My F-16 Throttle Has Arrived!

[SCPanda]

My new toy

 

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by SCPanda

[Willdass]

congrats! how do you like it?

 

[SCPanda]

1 minute ago, Willdass said:

congrats! how do you like it?

 

It's the first high-end throttle I have ever owned (my previous one was a TM TWCS throttle). So, I have to say it's pretty awesome! Nothing bad so far.

[RogueSqdn]

According to tracking, mine has left Shanghai.  Hoping to see it mid-week.

 

Congrats!  Is the Range "knob" just an encoder?  If so, I imagine SimAppPro can probably make it act as an axis.

[SCPanda]

7 minutes ago, RogueSqdn said:

According to tracking, mine has left Shanghai.  Hoping to see it mid-week.

Nice!

8 minutes ago, RogueSqdn said:

Congrats!  Is the Range "knob" just an encoder?  If so, I imagine SimAppPro can probably make it act as an axis.

By default it's an encoder and you bind it to MAN RNG Knob CW/CCW, which works totally fine when zooming in and out with the TGP. Kinda like a mouse wheel. And yes SimAppPro can make it work as an axis as well. 

Edited January 22, 2022 by SCPanda

[RogueSqdn]

Thanks for responding, but I have one other questions  first, the detents.  I know the Orion base has its own detents, but this now has the F-16 throttle rail.  Is the rail aligned with the base's detents, or do you get a feeling of hitting detents twice?

Not having any experience with the Orion base, I don't know if you can disable the built-in detents.

 

Second, the ANT ELEV is indeed an axis with center detent, correct?

Edited January 22, 2022 by RogueSqdn

[SCPanda]

23 minutes ago, RogueSqdn said:

Thanks for responding, but I have one other questions  first, the detents.  I know the Orion base has its own detents, but this now has the F-16 throttle rail.  Is the rail aligned with the base's detents, or do you get a feeling of hitting detents twice?

Not having any experience with the Orion base, I don't know if you can disable the built-in detents.

 

Second, the ANT ELEV is indeed an axis with center detent, correct?

 

The off/idle position is aligned with the detent since it’s works like a key that you can bind to throttle off/idle in DCS. I don’t know about the afterburner detent since I don’t feel anything weird like hitting the detent twice when I go from Mil to AB. It feels pretty smooth and natural to me. Once you calibrate the afterburner position in SimAppPro, AB detent is also automatically aligned with the in-game throttle position in your F-16 cockpit. 

Yes, ANT ELEV knob is an axis with a center detent, just like the real F-16 throttle. It’s also very precise when changing your radar elevation in game. It kinda has an encoder type feel to it but yes it works like an absolute axis which you can bind it to ANT ELEV axis in DCS.

Edited January 22, 2022 by SCPanda

[RogueSqdn]

Thanks.  Regarding the ANT ELEV knob, I wanted to make sure it was an axis with a beginning and end of travel and a center detent, and not an encoder like what they've done with MAN RNG.

I'm on my probably fourth or fifth Cougar throttle (this one has Cubpilot's HS upgrade, the DeltaSim slew, and Ian's SPDB/DGFT aluminum housings), and had the F-16 TQS years before that.  I've had and currently have other throttles, but the F-16 will always be my favorite.

[SCPanda]

9 minutes ago, RogueSqdn said:

Thanks.  Regarding the ANT ELEV knob, I wanted to make sure it was an axis with a beginning and end of travel and a center detent, and not an encoder like what they've done with MAN RNG.

No problem. Same as you, I also think they should have made the MAN RNG knob an physical axis with a beginning and end of travel, and without the four way hat on top, because the real throttle doesn’t come with the four way hat. But I guess there are always people who would appreciate more hats on their hotas.

In case you worry, the MAN RNG/the four way hat on top does have the push down function to uncage. 

Edited January 22, 2022 by SCPanda

[RogueSqdn]

I've never flown it, but I'm guessing it has something to do with using this throttle on the JF-17.

The realism departure that I DO like is the two push buttons on the underside.  It gives me something to use as a shift button.

[SCPanda]

9 minutes ago, RogueSqdn said:

I've never flown it, but I'm guessing it has something to do with using this throttle on the JF-17.

The realism departure that I DO like is the two push buttons on the underside.  It gives me something to use as a shift button.

Oh, so JF uses almost the exact same throttle as the Viper? I have never flown JF in DCS so I didn’t know.

Yes, the two little buttons are nice. What do you mean by shift button tho? Currently I use them as F1 and F10 because I don’t wanna reach for my keyboard lol.

Edited January 22, 2022 by SCPanda

[RogueSqdn]

I intend to use at least one of them as a modifier in DCS so that when I hit buttons on my stick grip, they perform a different function.

 

 

From Chuck's guide:

 

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by RogueSqdn

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

looks fantastic

[Phantom88]

1 hour ago, SCPanda said:

No problem. Same as you, I also think they should have made the MAN RNG knob an physical axis with a beginning and end of travel, and without the four way hat on top, because the real throttle doesn’t come with the four way hat. But I guess there are always people who would appreciate more hats on their hotas.

In case you worry, the MAN RNG/the four way hat on top does have the push down function to uncage. 

 

Yes!! The extra hats will be most welcome by VR users who need to map mouse/scroll buttons…Thank You for this review 

[13WELT_JankeS]

Mine just left Chengdu FedEx origin facility

[Topo]

Quick (stupid?) question:

Is it mandatory to assemble the vertical structure? AB-Idle detents are there even without it?

[rob10]

Man I hate Fedex!  Mine is at local Fedex about an hour away (where it should be put on delivery truck for final delivery), but it looks like they may just hold on to it until next MONDAY based on status update (At local FedEx facility Package not due for delivery).  Original "scheduled delivery date" was Mon Jan 31.  What a freaking joke for PRIORITY delivery.

EDIT: fortunately it actually showed up today (Weds).  Much happier camper now.

Edited January 27, 2022 by rob10

[MustangSally]

7 hours ago, Topo said:

Quick (stupid?) question:

Is it mandatory to assemble the vertical structure? AB-Idle detents are there even without it?

No, you need the frame!

[Mel]

20 hours ago, MustangSally said:

No, you need the frame!

If i'm not mistaken it uses the exact same Orion throttle base that's used on the F/A-18 throttle and that's also sold separately without grips, so it should still have the built in Idle and AB detents. Unless they removed those on the F-16 one, you would probably be able to use it with detents without the slide rail mounted.

 

I checked the manuals on the winwing site:

https://www.wwsimstore.com/static/assets/files/T2-ORION THROTTLE BASE-MANUAL EN V 1.0.pdf

https://www.wwsimstore.com/static/assets/files/THROTTLE HANDLE OF F-16 H.O.T.A.S-User MANUAL EN V 1.0.pdf

 

The Orion Throttle Base have detents from (Idle-thrust-AB) 15°-50°-15° = 80°.
While the slide rail on the F-16 throttle, which seems to use the Orion Throttle Base, is 18°-44°-18° = 80°.

Unless they removed the detents in the Orion base, i would think the rail detents and base detents wouldn't match up?

 

In the F-16 throttle handle manual it also looks like the slide rail is obscuring the two mounting holes on the left side of the base, which could potentially make it harder to mount to a rig. If anyone has mounted the throttle to their deskmounts or rig i would be happy to hear about their experience.
 

[MustangSally]

If you want the throttle to move like the real throttle, you'll need the frame!!

[SCPanda]

On 1/25/2022 at 10:46 PM, Topo said:

Quick (stupid?) question:

Is it mandatory to assemble the vertical structure? AB-Idle detents are there even without it?

No you need it for off/idle and AB detents

[SCPanda]

7 hours ago, Mel said:

The Orion Throttle Base have detents from (Idle-thrust-AB) 15°-50°-15° = 80°.
While the slide rail on the F-16 throttle, which seems to use the Orion Throttle Base, is 18°-44°-18° = 80°.

Unless they removed the detents in the Orion base, i would think the rail detents and base detents wouldn't match up?

I don't feel the detents not matching up. The original so called "detents" on the base are not really detents but a click sound when you push through them. They provides no resistance or require any extra movement like lift up or anything to push through. Honestly, I didn't even know the base has built in detents after reading your comment and checked my throttle again. With the F-16 throttle and detent frame intalled, it feels very smooth and the built in detents affect nothing except giving you a very tiny click sound which you would probably ignore most of the time.

So after you installed the F-16 throttle with the detents frame on the left, you would first recalibate the throttle to match the idle and AB detents using Winwing's software SimAppPro. Then, you start DCS and the throttle movement and detents will match exactly with the throttle in the F-16 cockpit. I also binded my throttle to the F-18, surprisingly, the idle and AB detent also matches perfectly with the F-18. I didn't have to add any user curve or anything. 

[rob10]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:46 AM, Topo said:

Quick (stupid?) question:

Is it mandatory to assemble the vertical structure? AB-Idle detents are there even without it?

No you don't need to put the vertical structure on IF you don't care about have the F-16 style detent (i.e. lever you need to pull to move to OFF and need to lift it slightly to get it into A/B).  The "F-18" style detents will still work anyway.

[Topo]

4 hours ago, rob10 said:

No you don't need to put the vertical structure on IF you don't care about have the F-16 style detent (i.e. lever you need to pull to move to OFF and need to lift it slightly to get it into A/B).  The "F-18" style detents will still work anyway.

Ok, thanks!

[Mel]

7 hours ago, SCPanda said:

I don't feel the detents not matching up. The original so called "detents" on the base are not really detents but a click sound when you push through them. They provides no resistance or require any extra movement like lift up or anything to push through. Honestly, I didn't even know the base has built in detents after reading your comment and checked my throttle again. With the F-16 throttle and detent frame intalled, it feels very smooth and the built in detents affect nothing except giving you a very tiny click sound which you would probably ignore most of the time.

So after you installed the F-16 throttle with the detents frame on the left, you would first recalibate the throttle to match the idle and AB detents using Winwing's software SimAppPro. Then, you start DCS and the throttle movement and detents will match exactly with the throttle in the F-16 cockpit. I also binded my throttle to the F-18, surprisingly, the idle and AB detent also matches perfectly with the F-18. I didn't have to add any user curve or anything. 

Thanks. I've had the Orion throttle base w/ F/A-18 handles for almost a year now and i'm very pleased with it. As i'm starting to learn the F-16 i'm considering getting the F-16 throttle handles. I just hope it doesn't take too much effort/time switching between the two setups.