Tanking and Air to Air TACAN oddity.

[IvanK]

Something odd with Tanking and AA Tacan. Its many moons for me since using AA Tacan but my memory and discussion with current Hornet drivers is that I shouldn't be getting Bearing from the Tanker just range.

 

To get TACAN from the tanker I need to colonise :AA on the TCN selection ... fair enough I should also have Tune the TACAN to 63 channels away from the Tanker freq to get range (and range only).... i.e standard AA Tacan practice.

 

At present If I build a mission with a Tanker its default Tacan channel is 1X. I enter the mission and tune 1X ... I dont see anything, I colonise :AA and I get Tacan bearing and range from the tanker. That is not correct imo. 

 

In Real life with a Tanker on Channel 1X,  I would need to select Channel 64X on my set and colonise :AA .... and then I get range only.

 

I think the current implementation is incorrect.

[Tom Kazansky]

there are AA TACAN issues. see this thread plz:

 

 

[Frederf]

Tankers providing azimuth is a thing in real life for certain tankers. Some have the gear and others don't. I've heard all KC-135 don't but maybe the rare one does? It would be good if the editor "bearing" checkbox would enable/disable the bearing service properly.

 

"We need to be 63 channels apart" isn't true or rather the setting in the editor corresponds to what the receiver aircraft would set just like 16X at Batumi is what you set and not what the ground equipment is set to. Don't overthink it.

 

There is a bug or oddity where when you set X or Y band that your airplane works better using the other letter band. For example I think if you set tanker 30Y and bring an A-10 up you'll get azimuth-no-distance on 30Y but get azimuth-and-distance on 30X.

[IvanK]

Interesting read on the links.

 

In the research I have done it would seem the KC10, KDC10 and some RAF VC10 have/had bearing capability. So at present none of the current DCS Tankers should have bearing capability. It would follow that when using AA TACAN for range then the receiver needs to colonise :AA and be 63 channels away from the Tanker.... up to 6 receivers can do this.

 

On those Tankers with both Bearing and range (None at present DCS) then the question is does the receiver just treat it like a normal TACAN ... just tune it up and only needs :T/R colonised, and any number of receivers can use it.

Edited August 18, 2021 by IvanK

[Frederf]

It's set up such that the receiver uses the advertised channel. The tanker has done all the work for you. It's AA mode so not like a ground station. KC-135 have multiple TACAN gear so the can have separate yardstick links. It helps with station keeping in multi tanker formation or linking with the next receiver.

 

T/R is needed for distance. Bearing can have receiver passive. With multiple on yardstick you get distance to the closest on the other half of the channel. At least that's how it works for fighter-fighter.

[IvanK]

Ok thanks for the info. I am familar with Fighter to fighter AA Tacan.

[Nealius]

On 8/19/2021 at 12:28 AM, Frederf said:

There is a bug or oddity where when you set X or Y band that your airplane works better using the other letter band. For example I think if you set tanker 30Y and bring an A-10 up you'll get azimuth-no-distance on 30Y but get azimuth-and-distance on 30X.

 

I think the X/Y thing is just broken. Things vary from airframe to airframe, but in my experience with, say 29Y, I will get no TACAN info whatsoever on 29Y, but will get bearing and range on 29X. I once had a really weird experience where, with four tankers all set to Y channels, three of them only worked when tuned to X and one of them worked properly on Y. 

[Swift.]

To bring this thread back on track, this wasn't about the XY bug. But rather about the fact that IRL tankers only show range as if they were using yardstick.

[Nealius]

I thought the KC-10 could give bearing over TACAN? I've read that a few places. We don't have one in DCS, obviously. 

[Swift.]

1 hour ago, Nealius said:

I thought the KC-10 could give bearing over TACAN? I've read that a few places. We don't have one in DCS, obviously. 

Very potentially, I've just heard anecdotes from various pilots that it's range only. Perhaps they never used a KC10 idk.

[S. Low]

As an aside, tanker locate/intercept method told to me by a hornet pilot is simply briefed location plus radar usage 

[MARLAN_]

10 hours ago, Swiftwin9s said:

Very potentially, I've just heard anecdotes from various pilots that it's range only. Perhaps they never used a KC10 idk.

KC-10 can give bearing, KC-135 cannot.