rob10 Posted March 1 Posted March 1 Discovered last night that this bug has reappeared. It was a thing a couple of years ago and got fixed, but apparently has come back. When you first open the radio frequency panel the modulation defaults to AM for all entries. However, if you enter a frequency roughly from 130 to 160 or in the 40's (I haven't tested exact ranges affected) it automatically changes them to FM. It's possible to manually change it back to AM with the box beside it and it will stick as AM so obviously something like 151.0 AM is a valid frequency even though it will switch it to 151.0 FM as soon as you enter 151. This matters because other aircraft in DCS like the F-16 can't use that range in FM (only AM). So you have to either catch it and change it manually in the mission editor or figure out why you don't have comm's with other aircraft types (only your own) which is challenging to troubleshoot if you haven't ran into this before. Attached mission is literally a single player F-18 sitting on the ramp cold at Kobuleti, so you're probably better to just create it yourself, but I include it for testing purposes. F18 freq to FM.miz 1 1
Flappie Posted March 1 Posted March 1 (edited) Hi @rob10. This is what I believe is correct when it comes to VHF/UHF bands: And this is what I observe in the ME for the Hornet and A-10C: VHF-FM "lo band": 30 to 87.995 gives FM (correct) VHF-AM: 118 to 135.9 gives AM (almost correct, it should extend to 136.975) VFH-FM "hi band": 136 to 173.9 gives FM (almost correct, it should extend from 137 to 174) UHF (AM) 225 to 3999.975 = AM (correct) The Viper AN-ARC222 radio should only be able to emit to these frequencies: FM : 30-87.975 AM : 116.000-151.975 In the ME, the Viper also can emit between 152 and 155.975 MHz, which is incorrect. -> already reported internally EDIT: I found this from the manual: This means: AM should be made available from 136 to 155.9 MHz. FM should be made available from 225 to 399.975 MHz. I'll report this. Edited March 8 by Flappie 2 1 ---
rob10 Posted March 1 Author Posted March 1 1 minute ago, Flappie said: Hi @rob10. This is what I believe is correct when it comes to VHF/UHF bands: Do you agree? Honestly, I have no idea what the radio ranges should be IRL so I can't really agree or disagree . I just know the current behaviour in the mission editor causes confusion. To use 151.0 as an example, if it should only be available as FM in the F-18 that's fine and I don't have an issue if ED wants to change it to that, but then have it change to that without the option to change it to AM (which currently exists -- at least change it in the mission editor, no idea how that works IRL in the cockpit either). Maybe it's currently being worked on but incomplete. This isn't you're fault nor under your control, but it's where ED really falls down. If this was a deliberate and intentional change to how the radio's are going to work in the Hornet ADD IT TO THE ........ING CHANGELOG!! The first time it happened took a while to figure out the problem because Hornet could communicate with Hornet but not with Vipers. Except on some frequencies they could communicate with Vipers. And a line in the changelog (if it was intentional) would solve the issue. I'm getting off-topic, but make the changelog as long as it needs to be to document significant changes. 14 minutes ago, Flappie said: EDIT: I found this from the manual: This means: AM should be made available from 136 to 155.9 MHz. FM should be made available from 225 to 399.975 MHz. I'll report this. So from that, it looks like current behaviour is "more correct" than the old in that 136-155 by default SHOULD be FM. Which I'm good with, but it really makes me spitting mad when ED changes something as fundamental as that and doesn't mention it. I can guarantee (from my own previous experience alone) this is going to cause mission makers unaware of the change grief. 1
Solution Flappie Posted March 6 Solution Posted March 6 I checked and it does not seem to be a new behaviour. This was done in 2023 ("Added AN/ARC-210 default FM in 136...155.9975 MHz"). Maybe you weren't using the same frequencies before? Since the current behaviour is intended, I've asked devs for a subtle change: Typing a frequency automatically should select its default modulation (unchanged). Fine tuning the frequency using the "<>" arrows should not change set modulation, unless the new frequency is the beginning of an exclusive AM or FM range (e.g. if the set frequency is "155.9 AM", a click on ">" changes to "156 FM"). ---
rob10 Posted March 7 Author Posted March 7 I know it changed back at some point because in our virtual squadron we use an AutoHotKey macro to insert all of our radio presets (we use a standard set of frequencies and presets). If it hadn't changed back since the original change we'd have had the issue in missions because the other planes (i.e. F-16) are on AM by default so the F-18 guys wouldn't have been able to communicate with them. So I suspect the "bug" was that it regressed from the 2023 change at some point and just got fixed. Anyway, thanks for looking into it and the explanation of why it is the way it is (back to) now! 1
Flappie Posted March 7 Posted March 7 A few years ago, a friend of mine made a program to set frequencies in .miz files. I don't know if it still works (it's from 2020), but I suggest you give it a go: https://github.com/zedroopy/DCS_Radio_Mission_Mod 1 ---
rob10 Posted March 7 Author Posted March 7 Thanks @Flappie. Doesn't appear that it has any ability to change modulation, just frequency. AutoHotKey option in the mission editor itself has been handy, but no easy way to select or change the modulation so might have to look at doing something like you linked or changing up our freqs to avoid default F-18 FM ones.
Flappie Posted March 8 Posted March 8 (edited) You are right, this mod was not designed to switch between AM and FM. But why not use the VHF AM 118-136 MHz range to have F-16 communicate with F/A-18? AM has a much better range (you will lose the signal quicker in FM) Edited March 8 by Flappie ---
Flappie Posted March 8 Posted March 8 (edited) @rob10 Forget about the old link, I'm working on a new version (WIP): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m8bXImR4A-P4r0QGYxYyjVC-uLgJxuq-_zSGix4cfhI/edit?usp=sharing The most important part is on top: these are ranges that are common between most aircraft (except MF/HF which is almost only used by Soviet-era aircraft). Edited March 8 by Flappie 1 ---
rob10 Posted March 8 Author Posted March 8 Thanks. That's helpful for figuring out what works. We at times have a range of different planes and helos in our missions so finding freqs that work across our spectrum gets challenging.
Flappie Posted March 8 Posted March 8 A long time ago, I made a lot of MP missions for my community. Which is why I started this document. Later, my friend made his radio presets mod so I don't spend time manually setting frequencies in the ME. ---
Minsky Posted March 8 Posted March 8 25 minutes ago, Flappie said: I'm working on a new version (WIP): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m8bXImR4A-P4r0QGYxYyjVC-uLgJxuq-_zSGix4cfhI/edit?usp=sharing Looks nice. You're probably aware, but in case you don't, our F-5E semi-unoficially supports the 100-399MHz range. 1 Dima | My DCS uploads
Flappie Posted March 8 Posted March 8 2 hours ago, Minsky said: You're probably aware, but in case you don't, our F-5E semi-unoficially supports the 100-399MHz range. Actually, I wasn't. Thanks for notifying me. And it seems there's a lot more "semi-unofficial" frequencies available for some aircraft (purple cells in my spreadsheet that I need to test). I want this spreadsheet to show what's officially supported by the real aircraft, but I might add an "unofficial frequencies" page someday. 1 ---
Flappie Posted March 19 Posted March 19 On 3/6/2025 at 10:07 PM, Flappie said: I checked and it does not seem to be a new behaviour. This was done in 2023 ("Added AN/ARC-210 default FM in 136...155.9975 MHz"). Maybe you weren't using the same frequencies before? Since the current behaviour is intended, I've asked devs for a subtle change: Typing a frequency automatically should select its default modulation (unchanged). Fine tuning the frequency using the "<>" arrows should not change set modulation, unless the new frequency is the beginning of an exclusive AM or FM range (e.g. if the set frequency is "155.9 AM", a click on ">" changes to "156 FM"). This change is now in Release. ---
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