wip Radar losing lock way too easy in all modes.

[AeriaGloria]

8 hours ago, LaCiKa said:

1st AUTO mode is like switch every second, from HPRF to MPRF to achive best lock, there is no "random".

2nd Again, again and again im not going to repeat my self that P mode is complete joke, you can't achive lock more than 15-20km, even 20km is HUGE risk of lock breaking it's self, i don't know in what world did you get 35km lock on HOT target. Even in Wags video is mentioned some distance of 8nm.

Simply radar is bugged it needs to be fixed and give it more power, to me it makes no sense to have 120km+ range on HPRF and 15km on MPRF, simple as that.

Were you at low altitude? MPRF suffers below 3k meters 

In addition coop is perfect for MPRF because IRST will likely have lock when it drops. Probably why when fully implemented coop mode will lock radar to MPRF

Edited September 28 by AeriaGloria

[CrazyGman]

9 hours ago, LaCiKa said:

1st AUTO mode is like switch every second, from HPRF to MPRF to achive best lock, there is no "random".

2nd Again, again and again im not going to repeat my self that P mode is complete joke, you can't achive lock more than 15-20km, even 20km is HUGE risk of lock breaking it's self, i don't know in what world did you get 35km lock on HOT target. Even in Wags video is mentioned some distance of 8nm.

Simply radar is bugged it needs to be fixed and give it more power, to me it makes no sense to have 120km+ range on HPRF and 15km on MPRF, simple as that.

Pretty much I feel auto mode that gives me the most problems. Usually what I do for success is Head on mode for the bvr engagement...once the target cranks, and we are under 20km, i'll switch to pursuit...that usually maintains lock. 

 

Part of what I had to get used to was the scale change between head on and pursuit, and that I need to make sure my antenna position is properly set. especially with pursuit mode, as you can easily have the dish point way off to the heavens or into the dirt, when you want it just in front of you.

It's helped a bunch right now for me on contention, and I've been getting more R-27R kills

[wcdiver]

From my experience:

Using Head On and Pursuit mode is far superior to using automatic mode.

So for targets that are far away:

Head On mode, then setup the bracket at the relative distance to the target, and then setup antenna elevation to the target relative altitude.  When target is close enough - switch to the Pursuit mode and check the antenna elevation (make sure that is not pointing too high / too low).

Here is an example: lock achieved at 80+ km using Head On mode and correct antenna elevation.

 

 

Edited September 29 by wcdiver

[CrazyGman]

Practicing against ACE AI and in Mutliplayer the radar does most of the time drop lock if the target beams and drops chaff. Espessially when going cold. Even when using head on and then switching the pursuit, at high altitude.

[Pavlin_33]

On 9/28/2025 at 4:36 PM, PE_Crni said:

Well, some 20 years ago, I used to fly IL-2 with a guy who was Fulcrum pilot in Indian Air Force. I was very enthusiastic about MiG-29 and he just put me down by saying the plane is nowhere near its famed or advertised capabilities. One thing that really stuck in my memory was how he described the radar - "We would often spot other planes in front of us with our eyes before seeing them on the radar."

Yes, MiG-29's radar was pecifically developed for WVR with a max detection range of around few kilometers. The 27Rs were designed to be initially guided using M-link, and then they would home in using pilot's eyballs. 

Edited October 1 by Pavlin_33

[JTFF - Raph]

Hi,

First of all, I want to thank ED team for this clean and well appreciated release. The Fulcrum is awesome.

Now concerning this topic. I also noticed some inconsistency during radar usage but : at this moment we don't really know how ED team plans to design this radar model. So it is hard to say if something is a bug or not. In the first release of the manual there is no sufficient informations to juge wether or not everything is correct or bugged.

Based on what I read in DCS forums or heard from well documented DCS members I made with hexcalidraw a "fulcrum radar workflow". It would be appreciated to have a feedback from ED team and from you guys to have a clear view on :

- What we should expect from the radar (in terms of performance etc)
- What is implemented or not at this moment
- What will be implemented or not in the future
- How to correctly operate this radar (it might change depending on DCS tactics or historical doctrines)
- Correct this diagram and maybe give an accurate one for the future manual versions if it helps community

With that, I think we could have more tools to understand what we are doing, what might be a bug or not and save a lot of time for everyone I guess.

PS : I won't debate on open source data or anything else external from DCS forums since I had problems with moderation in the past, so I will rely only on your advice and hopefully on ED team' feedback.

Have a good day !

 

 

[JTFF - Raph]

@AeriaGloria I will check your video as well, I've just seen it after posting.

[YoYo]

On 9/29/2025 at 2:46 PM, wcdiver said:

From my experience:

Using Head On and Pursuit mode is far superior to using automatic mode.

So for targets that are far away:

Head On mode, then setup the bracket at the relative distance to the target, and then setup antenna elevation to the target relative altitude.  When target is close enough - switch to the Pursuit mode and check the antenna elevation (make sure that is not pointing too high / too low).

Here is an example: lock achieved at 80+ km using Head On mode and correct antenna elevation.

 

In fact, in this setting it works quite well, I managed to lock the target at around 65 Km.

[NineLine]

6 hours ago, JTFF - Raph said:

Hi,

First of all, I want to thank ED team for this clean and well appreciated release. The Fulcrum is awesome.

Now concerning this topic. I also noticed some inconsistency during radar usage but : at this moment we don't really know how ED team plans to design this radar model. So it is hard to say if something is a bug or not. In the first release of the manual there is no sufficient informations to juge wether or not everything is correct or bugged.

Based on what I read in DCS forums or heard from well documented DCS members I made with hexcalidraw a "fulcrum radar workflow". It would be appreciated to have a feedback from ED team and from you guys to have a clear view on :

- What we should expect from the radar (in terms of performance etc)
- What is implemented or not at this moment
- What will be implemented or not in the future
- How to correctly operate this radar (it might change depending on DCS tactics or historical doctrines)
- Correct this diagram and maybe give an accurate one for the future manual versions if it helps community

With that, I think we could have more tools to understand what we are doing, what might be a bug or not and save a lot of time for everyone I guess.

PS : I won't debate on open source data or anything else external from DCS forums since I had problems with moderation in the past, so I will rely only on your advice and hopefully on ED team' feedback.

Have a good day !

 

 

This is still being tuned by the team; we should have some news soon on this. Thanks.

[AeriaGloria]

6 hours ago, JTFF - Raph said:

Hi,

First of all, I want to thank ED team for this clean and well appreciated release. The Fulcrum is awesome.

Now concerning this topic. I also noticed some inconsistency during radar usage but : at this moment we don't really know how ED team plans to design this radar model. So it is hard to say if something is a bug or not. In the first release of the manual there is no sufficient informations to juge wether or not everything is correct or bugged.

Based on what I read in DCS forums or heard from well documented DCS members I made with hexcalidraw a "fulcrum radar workflow". It would be appreciated to have a feedback from ED team and from you guys to have a clear view on :

- What we should expect from the radar (in terms of performance etc)
- What is implemented or not at this moment
- What will be implemented or not in the future
- How to correctly operate this radar (it might change depending on DCS tactics or historical doctrines)
- Correct this diagram and maybe give an accurate one for the future manual versions if it helps community

With that, I think we could have more tools to understand what we are doing, what might be a bug or not and save a lot of time for everyone I guess.

PS : I won't debate on open source data or anything else external from DCS forums since I had problems with moderation in the past, so I will rely only on your advice and hopefully on ED team' feedback.

Have a good day !

 

 

Are you aware how to adjust the range for TD degree elevation? If you go to radar elevation chapter of my latest video there are some Tips for it

[JTFF - Raph]

2 hours ago, AeriaGloria said:

Are you aware how to adjust the range for TD degree elevation? If you go to radar elevation chapter of my latest video there are some Tips for it

In fact, with friends we were really disoriented when we realized that the wheel was not working and we had no range. And yes your video answered the question !
I understand that the TDC is the actual range ref and can put your antenna onto orbit if you slide your TDC down.

Also what CrazyGman pointed out on HUD scales changes between Head-on/Pursuit makes it even more challenging.

Btw very good video, well explained and detailed. Learned  cool tricks and then shared it to people discovering eastern radars. It will help a lot man.

[AeriaGloria]

10 hours ago, JTFF - Raph said:

Hi,

First of all, I want to thank ED team for this clean and well appreciated release. The Fulcrum is awesome.

Now concerning this topic. I also noticed some inconsistency during radar usage but : at this moment we don't really know how ED team plans to design this radar model. So it is hard to say if something is a bug or not. In the first release of the manual there is no sufficient informations to juge wether or not everything is correct or bugged.

Based on what I read in DCS forums or heard from well documented DCS members I made with hexcalidraw a "fulcrum radar workflow". It would be appreciated to have a feedback from ED team and from you guys to have a clear view on :

- What we should expect from the radar (in terms of performance etc)
- What is implemented or not at this moment
- What will be implemented or not in the future
- How to correctly operate this radar (it might change depending on DCS tactics or historical doctrines)
- Correct this diagram and maybe give an accurate one for the future manual versions if it helps community

With that, I think we could have more tools to understand what we are doing, what might be a bug or not and save a lot of time for everyone I guess.

PS : I won't debate on open source data or anything else external from DCS forums since I had problems with moderation in the past, so I will rely only on your advice and hopefully on ED team' feedback.

Have a good day !

 

 

Some things 

Pirsuit mode works at any aspect not just “pursuit.” I recommend to turn it on when 20-30 kmh from target (depending on if above or below 3,000 meters). 
 

Radar picking up IRST lock and vice versa only works in coop mode. 
 

To make this happen move coop switch forward, and in IRST modes set radar to “dummy/ekv.” 
 

When fully implemented it will lock radar pursuit/MPRF mode. 

8 minutes ago, JTFF - Raph said:

In fact, with friends we were really disoriented when we realized that the wheel was not working and we had no range. And yes your video answered the question !
I understand that the TDC is the actual range ref and can put your antenna onto orbit if you slide your TDC down.

Also what CrazyGman pointed out on HUD scales changes between Head-on/Pursuit makes it even more challenging.

Btw very good video, well explained and detailed. Learned  cool tricks and then shared it to people discovering eastern radars. It will help a lot man.

Very happy it helped!!!!!!!!!

[JTFF - Raph]

4 minutes ago, AeriaGloria said:

Some things 

Pirsuit mode works at any aspect not just “pursuit.” I recommend to turn it on when 20-30 kmh from target (depending on if above or below 3,000 meters). 
 

Radar picking up IRST lock and vice versa only works in coop mode. 
 

To make this happen move coop switch forward, and in IRST modes set radar to “dummy/ekv.” 
 

When fully implemented it will lock radar pursuit/MPRF mode. 

Very happy it helped!!!!!!!!!

Yep here is what I try to on my tests :

- Work on acquisition (mainly in HPRF, sometimes AUTO, but if AUTO works as intended it might use the wrong PRF cycle and fail initial lock)
- Work on closure rate like a rocket
- Dump one alamo or both if forcing the merge (is the jet guiding both with two sep DL chans ? Or one is in degraded inertial mode ?)
- Then switch to MPRF at closer range (or when target is starting to maneuver)

And most of time I loose lock here, still reviewing tacviews to see if it is bad radar management or speed gate. This trash almost 90% of my shots because lock is broken in final guidance.

- Then trying RHS/FHS to try to get back a last minute track file. At this "transition" range it is to short for CC unfortunately, so there is a time gap before really getting in merge.

Regarding COOP I only push the switch but migh be mistaking on usage

[AeriaGloria]

4 minutes ago, JTFF - Raph said:

Yep here is what I try to on my tests :

- Work on acquisition (mainly in HPRF, sometimes AUTO, but if AUTO works as intended it might use the wrong PRF cycle and fail initial lock)
- Work on closure rate like a rocket
- Dump one alamo or both if forcing the merge (is the jet guiding both with two sep DL chans ? Or one is in degraded inertial mode ?)
- Then switch to MPRF at closer range (or when target is starting to maneuver)

And most of time I loose lock here, still reviewing tacviews to see if it is bad radar management or speed gate. This trash almost 90% of my shots because lock is broken in final guidance.

- Then trying RHS/FHS to try to get back a last minute track file. At this "transition" range it is to short for CC unfortunately, so there is a time gap before really getting in merge.

Regarding COOP I only push the switch but migh be mistaking on usage

For coop just move switch forward for radar (remember it will limit you to pursuit eventually, it was normal for pilots to flip it forward at 20-30 kmh)

You only need to move radar to dummy/EKV for IRST modes. 
 

The N-019/N001 has two spaces for datalink in its target illumination cycle. So you will be able to guide both fine. You can even break lock mid flight and if you regain it before impact the missile can guide.

[AeriaGloria]

Hello, I could swear we had a nice thread about this topic here recently with a track and everything. I’ve looked everywhere and it seems to be gone. 
 

Anyways I’ve done some testing, takes 10-15 degree angle to lock a target flying at 1200 kmh. Or a 45-60 degree angle to lock a target at 1500 kmh. 
 

I would love to hear from ED why the radar does this. I saw it in the manual so I know it’s valid, but it also never stated if it was a “no lock or detection” kind of limit or something else. Anyways cheers 

[AeriaGloria]

On 9/19/2025 at 5:24 PM, LaCiKa said:

1st. So issues is that lock is lost very easy, target needs to do just crank left or right 45+ deg and lock is lost. And it doesn't matter if target is above horizon or under it. This aplies to all modes, worst is P mode, then AUTO CMBT and Head on is only mode that gives a chance to hit target before lock loss. This aplies to range up to 25km max.

2nd Issue comes from close range, if you hold lock and let target to come closer than 10km, 90% it will lose lock, only moment when it wont is when target is in your HUD.

3rd Vertical radar mode 99% won't lock target, only moment i found it that it works is when target is cold, not maneuvering and above horizon.

4th Issue with Persuit mode or Auto, scan rate is way too long it makes no sense. Again speaking for range up to 25km max.

 

Tacview-20250920-013550-DCS.zip.acmi 64.55 kB · 1 download

I looked over your post again, and don’t know how many of these issues your still having after the hot fix. 
 

I have a video where I go over specs of every mode, for example notch of head on increases from 230 to 325 kmh steadily from 20-60 km.

Scan rates of pursuit mode is 3.7 seconds at all ranges. Idk how you counted it but the most sure way is to count the radar bars on the HDD. Count how fast it goes through 1-2-3-4 and that will give you scan time.

It seems vertical scan radar is still heavily work in progress. I wonder if people sometimes fall into 50 kmh same speed filter. 
 

You can also disable notch by being 5 degrees or more below target, though I haven’t tested it. 
 

Also, head on should have minimum 5 km range before it breaks lock. 
 

 

[BIGNEWY]

9 hours ago, AeriaGloria said:

Hello, I could swear we had a nice thread about this topic here recently with a track and everything. I’ve looked everywhere and it seems to be gone. 
 

Anyways I’ve done some testing, takes 10-15 degree angle to lock a target flying at 1200 kmh. Or a 45-60 degree angle to lock a target at 1500 kmh. 
 

I would love to hear from ED why the radar does this. I saw it in the manual so I know it’s valid, but it also never stated if it was a “no lock or detection” kind of limit or something else. Anyways cheers 

We have not removed any threads relating to this, its always best to PM us rather than in public about moderation, your post has been merged to a relevant thread.

please if you are reporting an issue attach a track replay example and I can ask the team about it. 

thank you 

[AeriaGloria]

7 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

We have not removed any threads relating to this, its always best to PM us rather than in public about moderation, your post has been merged to a relevant thread.

please if you are reporting an issue attach a track replay example and I can ask the team about it. 

thank you 

I have no problem posting tracks. I just thought it was “Bugs and problems” not just “Bugs.” 
 

In addition I was trying to find a post that already had tracks posted. But appears to be removed or merged, and all I wanted to do was add detail to this post that has a track. I wasn’t trying to report an issue, and that post was here. 
 

Also. Half or more then half of the threads on this first page of “Bugs and problems” have no track, so sorry if the enforcement seems uneven. 

Edited October 9 by AeriaGloria

[foxit]

Looks like we need a 5fth generation radar on this archaic monster, or it might end up being cocooned at the back of the hangar. How sad!!!

[AeriaGloria]

Anyways, since it’s here, in this video I talk about 1100 kmh limit and how much of an angle is required to defeat it, and what it means for coop. 
 

 

 

Edited October 10 by AeriaGloria