume that.

So it could be that the target is maneuvering outside the radar elevation limits and since you're in BIAS, the radar is not following it. Try leaving it to AUTO and see.

I'm not a pilot or anything, but from everything I've read about the BIAS setting in the real jet, it's supposed to shift the radar to where the TDC is depressed, while still keeping the L&S target in the scan zone. It doesn't work like that in DCS, but Wags said that this is accurate behavior for our software version based on their documentation, and I can't refute that.

[Hoggorm]

Are you talking about a simple L&S designation in RWS or going STT? If you stay at a 140 azimuth /4 bar scan pattern, the track might be dropped, since the update rate is low. If that's the case, increase the fade-out time. TWS enforces a smaller scan volume (80/2 or 40/4, for example), which ensures higher update rates.

 

This is not STT as I do not want to warn the target too early. Your explanations makes sense. Thank you

 

To expand on Harker's answer, you can reduce the number of bars from 4 to 2 to improve the chances of tracking the contact, as well as increasing the brick fadeout time under the DATA submenu.

 

I have some issues with a two bar scan as I feel the radar beam is very narrow. It is not much of an altitude change the target needs to make before it is lost...