I’m trying to tune adf frequencies (tried on cessna152 and emb110) though the needle won’t move and points always to the east. What am I doing wrong?
on the cessna i moved the knob to adf and inserted the frequency but with no success as in the emb110
I supect just pilot error – try this procedure.
Spawn at KIAD
Turn on ACTIVE PAUSE (just so you dont move when in the air)
Slew up to 2000ft (using slew mode Y key)
Tune ADF to 332 DCA and standby to 323 GTN
Make sure ANT is NOT selected (if you have certain Mods)
Now, as you switch between those two IN RANGE NDBs, your AF needle will point towards the selected NDB
(Ignore the DCA display in the ADF and the Green ADF screen-- that’s a MOD !!)
Let us know how you manage – if you are still having difficulties, I am sure someone will jump in and help you get it sorted – this is a great Community
thanks, I’ll try it and post here !
Great – feedback would be appreciated
(I took some time to put together that screenshot , all worth it if you are now able to use a NDB — )
ok, so I did as above and the needle switched position when i changed the adf frequency on the c152
I also tried on the emb110 (here without switching to adf on the left quadrant (which I suppose I have to if pointing to a ndb)
I then switched to the ndb from nav in the same quadrant and switched the 2 frequencies
I’m not quite sure I nailed it though on the c152 it seemed ok. I guess on the emb110 the orange arrow is the adf/ndb on the standby so it should already point in the frequency dialed in and in standby
I’m sorry for being sloppy terminology wise, first timer here and having a blast now trying to navigate without gps
The standard procedure here is to take a piece of tape, write “INOP” on it, put it over the face of the ADF, and never touch it again.
Points of note:
Note: The C150 has a KNOB to rotate the outer bearing card. the emb110 does not have such a knob, because the outer bearing is automatically slaved to the Compass, so the card rotates automatically, as the plane changes heading.
Since this adds cost, the less expensive planes have a knob … automatic is an “option” !!
But in BOTH cases, the needle with move to the same clock-face direction , and Point out in space towards the NDB
so probably during my first try I was out of range and that’s why the needle didn’t move I guess
I thought it was strange since I departed quite near (departed from san damiano LIMS and tuned 400 for codogno ndb)
That’s why I suggested, for testing, getting really close to the NDB, and slewing up to 2000ft, with Active Pause ON, while you figure it out
Some NDB’s seem to only go for 38 NM, others much further say 195 NM. VOR’s can be similar. I use Sky4sim (in game payware nav/map tool) to view beacon frequencies and ranges in game, which is quite useful. I’m sure little Navmap works for this too. If one beacon is too far away follow an outbound radial from the one you are leaving from until other one come in range. You would have to toggle between the two (if they are NDBs) to find out. If its VOR’s then have one tuned to NAV1 and one tuned to NAV2.
I did some more test flight but I’m probably doing something wrong, the first ndb i tune never move the needle, but when I switch to the second one in standby it works and I was able to track it down (I felt like Shackleton when i got to the ndb) on the two flights I did (but the first frequency never worked)
And that opens up a whole Pandora’s Box of issues with MSFS VOR, LOC, DME & NDB ranges. In the real world they have a “working” max range that they are certified for.
MSFS takes that as a Digital ON/OFF, and then outside that range, there is no signal or meter response.
In practice, they all have much further ranges, and can be detected at those ranges, but are not Certified for use outside their Certified range.,
Maybe by 2030 ? or not … or maybe some smart person will come up with a MOD !!
It’s really frustrating, MSFS models the signal strength reasonably correctly, but when the ground station reaches its “Certified range” as defined in a Database, MSFS stops any audio Ident sound , and meter response, instead of just setting the flag, and making the signal increasingly NOISY with range (as they did quite well with the COM Radio !!)
That’s how that Bendix King unit works, you can only tune the "standby " frequency, then you swap it to active to begin receiving the signal.
Interesting to know. yes there are a lot of sim ‘quirks’ to stumble across. I wasn’t sure of the technicalities involved though.
I quite often encounter a NDB that won’t respond yet another one just as close will. I think there are some disfunctional beacons in FS. Similarly I’ve come across some VOR’s that show distance info, but not direction. I put them down to FS nav database bugs, but who knows. I do know that if you find an aircraft you trust to display VORs & NDB’s correctly without being bugged itself, then it makes the process a whole lot easier to diagnose.
I think FS could do with a flag system where you can flag minor nav bugs you come accross. Otherwise maybe they will never be fixed / addressed.
I suspect there are not enough users using them to create enough “noise” about the bugs as most people will likely just go VFR or GPS/IFR only.
When they do work they work great though. True instrument flying!
ah that might be it then, in fact I never swapped back the first frequency. I’ll try to switch it back and forth to see if I can get also the first ndb to work this way. Thanks for pointing that out!
Very often this comes down to regional VOR/NDB decommissioning schedules. As GPS becomes more dominant amongst GA, there’s less incentive for budgeting upkeep of these stations. It’s not uncommon for some VOR/DME stations to still keep the DME portion active for SID/STAR purposes.
oh wow, interesting to know. So not a bug per se, just reality? How to tell though?
