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  • Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning

I need a radio gauge.

rdaniell

rdaniell

SOH-CM-2013
Is there anyone here at the Outhouse who knows where to find a particular radio gauge or would be interested in making this radio for me. I'm looking for a Narco Escort 110. This is the radio that was in the Citabria I flew to get my tail wheel endorsement. It also was in my Ercoupe, "Scrappy II." You could track a VOR course and communicate with the VOR station by broadcasting on their comm frequency and listening to the VOR frequency. You could also use the side band for intercom purposes. It was a really great little radio for what it did.

Anyway, I'm attaching a photo I found on the web. Thanks in advance to anyone who would be willing to take on this project. I feel confident that a lot more folks than just me would like to have a radio gauge like this one.

RD
 
Here are the dimensions (+) if anyone needs them.

NARCO AVIONICS ESCORT 110 NAV/COM.
7.2 Lbs
14V
0.1 MHz SPACING.
MEASURES 13"L x 6"W x 3 1/2" H.
THE NAVIGATION FREQUENCY IS 108.0-117.9
THE COMMUNICATION FREQUENCY IS 118.0-128.9.
 
NO Takers...

...OK. Do any of you'll know where I might find a tutorial, etc., on how to build gauges? Such a tutorial will probably do two things. First, it will probably explain why no one is interested in building this gauge due to the amount of time involved. Second, it will probably send me looking for another less time consuming method to get a radio that at least "looks like" what I want.

Thanks....

RD
 
RD,

One of the problems with that particular radio is that it tunes 100KHz steps. FSX needs to tune 25KHz steps to be able to use all the navaids. It could be recreated with 3 digits to the left of the decimal but then would not be realistic so the designer is left in a quandary of being accurate or usable.

Dave
 
Sieggie said:
RD,

One of the problems with that particular radio is that it tunes 100KHz steps. FSX needs to tune 25KHz steps to be able to use all the navaids. It could be recreated with 3 digits to the left of the decimal but then would not be realistic so the designer is left in a quandary of being accurate or usable. Dave
Click to expand...

Sieggie, since I'm looking for usable, I'd be as happy as a pig in slop with a radio that is a "reasonable" representative of the real radio. I am comfortable with the limitations of FSX.

As an aside, I bought a hand held radio with 720 comm channels in order to get into some airports a few years after I purchased "Scrappy II." I then simply used the Escort 110 for its VOR.

RD
 
rdaniell said:
...OK. Do any of you'll know where I might find a tutorial, etc., on how to build gauges? Such a tutorial will probably do two things. First, it will probably explain why no one is interested in building this gauge due to the amount of time involved. Second, it will probably send me looking for another less time consuming method to get a radio that at least "looks like" what I want.

Thanks....

RD
Click to expand...
FS Developer is a good place to go. Several NARCO radios have been developed and had code posted there. The artwork would be the most difficult part honestly. As mentioned above, the digital display would need to be expanded to include two decimal places (the .025 can be assumed, just it it is with the default radios in FS).

http://fsdeveloper.com/forum/

The actual XML script for the radio and mouse control is relatively trivial and straight forward.
 
n4gix said:
FS Developer is a good place to go. Several NARCO radios have been developed and had code posted there. The artwork would be the most difficult part honestly. As mentioned above, the digital display would need to be expanded to include two decimal places (the .025 can be assumed, just it it is with the default radios in FS). http://fsdeveloper.com/forum/ The actual XML script for the radio and mouse control is relatively trivial and straight forward.
Click to expand...

Thank you n4gix. I'll take a little trip over to fsdeveloper and have a go at it. :running: I'm encouraged by the fact that I finally learned how to use Google SketchUp. Maybe that exercise didn't kill all my little grey cells.:pop4: Heck! Who knows, maybe about this time next year, I'll post a copy of the radio for anyone who wants a copy...:icon_lol:


Edit: Well that dog just ain't gonna hunt for me. I can't find any NARCO radios at the site. But thanks for the link. So unless some kind soul wants to give a brother a helping hand, I'll just keep flying Full's Ercoupe with the current radios.

RD
 
How's your patience? :icon_lol:
I can give it a go, but, with the Alpha F-8 FSX package taking most of my time, it will be a bit before I can really dig into it.

I morphed modded and edited your picture to get a semblance of it, but, I don't have a clue what the VOR should do in operation, and not sure of what the switch on the right side does...Don

View attachment 87613
View attachment 87612
 
You have it pretty close. See if this helps

View attachment 87616

It could only receive one signal at a time so rcvr had to be switched from Nav to Com and back. That's the switch on the right. As it was a mechanical slide it also contained the "NAV" or "COM label that showed in the appropriate window. Off/IDENT switch at bottom was for Nav rcvr audio. Yes, the yellow 'flag' should show Off/To/From, No, no Glideslope (VOR/LOC only)

another good image here: http://djholman.csde.washington.edu/N5814L/Found/IMG_0746.jpg
 
fxsttcb said:
How's your patience? :icon_lol: I can give it a go, but, with the Alpha F-8 FSX package taking most of my time, it will be a bit before I can really dig into it. I morphed modded and edited your picture to get a semblance of it, but, I don't have a clue what the VOR should do in operation, and not sure of what the switch on the right side does...Don

View attachment 87613
View attachment 87612
Click to expand...

Don, I have lots of patience. I can wait as long as it takes for you to work this project into your busy schedule. Even though I'm 67 years old, I'll be like a little kid waiting for Christmas. Thank you.

Srgalahad pretty much answered all your questions I think. But just to repeat what he said....The VOR head did not have a glide slope indicator. It was only used for navigation purposes. The little slide switch would indicate whether you were receiving Comm frequencies or Nav frequencies. Of course the VOR gauge would also tell you if you were in the Nav mode. The ident switch was to allow you to hear the morse code from the station so you could verify it was the one you wanted to be tuned to.

That radio came in mighty handy one day while flying VFR and having to deviate around some thunderstorms. Once clear of them, I was able to pick up Dothan VOR and plot a new heading to the airport. Even though I had been paying close attention to my heading and elapsed time, it was comforting to have the added confirmation from the VOR.

RD
 
A little progress made. The Crusader is going thru an econo range test.

View attachment 87670

The frequency windows may need a little adjustment to fit the numerals correctly.
How sensitive is the CDI? Or, how sensitive do you want it? Std FSX? +-45deg? etc...
Mouse on knobs or numeric display? Increment/decrement boxes, or Right Click=increment/Left Click=decrement mouse zones?
 
As you've probably already determined, the CDI needle pivots from the top, and swings left/right. Sensitivity is handled by FS itself, so all that's really required is to calibrate the needle's movement to +/- 127 (raw value).

You can easily calculate the scalar based on the number of pixels of "movement" such as 22pix/127units = 0.173
 
fxsttcb said:
A little progress made. The Crusader is going thru an econo range test.

View attachment 87670

The frequency windows may need a little adjustment to fit the numerals correctly.
How sensitive is the CDI? Or, how sensitive do you want it? Std FSX? +-45deg? etc...
Mouse on knobs or numeric display? Increment/decrement boxes, or Right Click=increment/Left Click=decrement mouse zones?
Click to expand...

1.)Sensitivity: Standard FSX is just fine. 2.) Mouse on knobs. 3.) Right Click = increment and Left Click = decrement.

Thank You! That radio is looking really great.

RD
 
n4gix said:
As you've probably already determined, the CDI needle pivots from the top, and swings left/right. Sensitivity is handled by FS itself, so all that's really required is to calibrate the needle's movement to +/- 127 (raw value).

You can easily calculate the scalar based on the number of pixels of "movement" such as 22pix/127units = 0.173
Click to expand...
I guess I should have been a tad more concise!
Looking at pics and maintenance diagrams, it looks like it's possible for the CDI to go pretty far off scale, with the end of the needle pretty far behind the transparent section of the lens.
Its actually driven by a servo using a long shaft from the rear of the housing. I've found no evidence of a physical stop, so, I don't know where the "working" ends of the rotation should be.
Does the needle go only to the edge of the scale? Slightly off scale? Completely off scale? I don't think that last is physically possible...but...!...Don
 
fxsttcb said:
I guess I should have been a tad more concise!
Looking at pics and maintenance diagrams, it looks like it's possible for the CDI to go pretty far off scale, with the end of the needle pretty far behind the transparent section of the lens.
Its actually driven by a servo using a long shaft from the rear of the housing. I've found no evidence of a physical stop, so, I don't know where the "working" ends of the rotation should be.
Does the needle go only to the edge of the scale? Slightly off scale? Completely off scale? I don't think that last is physically possible...but...!...Don
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that the needle only goes to the edge of the scale. I just did a quick FSX test using an airplane with a similar VOR gauge. If you were to get further off course than that, you'd be in deep p**p anyway...LOL.
Anway, edge of the scale is just fine with me. :wiggle:

RD
 
My greetings to all of you!


Leveraging the thread with this and seeing some experts about it, maybe I can enlighten my path.
I'm trying to understand the operation details from this instrument to complete the pieces, some have already been exposed here.
The missing part, are some signs (* 1) shaped arrow is? light on light off to alternating up and down or non-visible visible, (* 2) the same for the legend as (to from)?.
(* 3) as flag indicators for off-on, appearing as they manifest, train barriers or light signal?
(* 4) The only thing I seem to read clearly (VOR) for the rest of the text I have no idea, maybe they can suggest some writing.


Sorry for the interruption..
Many Thanks for any suggestions!

View attachment 87696
View attachment 87695
 
*1/2 The triangles are are Lit when the Nav Radio has a valid signal and should point in the Selected OBS Radial's general direction from the plane.
Any valid OBS Radial within +-90 degrees of the plane's heading is "To", and any Radial greater than 90 degrees is "From".

*3/4 The Localizer and Glide Slope Flags are "OFF" when the corresponding function is not valid, or Power to the instrument is off...Don
 
fxsttcb said:
Does the needle go only to the edge of the scale? Slightly off scale? Completely off scale? I don't think that last is physically possible...but...!...Don
Click to expand...
The dots at the furthest ends is the "stop." It is from that dot to the center point dot that you use for calibration. -127 units would have the needle at the full left dot.

If you are creating a 2d gauge, then you would use a non-linearity table to calibrate the rotation movement of the CDI needle.

If you are creating a 3d gauge, then you would need to use a scalar calculated using the precise angle of movement (as reported by Max/GMax) divided by the min/max units as reported by the sim variable.
 
Thank you very much Don!
You very clearly explained all details.
I appreciate your ataencion.
My apologies to RD.
Gabriel.
: Saludo:
 
Here 'tis. I think I've got it right. If not, lemme know and I'll make the necessary changes.
The colors may be off quite a bit. My CAD monitor took a header and I'm using my bedroom HDTV for the computer.

I made the *.cab with both Com/Nav 1 and Com/Nav 2 so you can have it as either or both...Don
 
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