F-14B radios: How do they work?

[irfanahmed1979]

There are 2 sets of radios in this aircraft.

1. Does each of them have a different function or do they exist for redundancy?

2. The other day I completed an instant action mission in the Nevada map. Then I wanted to land at Groom Lake. I could not get in touch with the Groom Lake ATC for vectors to home plate. I brought up the knee map and saw a whole bunch of frequencies and even approach plates (nice touch!). Are these radios tunable in-flight or do they have fixed preset channels that can only be changed in the editor?

[razo+r]

1) One Radio is UHF and the other one is V/UHF. So one is overlapping with the other but also adding functionality. 

2) Both, there is a manual and preset function. 

[irfanahmed1979]

Ok, thanks.

 

Are UHF radios used for both Air-to-AIr and Air-to-Ground communications? And the same question for VHF radios.

[razo+r]

Yes, both can be used for both, as long as you can select the needed frequency on the radio. 

[IronMike]

Additionally you can ask Jester, your RIO, to tune TAC assets or ATC frequencies from a list and he will do it for you.

[draconus]

I'll add some more:

1. AN/ARC-182 has also functional ADF nav.

2. Asking Jester to tune in Groom Lake ATC is bugged since forever as he sets 38.600MHz (or similar) which can't be used by the Tomcat for comms.

3. Kneeboard charts can have outdated freqs. Better check airport info in F10 map or in ME before the flight.

4. Both crew members can use both radios but can set only their own, including preset changing during mission.

More info:

https://www.heatblur.se/F-14Manual/general.html#an-arc-159-uhf-1-radio

Edited October 16, 2022 by draconus