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The Staff of SOH
NDB radio panel in pacific aircrafts question
- Thread starter dog1
- Start date
Blue Devil
Charter Member
I think all the AvHistory 1% A/C have'em...
bearcat241
SOH-CM-2023
I put ADF gauges/paneling in every conversion upload i've done that included a panel (some were just airfiles and dp's). FYI, in CFS2, "NDB" and "ADF" are synonymous words. I say this for the sake of noobs and also because you can't find any gauges for this sim under the "NDB" title (someone might get the idea that this is the gauge type to look for). Any gaugework found under the names of "ADF" or "Radio compass" will follow NDB transmitters.
bearcat241
SOH-CM-2023
C'mon man, you KNOW this sim !?!?! Heck, you got your own CFS2 website!!!
OK, seriously, you know that all 1% models have panels with multiple utility windows, including a radio compass window. The clickable compass icon on the panel should bring up the ADF pointer gauge and receiver. Turn on the receiver and and dial in the NDB frequency number of the base you want to fly to, using your regional airbase NDB list. Use the sim's map to plot a heading towards the base location. Once you're within 100 miles or so the receiver will catch the transmission from the base and the pointer will guide you from there, just like CFS2 GPS does.
OK, seriously, you know that all 1% models have panels with multiple utility windows, including a radio compass window. The clickable compass icon on the panel should bring up the ADF pointer gauge and receiver. Turn on the receiver and and dial in the NDB frequency number of the base you want to fly to, using your regional airbase NDB list. Use the sim's map to plot a heading towards the base location. Once you're within 100 miles or so the receiver will catch the transmission from the base and the pointer will guide you from there, just like CFS2 GPS does.
adf
Bearcat
the hellcat has the gps but the adf is programmed to stations while your adf in your P40 b pops up beautifully, many others like the recent p47 etc are all programmed the p47 has an extra radio panel where you can input the ndb so they seem to be all different,is there a ndb list somewhere which you update in cfs2 root folder which then allows the radios to read the new airbases automatically since i have developed 2 brand new historically correct airbases which i will upload soon and i want to input the data.
dog1
Bearcat
the hellcat has the gps but the adf is programmed to stations while your adf in your P40 b pops up beautifully, many others like the recent p47 etc are all programmed the p47 has an extra radio panel where you can input the ndb so they seem to be all different,is there a ndb list somewhere which you update in cfs2 root folder which then allows the radios to read the new airbases automatically since i have developed 2 brand new historically correct airbases which i will upload soon and i want to input the data.
dog1
bearcat241
SOH-CM-2023
Missing the receiver...use cfgedit to put one into it.
bearcat241
SOH-CM-2023
No ADF receivers are ever 'pre-programmed'. The frequency numbers you see on them when you turn them on are just the sim's defaults as set in the %root%\Combat Flight Simulator 2\SITUATIO\DEFAIR.FLT and DEFGND.FLT files. You can change the number by simply dialing.
NDB installations may not be avalable in box stock bases (its been so long since anything was box stock on my sim i can't remember). But most addons like MR's and Xavier's will have them integrated and the designer will provide the list in his readme's. Go back and read your installation notes and docs that came with the bases you've installed already.
J
jimskifs
Guest
ndb
The stock cfs2 game did not have ndb but if you go to
http://www.simviation.com/cfs2scenery1.htm
you can download a Steve McClelland addon which puts an ndb at each stock base. There are other similar addons for Europe.
I've never been sure how much ndb was really used in ww2. All photos of ww2 bombers will show either a loop antenna (which I take to be a manual ndb receiving antenna) or the streamlined automatic direction finding antenna. I was told by a wise person that ndb was never used by the allies in Europe, even regular broadcast stations in England moved their transmitters regularly so the Germans could not locate by them. Thus the Lady Be Good flew way past its base. And the old navigator's journal at http://www.kathyamen.net/journal/index.htm never mentions ndb use even though that meant getting dangerously lost over England in clouds. But I've read the Germans lived by them. I say in the Pacific they were needed to find those tiny island bases after flying over open water for 12 hours. Amelia had one that didn't work and the rest is history. They say the Japs used ndb to home to the Pearl Harbor commercial broadcast station. My old buddy who was an officer on a Pacific ww2 destroyer said at least by war's end the carriers and their planes had ndb. Me, when I flew real planes I always thought ndb was better than vor and I loved it.
Jimski
The stock cfs2 game did not have ndb but if you go to
http://www.simviation.com/cfs2scenery1.htm
you can download a Steve McClelland addon which puts an ndb at each stock base. There are other similar addons for Europe.
I've never been sure how much ndb was really used in ww2. All photos of ww2 bombers will show either a loop antenna (which I take to be a manual ndb receiving antenna) or the streamlined automatic direction finding antenna. I was told by a wise person that ndb was never used by the allies in Europe, even regular broadcast stations in England moved their transmitters regularly so the Germans could not locate by them. Thus the Lady Be Good flew way past its base. And the old navigator's journal at http://www.kathyamen.net/journal/index.htm never mentions ndb use even though that meant getting dangerously lost over England in clouds. But I've read the Germans lived by them. I say in the Pacific they were needed to find those tiny island bases after flying over open water for 12 hours. Amelia had one that didn't work and the rest is history. They say the Japs used ndb to home to the Pearl Harbor commercial broadcast station. My old buddy who was an officer on a Pacific ww2 destroyer said at least by war's end the carriers and their planes had ndb. Me, when I flew real planes I always thought ndb was better than vor and I loved it.
Jimski
Shadow Wolf 07
SOH-CM-2025
Jimsifs has a good point. Xmitters are heard by everyone. If you can hear two or more, you can triangulate your position and so can the "bad guys" In the US Army, up until about 25 years ago we used a hand held or tripod mounted loop direction finding antenna similar to the ones you see on WW2 aircraft. It's real simple technology and if you know how to use it, you could actually use a wire coat hanger.
It was possiblyy used in reverse in WW2 where a disoriented flier could transmit a callsign and the ground station might quickly transmit an encoded heading for him to fly on. But as soon as people break radio silence, they make themselves vulnerable to what we called "passive electronic warfare measures" (direction finding). The Soviets by doctrine used to network in their multiple rocket launcher battalions - BM-21 - with direction finding units (not sure about WW2 but from the 70's on they did that).
In the game, I use it as a navigation aid. RAF662 used to have an ADF utility on their website which would install the gauge on any plane U chose and added stock base beacons. I haven't seen ith there in a while, but if you want it, I can zip it up and email it to you - just PM me with your emaill addy.
Pen32Win: you didn't put NDB/ADF on your loveley new PNG bases???
It was possiblyy used in reverse in WW2 where a disoriented flier could transmit a callsign and the ground station might quickly transmit an encoded heading for him to fly on. But as soon as people break radio silence, they make themselves vulnerable to what we called "passive electronic warfare measures" (direction finding). The Soviets by doctrine used to network in their multiple rocket launcher battalions - BM-21 - with direction finding units (not sure about WW2 but from the 70's on they did that).
In the game, I use it as a navigation aid. RAF662 used to have an ADF utility on their website which would install the gauge on any plane U chose and added stock base beacons. I haven't seen ith there in a while, but if you want it, I can zip it up and email it to you - just PM me with your emaill addy.
Pen32Win: you didn't put NDB/ADF on your loveley new PNG bases???
bearcat241
SOH-CM-2023
All a player has to do is copy/paste the ADF setup from one panel.cfg to another.
Shadow Wolf 07
SOH-CM-2025
Check yo mail M8. :welcome: to the field of airbase building.
I used to fly "hops" sometimes on the old "Zone". Basically it's flying from base to base with little or no combat. Anyway, many of the players used "GPS" to get headings and distance to the next destination. I did it differently.
Maskrider has well scaled maps of all his scenery packs. I superimposed longitude and latitude on those and printed them. Using a protractor and adding or subtracting the magnetic declination as applies, I could get just as good a heading and damn near as fast. I would guestimate the distance by using 69 nautical miles per degree (at the equator).
If you need a chart of CFS2 programmd magnetic declinations, see: http://www.vf15-flyingaces.com/vf15_pto_maps.htm
I just got an injection in my spine today so I'm chillin...
J
jimskifs
Guest
Dog1,
Not exactly sure of what you mean by "out of the monitor" but I assume you mean off of the little map that on my game always seems limited to about 300 miles, although you can scroll it. One of the wonderful things I discovered about cfs2 after several years of flying it is that you can plot your course on a real paper map, say an old National Geo map, measure the distance and course direction, correct for magnetic variation (the North Pole slides around all the time but the game seems to use values from about 1990), then get into your plane at A and fly to B just like the real thing! The world is modeled well enough to do that. You don't need to use mission builder at all if. I usually fly long flights in Free Flight. Try it! But just as in real life small errors creep into your long flights and a one degree error in plotting or flying will give about 17 miles error after 1000 miles and you may not see your little island and you may end up with Amelia. The usual ferry routes over the North Atlantic are a challenge due to large magnetic variations, over 20 degrees in places, that change quickly, and because the longitude lines are converging rapidly there, but you won't miss Europe. I found the Pacific is more of a challenge with very long distances and often only tiny dots of land. That's why I think they used NDB there. Maybe in the Azores too, a common ferry route. Even celestial navigation in the daytime, with just a sun shot to go by, doesn't exactly tell you where you are.
Learning the process is sort of liberating.
Jimski
Not exactly sure of what you mean by "out of the monitor" but I assume you mean off of the little map that on my game always seems limited to about 300 miles, although you can scroll it. One of the wonderful things I discovered about cfs2 after several years of flying it is that you can plot your course on a real paper map, say an old National Geo map, measure the distance and course direction, correct for magnetic variation (the North Pole slides around all the time but the game seems to use values from about 1990), then get into your plane at A and fly to B just like the real thing! The world is modeled well enough to do that. You don't need to use mission builder at all if. I usually fly long flights in Free Flight. Try it! But just as in real life small errors creep into your long flights and a one degree error in plotting or flying will give about 17 miles error after 1000 miles and you may not see your little island and you may end up with Amelia. The usual ferry routes over the North Atlantic are a challenge due to large magnetic variations, over 20 degrees in places, that change quickly, and because the longitude lines are converging rapidly there, but you won't miss Europe. I found the Pacific is more of a challenge with very long distances and often only tiny dots of land. That's why I think they used NDB there. Maybe in the Azores too, a common ferry route. Even celestial navigation in the daytime, with just a sun shot to go by, doesn't exactly tell you where you are.
Learning the process is sort of liberating.
Jimski
Shadow Wolf 07
SOH-CM-2025
Trim elevator to level flight without stick input, lay the map on a flat surface and plot quickly. The easiest way is to do it on the ground or carrier before takeoff. You could also engage autopilot (Zone Aid 2 will install a simple autopilot in any plane that doesn't already have one) for a few seconds or even pause the sim while you plot....
If using Maskrider's maps, and the islands are close enough to each other, you can use terrain association and dead reconing, His maps are that good - especially the Philippine sets.
xx
SHADOW WOLF
ok got it, either plot to next visible land and go on hoping and then plot with map beyond monitor vision and back into monitor as you approach next destination,bet they got scared to death if their compass mulfunctioned,where do you download zone aid 2 from? nothing received so far from your end.
dog1
SHADOW WOLF
ok got it, either plot to next visible land and go on hoping and then plot with map beyond monitor vision and back into monitor as you approach next destination,bet they got scared to death if their compass mulfunctioned,where do you download zone aid 2 from? nothing received so far from your end.
dog1
bearcat241
SOH-CM-2023
Using a map and your onboard compass will get you home with few problems. I also made a 360 degree compass wheel long ago with paper, a drinking glass, ruler and scissors. Its basically just a paper copy of your standard CFS2 magnetic compass. Draw a circle with the large glass, use the ruler to mark all the headings, cut it out and tape it to your computer with North 360 pointed straight up. Once you determine your current location on the map, draw an imaginary straight line to the destination with the ruler and match that bearing with a heading on your compass. Now you can use your onboard compass, holding that heading all the way home.
I use this in all my flightsims.
I use this in all my flightsims.
Shadow Wolf 07
SOH-CM-2025
Hmmm... I sent the email a couple of hours ago - I'll send it again
Find Zone Aid V2 at: http://www.thecfs2flightdeck.com/downloadindex.htm Bottom of page
Bearcat's got it in the groove... That works! But don't forget to use that magnetic declination. In the central Solomons, where it is as much as -7.5 if you don't adjust, on a 300 km trip you can be 40 km off.
You can get a nav protractor at an outdoor or camping equip store or if U have a buddy in the Army, Marines or special ops have them get one for you. It's a transparent piece of plastic with degree markings around the edge. It has a string tired to the center point. Place the center point on your position on the map (or even monitor screen), align it north and south with the grid as best you can and extend the string to the destination. Read the degrees (heading) off the scale where the string intersects it. It's Land Navigation 101 but it works fine for our purposes.