Radio usage help

I'm struggling to master the Viper radio (easy comms off). I do get comms but it can be hit and miss and my understanding is not 100%. Are there any good instructional documents or videos around? I've had a look but not found much. The EA guide is very light on the subject.

Can anyone tell me how the UHF panel (left side of cockpit) affects radio usage? I've been using the DED to enter frequencies and select presets. The UHF panel doesn't seem to do much. If I set a preset on the UHF panel it doesn't seem to affect COM1. The preset in DED stays the same. Perhaps an EA thing? Perhaps my misunderstanding.

Can the DED be used currently to edit the frequency of a specific preset? I've been trying to change COM1 and 2 channel to a particular preset but wonder if I've been editing the preset frequency instead.

Should I set the UHF radio to 'MAIN' or 'BOTH'?

Thanks in advance!

Can anyone tell me how the UHF panel (left side of cockpit) affects radio usage?

The F-16 has a single UHF radio, that can be managed from two places: The ICP/DED and the Backup Panel on the Left Console. The backup is there in case you lose the ICP to damage or failure.

I've been using the DED to enter frequencies and select presets. The UHF panel doesn't seem to do much. If I set a preset on the UHF panel it doesn't seem to affect COM1. The preset in DED stays the same. Perhaps an EA thing? Perhaps my misunderstanding.

I havent tried it myself, as I fly mostly Single Player with my own missions and thus I customize the Presets on the mission editor, but I would expect that the presets should be the same from both the backup panel and the DED .. if they are not, then it’s probably an EA bug.

Should I set the UHF radio to 'MAIN' or 'BOTH'?

Set it to Both, that means the UHF radio will transmitt/receive on the frequency that you set plus you will be able to receive communications sent over the "guard" channel (243.0 MHz)

I agree that the EA manual needs more detail on the radios.

The F-16 has a single UHF radio, that can be managed from two places: The ICP/DED and the Backup Panel on the Left Console. The backup is there in case you lose the ICP to damage or failure.

Set it to Both

Thanks for the help!

Press com1 or com2, then enter the desired preset in the field that's automatically selected and press enter

So I've been practicing and here's how presets can be edited, which I hope helps someone.

In the bottom left corner of the DED, on the VHF or UHF screens there are two lines like this:

PRE 1 <>

305.00

(but up down arrows, not left right)

That shows the available presets, and if you dobber down to select the bottom line (305.00 in my example) and enter a number, that allows you to edit the frequency for that preset channel. You still need to enter in the preset channel number to change to that preset (as described by LazyBoot).

So I've been practicing and here's how presets can be edited, which I hope helps someone....

Thanks for the tip, that's the true spirit of this Community .. sharing experiences :)

I’ve been able to change the preset, but then how do you select it so it changes the actual frequency you are on? I.e. the frequency showing at the top left?

Thanks..

From the preset frequency (305.00 in my above example) dobber down (ICP Data Control Switch - DOWN) once. Then press the number of the preset you need on the ICP panel and press ENTR.

However, while it tunes to that frequency it won't show you what it is - only what the preset number for that frequency is.

There is also a (probable) bug where dobbering down the preset numbers shows each the preset frequency but doesn't change the corresponding preset label until you dobber down to the preset frequency. Which is annoying.

From the preset frequency (305.00 in my above example) dobber down (ICP Data Control Switch - DOWN) once. Then press the number of the preset you need on the ICP panel and press ENTR.

 

However, while it tunes to that frequency it won't show you what it is - only what the preset number for that frequency is.

 

There is also a (probable) bug where dobbering down the preset numbers shows each the preset frequency but doesn't change the corresponding preset label until you dobber down to the preset frequency. Which is annoying.

Thanks bell_rj, but I’m not getting it to work. When I click down once on the ICP it highlights the “NB” at the lower right of the data panel. If I press “1” on the UFC for preset one, it changes from NB to WB, so I’m not following.

Edit: Actually, I got it to work with more experimenting. So I hit COM1 and simply clicked on the preset number on the UFC (1 in this case, for UHF 240.00 for AWACs ), then hit ENTR in the UFC. As you mentioned, once I went back to COM1 it shows “1” at the top instead of the preset frequency, but it’s working at least.

Glad you got it working. It can all be a bit tricky until it falls into place.