Since FS2020 started, I am searching for a solution on how to set up frequencies and use NDB VOR navigation in Beechcraft King Air 350i. I DO NOT WANT GPS navigation. Can someone help please? Thanks.
edit: btw prop feathering and pitch setup together with reverse thrust seem to be totally wrong at least when ac is on ground.
Click with mouse on the HSI to open menu to switch the CDI pointer to VOR. Close the menu by clicking on the HSI again and split the PFD from the upper right corner. Then click on the menu bar at the bottom of the right (map) part of the display to find option to set NAV radio frequency. There is no option to set ADF frequency.
Not ENTIRELY correct. On the center display, Click NEAREST. Select NDB, and pick the NDB name and freq from the list. Then, if you set the bearing pointer, you are GOOD TO GO!
And as the side issue, are you on a Honeycomb Bravo? Yes the Turbo mappings have changed. I can help if you need it.
Sorry for delay and thanks a lot for helping me out. Yeah but this is not like in the real AC. Although I have selected NDB NAV point via the menu, I can set my bearing pointers to ADF, but HSI shows “No Data” for ADF, only when I select GPS as bearing pointer, my pre- selected NDB appears as a GPS navigation point and my distance to the NDB is showing up, this is very much confusing, because as PANTSZER told, there is no freq. setting for non DME NDBs, so I can only select combined VOR/NDB beacons via menu for my DME AC?. This is no problem for point to point navigation, but during a ILS situation it still confuses me pretty much.
For the prop pitch setting, feathering problem, I am using my ordinary PC- attached keyboard, because I am still with my Logitech G940 ffb system (approx. 20y old), I have not really mapped pitch and feather already to the G940 (tried using right/front wheels R1+R2, and a toggle trigger, but didn´t worked out for me yet) only thrust and reverse thrust by setting a appropriate neutral point (at +30%), dead zone (at + 5%) and axis sensitivity to -30%, so idle position approx. matches lever idle and ± thrust lever travel distance in sim.
Hope I understand,
generally there is primary nav source, this can be FMC/GPS, NAV1, NAV2. Then there can be set some direction indicators to primary nav source what can be also NAV1, NAV2 and NDB signals to add more capability to primary one. These are some arrow indicators alongside primary to have more signals visible on one gauge. If signal has distance component then it is indicated also. Don’t see any confusion, simply if i have one gauge as primary, it shows primary defined signal. Other signals can be also visible but alongside and no inside primary.
Hi thank you, yes that is how it should work, you described it pretty well, the problem is I have no freq. setup possibility for a second nav source, the automatic direction finder (ADF), when no GPS is available (eg broken or not want to use it)…
What confuses me is, when I select a NDB from menu, it shows up as GPS bearing pointer in HSI, not as an ADF.
uuuf,
i can only imagine your situation as direct to selected nav/ndb, no freq source. Try check definition of primary source on PFD settings in my opinion. Simply, i expect with selection from nearest things (airport, navs) as DCT to and no set specific freq. If you want have specific ndb selected you need input its freq in specific ndb freq input optional window.
Absolutely, BUT there is no “specific optional freq input window” for a NDB, at least NOT for the King Air…
How can I set a specific NDB frequency, and select it as a bearing pointer?
That is the whole big problem for me right now. I can select an NDB from “nearest NDB” menu as DCT or for a flightplan, but it does not show up as ADF bearing pointer in HSI, it shows up as GPS bearing pointer in HSI…that is confusing…
Only quick to confusing,
if you have set primary to FMC/GPS then select dct to any of selected option is simply only GPS nav to it directly, at time of set, no freq source of that nav is needed, is gps. Take it same but simply only with one signal at time in case of gps selected. In case you have also freq set of ndb and correctly set ti next nav1 source f.ex. you have then same signal at gps. one magenta as gps to ndb (defined previously as dct to) and maybe light blue indicator as next signal of ndb freq set on ndb/nav2 window, that one you ask for, arrow alongside gps gauge. Nothing to be confused.
Yes I have your point, but I have no GPS, or do not want to use GPS navigation. To keep it simple, can you tell me please, how to setup VOR and ADF freq. and select them as bearing pointers for CDI? This is how navigation works in real non- gps equipped aircraft. In FS it seems only GPS is working…at least with King Air.
Yes,
KingAir’s Garmin isn’t fully ok and don’t know if some one did some fixes to it’s equipment, only GPS use to NDB navaid, no other way what is known to me. TBM has full functionality with WT G3000 addon.
Update: I don’t know if with some other trick you can set NDB freq, via Dev mode or with some other 3-rd party app. I see it technically ok (little nonsence trick but can work) as set it previously with other aircraft (C172,…) and then it is set. After load King Air it can then show it correctly but this is temporary solution, nonsence I understand.
Since MSFS started, I have complained about the lack of correct ADF/RDF navigation in many ACs, not just the King AIr. The problem is, all MSFS stock aircraft with GPS equipped Instruments, share the same problem, no NDB can be selected as bearing pointer, not matter if NDB is selected via a menu or by setting the NDB freq. directly, it just does not show up on HSI!
It looks like pitch, feathering and reverse thrust is working out now. I am not sure if a negative prop pitch can be set together with reverse thrust at same time on real AC, but I mapped condition lever to right wheel R1, feathering on T1 knob and prop pitch on front wheel R2, which gives me a kind of feathering effect by holding T1 pressed while moving the front wheel for- and backward inside feathering range, at least aircraft ± thrust approx. behaves like it physically should.
In this case the basic problem is that Asobo didn’t want to model this King Air’s actual navigation system and instead threw it the G3X as a crutch, probably for no other reason than that the touch interface allowed easy integration. The G3X is a simple system in real life used mainly on small aircraft of the kind which are often certified for VFR only. It’s radio navigation capabilities must be provided by external sources in real life (the NAV radio tuning screen it has in the game is fictive). This leaves King Air with a frankenmonster of a navigation system, and arguably reduces it to the worst stock aircraft in the sim.
I suppose they could have given it a fictive ADF tuning screen as well, since they already gave it a fictive nav radio one. The crutch CapnCarl4445 mentioned does not seem to be working for me, I can select NDB as GPS waypoint via the NRST function, but I can’t seem to be able to tune to the radio frequency.
I can set bearing pointer to ADF on the default G3000 (on TBM). I’m fairly certain you could do it with the default G1000 too, but I haven’t used it since 2020 so could be wrong. You can set it with the Working Title G1000.
This is a bit of a late reply, but I am flying the Van’s RV-14 which uses the G3X (same as the King Air).
When you select an NDB from the Nearest List, it is not using the actual NDB frequency, instead it is finding the GPS coordinates for the NDB. That is why you get the GPS bearing.
You can confirm this, by entering a normal GPS flight plan, say airport to airport. Then flying a direct to a Nearest NDB, which will then insert that “GPS leg” into your flight plan. Once it reaches the NDB, it will continue on with the original flight plan.
As far as I know, there is no way to enter an NDB frequency so that it shows on the PFD in the ADB bearing pointer.
