two newbie questions (radar and navigation)

[PANGI]

Hi to all on this forum,

im playing this game for couple of days (1.4 WoP). One thing puzzled me. I observed that in 1941-1942 subs is a radar station but seems not funtioning but strange thing is that the crew announced radar contact when it is in range. Is this some sort of bug? Did i miss something?

And i want to ask another thing...i saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6kq4simwI0 and observed cool bearing plotter in navigation. I the description of the video is that he doesnt use any mods so i ask how to switch on this instrument.

Thank for your answers.

[captgeo]

The radar that you have in this stage of the game is Anti Aircraft, you will be able to install "Search Surface" radar later. When you have that the radar screens work and you will be able to see ships on the display.

[Armistead]

To see the plotter you need to zoom in for it to display. I honestly can't remember if it's in the stock game or added with either of the supermods.

You can also use the air radar submerged at periscope depth with the T key for up and down. If you load TMO later in the war you can get surface radar that you can also use submerged...SV radar.

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

[Stealhead]

The game shows the radar set but they do nothing until the first SJ set come out in June 1942. If you start a career in mid 1942 your sub will have both SD and SJ but always check each time you are in port including when you first start your sub wont always have the best radars equiped.

In 1945 you can get SV which is supposed to be air search radar but in the game it does everything for some reason:06: though it was designed for air search not air and ground search if you look at photos of SV equiped subs you will see that have an SJ-1 dish as well of course the SV did not appear on any sub until Aug 45 so it is like the mk.16 a device in Sh4 that never saw actual combat in WWII. The SD wont show contatcs on your sets. It really should have its own A-scope but lacks one in the game the real thing simply let you know that something was in the sky within its range but gave no drectional data often the lookouts where as good or better at spotting planes as the SD was.I wish they where more accurate with the radars fro example the first SJ did not have PPI.

[sunvalleyslim]

Welcome Pangi and good hunting.............:salute:

[Wicked Popsicle]

Welcome Aboard, Cap'n :salute::rock:

[Buddahaid]

Hi to all on this forum,

im playing this game for couple of days (1.4 WoP). One thing puzzled me. I observed that in 1941-1942 subs is a radar station but seems not funtioning but strange thing is that the crew announced radar contact when it is in range. Is this some sort of bug? Did i miss something?

And i want to ask another thing...i saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6kq4simwI0 and observed cool bearing plotter in navigation. I the description of the video is that he doesnt use any mods so i ask how to switch on this instrument.

Thank for your answers.

The SD air search radar is an AI function only and that is where your crew announcement came from. The SJ surface search set is both of the scopes you can man, and only becomes functional as the war progresses, and your sub actually has it installed. Yes, that is a bit confusing and to top it off, the buttons are/were mislabeled. The SJ A-scope is the green one with the horizontal grass line. It's used for range finding and has to be directed at the target to see the pips. The PPI (plan position indicator) is the red one with the sweeping clock like hand. This is a newer scope added to the sets and gives you a map, or plan view, showing bearing and range.

So, when the crewman says he has a radar contact, it's likely an aircraft. Look on your map view for a very fast contact and dive to evade.


This one describes the types in general with specs.
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/radar-1.htm

This one shows more theory and indicates the SJ A-scope was for accurate range finding.
http://www.smecc.org/mcmahon's_radars!.htm (http://www.smecc.org/mcmahon%27s_radars%21.htm)


http://www.usscobia.com/

The Cobia link has photo's of the actual set, but I don't see any graticules other than bearing ones on the PPI.



Buddahaid

[Buddahaid]

The game shows the radar set but they do nothing until the first SJ set come out in June 1942. If you start a career in mid 1942 your sub will have both SD and SJ but always check each time you are in port including when you first start your sub wont always have the best radars equiped.

In 1945 you can get SV which is supposed to be air search radar but in the game it does everything for some reason:06: though it was designed for air search not air and ground search if you look at photos of SV equiped subs you will see that have an SJ-1 dish as well of course the SV did not appear on any sub until Aug 45 so it is like the mk.16 a device in Sh4 that never saw actual combat in WWII. The SD wont show contatcs on your sets. It really should have its own A-scope but lacks one in the game the real thing simply let you know that something was in the sky within its range but gave no drectional data often the lookouts where as good or better at spotting planes as the SD was.I wish they where more accurate with the radars fro example the first SJ did not have PPI.



You know what burned me when this game first came out, was that SH1 had it almost right. I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, and had forgotten that the SJ set on the right had a selector for what scope it displayed. The SD scope on the left always displayed the aircraft pips as it auto trained it's bearing. Along comes SH4 labeling the scopes SD and SJ. I thought the buttons were just backwards but the SD never showed any aircraft! :damn:

Now, theoretically any of these radar sets can pick up ships or planes, it's just that they are aimed high or low according to their intended function.

Buddahaid

[Stealhead]

It is aid that the SJ could read planes if they where at low level 500oft or less but they also had to be pretty close about 8 miles but that just happened sometimes you could not rely that the SJ would pick up a plane at low level. I dont belive though that the SD or SV would have read ships ever unless they where in the sky they where desigined to send the radar beams skyward.

[Armistead]

One thing I don't like about TMO is that SV picks up surface contacts and you can't cut it off unless you submerge with radar down. However I can't be sure if it's programmed that japs can pick up transmissions, but they often come a running like they do.