ECM and TGPOD stow

[edudix]

Hi,

Which are the keys for “stow” the ECM and the TGPOD during the Landing and Takeoff?

thanks

[razo+r]

Stowing ECM? You mean set to standby? Check controls if the ECM power switch is available there and assign a key to it. 

Stowing TGP I guess you can either manually put it to standby via the MFDs or just map the hardpoint power switch to a key. 

[edudix]

15 hours ago, razo+r said:

Stowing ECM? You mean set to standby? Check controls if the ECM power switch is available there and assign a key to it. 

Stowing TGP I guess you can either manually put it to standby via the MFDs or just map the hardpoint power switch to a key. 

I was wondering if when the manual says "to stow the TGP or the ECM" the meaning is to hide it or so when landing o taking off because affects is some way to this action. Thats my question. 

[Moonshine]

Pods are fixed at the cheek stations. The only thing that gets stowed are the lenses of the tgp when putting it to standby or power off. (Not sure if the 3D model shows it or not) 

[okopanja]

I believe this might be related to turning them in such way that optics are not exposed to debris, insects and similar things. during landing and take off?

[Tenkom]

Probably to protect the gyros and such from the landing impact forces.

Like in the Dos Gringos song I'm a pilot: "And I'll Over-G the targeting pod with a smile on my face!"

[Tholozor]

18 minutes ago, Tenkom said:

Probably to protect the gyros and such from the landing impact forces.

Like in the Dos Gringos song I'm a pilot: "And I'll Over-G the targeting pod with a smile on my face!"

The pod will experience Gs and landing forces regardless of whether the seeker head is stowed or not. Stowing it protects the seeker head from debris so the viewing window doesn't get scratched/damaged.

[Tenkom]

53 minutes ago, Tholozor said:

The pod will experience Gs and landing forces regardless of whether the seeker head is stowed or not. Stowing it protects the seeker head from debris so the viewing window doesn't get scratched/damaged.

Of course it will. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a stowed position which would provide mechanical support to stabilize and protect the gyro mechanisms from stress.
But I don't know. You are probably correct.

It makes total sense to protect the lens from debris as you say.

[smire666]

TGP stowing is not functional for now. Needs to be repaired.

[Tholozor]

The pod still stows when set to standby, it's the animation that's broken.

[darkman222]

On 10/7/2023 at 9:43 PM, Tenkom said:

Like in the Dos Gringos song I'm a pilot: "And I'll Over-G the targeting pod with a smile on my face!"

I would not be concerned about the G forces while landing. I would be rather concerned about damaging stores like bombs and the Pod by pulling 9G mid flight. Hopefully it will be modelled some day. At the moment its not. So you can over-g the pod with a smile on your face and have a successful bombing run after all.

Slightly off topic, but felt the urge to add that.

[Tenkom]

1 hour ago, darkman222 said:

I would not be concerned about the G forces while landing. I would be rather concerned about damaging stores like bombs and the Pod by pulling 9G mid flight. Hopefully it will be modelled some day. At the moment its not. So you can over-g the pod with a smile on your face and have a successful bombing run after all.

Slightly off topic, but felt the urge to add that.

Strike Commander is the reason I'm into flight sims today and why the Viper is my favourite aircraft. So I appreciate you listing it as one of your sims  
I recognized your picture.

[darkman222]

Then you'll love my DCS F16 Strike Commander Retro Theme https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3326649/ (breaks IC sometimes though)

Back in the old Strike Commander days, we did not have a TGP or JDAMS, pretty sure the Dos Gringos would have loved it too.

Enough thread hijacking. But I think it was answered anyway already.

 

[edudix]

22 hours ago, Tholozor said:

The pod still stows when set to standby, it's the animation that's broken.

Sounds reasonable! Also for the ECM. So better to put it in SBY pos for TO an Landing

Edited October 9, 2023 by edudix

[void68]

I remember some updates ago the TGP head moved itself to "heads down" when Hardpoint R was set to off. Being a guy that loves turning dials and flipping levers I always loved when coming back from a mission, prepared my landing schedule and sending the TGP to sleep and the animation moved it like it was closing its eye. And after takeoff how it popped out eagerly to look for any hostile. That isn't simulated anymore. Why?

 

The ECM should be in STBY mode (it takes some minutes to boot, so bad when you spin it up while that SA10 is painting you) till after takeoff, I don't know if it's a fence-in routine turning it to "OPerate" (not active or even transmit, that's an extra button input) or if it's done prior. We got so many buttons to push, so *use* them!

Edited October 10, 2023 by void68

[Volator]

2 hours ago, void68 said:

That isn't simulated anymore. Why?

It's a bug, and I think it was announced somewhere that it'd be fixed in the next update.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Volator

[AngryViper.101]

I hope that bugs wouldn't infiltrate well-functioning features.

Towards the end of last year, a bug emerged, causing an issue with the proper alignment of mavericks. It seemed that one side, either port or starboard, couldn't maintain its alignment, even after careful execution of a BSGHT, and so on.

 

[void68]

Am 12.10.2023 um 12:02 schrieb AngryViper.101:

Towards the end of last year, a bug emerged, causing an issue with the proper alignment of mavericks. It seemed that one side, either port or starboard, couldn't maintain its alignment, even after careful execution of a BSGHT, and so on.

Yeah, I was extremely angry about that, the CBU97 fixed, the Mave broken.

Luckily that's fixed and Mavericks work like a charme. However you have to understand how they work. Always do Boresighting at that range you will most probably lock them on target, let's say 6-10nm, depending on type, sighting conditions, battle conditions etc. Don't boresight them on ground, never, as long as you don't plan to attack from ground! I won't tell how the BS procedure works, you'll find enough SOP in the forum. I tell you why (just my ideas and basic knowledge - but I drastically increased my Maverick kills, so it can't be so wrong):

Somehow the F-16 software can't or isn't meant to calculate offsets between the TGP and Maverick seeker (MS from now on). So you have to converge the TGP POI and MS POI in that distance the attack / lock will occur. Each deviation from that "ideal" distance will lead to a growing divergence. You BS at 8nm? You lock at 8nm? Your MS will be exactly where your TGP looks! You BS at 8nm, but you lock at 4nm? You will have to readjust the MS (not much, still doable). Of course that may lead you to the thought that the BS has gone wrong. No! If you BS on ground at 0,5nm and try to lock at 10nm the MS may be that far off that it might be better you'd never have BS it.

Think of the system as a cockeyed person who's not able to turn the left eye and right eye the same degree once the object moves out of the focus point. While the left eye follows the object automatically the right eye needs manual adjustment: your input! Amazingly your adjustment isn't needed if the object stays the same distance but changes in azimuth. Not much azimuth due to the MS being limited to that center keyhole pattern.

I have apologize to DCS for presuming Mavericks still don't work. However they should have explained not only the "how to" but also the reason behind it. As a compensation I try to fill this gap.

Hope that helps, your feedback would be interesting.

Check that thread, too.

Edited October 17, 2023 by void68

[Orbit1412]

On 10/8/2023 at 8:32 PM, Tholozor said:

The pod still stows when set to standby, it's the animation that's broken.

Select OVRD (OSB 4) to get the animation to 'stow' :)