FightingFalcon Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Hi All, I feel this may be a terribly newbie question but ive tried searching online and also on the forums as well as through the manuals but I cant find anything that explains what actually is a beacon. My DCS files include a PDF entitled "DCS World List of all available beacons" with a massive amount of information, which I can see does cross reference to the little circles with the dotted lines spread throughout the map in mission editor, so can I assume these are the beacons? From tinkering with the mission editor I can see that beacons are spread throughout the map, and I can only assume they communicate with the aircrafts onboard radio? Ive seen the worlds TACAN and NDB being used but unsure how these relate. Are there any newbie friendly guides explaining this from the ground up? Such as what they are and how I can use them or how they are useful to me? I also see from searching the forum that there are beacon mods that have been created, do these improve on the standard beacons? Thanks everyone. //Flaming Cliffs 3 / T16000 HOTAS / TrackIR 5 / i7 4770k@4.5GHZ / EVGA RTX 2070 / 32GB 1600MHZ RAM/ Samsung Evo 1TB SSD// Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razo+r Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_beacon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudel_chw Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 (edited) Are there any newbie friendly guides explaining this from the ground up? Such as what they are and how I can use them or how they are useful to me? This is one of the best Guides to NDB's as related to DCS (NDB = Non Directional Beacons): duUJePB58z8 Old but still valid :) PS: Here is what a beacon looks like from up-close Edited July 31, 2019 by Rudel_chw For work: iMac mid-2010 of 27" - Core i7 870 - 6 GB DDR3 1333 MHz - ATI HD5670 - SSD 256 GB - HDD 2 TB - macOS High Sierra For Gaming: 34" Monitor - Ryzen 3600X - 32 GB DDR4 2400 - nVidia GTX1070ti - SSD 1.25 TB - HDD 10 TB - Win10 Pro - TM HOTAS Cougar - Oculus Rift CV1 Mobile: iPad Pro 12.9" of 256 GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodak Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Far as the mod's, think they only add missing beacons. Many different types of beacons, for example the Nevada map doesn't have any of the Russian type placed, so there's a mod that fixes that, otherwise there's nothing to fix on with an L-39's nav equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironhand Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 Hi All, I feel this may be a terribly newbie question but ive tried searching online and also on the forums as well as through the manuals but I cant find anything that explains what actually is a beacon. My DCS files include a PDF entitled "DCS World List of all available beacons" with a massive amount of information, which I can see does cross reference to the little circles with the dotted lines spread throughout the map in mission editor, so can I assume these are the beacons? From tinkering with the mission editor I can see that beacons are spread throughout the map, and I can only assume they communicate with the aircrafts onboard radio? Ive seen the worlds TACAN and NDB being used but unsure how these relate. Are there any newbie friendly guides explaining this from the ground up? Such as what they are and how I can use them or how they are useful to me? I also see from searching the forum that there are beacon mods that have been created, do these improve on the standard beacons? Thanks everyone. I know most recently you've been flying Russian aircraft. For a nice expanation of the Russian system, download the DCS MiG-21bis manual and read the "Navigation" section. Unfortunately, the FC3 aircraft shortcut everything. But the MiG-21 is a hoot to fly and navigating becomes a lot more fun should you become interested. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1...CR6IZ7crfdZxDg _____ Win 10 Pro x64, ASUS Z97 Pro MoBo, Intel i7-4790K, EVGA GTX 970 4GB, HyperX Savage 32GB, Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB SSD, 2x Seagate Hybrid Drive 2TB Raid 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FightingFalcon Posted August 1, 2019 Author Share Posted August 1, 2019 This forum members are brilliant, such helpful replies, thanks so much guys! //Flaming Cliffs 3 / T16000 HOTAS / TrackIR 5 / i7 4770k@4.5GHZ / EVGA RTX 2070 / 32GB 1600MHZ RAM/ Samsung Evo 1TB SSD// Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesRothwell Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 If you want to learn navigation using radios starting off with something very simple and slow moving is the easiest option. in my humble opinion of course!. A sim using civilian aircraft Xplane11 for example using the default Cessna is a great place to learn the basics. I find that military aircraft generally fly so fast that it's difficult to keep pace and go through the checklist/procedure without being rushed. I'm sure that you could get a suitable module in DCS though, just I'm not too familiar with which one would be best. Navigating using only radios is quite challenging and really makes you wonder how some of the pilots at the dawn of aviation ever managed to land where they were expected! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeagle Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 (edited) PS: Here is what a beacon looks like from up-close That's not a beacon. That's a VORTAC. Beacons are non-directional. Typically a beacon is nothing more than an AM transmitter broadcasting an ID code. BUT, you can use ANY AM station as a beacon. And you can listen to the broadcast as well on an ADF receiver. I believe DCS models this too. The mission creator has to have a .wav file being played over the frequency. Edited August 5, 2019 by Zeagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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