Question about radio frequencies

[wildcat400]

I have noticed a trend with alot of the aircraft that i have been flying in lately. I can not set the UHF frequency to more than 200. What I am trying to say that if I want to switch from freq. 146.80 to 264.10, well the "radio stacks" will not let me. Is there a way around this so I can dial in a freq. in the 200 or 300 range?
Thanks!

[IanP]

You can't do what you want simply because the radios are civilian, not military, and therefore are restricted to civilian frequency ranges.

Real ones are too...

Ian P.

[wildcat400]

You can't do what you want simply because the radios are civilian, not military, and therefore are restricted to civilian frequency ranges.

Real ones are too...

Ian P.

Well how about in the military planes then? In a E-2 Hawkeye that I have I can't go above 200.000 Same goes for the F-18 too.

[Brett_Henderson]

Well how about in the military planes then? In a E-2 Hawkeye that I have I can't go above 200.000 Same goes for the F-18 too.

The entire MSFS world is civilian. Even if you could tune them in, there's nothing to recieve, nor anyone to transit to.

[IanP]

As Brett says, MSFS is a civilian sim, hence TACAN is not supported, UHF transmissions are not supported and nor - directly - are weapons. In the same way that the latter has been fudged in using certain techniques, you could probably come up with a way of incorporating something vaguely resembling military comms, but it would have to be "outside the box", or just a misreading civilian radio, to do so.

It's one of my "would like" features of FS XI, to include proper support for TACAN and UHF transmission, but I don't hold out much hope - simply because of the firmly civilian basis of the sim.

Ian P.

[wildcat400]

So what about if I punch in a uhf frequency for say... JFK airport in NY. If I have the freq for the tower, and punch it in my radio stack will I be able to hear them if I am in multiplayer?

Also... TACAN does work. I use it all the time in my hornets when flying to military bases.

[SkippyBing]

So what about if I punch in a uhf frequency for say... JFK airport in NY. If I have the freq for the tower, and punch it in my radio stack will I be able to hear them if I am in multiplayer?


No, FSX doesn't recognise the frequency range for UHF, which is why you can't dial it into the radios in the first place. Nor can you dial up an HF frequency and talk to someone on the other side of the world. The JFK UHF frequencies won't be in the sim. They're primarily there in real life so military traffic can talk to a military controller and spread the chatter out over more channels. I've never been to an airfield that didn't have a VHF frequency, but I've been to lots that don't have a UHF one. In a lot of cases in the UK at least the controllers talk on a UHF and VHF frequncy at the same time, which can be confusing if they aren't talking to you as you only get half the conversation!

TACANs half work in FSX, you don't get all the functionality that you would with a real one. Not totally sure what's missing as the Lynx doesn't have one.

[wildcat400]

No, FSX doesn't recognise the frequency range for UHF, which is why you can't dial it into the radios in the first place. Nor can you dial up an HF frequency and talk to someone on the other side of the world. The JFK UHF frequencies won't be in the sim. They're primarily there in real life so military traffic can talk to a military controller and spread the chatter out over more channels. I've never been to an airfield that didn't have a VHF frequency, but I've been to lots that don't have a UHF one. In a lot of cases in the UK at least the controllers talk on a UHF and VHF frequncy at the same time, which can be confusing if they aren't talking to you as you only get half the conversation!

TACANs half work in FSX, you don't get all the functionality that you would with a real one. Not totally sure what's missing as the Lynx doesn't have one.

I'm baffled. So why is it I can hear ATIS? (For those of you who don't know what that is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Terminal_Information_Service#Sample_mess age_-_audio)

[wildcat400]

For example: I am in a Beech Baron at St. Petersburg/ Clearwater International Airport (KPIE). I entered their freq for their ATIS 134.5 http://www.amfly.com/KPIE_atis.htm

I enter multiplayer mode on fsx and enter that frequency and I hear it. Obviously I can not post sound on here so here is the atis message scrolling on the top of my screen.

[SkippyBing]

134.5 is a VHF frequency, VHF airband frequencies being 108-137 MHz and UHF airband 225-400 MHz.

[IanP]

TACANs in FS operate as DME - Distance Measuring Equipment. This is how civilian receiving equipment picks them up in the real world and only distance information, not bearing information, can be obtained from them.

What you are using to navigate to bases are either VORs or VORTACs, which are co-located VORs with TACAN. VORTACs act, for civilian purposes, as VOR/DME equipment.

Ian P.