cannot repoduce and missing track file HMQS Scorpion overlay inexplicably went dim then off despite being turned ON

[DmitriKozlowsky]

HMQS Scorpion overlay inexplicably went dim then off despite being turned ON. Midmission

What controls brightness of Scorpion. Becouse I don't have it mapped, and AFAIK , I did not change it knowingly.

[Yurgon]

11 hours ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

HMQS Scorpion overlay inexplicably went dim then off despite being turned ON.

To make that explainable, we would need to see a track.

11 hours ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

What controls brightness of Scorpion. Becouse I don't have it mapped, and AFAIK , I did not change it knowingly.

In the A-10C and A-10C II modules, every pilot needs to know the tables "HOTAS Commands - Stick" and "HOTAS Commands - Throttle" by heart. You should pay particular attention to the Data Management Switch, because in the A-10C II module it can toggle the HMD regardless of SOI.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

6 hours ago, Yurgon said:

To make that explainable, we would need to see a track.

In the A-10C and A-10C II modules, every pilot needs to know the tables "HOTAS Commands - Stick" and "HOTAS Commands - Throttle" by heart. You should pay particular attention to the Data Management Switch, because in the A-10C II module it can toggle the HMD regardless of SOI.

I know DMS switches. However I never had Scorpion go dim and then turn OFF by itself. I still don't know what caused it. DMS down is HMQS as SOI.

[Yurgon]

44 minutes ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

However I never had Scorpion go dim and then turn OFF by itself.

Neither have I.

So I take it you don't have a track available then? Preferably a short one.

45 minutes ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

DMS down is HMQS as SOI.

No, that's not the case. HMCS ("cue", not "queue") as SOI is achieved with Coolie Hat Down Short. Besides, I'm not sure what you're trying to say by posting HOTAS commands; I don't quite follow.

Either way, with HMCS as SOI, DMS Forward and Aft affects HMCS Brightness, and DMS Right Short cycles through HMCS profiles which can all have different settings. And DMS Left Long toggles the entire Helmet Mounted Device On and Off regardless of SOI. So there's several ways you could have accidentally achieved the effect.

Barring a track, we'd need a little more description. Otherwise this is just going to get forgotten and shrugged off as "Need track replay" and "User error".

[DmitriKozlowsky]

19 minutes ago, Yurgon said:

Neither have I.

So I take it you don't have a track available then? Preferably a short one.

No, that's not the case. HMCS ("cue", not "queue") as SOI is achieved with Coolie Hat Down Short. Besides, I'm not sure what you're trying to say by posting HOTAS commands; I don't quite follow.

Either way, with HMCS as SOI, DMS Forward and Aft affects HMCS Brightness, and DMS Right Short cycles through HMCS profiles which can all have different settings. And DMS Left Long toggles the entire Helmet Mounted Device On and Off regardless of SOI. So there's several ways you could have accidentally achieved the effect.

Barring a track, we'd need a little more description. Otherwise this is just going to get forgotten and shrugged off as "Need track replay" and "User error".

You are correct. Slight error on my part. I confused DMS with China Hat. I do have it mapped correctly on my HOTAS. I've been away from A-10CII for some time. 

[ASAP]

2 hours ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

You are correct. Slight error on my part. I confused DMS with China Hat. I do have it mapped correctly on my HOTAS. I've been away from A-10CII for some time. 

DMS left long will turn it off no matter what your SOI is... and its coolie hat, not china hat that selects the SOI. I'd guess you dimmed it with the DMS without realizing it was SOI.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

7 hours ago, ASAP said:

DMS left long will turn it off no matter what your SOI is... and its coolie hat, not china hat that selects the SOI. I'd guess you dimmed it with the DMS without realizing it was SOI.

Uhmmmm........ 'coolie' is pejorative name for China hat. From American Old West term for Chinese labor working on Transcontinental Railroad. Its UNPC nowadays and is consedered offensive R-worded. You are welcome.

[BuzzU]

21 hours ago, Yurgon said:

To make that explainable, we would need to see a track.

In the A-10C and A-10C II modules, every pilot needs to know the tables "HOTAS Commands - Stick" and "HOTAS Commands - Throttle" by heart. You should pay particular attention to the Data Management Switch, because in the A-10C II module it can toggle the HMD regardless of SOI.

I find that harder and harder as I get older. It's made me fly the Hornet because of it. The Hornet HOTAS is simple compared to the Hog.

Yeah, getting old sucks! I turn 82 this month.

[Mayhem McAwesome]

Wild guess - Could it be that you have the power switch set to "Battery" instead of "On"? 

↑ as shown in Chuck's Guide

 Seems like you might have ran it down, which would explain the "dimming down and going off after a while" behavior... 

I'm assuming (educated guess) that this battery isn't rechargeable, given how it's clearly marked as something you'd replace on the panel itself.  

 

Not saying that's what happened to the OP, but who knows?  That's just a thought that occurred to me which might account for the problem, perhaps...

 

Edited December 24, 2024 by Mayhem McAwesome

[Ramses823]

5 hours ago, BuzzU said:

I find that harder and harder as I get older. It's made me fly the Hornet because of it. The Hornet HOTAS is simple compared to the Hog.

Yeah, getting old sucks! I turn 82 this month.

82 and playing DCS, I'm in my fourties. I want to be like you when I grow up

[ASAP]

11 hours ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

Uhmmmm........ 'coolie' is pejorative name for China hat. From American Old West term for Chinese labor working on Transcontinental Railroad. Its UNPC nowadays and is consedered offensive R-worded. You are welcome.

Neato! Much more applicable to the conversation at hand though, they are also two completely separate switches on the A-10 throttle, which you are incorrectly referring to as though the names are interchangeable. One is where your index finger naturally rests (coolie switch) and the other is where your thumb rests (china hat).

The coolie hat literally just means "laborer hat" taken from the Urdu word "Kuli" for labor. They call the switch that because that's what it looks like. Calling someone a coolie is pejorative and insulting.

I'm sure political correctness was at the front of fighter pilots minds when they named them.

If you really want to get upset about political incorrectness look up the NATO designation for Chinese radars or the Mig-15

Edited December 24, 2024 by ASAP

[DmitriKozlowsky]

2 hours ago, ASAP said:

Neato! Much more applicable to the conversation at hand though, they are also two completely separate switches on the A-10 throttle, which you are incorrectly referring to as though the names are interchangeable. One is where your index finger naturally rests (coolie switch) and the other is where your thumb rests (china hat).

The coolie hat literally just means "laborer hat" taken from the Urdu word "Kuli" for labor. They call the switch that because that's what it looks like. Calling someone a coolie is pejorative and insulting.

I'm sure political correctness was at the front of fighter pilots minds when they named them.

If you really want to get upset about political incorrectness look up the NATO designation for Chinese radars or the Mig-15

NATO Mig-15 naming is old British term for discarded butt of smoked cigarrete. Unfourtunately it shares spelling and pronounciation for offnsive pejorative for male LGBT member.

I served in US. Army (13A) in 1990's. I am a product of Army's then inclusity and diversity training as ordered by then POTUS Bill Jefferson Clinton.

[Yurgon]

9 hours ago, BuzzU said:

I find that harder and harder as I get older. It's made me fly the Hornet because of it. The Hornet HOTAS is simple compared to the Hog.

Hold on, you're saying the Hornet HOTAS makes sense to you? I'm not even 50 and I can't wrap my head around it. Rather than learning it, I just keep cursing it for not being just like the A-10. Seems you're actually quite up to the task.

Besides, I said it before, if I'm still flying DCS or something similarly complicated at age 80 and onward, I'll consider myself extremely lucky!

7 hours ago, Mayhem McAwesome said:

Wild guess - Could it be that you have the power switch set to "Battery" instead of "On"? 

Good point! I never tried to run the HMCS on Battery, but maybe it'll run out of juice eventually.

2 hours ago, ASAP said:

If you really want to get upset about political incorrectness look up the NATO designation for Chinese radars or the Mig-15

I always thought the NATO-Codename for the MiG-15 referred to a musical instrument, but that turns out to be a translation error on my part. However, I don't think the term was originally meant to refer to a derogatory designation for homosexuals, since there are perfectly benign meanings as well.

Either way, I completely agree that the designations for the various HOTAS switches and hats in the A-10C are pretty much carved in stone and it's not helping the discussion to toss them around because of some etymology.

Since OP hasn't shown much enthusiasm in figuring out what caused the issue at hand and is now needlessly derailing the discussion, I guess all that needs to be said has been said.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

5 minutes ago, Yurgon said:

Hold on, you're saying the Hornet HOTAS makes sense to you? I'm not even 50 and I can't wrap my head around it. Rather than learning it, I just keep cursing it for not being just like the A-10. Seems you're actually quite up to the task.

Besides, I said it before, if I'm still flying DCS or something similarly complicated at age 80 and onward, I'll consider myself extremely lucky!

Good point! I never tried to run the HMCS on Battery, but maybe it'll run out of juice eventually.

I always thought the NATO-Codename for the MiG-15 referred to a musical instrument, but that turns out to be a translation error on my part. However, I don't think the term was originally meant to refer to a derogatory designation for homosexuals, since there are perfectly benign meanings as well.

Either way, I completely agree that the designations for the various HOTAS switches and hats in the A-10C are pretty much carved in stone and it's not helping the discussion to toss them around because of some etymology.

Since OP hasn't shown much enthusiasm in figuring out what caused the issue at hand and is now needlessly derailing the discussion, I guess all that needs to be said has been said.

I know , now, what caused it. Controls for controlling HMQS brighness, are shared with another function. When SOI is HMQS, those other functions become brighness controls.

[Yurgon]

9 minutes ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

I know , now, what caused it. Controls for controlling HMQS brighness, are shared with another function. When SOI is HMQS, those other functions become brighness controls.

I would have described it a bit differently, but it's good that you figured it out!

[BuzzU]

Yurgon...............The Hornet HOTAS may not make sense. What I meant was it's easier to remember than the Hog.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

On 12/24/2024 at 5:55 PM, Yurgon said:

I would have described it a bit differently, but it's good that you figured it out!

How would you describe it?

[Yurgon]

10 hours ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

How would you describe it?

The whole point of HOTAS controls is that the same switch/button can have different functions associated with it, rather than having exactly one function per switch/button.

On 12/25/2024 at 12:44 AM, DmitriKozlowsky said:

Controls for controlling HMQS brighness, are shared with another function. When SOI is HMQS, those other functions become brighness controls.

Like many other switches, the function of the Data Management Switch depends on the sensor of interest. It's not so much that its function is shared, it's just mode-dependent. With HMCS as SOI, the DMS does not control zoom in the TGP or the TAD, nor does it cycle waypoints. It doesn't share this function with any other sensor. When HMCS is SOI, DMS controls HMCS functions exclusively.

Of course we've all been there (I definitely have): Look at TAD, try to zoom in or out, realize it doesn't work because it isn't SOI, then make it SOI and try again, only to realize a bit later that I've dimmed the HMCS. Or, one of my all time favorites: Try to cycle weapon profiles with HUD as SOI - in GUNS master mode, where I then cycle the gun reticle, and on the next gun run my pipper looks nothing like what I expect it to.

However, I'm not aware of any HOTAS switch or button in the A-10C module (I or II) that serves two functions at once. Only ever one function, and this function depends on SOI. That's why I wouldn't describe any HOTAS command as a "shared" function.

[ASAP]

On 12/24/2024 at 5:37 PM, Yurgon said:

I always thought the NATO-Codename for the MiG-15 referred to a musical instrument, but that turns out to be a translation error on my part. However, I don't think the term was originally meant to refer to a derogatory designation for homosexuals, since there are perfectly benign meanings as well.

Based on the typical irreverent humor of every fighter pilot I've ever met, I'd bet that word was very deliberately chosen for its double meaning. Sure the fuselage of the aircraft is cigar shaped, that's a great justification for us to refer to our primary air-to-air adversary by and insulting term. Not saying it was correct, but there's no way a room full of fighter pilots accidentally came up with that name not realizing it was also insulting.  Different time.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

7 hours ago, Yurgon said:

The whole point of HOTAS controls is that the same switch/button can have different functions associated with it, rather than having exactly one function per switch/button.

Like many other switches, the function of the Data Management Switch depends on the sensor of interest. It's not so much that its function is shared, it's just mode-dependent. With HMCS as SOI, the DMS does not control zoom in the TGP or the TAD, nor does it cycle waypoints. It doesn't share this function with any other sensor. When HMCS is SOI, DMS controls HMCS functions exclusively.

Of course we've all been there (I definitely have): Look at TAD, try to zoom in or out, realize it doesn't work because it isn't SOI, then make it SOI and try again, only to realize a bit later that I've dimmed the HMCS. Or, one of my all time favorites: Try to cycle weapon profiles with HUD as SOI - in GUNS master mode, where I then cycle the gun reticle, and on the next gun run my pipper looks nothing like what I expect it to.

However, I'm not aware of any HOTAS switch or button in the A-10C module (I or II) that serves two functions at once. Only ever one function, and this function depends on SOI. That's why I wouldn't describe any HOTAS command as a "shared" function.

One function, that I miss from old v1 A-10C is snowplowing centering of TPOD. That function that did that v1 of A-10C now toggles it between Laser spor search or autopoint TPOD at sensor point of interest. TO quickly snowplow TPOD, I have to STBY then put it back in AG. Its a hassle, and slew rate of TPOD, even when set to 1 in Special Options is too slow.

[Yurgon]

55 minutes ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

TO quickly snowplow TPOD, I have to STBY then put it back in AG. Its a hassle, and slew rate of TPOD, even when set to 1 in Special Options is too slow.

You mean "boresighting"? Why don't you hit "B/S" at OSB 5? There's the added bonus that you can set the default boresight depression if you enter a valid number into the UFC scratchpad before pressing OSB 5.

Personally, I also would have preferred to retain TGP Boresight with China Hat Aft Short rather than LSS Toggle, but it's only a minor nuisance after all.

[BuzzU]

I decided to stay with the Hog. I'll make up some checklists to help my memory.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

20 hours ago, Yurgon said:

You mean "boresighting"? Why don't you hit "B/S" at OSB 5? There's the added bonus that you can set the default boresight depression if you enter a valid number into the UFC scratchpad before pressing OSB 5.

Personally, I also would have preferred to retain TGP Boresight with China Hat Aft Short rather than LSS Toggle, but it's only a minor nuisance after all.

Yep! Thank you. Got that mapped nicely. My personal preference is to have TPOD's default mode being boresight. Right now its auto-slew to waypoint or SPI.

I don't know if real A-10C has a FLIR HUD projection, like in Harrier and F-15E, but it would be more usefull then NVG. NVG and A-10CII MFD don't play nice with each other. Even at dimmest, MFD appear too bright in NVG, and having to muck around with NVG brightness, MFD bright/cont, while flying, navigating, and fighting in pitch dark is too much to ask.

[ASAP]

13 hours ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

I don't know if real A-10C has a FLIR HUD projection, like in Harrier

 

It doesn't. Which is a shame because it would let the Hawg get a lot lower at night.