Radio Navigation Issues

On mission 2, and loving this campaign so far. I feel totally immersed :)

However, I noticed that upon trying to navigate via NDBs that I'm running into some issues. Has anyone else noticed anything wonky?

For example, currently I'm at the end of mission 2 on my way back to Sochi. I have my my trusty AN/ARN-6 tuned to the frequency specified in the briefing (761 kHz). I'm about 50nm away, and all I hear is static and my radio compass needle is spinning in circles. My first thought, "hmm maybe the signal is just too weak to reach me, let's try a closer one!"

So now I tune into Guadata (395 kHz). It's on the way to Sochi and only 18nm away. Ah ha, I can hear the morse code! But wait, my radio compass needle is still spinning in circles. And if listen closely, the morse code isn't even close to what's listed in the briefing for Gudauta Airport.

I hear . _ . . .

Am I just mega failing at this, or has anyone else run into similar issues? Luckily I am able to navigate via the coastline, so hasn't been game breaking...yet.

Has the NDB's been giving you issues in the later missions too? that is an odd one, and it sounds like you are doing everything correctly

Has the NDB's been giving you issues in the later missions too? that is an odd one, and it sounds like you are doing everything correctly

didn't check on mission 3 but on mission 4 everything worked OK

Now that you mention it, I had problems with the second and third mission as well. The morse code didn't seem to match up with what it was supposed to be. I remember the morse for 395 being off. 489 didn't seem right to me either, but that may just have been me missing the right one (coastline was sufficient anyway so I didn't bother fiddling more).

Are you going to open a general bug/correction report thread, Apache?

Here's a tiny little one

There are some weird anomalies that I've seen with the NDB's. Both in my campaign, and outside of it.

Please continue to post any issues you may have with them, I might have to figure out some work-around to problematic NDB's in a patch.

One thing I did note a while back, and something you'll run into later during the campaign, is an issue with the Gali NDB. I posted a threat about it a while back, feel free to take a look at this link, as you guys will probably notice it too.

Gali NDB 525 problem ---> http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=159042

There are some weird anomalies that I've seen with the NDB's. Both in my campaign, and outside of it.

 

Please continue to post any issues you may have with them, I might have to figure out some work-around to problematic NDB's in a patch.

 

One thing I did note a while back, and something you'll run into later during the campaign, is an issue with the Gali NDB. I posted a threat about it a while back, feel free to take a look at this link, as you guys will probably notice it too.

 

Gali NDB 525 problem ---> http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=159042

gotcha, will keep it in mind while playing. at least we still have our handy kneeboard GPS as a backup.

looked at your post, did ED every get back to you or confirm it was a bug?

And the missions typically stay around areas that you become familiar with, so that should help considerably as well.

They have not gotten back to me about that NDB concern of mine. Not the biggest deal though, as long as you're aware of it.

I´m flying mission 2 right now with the MiG-15 and I also have troubles tuning in the NDBs (spinning needle) and only static on the given frequencies.

edit:

On my way home I tried to tune in Sochi which worked.

So I only had problems with the frequencies 395 and 489 in this mission.

Seems like the NDB's are a bit finicky. So, what I've picked up on is that it is all about the active runway, which is determined by the wind direction.

At airports like Sochi and Nalchik, there's always only one way in and one way out (because of terrain), so the active runway remains the same no matter what the wind direction is.

If we look at Gudauta and Sukumhi, those airports can have landing and take-off traffic in both directions, however, the only have one NDB (as opposed to Mozdok for example, or Anapa, which has NDB's on both sides of the runways)

The active NDB always seems to correlate with the landing direction of the active runway. So in the case of Sukhumi, if the active runway has aircraft taking off towards the east, there are no NDB's that could work for that, since that would physically put the landing NDB in the ocean. So in this case, NDB 489 seems to be turned off.

What I'll do in a the future patch, is make a custom NDB with the correct freq overlay the NDB's which don't seem to be turned on.

Please, feel free to let me know which NDB's, in which missions, don't seem to be active.

Thanks guys!

- Apache600

The NDB morse code is weird sometimes. For Gudanta I hear -..- -.-. (XC) instead of --.. -.-. (ZC). And sometimes the sound is chopped. I have no idea whether it's like that in the real world, but if not, it's probably something in DCS.

I'm pretty sure in mission 1 I had other codes as well, but they don't make sense so I'll blame the radio receiver ;)

Finding the correct beacon with those old radios (while flying) is not easy, for sure.

I also noticed a funny thing, that I first thought was a mission bug. If I turn the frequency knob while a message is received, its sound is chopped, and the message is repeated on the screen. I had already noticed something similar in the A-10C though, must be some quirk in DCS.

I actually might have the briefing page wrong then. I figure, if you have the correct freq dialed in, and you hear something other than static, you're probably doing alright. Never a bad thing to check your work though. haha

As for the sound cutting out, that is something I've found with the mission editor and the playback of recorded sounds. It works well most of the time, but it isn't 100% consistent.

The "text message repeating" thing has always been an issue when turning freq knobs. I think it happens in every aircraft in the game. I personally just wait till the text box disappears before getting to work on the frequencies.

The briefing matches the DCS beacon list, so it could be something else. I suppose those morse codes are recorded for every letter and played, maybe there's a synchronization issue, or maybe even typos for some beacons?

I should try with another aircraft in free flight to compare.