New to realistic radio: No working "BOTH" setting and RIO can only talk on one radio?

[Tomcatter87]

Hey there, 

It's a bit embarassing to admit - but I've been using the easy radio comms until today. I'm diving down into the world of radios now and finally got the F-14's radios to work. I had to reset my comms button from the normal DCS communication menu to the different PTT buttons of the Tomcat. 

In the front cockpit, everything works - almost - as it should. With one radio set to my flight's frequency, the other to the AWACS freq, I'm able to choose to which one I want to talk to. So far, so good. but do I get it right that there is no "BOTH" button for the radios, we just can talk on either UHF1 or UHF2? If so, it would be really cool - and realistic (?) to implement it. The original F-14 throttle has a PTT button for both radios. 

In the RIO cockpit, I noticed that I only get responses on frequencies that I dialed into the RIO's radio (UHF2), even though I set transmit to both or UHF-1. I suppose this is a bug, can anyone of you confirm this? With the RIO being in charge of radio communications, he or she should really be able to use both radios. 

Anyway, I'd be glad to hear from you radio experts. 

Edited October 14, 2024 by Tomcatter87

[RustBelt]

No Both is a limitation of DCS’s radio/atc.

You should be able to bind it directly In SRS. But really it’s not a great use case as if your flight is tuned like you, they’ll already hear you. And other times one of the two parties will only ever hear one side of the conversation. 
 

if you have the rio transmit foot switch bound correctly the X-miter switch should work fine. Be sure it’s not miss-bound as V/UHF-2 because then you’re overriding the switch and only using V/UHF-2 PTT. Switch goes through the PTT foot switch bind only. 

[Tomcatter87]

Forgot to mention: I'm in singleplayer.

I understand that it might be difficult with the "both" settings, but at least I should be able to transmit as a RIO on both channels seperately? I'm pretty sure I bound the correct button. Not the easy radio menu button, but the RIO Mic Button UHF switch. There should be only one of them (?), and via UHF 2 radio, I can transmit.

To make clear what's my problem, here's a setup, easy to replicate: UHF1 is tuned to button 2, UHF2 to button 3 (both radios have the same frequencies preset, of course).
When I transmit as RIO, I can however only get responses on button 3, even if I select UHF 1 on the XMTR SEL switch. Only if I switch the UHF2 radio to button 2 too, I get a response there.

As a pilot, I can use my specialized PTT button to transmit on both channels. No problem so far.

[draconus]

On 10/15/2024 at 2:34 PM, Tomcatter87 said:

To make clear what's my problem, here's a setup, easy to replicate: UHF1 is tuned to button 2, UHF2 to button 3 (both radios have the same frequencies preset, of course).
When I transmit as RIO, I can however only get responses on button 3, even if I select UHF 1 on the XMTR SEL switch. Only if I switch the UHF2 radio to button 2 too, I get a response there.

You mixed them up buddy. UHF1 is the pilot radio and the UHF2 is RIO's. RIO can only select one of them for UHF transmission in DCS with XMTR SEL to UHF 1 or 2 and the other PTT MIC button is for ICS. You can always confirm which radio is going to tramsmit by looking at the top of the comms menu.

Having said that - RIO cannot transmit (or rather get response) through his radio anymore and this is a bug I can confirm, @Silhou.

Using RIO radio in the same setting/mode works fine from pilot seat.

[Tomcatter87]

13 minutes ago, draconus said:

You mixed them up buddy. UHF1 is the pilot radio and the UHF2 is RIO's. RIO can only select one of them for UHF transmission in DCS with XMTR SEL to UHF 1 or 2 and the other PTT MIC button is for ICS. You can always confirm which radio is going to tramsmit by looking at the top of the comms menu.

Having said that - RIO cannot transmit (or rather get response) through his radio anymore and this is a bug I can confirm, @Silhou.

Using RIO radio in the same setting/mode works fine from pilot seat.

The Heatblur manual says: 

XMTR SEL switch

Selects which VHF/UHF radio the RIO PTT keys.   UHF 1 - Selects the ARC-159 UHF radio.   BOTH - Selects both radios.   V/UHF 2 - Selects the ARC-182 VHF/UHF radio.

 

Maybe it should be made clear that DCS does not support transmitting on both radios. 

However, are you sure the RIO doesnt get responses from his own radio (UHF2)? I had the impression this one works, but not the UHF1 radio from the RIO's seat. Gotta recheck that, though. 

 

[draconus]

22 minutes ago, Tomcatter87 said:

However, are you sure the RIO doesnt get responses from his own radio (UHF2)?

Yes. I have set 131.00MHz AM to contact Batumi ATC which the UHF1 cannot use.

That BOTH does not work in DCS is mentioned 4 times here:

https://heatblur.se/F-14Manual/general.html

But yes, you're right - they should mention it where Both is described.

Edited October 17, 2024 by draconus

[Silhou]

On 10/17/2024 at 11:52 AM, draconus said:

You mixed them up buddy. UHF1 is the pilot radio and the UHF2 is RIO's. RIO can only select one of them for UHF transmission in DCS with XMTR SEL to UHF 1 or 2 and the other PTT MIC button is for ICS. You can always confirm which radio is going to tramsmit by looking at the top of the comms menu.

Having said that - RIO cannot transmit (or rather get response) through his radio anymore and this is a bug I can confirm, @Silhou.

Using RIO radio in the same setting/mode works fine from pilot seat.

I tracked it. Thank you!

[scommander2]

6 hours ago, Silhou said:

I tracked it.

Thanks!!