stolzy Posted January 9, 2023 Posted January 9, 2023 I'm presuming there is a way to disply the elevation of the current WP/SP on the CDU. There is an '[]EL' next to OSB 18, but it only ever displays '33', regardless of the waypoint selected. Anyone have a clue?
ASAP Posted January 9, 2023 Posted January 9, 2023 That is where you’d find it. Or on the TAD page if you hook the steerpoint. Or in DSMS if you have STRPT SPI. But It sounds like your jet thinks everything is at 33. Try re entering the coordinates in the waypoint page. It should force the jet to lookup the the elevation from the DTED database. Or when you use your laser to create a mark point and dump that in a steerpoint it should have an actual elevation. If that doesn’t work there may be a bug… or you are flying somewhere really flat and the elevation is 33 feet MSL.
stolzy Posted January 10, 2023 Author Posted January 10, 2023 (edited) Maybe I misunderstood. I now think the []EL parameter is the elevation of the surface beneath the waypoint, not the altitude of the waypoint itself. As you say the TAD gives the altitude for a hooked waypoint in the flight plan, but since the CDU obviously knows the altitude of the steerpoint I would have expected there was some way to display it there. Maybe not. Edited January 10, 2023 by stolzy
Yurgon Posted January 10, 2023 Posted January 10, 2023 1 hour ago, stolzy said: I now think the []EL parameter is the elevation of the surface beneath the waypoint, not the altitude of the waypoint itself. No, that's the elevation of the waypoint itself. Waypoints can be at surface level, they can be in the air, and they can be sub-surface (at least in theory, as far as I'm aware). The DCS mission editor uses a default waypoint elevation value of 6562 feet MSL, and users have to manually adjust waypoint elevation down to terrain level in order to put waypoints onto the terrain. I believe in real life mission planning, this (terrain level) is the default and waypoints at higher elevations are rarely used. In the cockpit, once EGI is done aligning, any newly created or updated waypoint will have the elevation automatically set to ground level by using the aircraft's digital terrain elevation database. The coastal area of Georgia has an elevation that tends to be around 33 feet. You'll have to provide us with some more clues as to why you think there's something wrong with the CDU elevation readout; a set of coordinates would be a good start so we can check the actual DCS terrain elevation in that location, or a mission or track file that shows why you seem to think there's a problem. Feel free to use services like Google Maps or Google Earth to cross-check elevation in these locations yourself; DCS may be off by a few feet, but it should mostly match what you'd find on any other geo-service.
jaylw314 Posted January 10, 2023 Posted January 10, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, stolzy said: Maybe I misunderstood. I now think the []EL parameter is the elevation of the surface beneath the waypoint, not the altitude of the waypoint itself. As you say the TAD gives the altitude for a hooked waypoint in the flight plan, but since the CDU obviously knows the altitude of the steerpoint I would have expected there was some way to display it there. Maybe not. As @Yurgon said, it should be displaying the waypoint elevation, but if you need to prove that to yourself, set it to something high like 10,000' MSL, and you should see the waypoint at that altitude in the HUD or HMCS Edited January 10, 2023 by jaylw314
stolzy Posted January 11, 2023 Author Posted January 11, 2023 21 hours ago, jaylw314 said: As @Yurgon said, it should be displaying the waypoint elevation, but if you need to prove that to yourself, set it to something high like 10,000' MSL, and you should see the waypoint at that altitude in the HUD or HMCS Whatever it 'should' be displaying, what it actually displays is the altitude of the point where the mission starts. The []EL parameter has this value at all times, it never changes. I presume this is a bug. True enough the HUD and HMCS display the the waypoint marker at the correct altitude, as does the the TAD, but the [EL] parameter on the CDSU remains always at the altitude at the start of the mission.
Yurgon Posted January 11, 2023 Posted January 11, 2023 23 minutes ago, stolzy said: Whatever it 'should' be displaying, what it actually displays is the altitude of the point where the mission starts. Again, can you provide us with a track or a mission where you notice this behavior? Otherwise I'm going to assume the waypoints are set to this particular elevation and all is well.
stolzy Posted January 11, 2023 Author Posted January 11, 2023 58 minutes ago, Yurgon said: Again, can you provide us with a track or a mission where you notice this behavior? Otherwise I'm going to assume the waypoints are set to this particular elevation and all is well. OK, mission attached. CDU alt Test.miz
Yurgon Posted January 12, 2023 Posted January 12, 2023 (edited) On 1/11/2023 at 5:28 PM, stolzy said: OK, mission attached. Thank you. Please use REPLAY from the DCS main menu to watch the attached track. As I skip through the waypoints, can you take a note of the elevation for each of them as it is displayed to you and take a screenshot or two? What does the elevation read for waypoint 1, 2, 3, and 4? Edited March 27 by Yurgon Attachments removed
stolzy Posted January 12, 2023 Author Posted January 12, 2023 OK, I get you; 5000, 10,000, 8000, 32808. I think I follow the (somewhat obtuse ) procedure to get there, but it still doesn't do what I want and suspect it can do, which is to display the altitude of the current waypoint (ie the one indicated on the first line of the CDU. Maybe what I want isn't possible, but it seems such a reasonable thing.
Yurgon Posted January 12, 2023 Posted January 12, 2023 16 minutes ago, stolzy said: but it still doesn't do what I want and suspect it can do, which is to display the altitude of the current waypoint The currently selected waypoint is called "steerpoint" in the A-10C. On the Auxiliary Avionics Panel, set the PAGE select dial to STEER and the CDU will show, among other bits of data, the steerpoint elevation. Note, this does not allow to change the elevation, it is purely informative in nature, and is thus missing the "[ ]" indication. If you want to enter any data into the CDU, don't forget to set the PAGE dial back to OTHER. You did mention that you were looking for information on the currently selected waypoint in your first post, but since you never provided a track or mentioned which CDU page you were looking at, it's a bit of a hit and miss approach to figure this thing out. Even a single screenshot of your CDU could have helped us provide more direct feedback to you.
jaylw314 Posted January 12, 2023 Posted January 12, 2023 (edited) Wait a minute, are you trying to change displayed waypoints by using the STEERPT switch on AAP, the STEER switch on the UFC, or the DMS switch on the HOTAS? If so, I suspect the problem is your use of the STEERPT sub page in the WP menu. This displays the data for the steerpoint at the time you select the STEERPT subpage. Cycling the current steerpoint afterwards using any of the above methods does NOT change the data shown. You have to use the LSK's on line 3 to select a different waypoint, or go back and select the STEERPT subpage again. Likewise, if you select the WAYPT sub page, it goes to the last displayed waypoint, but does not change when you cycle steerpoints. In both sub pages, the data displayed is for the waypoint on line 3, not the steerpoint # noted on line 1 Edited January 12, 2023 by jaylw314 1
Solution ASAP Posted January 12, 2023 Solution Posted January 12, 2023 a picture is worth a thousand words... The simple answer to the original question is that the elevation of your current waypoint (Which is refered to a "Steerpoint") is on the steer info page next to EL (see the red box below). Here it says 33 because Steerpoint 1 is at 33 feet MSL (probably at Batumi). Get to steer info page by pressing Function 0 on the UFC or by rotating the rotary switch to Steer 2
jaylw314 Posted January 13, 2023 Posted January 13, 2023 1 hour ago, ASAP said: a picture is worth a thousand words... The simple answer to the original question is that the elevation of your current waypoint (Which is refered to a "Steerpoint") is on the steer info page next to EL (see the red box below). Here it says 33 because Steerpoint 1 is at 33 feet MSL (probably at Batumi). Get to steer info page by pressing Function 0 on the UFC or by rotating the rotary switch to Steer I can't remember off the top of my head, does the STRINFO page change when you cycle steerpoints with the STEERPT rocker switch? Or only when you select a new waypoint with LSK L3?
Yurgon Posted January 13, 2023 Posted January 13, 2023 1 hour ago, jaylw314 said: I can't remember off the top of my head, does the STRINFO page change when you cycle steerpoints with the STEERPT rocker switch? Yup, it always shows info on the current steerpoint, no matter how it was selected. This page is likely what OP was looking for all along. It was just a bit misleading because he mentioned the "[ ]" data entry option which can't be found on the steerpoint info page. On other pages, it's like you described above: waypoints can and need to be selected independently of the currently active steerpoint.
stolzy Posted January 13, 2023 Author Posted January 13, 2023 11 hours ago, ASAP said: a picture is worth a thousand words... The simple answer to the original question is that the elevation of your current waypoint (Which is refered to a "Steerpoint") is on the steer info page next to EL (see the red box below). Here it says 33 because Steerpoint 1 is at 33 feet MSL (probably at Batumi). Get to steer info page by pressing Function 0 on the UFC or by rotating the rotary switch to Steer Exactly what I wanted. Many thanx.
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