R-863 vs. Yadro-1A

So I was thinking the other day what's the purpose of the Yadro-1A radio. Functionally it's quite limited compared to the R-863 - no preset channels, less useful frequency range... but HF radios to my knowledge tend to have a much better range than VHF/UHF radios. Also the much higher transmitter output power (50 - 100W compared to 8 - 10W) and a smooth adjustment of squelch (not in the game but in real life) seems to support the idea that it's a long range set. So let's put that to the test (a very unscientific one, I know).

I spawned the helicopter at Batumi, took off... ok, what's the furthest airfield I can talk too? Tbilisi. No answer on both radios. Ok, let's try something closer and without terrain in between. Sukhumi will do. I ask for a heading and I get a good strong response with the R-863 and a weak one with a lot of noise with the Yadro. Let's try Sochi now. I can still get a response from them (with the squelch off at least) using the R-863, but nothing when I use the Yadro.

So was my reasoning bad or is there some room for improvement in the sim? What do you think?

Hey Imp,

HF radios indeed are long range devices. Making use of the atmosphere they can "follow" the curvature of the earth and connect stations far beyond the line of sight.

On the other hand, they can be a bit tricky to set up correctly. Depending on the time of day, you'll have to chose different frequencies and call in several times until you finally reach someone who understands you. Speech quality is usually pretty bad, with lot's of noise and distortion.

I've had several situations in real life where there would simply be no response on "Stockholm radio" (commercial aviation service channel), despite correct setting of the radio equipment. That's why datalink and satcom have become a great help for airliners over the north atlantic.

So for the real life part. I'm curious about what the others have to say about usage of HF radios in DCS.

When using Universradio for TS3, we found the relief function for the Yadro is deactivated to simulate HF behavior. We found that two Mi-8's, flying outside of V/UHF range can still communicate with each other.

Our human ATC do not normally listen on 2MHz so ATC is done on V/UHF.

Good info guys, thanks!