Meaning of "Look Down" regarding Radar

[durka-durka]

Reading the mini-updates and previous ones, it mentions tuning the "look-down" on the radar.  This may be a dumb question, but what exactly does this mean?

I'm thinking it means how well the radar can "look down" and distinguish aircraft from the ground. Say, if you're at a higher elevation and currently, sometimes you lose a track on a lower elevation target, this is the "look down."  

[Mike_Romeo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look-down/shoot-down

[TheBigTatanka]

Correct -- most modern 4th gen radars don't have this look-down problem (although some do in DCS). Modern radars know your own jet's ground speed and can thus determine what is ground and what is not on the range and Doppler returns.

This can be a problem if your own aircraft is low, as you are picking up more sidelobe returns. The Razbam aircraft are simulating this pretty well. The problem isn't that you can't see a return, but that you get some false returns.

I think ED knows about this stuff now, and once they know about something, they're pretty good at fixing it. Looking forward to seeing what they come up with. It will be great to be able to sit at 35k and lock a bandit at 25k (someday).

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