WernerSobe Advanced TDC/PK video

[PurpleCity]

I watched the Advanced TDC/PK video by WernerSobe, very informative. There's one question that baffles me.

At 3:10, he says "The clock shows 7 knots and course of 1, meaning it's heading North"

How does he know the target is heading North, I've watched it 100 times and I can't figure that out for the life of me.

[Rockin Robbins]

OK, you made me watch! I'll be right back with my observation...

I'm back. Werner says "the plot shows 7 knots and course of 1, meaning it's headed North." And he has not shown us the plot.... That is most unfortunate. For a course on plotting, you can see my Dick O'Kane Manual Targeting Video at the Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1025180&postcount=1) thread, which starts off with a quick course on plotting, showing you how you transfer your periscope and radar observations to the nav map to determine target course and speed. Have fun!

[Fincuan]

When you use the "clock function" you get both target speed and course in the message box.

Hopefully we're talking about the same tutorial :lol:

[PurpleCity]

well I'll be damed, I knew it was something stupid simple.

Thanks, I watched it 100 times but never looked at the message box.

[Rockin Robbins]

Werner pulls a fast one here. The hand is quicker than the eye! I believe he does say "plot," but you can see clear as day on the messages log that it says "NA Target plot shows speed 7.0 knots course 1 degrees." That's not the clock, by the way and there's no way Werner can be saying "clock." The clock is in the lower right hand corner above the HUD.

Werner works like a magician, distracting you with his reassuring talk that subliminally says "I'm telling you all I am doing" while actually doing a lot you don't see because it is away from your attention. Wind the video to 3:00 and check this out. He explains that he's taking the second stadimeter reading. He's in the stadimeter section of the TDC input left hand dial when he stabs the stadimeter button, takes a range/bearing and mashes the send range/bearing. Now he's got your attention with his talking and you don't see him click the lower right hand button to put the input dial in speed input mode and press the speed estimate button. THAT is what made the message on the messages log that Fincuan caught.

There's a little beware here. Using the speed estimate button gives you a speed estimate that is VERY sensitive to errors in either or both of your range/bearing inputs. The shorter the length of time between the two observations, the more sensitive this method is. It isn't unusual to see course xx, speed 54 knots. Of course that is obvious error. But what if it outputs 7 knots and your target is only going 5? You WON'T catch that and you'll miss ahead.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa293/RockinRobbins13/Silent%20Hunter%204/Manual%20TDC%20Range/vlcsnap-5031335.jpg