Radar Tilt Question - Relative to plane or relative to horizon?

[Kobymaru]

According to the manual, the radar is able to scan between -1.5° and +17° in elevation.

Is this relative to the airplane axis or is it relative to the horizon? Naively i would assume that the radar in the mig21 is dish that points in one direction and is steered by a motor if I interpret wikipedia correctly.

If that is the case, shouldn't I be able to point my nose down, and detect targets that are below me?

In the game I have made the experience that for the -1.5° and +17° elevation only the relative altitude matters, so if a plane is 1 km below me I have a slim chance of detecting him no matter where I point my nose. In dogfights I keep losing radar lock which I believe happens whenever the target dives below me while my nose is still firmly on him. Is this just me misinterpreting the situation or have you guys experienced this as well?

I just want to know if I'm reading and using it wrong and how to properly employ our alcoholic electronic friend.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Kobymaru

[corn322]

If I remember correctly, the radar is stabilized to the horizon in both pitch and roll up to a limit, I think 25°.

[MickV]

The RP-22 is also quite susceptible to notching. A lot of the time when I lose contacts they're simply flying at 90 degrees to my current heading (often while turning with other A/C) and they'll pop back up as soon as they're hot/cold again.

I haven't yet done any experimenting to figure out what the precise angle off-nose a fighter-sized contact needs to be before it'll disappear. Maybe one of the veterans here will chime in.

[r4y30n]

How can it be notched? It’s a pulse radar…

[DSplayer]

3 hours ago, r4y30n said:

How can it be notched? It’s a pulse radar…

Probably down to the old radar code. Gotta remember that the MiG-21bis was basically one of the first 3rd party module out there and was released a long ways back before aircraft like the F-18 were added.

[r4y30n]

Fair enough. Fingers crossed for a MiG-21 2.0 after the Corsair release.

[Dragon1-1]

On 10/28/2022 at 7:11 PM, Kobymaru said:

If that is the case, shouldn't I be able to point my nose down, and detect targets that are below me?

The problem is ground clutter, not the mechanical limits of the antenna. The RP-22, like all radars of the period, sucks at rejecting clutter, so no matter if your antenna can physically slew to the target or not, it loses lock when the target is not up against clear blue sky.

[Iron Sights]

As stated earlier, ground clutter will mask contacts. Best MiG tactic is fly lower and try to grab a lock from below or abeam to your target. There are some filters on the radar, but it does very little for look down locking.