AM / FM radio ranges?

[baltic_dragon]

Hey,

 

I am in the heat of building a SP campaign (so far 7 missions are more or less ready ,which I will be willing to test on a few willing test subjects in the coming days), but as I am in the process of tweaking all of them I have a question - does anyone know what is the effective range of AM radio in the sim? I don't mind a bit of static (gets more realistic that way), but as I am trying to base most of the communications on Radio Transmission (as opposed to Message to Country) I want to know whether it make sense with the command +/- 100 miles away from the target area.

 

Of course I will run some tests when I find some time to play, but since I am stuck at work I thought I'd ask...

[Eddie]

I've had Victor and Fox Mike working at around 150-170 NM using transmitted messages, with an A-10C flying at medium altitude with clear line of sight.

 

However I'll add that from what your posts suggests the purpose of the comms is using Victor/Fox Mike doesn't really make much sense.

 

If as I suspect, you're making comms messages from C2/AWACS/JSTARS/other fights then they should be coming over Uniform (UHF). DCS is largely incorrect when it comes to what radios are used for what purpose in the included campaigns and SP missions.

 

IRL VHF/AM & VHF/FM are used for intra-flight comms and in the case of VHF/FM sometimes close range comms with JTACs (although UHF can also be used for that purpose). Where A-10Cs aren't dealing with JTACs /VHF/FM is often used for flight comms as it has the shortest effective range, otherwise it's VHF/AM.

 

UHF is used for all inter-flight/package, AWACS, Military ATC, J-STARS, and other command and control purposes. It is actually impossible to talk to an AWACS controller over VHF as the guys in the back all have UHF and SATCOM radios (apart from guard transceivers of course). Only the pilots in the front have VHF radios. Military aviation prefers UHF for important comms between flights and other agencies as it provides better practical range and better audio quality, as well as being less congested than VHF frequencies as it is not shared with civil aviation traffic.

[baltic_dragon]

Thanks Eddie, you guessed my intent well :) still, even not entirely IRL-like use of AM/FM radio is better than omnipotent message to..., which will work no matter what radio settiings you would have set, range etc.

 

However, I think it would be possible to use UHF as a main radio for command and control purposes, wouldn't it? I will check it and if it works, I'll implement it in the campaign (I should be able to set correct frequency for other flights). As for inter-flight comms, FM would not be possible, but perhaps AM could work? I will play with the settings, thx for the information!

[baltic_dragon]

Checked it - no way to assign VHF/AM to player's flight, so the only feasible option would be to keep the command and flight on one UHF freq. Tried one of the missions in the mountains around 100 nm from Kobuleti and signal was fine at 15 000 feet, but became very weak when I went down to attack my targets - I love the detail of this game!

 

Also, connected to radio transmission - I noticed a following bug: if you create a flight, uncheck its COMM in main panel, and then assign freq in adv. wp panel, asking him to transmit message, the game crashes to desktop. You need to check the comms if you want him to transmit anything. At least that worked for me.

[Eddie]

You should be able to assign VHF for the player flight, just type a VHF freqenucy in the box, likewise to have AI flights and AWACS/Tankers use UHF just change the default 124.000 to a UHF freqency. The only limitation to my knowledge is that you can't change between AM and FM modulation.

[baltic_dragon]

You should be able to assign VHF for the player flight, just type a VHF freqenucy in the box, likewise to have AI flights and AWACS/Tankers use UHF just change the default 124.000 to a UHF freqency. The only limitation to my knowledge is that you can't change between AM and FM modulation.

 

When I tried to enter the frequency below the UHF (so less than 225 MHz), the text in the box turned red - but I will play with that a bit more and see how it works.