ADF operation

[brettt777]

So as we all know, there are many locations on DCS terrain that do not have a TACAN to navigate with, but they do have DF frequencies. Now that I have the very cool Winwing MIP, I wanna use everything on it. Now, as a retired avionics tech that worked on military and civilian aircraft, I could probably figure out how to do it myself eventually. But I thought I'd just ask instead. So... how do I get the ADF to work?

[Wroblowaty]

Open Chucks guide, press Ctr+F and type in "ADF". Works like a charm.

[Phantom711]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb brettt777:

So... how do I get the ADF to work?

It‘s not like an NDB. It only shows you the direction of the station you are talking to. On position 1 for radio 1 and…you guessed it…likewise for radio 2.

So if you dial in the correct radio frequency for an airfield, you call them and they reply, you should see a small circle appearing on the compass ring of the HSI indicating the bearing to that station. It will disappear when they stop talking though. One might want to set the heading big as a reminder there.

Thinking of it now…I have never checked, but what frequency range are those DF that you mentioned? Maybe you could dial them into the radio and have a permanent bearing indication?! 

[razo+r]

20 minutes ago, Phantom711 said:

It‘s not like an NDB. It only shows you the direction of the station you are talking to. On position 1 for radio 1 and…you guessed it…likewise for radio 2.

So if you dial in the correct radio frequency for an airfield, you call them and they reply, you should see a small circle appearing on the compass ring of the HSI indicating the bearing to that station. It will disappear when they stop talking though. One might want to set the heading big as a reminder there.

Thinking of it now…I have never checked, but what frequency range are those DF that you mentioned? Maybe you could dial them into the radio and have a permanent bearing indication?! 

From the DCS F-18 early access guide.

So you can use it to tune to VOR stations and get a constant bearing.

[Foka]

3 hours ago, brettt777 said:

So as we all know, there are many locations on DCS terrain that do not have a TACAN to navigate with, but they do have DF frequencies. Now that I have the very cool Winwing MIP, I wanna use everything on it. Now, as a retired avionics tech that worked on military and civilian aircraft, I could probably figure out how to do it myself eventually. But I thought I'd just ask instead. So... how do I get the ADF to work?

There is a thing called a manual, and things called youtube tutorials.

[Phantom711]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb razo+r:

o you can use it to tune to VOR stations and get a constant bearing.

Good to know. Never used it really.

[brettt777]

4 hours ago, Foka said:

There is a thing called a manual, and things called youtube tutorials.

Yeah, there's also a thing called a forum where you can ask like minded folks about stuff. Get to know others that share your passion for all things aviation.

Like I said, I spent most of the last four decades as an aviation maintenance technician specializing in avionics. I am quite sure I could have figured it out on my own. While ADF isn't used much these days in modern avionics, I did see it a lot back in my Naval Air days.

[brettt777]

6 hours ago, Phantom711 said:

It‘s not like an NDB. It only shows you the direction of the station you are talking to. On position 1 for radio 1 and…you guessed it…likewise for radio 2.

So if you dial in the correct radio frequency for an airfield, you call them and they reply, you should see a small circle appearing on the compass ring of the HSI indicating the bearing to that station. It will disappear when they stop talking though. One might want to set the heading big as a reminder there.

Thinking of it now…I have never checked, but what frequency range are those DF that you mentioned? Maybe you could dial them into the radio and have a permanent bearing indication?! 

I've seen stations showing frequencies from mid to high VHF and up well into the UHF range. I thought that with those frequencies, that they must be some kind of homing signal for ADF. I mean, back in the day before TACAN and VOR, ADF was just about all they had. I figured it was probably as simple as dialing in the specified frequency on a receiver of some kind and it comes up on the HSI. Back in my early US Navy days, we had an actual separate ADF system with its own receiver and antenna. It didn't use any of the UHF radios. Many locations overseas didn't have TACAN and our planes didn't have nav receivers, and this was years before GPS, so sometimes ADF was all they had.