VAICOM Tanker select issue

[FlyBoyd]

Having a problem in a training mission where I have to Shell tanker callsigns.  One is Shell 11 and the other is Shell 21, one is for fast movers and the other is for the Hawgs.  

Easy comms is OFF.

Shell 11 is set to 256.00 and Shell 21 is set to 258.00.  When I tune the radio to 256.00 and call for the Tanker it will switch the radio to 258.00 automatically and Shell 21 will respond.  The only workaround is to then say "Shell Select" and it will switch back to 256, then say "approaching to refuel" and that seems to work.  

Is there a way to fix this??  

[Despayre]

If you start with "Shell select" without tuning first, what happens?

What happens if you just start with "approaching for refuel"?

[sthompson]

VAICOM knows "Shell" but it does not know "Shell 11" or "Shell 21." Furthermore, there is no difference And it ignores the radio and frequency settings when choosing recipients. (Wish that could be fixed!) If the radio tuning changes when you call for the tanker, but Easy Comms are OFF,  then that implies you have "select tunes radio" turned on. In that case VAICOM is tuning to whichever tanker is selected when you call the tanker. If you haven't given a Select command then it tunes to the default tanker recipient, which is the tanker that was closest to you when the mission started. If you use an explicit "Select Shell" command first then it will try to find and tune to a Shell tanker, but not necessarily the one you want. To fix this, rename one of your tankers "Texaco" or "Arco."

The easiest fix is to turn off "select tunes radio." You still will need to use a "select" command, however, that matches the tuned recipient. Unfortunately, VAICOM doesn't figure this out for itself. Ideally there would be an option to automatically select a recipient based on radio tuning and the named recipient in the transmission to the AI when easy comms are OFF.

[FlyBoyd]

Despayre, so it appears that the issue is what sthompson is describing.  To answer your questions though, it depends...  Sometimes when I say "Select Shell" it goes to 256 or 258, but that appears to be based on which one is closest.  Same thing for "approaching to refuel".  If I am on 256 sometimes that will switch to 258 and vice versa.

sthompson - Thanks for the reply!  Just a couple of quick questions:

1.  With "select tunes Radio" - off, does that turn easy comms back on?  

2.  Unfortunately in EDs wisdom there are only three callsigns for tankers, yet for our training missions we use four.  Navy, USAF fast mover, Marine and a A10 USAF one.  So I have to duplicate at least once.  Although, I can geographically separate these, so if I leave select tunes radio on and then just fly closest to the tanker I want that should work right?  Or is it just the closest tanker when the mission started?

Thanks for the help!!

[MAXsenna]

On 9/20/2024 at 9:37 PM, FlyBoyd said:

Although, I can geographically separate these, so if I leave select tunes radio on and then just fly closest to the tanker I want that should work right?  Or is it just the closest tanker when the mission started?

You should be able to use the "select nearest tanker" command in that case IIRC.