IR-MAV HOTAS Controls

[Captain Orso]

Both the Early Access Guide and Chuck's A-10C Guide say that you control the IR-MAV reticle (no TGP mounted) using short inputs For/Aft/Right/Left of the DMS. Even without the TGP loaded, these do nothing that I can see. Using the TDC does however work the same as with the TGP.

 

Am I missing something here?

 

Also, using the Boat Switch is weird. It seems to only change the color of the reticle, and when set to black, as soon as you fire a Mav, the reticle reverst to white again, and when you return the Boat Switch to center, it says something about boresighting 

[dporter22]

IIRC you have to be in boresight mode to adjust the reticle.

 

You are correct regading the sensor though, only the color of the crosshairs changes even though the manual says it changes WHOT/BHOT.  It would be very helpful to have a WHOT/BHOT capability for the Mav.

Edited February 22, 2021 by dporter22

[Captain Orso]

23 hours ago, dporter22 said:

IIRC you have to be in boresight mode to adjust the reticle.

But that would mean, at as soon as the Mav were no longer bore-sighted, you could never adjust it again, because being bore-sighted is the base requirement.

 

23 hours ago, dporter22 said:

 

You are correct regading the sensor though, only the color of the crosshairs changes even though the manual says it changes WHOT/BHOT.  It would be very helpful to have a WHOT/BHOT capability for the Mav.

 

If feels very off to me, like it's supposed to trick you into thinking it's WHOT or BHOT when it's not.

[dporter22]

Not sure I understand your comment.  You can adjust the boresight as many times as you want.

 

[Frederf]

The idea of boresight mode is you're calibrating where the airplane thinks the missile is pointed to where the missile is actually pointed. So you lock up a practice object and notice hey, the HUD wagon wheel is not over the object. You engage the calibration mode and nudge the wagon wheel around until it appears visually on the HUD matching the picture as seen through the MAV display. Thing is the missiles start perfectly calibrated to start so there's no real reason to adjust the boresight.

 

There's another feature of a similar name that lets you set the "home" position when  the missile is returned to boresight. With missile in sensor mode (although it also works in shooting mode which should be a bug), cycle boat switch to center, "SEEKER BORESIGHT" displayed, TMS forward, "SEEKER BORESIGHT" reverse video, boat switch out of center. This will set the "home" bore position for all missiles.

 

As for the black/white crosshairs, that's a feature that matters in real life that doesn't really matter in DCS. The polarity of the crosshairs determines what color of object is trackable. The missile video is a certain polarity that doesn't change (earlier DCS versions had the boat switch change the polarity of the video). In order to track a black object it's necessary to tell the missile to track the black spots. In order to track a white object it's necessary to tell the missile to track the white spots. Attempting to track white spots with black crosshair or black spots with white crosshair should fail. Now the center mode is supposedly automatic polarity which who knows how that works but it's glossed over a bit in the sim. One assumes in the real airplane it changes black/white crosshairs as the track is starting.

 

And the crosshairs don't "revert" when you fire a missile, each missile is separate. If you set the missiles to their own polarity and then reject through them you'll see they remember their previous setting on an individual basis. They only update their state on boat switch change event when that particular missile is selected.

[dporter22]

Speaking of the Mav crosshairs, why does the current manual for the Mav Boat Switch say Light/Hot Dark/Cold for both the FWD and AFT positions?  What does that mean and why are they the same?

[Frederf]

What page of the manual? Looks OK to me.

[dporter22]

I stand corrected, I was looking at Chuck's Guide (pg 224).

 

However, there are errors or confusion in the ED manual also.  For example, it shows Boat Switch FWD and AFT as black hot and white hot when it should be black crosshairs and white crosshairs (pg 93), it shows Mav China Hat FWD Short as Uncage/consent to self-track when it should be Mav FOV, and it shows Coolie Down Short as Swap MFCDs when it should be HMCS as SOI.

 

Then on page 90 it has TAD DMS functions that don't do anything (Quick Toggle, Select TAD Centre Option, CEN/DEP Mode CNTR Own), the HMCS DMS FWD and AFT brightness functions don't do anything, and TGP TMS FWD Short says NR track when I assume it should be INR Track.

 

Also, page 90 says TGP AFT Short is FLIR Auto Focus while page 522 says it's Return to INR Track.

 

I could go on, but all the errors in the manual is a different thread.

Edited February 24, 2021 by dporter22

[Frederf]

Yeah, probably a leftover when boat actually changed missile polarity.

 

China forward short row is entirely screwed up like it was pasted from something else. HUD change LSS FOV? A-A's entry looks like it should be HUD's entry (shot Maverick video/ SOI to Maverick). Mav's entry is for the AIM-9. Dunno what HMCS's is but there's no FOV to change. I'm guessing HMCS B/S is wrong too.

 

If it were me I would redo the entire table and put both stick and throttle on the same page while stripping down the SOI-based table to only the context-sensitive commands. Speed brake, microphone, pinky switch, etc. don't change their function based on SOI so why include them in such a complicated table. It was obviously done in a big hurry. I'm sure it'll get a rewrite eventually.

[Captain Orso]

I can say for certainty, that MVCS FWD/AFT do adjust the HMD brightness, albeit it starts dim at 100% -- IMHO -- and can only go dimmer. The changes are in 10% steps, which is actually displayed in the HMD.

 

The rest of the discrepancies I can neither confirm nor deny, but i would not be surprised in the least. When the "Tank Killer" appeared it changed some things from the older version and has since changed additional thing, like switching left and right HFCD's -- which was pure fantasy from ED apparently -- was removed to free up the DMS AFT Short to make HMCS SOI.

 

This makes me question, how many other things in the "Tank Killer" are pure fantasy, let alone other modules. In the light of that, not creating, for example, true SEAD (Growler) aircraft, 'because the technology is classified' , and 'ED only creates simulations of publicly accessible, documented technology' seem to be less than honest statements IMHO of course.

[ASAP]

The boresight mode (boatswitch middle) is used to reposition where you want your Maverick's default state to be. In DCS it's pretty much perfectly set to 70 mils, so you never need to touch it. But, you asked, so if you want to play around with it or set it to something different here's how you'd do it (I'm also not 100% certain how much of this is simulated or to what degree)...

You can use the depressible pipper function on the UFCP to run the pipper down to whatever mil setting you want, say 100 mils for instance. (If you hold the depressible pipper down it'll start moving down the HUD and the percise number of mils will appear on the left side of the HUD).

Start in CCIP/CCRP with master in train or arm and your maverick's called up

Locking up a target with boat switch forward or aft. Then you can move the boat switch to center and BORESIGHT will appear on your maverick. You'll see the maverick reticle in the HUD and it should be on whatever you have locked up. Fly the aircraft so the mavrick reticle is on the depressible pipper and hit TMS forward short. Then move the boat switch to forward or aft. Now if you cage your missile with china hat aft short, the missile and reticle will go back to where you set it, in this case around 100 mils.  You can run the depressible pipper up to the top of the HUD again after that.

What the manual is talking about with DMS up/down/left/right is the ADJ osb on the maverick screen. If you hit adj you can then use DMS switch to move the pipper around the HUD independent of where the missile is looking. This would be useful if for instance you notice that you lock up a target on the ground, but the maverick reticle in the HUD is just off to the right of it. You could hit adjust then use DMS left until the reticle is in the correct spot and then hit enter on the UFCP to accept the change.

Again, DCS gives you perfectly boresighted mavericks every time, and these functions would generally used to get the missile close to where DCS already has them, so that's all jee wiz stuff if you feel like having fun with it. I can't actually think of a reason to change the default boresights, but if you think of one let me know, i'm curious.