Post by LOU on Jan 27th, 2012 at 10:32pm
Chris,
I'm glad you are having some fun with basic navigation.
Here is a little drawing I made to show some basic ADF tracking.
Your C-152 most likely does not have an ADF, but just a fixed card NDB "bird dog."
The only difference is the compass in the ADF moves to show magnetic heading, and thus magnetic bearing to the NDB.
Starting at plane A, check out your heading and bearing to the XYZ-NDB.
In this example you would like to use the NDB to locate Van's Field, which is north of the NDB.
As you approach the course from the southeast you can see in the instrument A that your heading is around 330 degrees and the bearing to XYZ is about 10 degrees right of the north course you need to fly to Van's Field.
At position B, You are still on the 330 heading and right on the north bearing that will take you to Van's Field.
All you need to do is turn to a north heading and track the bearing to the station. When you are tracking to the station the needle head points to the beacon.
Position C shows you right on track.
At position D, you have drifted off the the west (left) but you remain on the 360 heading. In the ADF instrument at your present position the heading shows 360 and the needle is showing about 10 degrees right. You need to turn to the right to get back on track.
Position E shows you just about back on track, but your heading is around 030 degrees. You should turn back on course, but maybe add a few degrees for the east wind.
In position F, you have passed the NDB and have put too much of a correction for wind and drifted east (right) of your intended track. The needle is now pointing to the station behind the plane. The tail of the needle acts opposite from the head, so you will now have to "drag" the tail back on track.
In position G, you have made the correction to the left and are now getting back on track. The needle shows you just about on track, but the heading is 340 degrees, so a right turn now will get you back on track.
Position H shows you on the north heading but tracking just west of track.
With a bit of practice, flying the NDB is a snap. Holding your heading and any wind correction is the key.
Now as far as tuning the ADF in the old 707/727, you just have to get close to the proper frequency and then use the meter to get the best signal. You will always have to identify the station by listening to the Morse Code for all nav aids! LOM-NDB's are short range (40 miles or so) Some commercial radio stations put out 50,000 watts and can be tracked for long distance, but be careful as they don't identify them selves often. There are still a few long range NDB's around the country, but they are becoming rare.
The red arrow shows the tuning meter pegged out - good signal.
Tuning the old ADF was a pain, but in FSX you can use the mouse over information as you get close to the proper frequency.
In the picture above I am using a LOM-NDB frequency 204.0. I use the left or right mouse button to get close to 204, then using short taps on the mouse button I keep an eye on the information shown by stop clicking and just place the cursor on the knob.
If I need to correct a bit more, I make the correction and re-check the mouse over information.
You don't see the cursor in the screen capture, but it was anywhere on the knob marked TUNE.
Lou
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I'm glad you are having some fun with basic navigation.
Here is a little drawing I made to show some basic ADF tracking.
Your C-152 most likely does not have an ADF, but just a fixed card NDB "bird dog."
The only difference is the compass in the ADF moves to show magnetic heading, and thus magnetic bearing to the NDB.
Starting at plane A, check out your heading and bearing to the XYZ-NDB.
In this example you would like to use the NDB to locate Van's Field, which is north of the NDB.
As you approach the course from the southeast you can see in the instrument A that your heading is around 330 degrees and the bearing to XYZ is about 10 degrees right of the north course you need to fly to Van's Field.
At position B, You are still on the 330 heading and right on the north bearing that will take you to Van's Field.
All you need to do is turn to a north heading and track the bearing to the station. When you are tracking to the station the needle head points to the beacon.
Position C shows you right on track.
At position D, you have drifted off the the west (left) but you remain on the 360 heading. In the ADF instrument at your present position the heading shows 360 and the needle is showing about 10 degrees right. You need to turn to the right to get back on track.
Position E shows you just about back on track, but your heading is around 030 degrees. You should turn back on course, but maybe add a few degrees for the east wind.
In position F, you have passed the NDB and have put too much of a correction for wind and drifted east (right) of your intended track. The needle is now pointing to the station behind the plane. The tail of the needle acts opposite from the head, so you will now have to "drag" the tail back on track.
In position G, you have made the correction to the left and are now getting back on track. The needle shows you just about on track, but the heading is 340 degrees, so a right turn now will get you back on track.
Position H shows you on the north heading but tracking just west of track.
With a bit of practice, flying the NDB is a snap. Holding your heading and any wind correction is the key.
Now as far as tuning the ADF in the old 707/727, you just have to get close to the proper frequency and then use the meter to get the best signal. You will always have to identify the station by listening to the Morse Code for all nav aids! LOM-NDB's are short range (40 miles or so) Some commercial radio stations put out 50,000 watts and can be tracked for long distance, but be careful as they don't identify them selves often. There are still a few long range NDB's around the country, but they are becoming rare.
The red arrow shows the tuning meter pegged out - good signal.
Tuning the old ADF was a pain, but in FSX you can use the mouse over information as you get close to the proper frequency.
In the picture above I am using a LOM-NDB frequency 204.0. I use the left or right mouse button to get close to 204, then using short taps on the mouse button I keep an eye on the information shown by stop clicking and just place the cursor on the knob.
If I need to correct a bit more, I make the correction and re-check the mouse over information.
You don't see the cursor in the screen capture, but it was anywhere on the knob marked TUNE.
Lou
Uploaded with ImageShack.us