DCS Navigation

Where can we find HOW to create FM NDB's in the ME ?

 

Is that in the DCS Manual somewhere ? I couldn't find it. But I am deeply confused by the entire ME thing to begin with.

 

If anyone is aware of any Videos that illustrate this procedure ... by all means .. please share.

 

Thanks in Advance.

This is how I did, it may not be the best way, but it worked. :D And it's realy simple, despite the wall of text that follows: :D

1. Create a new trigger zone at the place you want to have the NDB. You do that by clicking on the 7th button from the bottom in the toolbar (looks like x in the circle - check the image below). Its size doesn't seem to matter. Name it to be easily identified later.

2. Create the new trigger (6th button from the top). When the window opens, just click New, leave as is.

3. Create New condition, select Time more and set to 1 seconds. This will activate the trigger 1 sec after the mission start (obviously :)).

4. Create New action, select Radio transmition. There are several settings here:

- File - you have to have an actual audio file that you'll be able to hear ingame. (*)Look below for more info on that.

- Play/stop - test how your file plays

- zone - select the zone you created in the 1st step

- Modulation - set to AM!

- loop - on

- frequency (kHz) - set a frequency in UHF range, roughly 220-399 MHz (the fact that our F-5E can tune into 1** MHz using T as 1 is specific only to DCS World :D. In real world T is used to sync the clock, used for anti jamming mode and the position is springloaded and can't be permanently set). For example if you want to have 325MHz, enter 325000.

- Power - I can't remember which setting I used, sorry. Experiment with it to find the range you want. IIRC the default value gives cca 50km. Edit: this is completely wrong, the range with the default 100W is actually around 360km.

- Name - enter any name you want, but don't forget to put one.

(*) You'll want to create an audio file to be heard once you tune in your radio, preferably some morse code. There are a few free online text to morse converters which will create a file for you. Put some empty spaces at the end of the text because it will loop. If you get stuck with it, say so, I'll help. The file has to be in .wav or .ogg format, so if the file you get it , say .mp3, you'll have to convert it yourself. Again there are online converters or you can use your favorite audio editing software.

Hope this helps. There's one issue I found with this, the transmission can be heard long before the needle turns to the beacon. But maybe this is how it's suppose to be. :)

Very cool!

Here's an oldie but goodie on your topic of interest:

or

Push the stick forward to make the trees bigger ...

Pull the stick back to make them smaller ...

Better to run out of ideas than airspeed ...

;)

Thanks a ton Grunf

http://godsofthemachine.com/SPT-PDF/KISS%20Navigation%20in%20the%20F-5%20Opti2.pdf

 

Hey Guys,

So I was asked to make a PDF of this KISS navigation stuff so you guys could pick what you wanted, print it out and carry to the cockpit.

 

I have not done any fancy graphics or squadron plugs to save you ink.

 

Charly Owl's stuff is awesome for quickly learning your systems and I suggest getting that from the downloads section.

 

So fly on my friends and enjoy getting around and finding your airport.

 

Disclaimer: As other members have pointed out there is more to learn in order to understand the whys and hows of navigation. My little coarse here was only meant to give you a kickstarter in the KISS format.

 

Hi Need-To-Know,

Thanks for this info, helping me out a bunch as well :thumbup:

I have a quick question tho...

When you use the mission edditor for course headings... does this work in the F10 map?

I was trying this today and the heading from the ruler in the F10 map seemed off??

Cheers!

Hey Buddy,

I really appreciate you saying thanks! If it helps anyone it was well worth the effort.

As for your question. Humm I am not sure. I have never used the F10 to view the map while flying. I am a total nerd on navigation and that breaks the immersion for me. Same with the kneeboard.

In saying that the Navy F5Ns do have nav systems built into them now so it really would not be cheating to reference dots on the kneeboard.

Using those are just not for me.

I made a few maps I keep on my iPad to reference like a real kneeboard.

Here is a big picture from one of the VFC-111 F5Ns pits of the nav system:

I had the overall theory behind what i was supposed to be doing, your walkthrough has helped clarify quite a bit tho.

I use the map ingame to check if what I'm doing/learning is actually correct, with the aim of dissabling it eventually. When I draw a ruler line from eg. groom lake to me it might say im at a heading of 090 for 20 miles (from) OR 270 (to).. but when i jump in the pit and use tacan to stear towards groom lake im on a heading of something like 103. Has me all confsed. So ive just been using tacan to get a rough idea of my poition and relying on the fair weather and landmarks of Nevada lol

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Did some more invetigating and it would appear im not taking into account magnetic north vs 2d map north. How do you account for thi when planning in the mission editor in your method Need-To-Know?

Cheer again

Great sounds like you are making progress.

I tell you I have respect for someone learning the basics before trying to go out to fight! So reps to you.

Yes for me anyways I have referenced lots of material in creating a brief before flying. Then on the flight I go up and check visually for landmarks (much as you are doing) and then see how they match up. After the flight I then adjust my waypoint on my map to reflect the "semi" exact location.

A great resource is Google Earth Pro and then add the wonderful 476th plugin. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=154593

ED has really done a great job on the NTTR map. So much so that you can use real world imaginary as references.

After many hours of just flying around (not fighting) and learning the map with a Circle sheet and using it to make notes on - I mostly just keep TACAN 18X dialed in and can tell from the terrain where I am at.

Most of the time I am only flying the same areas so no need to learn the entire map. This could be another long thread in itself....

Here are a couple of real world pages for your planning.

Circle Sheet: http://godsofthemachine.com/SPT-PDF/111-Circle-Sheet.pdf

Cross Country: http://godsofthemachine.com/SPT-PDF/111-Cross-Country.pdf

With the circle sheet - Dial in the TACAN - fly to the reference point you are briefed on. Then make notes on the circle sheet of what you see visually. You can then update that point on your map (in my case on my own map not the DCS maps) Note: update your map when you are on the ground and not fumbling around in the cockpit.

So on the ground open Google Earth, find the point you noted on the circle sheet, update your map with the exact dcs/realworld data.

Before long you can memorize/visualize the nav points along your most traveled routes.

This may seem like a convoluted process but the more you train the less you have to think when the time comes to fight.

Adversary pilots are known for being great navigators as it is necessary for the debriefs.

Example of circle sheet marking: (red is what you wrote)

One question, some aerodromes have the same NDB for both runaways but... only one NDB can be selected. For example:

Krymsk:

Runway 04, ndb inner: 803, outer: 408

Runway 22, ndb inner: 803, outer: 408

In a Huey i tried and only worked the ndbs of runway 22 ¿?¿?:helpsmilie::cry:

One question, some aerodromes have the same NDB for both runaways but... only one NDB can be selected. For example:

 

Krymsk:

Runway 04, ndb inner: 803, outer: 408

Runway 22, ndb inner: 803, outer: 408

 

 

In a Huey i tried and only worked the ndbs of runway 22 ¿?¿?:helpsmilie::cry:

Only the beacons for the "active" runway (oriented properly for the current wind conditions) will broadcast at any given time, so if your wind is generally from the north or east, runway 04 would be active and if from the south or west, runway 22 will be active.

Each airport has a preferred "calm wind" runway too, typically for use anytime the wind is less than about 5 knots. Beyond 5-6 knots of headwind they'll move traffic to the upwind facing runway, to ensure sufficient landing and takeoff roll margin.

In general, you'd use the transit of the outer beacon as your point to turn to final, and the middle/inner beacon to fine-tune final runway alignment (if you didn't somehow already know the proper runway heading). In general, an "inner" beacon marks the decision point for cat II/III IFR approaches, and should be really close to the runway threshold. I think most "inner" beacons in Caucasus are technically "middle" beacons, as they're about 1km from the runway threshold.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marker_beacon

When flying helicopters in DCS, I just tune the inner beacons when flying IFR and treat them as on-airport NDBs for navigation.

--gos

PS: My nav kneeboard mod marks the calm wind/primary runways for each airport, however, NTTR runway selection had a bug a while ago where the wrong runway would be active. Haven't actually tested yet whether that is fixed or not.

Did some more invetigating and it would appear im not taking into account magnetic north vs 2d map north. How do you account for thi when planning in the mission editor in your method Need-To-Know?

 

Cheer again

Magnetic Variation is periodically measured, and published on aeronautic charts.

It's currently about 12°E near Nellis AFB, as indicated by the dashed magenta line ("isogonic line") running diagonally north of las vegas on this chart:

https://skyvector.com/?ll=36.257365922903254,-114.92243356200005&chart=17&zoom=5

12°E means that magnetic north (0° magnetic) is 12 degrees east of True North (0° True) along that line. By the time you've traveled NW up to Tonopah Test Range (KTNX), the variation is about 12.75°E (aka 12°45'E or "12 degrees 45 minutes East")

I believe the ME ruler uses true north, and the F10 map in-game uses magnetic north, but I could be wrong. I don't think there's any in-game way to access grid north (positive z axis).

Only the beacons for the "active" runway (oriented properly for the current wind conditions) will broadcast at any given time, so if your wind is generally from the north or east, runway 04 would be active and if from the south or west, runway 22 will be active.

 

Each airport has a preferred "calm wind" runway too, typically for use anytime the wind is less than about 5 knots. Beyond 5-6 knots of headwind they'll move traffic to the upwind facing runway, to ensure sufficient landing and takeoff roll margin.

 

In general, you'd use the transit of the outer beacon as your point to turn to final, and the middle/inner beacon to fine-tune final runway alignment (if you didn't somehow already know the proper runway heading). In general, an "inner" beacon marks the decision point for cat II/III IFR approaches, and should be really close to the runway threshold. I think most "inner" beacons in Caucasus are technically "middle" beacons, as they're about 1km from the runway threshold.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marker_beacon

 

When flying helicopters in DCS, I just tune the inner beacons when flying IFR and treat them as on-airport NDBs for navigation.

 

--gos

 

PS: My nav kneeboard mod marks the calm wind/primary runways for each airport, however, NTTR runway selection had a bug a while ago where the wrong runway would be active. Haven't actually tested yet whether that is fixed or not.

:thumbup: Thanks

Excellent stuff Need, I have found this all very helpful, I couldn't quite get my head around navigation beyond just following the needle but this now all makes sense - cheers :thumbup:

Excellent stuff Need, I have found this all very helpful, I couldn't quite get my head around navigation beyond just following the needle but this now all makes sense - cheers :thumbup:

Glad it helped Boyezee!

Always happy to help one of the ACG guys (my old squadron = 5 JG26)

I'll just say that this thread is a superb example of the helpfulness, strength and care of this community for this fantastic simulation and it's enthusiasts. Someone asks a question and helpful answer are given (and then some). :thumbup:

Sorry I cannnot rep you needtoKnow very useful and informative:thumbup:

I'll just say that this thread is a superb example of the helpfulness, strength and care of this community for this fantastic simulation and it's enthusiasts. Someone asks a question and helpful answer are given (and then some). :thumbup:

And not a single RTFM to be found...shockingly different from another community I'm sure many of you are also familiar with... :music_whistling:

@grunf...big thanks for that tutorial on creating NDBs! I'm always amazed at the flexibility of capability of the mission editor.

What a Helpful thread. I have been trying and failing to understand radio navigation, and now I have a working idea of how to do it and can practice. Tacan was pretty easy, but radials and VHF had me baffled, so many thanks. Rep inbound

I think this thread should be "Stickied".

So much good info.

Bump. I realize this is an old thread but it seems like it's applicable.

VORs in general should be able to be used by an aircraft only has TACAN. See the link.

Link to TACAN to VOR mapping

Al Minhad AB (Persian Gulf map) has a VOR DME station on 115.2 MHz/99X near and inlne with the threshold of runway 270, however, I'm not able to pick it up with the TACAN in either the AV8B or A10C (while in flight).

It would be real nice to be able to use all TACAN capabilities on all maps without mission designers having to add anything.

It may only be due to the fact that the map is Early Release and maybe still a WIP that the TACAN is not yet functional.

However, I am guessing. I really have no idea (nor do I have room on my SSD to install this map to find out for myself).

It may only be due to the fact that the map is Early Release and maybe still a WIP that the TACAN is not yet functional.

However, I am guessing. I really have no idea (nor do I have room on my SSD to install this map to find out for myself).

I did some digging. If I change the reference marker to VORTAC it works with TACAN. I think the issue is that DCS or modules don't simulate VOR usage.

Brilliant thread, many thanks to all contributors

Fantastic thread, really helpful, thanks to those taking their time to explain it so well.