Has anyone thought of making an AM Radio addon for the ADF receivers in MSFS ?
Is there any interest in such an addon. ?
It would see that all the necessary functions are available to do this
Database of AM Radio Stations, their Frequencies and locations, that are available on a selected Internet radio APP.
Then its just a simconnect app, to get the plane’s location (lat/long/alt) and the ADF tuned frequency, search the database for the nearest IN Range AM station on that frequency, and play it, sending the stations location back via simconnect to drive the ADF needle.
As an added extra, if no radio station is received, play some background noise.
Any Nav Database ADF station taking preference over an Internet radio Station.
Ideally it could be Dev or user expandable by country…
Would be a really fun project, so anyone with the ability & time …
I’d throw at least $10 at it, if it were payware… Its something that you can use at any time.
On a side note, the instant I read that title, I had Sammy Hagar’s voice in my head singing “Fifty thousand watts of power / And it’s pushin’ overload!”
Don’t forget, as you are getting the AM Radio station via the Internet (and not over the AM airways), the audio quality will be far better, and quite acceptable to listen to for an extended flight.
It’s a fine idea - especially when you’re flying low and slow - to tune in to local radio stations.
I’ve been using this add-on (limited to streaming stations, had various degree of luck around the world):
I guess if there’s a stream available it’s just a matter of sending the creator of the add-on the address so that he/she can add the station.
Caveat: it’s an extra window and it’s not built into the aircraft/MSFS in any way.
Great APP, for listening to local Radio stations through the internet, based on your location.
What I had in mind was more of an integration into the ADF, you would tune the ADF to a freq, and if there was a local Radio station within simulated ADF range in Flight Sim, (that was not in the Nav database already), then the ADF would use that stations Position to give you the bearing to that “Radio Station”, as well as play that stations Internet Music (Not necessarily through the plane’s cockpit --(is that even possible), but instead just as PC audio, controlled by the Simconnect APP that is doing all this.
I assume the Simvconnect app could control the Audio level based on existing controls in the plane, ie ADF Audio on/off etc.
The Simconnect App could also display a list of NEAREST, in range, (non Nav Database) Radio Stations with their Name, Callsign, Freq, Distance & bearing … that you could select from.
A few months ago I made a number of flights around Saudi Arabia in the JFK arrow III. One day I had the same thought. Wouldnt it be cool if I could hear the radio of anywhere… I went so far as to google the AM stations in my local. Quite a few were available, so I picked one and tuned the adf to its frequency. For the tiniest of instant I thought it might work. I even made sure the adf volume was up and the com panel was set to hear the ADF.
Of course no intriguing sounds in Arabic…but I had fun imagining it.
Of course, you could have run one of those Internet radio station Apps, and probably have found a local AM (or FM station), but how cool would it be if all that worked from within MSFS, and you could actually use the station you were listening to to navigate with the ADF.
ie
BAL 1090 AM (Baltimore, MD, USA)
50KW
39.3351° N, 76.6495° W
There are potential issues about integrating AM radio stations into the MSFS ADF. 1) Since AM radio stations are not officially used for radio navigation, the station frequencies don’t appear in any navigation database AFAIK. There are lists of AM stations available on the Internet that would have to be merged into MSFS somehow (and maintained). 2) There seems to be a lot of inconsistency between ADF beacons IRL vs. what is in MSFS. I often get a list of ADF beacons near an airport from Skyvector and try using them in MSFS without too much success. Also, there seems to be ADF beacons in MSFS that have been decommissioned and no longer in the navigation database. 3) AM radio station reception during the evening hours can be poor to unusable due to radio wave “skip”. It is possible to build a radio that simulates “skip” but this would add to the complexity of MSFS.
I think ADF AM Radio Station Reception is a “nice to have” feature. However, I wouldn’t pay for this feature if it were an add-on.
@N6722C I thought about it, and I absolutely, positively LOVE the idea. But I can’t code my way out of a wet paper bag, so despite loving the idea, other than begging some addon maker out there somewhere to make it (and I, too, would pay a nominal fee for it, though I’m talking like $5, maybe $10, this is not a $49.95 mod idea IMO), there’s not a thing I can do to make it happen.
@PacificSet90456 Disagree. Just as it is the PIC’s responsibility to have all the necessary nav frequencies on hand, if they want to listen to an AM station, it would be their responsibility to find the frequencies, and dial one into the ADF when they (you) wish to listen.
Of course the pilot would have to have the AM station frequencies for listening. Let me clarify. I mentioned this in reference to the MSFS programming and updates that need to be done. For example, in MSFS I tune a local AM radio station. But there is no sound. For me to hear the radio station, MSFS has to know the frequency of that radio station and somehow capture the live feed and then pipe it to the ADF. It is somewhat similar to phone apps that have radio station feeds from around the world. The difference is that these apps do not have all the radio stations in the world and users don’t dial in a frequency as if tuning an ADF receiver.
OK, I see what you are saying. And although I think the goal here was for an addon, it would be even sweeter if MS/Asobo themselves built it into the base sim, because it’s something I frequently did while flying in the real world. The other thing that would be great would be to enable the ADF, when tuned into a non-broadcasting channel, to act as a “poor-man’s lighting finder”, as it will point in the direction of lightning when it flashes, giving the poor 172 pilot at least some chance of avoiding the worst of the weather by NOT going where the ADF needle is pointing.
But that seems quite complex for the sim, because at the very least it must “know” where those lightning strikes are, and the last I checked, even in legit stormy weather, the sim was still producing lighting where there should be/is none. But those are two distinct and different mods or addons to the sim by Asobo.
I like this idea! It would be not only useful for those wanting to use it this way, but honestly it would be cool too in my opinion!
I’m sorry for the off-topic post but this has been implemented a long time ago already in the Flight Simulator franchise since FS9 at least (I wish I could offer these to the Market Place too and people stop focusing on the Garmin only):
1). The first truly working Storm Scope introduced with the Reality XP Sandel SN 3308 since 2005*:
The Storm Scope is using the Reality XP WX500 Weather Radar technology (also a first truly working Weather Radar in Flight Simulator since FS9)
2). The first truly working ADF gauge offered with the Reality XP Flight Line N product since 2007*:
It simulates both ADF dip and static discharges sensitivity, using the same technology empowering the Storm Scope simulation which is embedded in the SN3308!
Thank you for your kind words! Might need a weather SDK to get started with maybe? I don’t believe there is any but I might be completely wrong on this one (and many other things ).
).