SH1: Viz & SJ radar contacts
 

It is interesting how contacts work.

If I get a viz spotting reporting first, then no matter what the contact never appears on radar. Is there any sensible explanation for this type of behavior?

I know from reading O'Kane's books that the radar wasn't all that reliable so is that simulating the questionable reliability of the radar?

Thanks.

Check that you are using a SURFACE radar and not an AIR radar :D In the early war boats were equipped first with radars that detected aircrafts, but not ships. Later a second radar to detect surface contacts was added.:p

I am using SJ and do get radar contacts from time to time and later viz. However, if I see them first, then they never show up on the radar.

also if you change the Viz range (alt-O or is it alt-D) from the defult of 15 miles will this affect the detection ranges for you and the enemy with regard to ships /aircraft poping in nd out of this range.

sorry if this is a hi-jack

I think that only affects the rendering of the game's screens and not the game play performance.

That's not right, unless you are having a radar casuality. When my subs were appropriately equipped for the year, I've always had radar contacts long before
visual contacts were gained or lost. I know SH1 doesn't model radar casualties
specifically, but it does model scope damage. I know the early radar can be iffy
sometimes but once you have the PPI scope it's fairly reliable.

Christopher

This was the 1942 scope without PPI. Of course, I assumed that it was just as reliable in the game, but simply relaying information in a different orientation. Perhaps, that's the issue that the 1942 modeled electronics are modeled to be less dependable.

I did some research and reminded myself that there are at least three things that could keep a ship from being picked up on radar. It's small and far away, like a PC or PT boat. It's got a wooden hull, or it's hidden behind an island. I don't know if the first two are modeled in SH, but I know the last is. Wave state and weather are factors too, especially rain - again, I don't think they are modeled in SH1's radar systems. As far as reliability goes, the SD air search is probably the least effective. There are lots of reports of US Subs maintaining visual contact with aircraft as large as a Mitsubishi GM4 (Betty) and no contact ever showing up on the SD.

I do know that later in the war, Japanese ships do get radar because I've been attacked in conditions where they had no reason to know I was around. I don't know if they had any sort if radar detector like the AN/APR-1 our subs were issued late in the war. We had them, and the German navy did, so I'm assuming the Japanese did too. I do know that US subs were able to pick each other up by the interference on thier radar displays. A Japanese radar on the same frequency would show the same interference. That's not modeled in SH1 though.

Mark is right, changing the range on the indicator doesn't effect the detection ranges at all. Generally for the early SJ I think 30,000 yards was the average, for the later SJ models with the PPI it's 40,0000 yards.

There are times when you can lose visual contact and not radar contact, and the scenario will continue because it treats you as still being "in contact" with the enemy ships. (Though I haven't tried turning off the radar during bad weather to see if the contact is truly lost.)

Christopher

If you are close to land, that will interfere with the SH1 radar.

The SH1 manual mentions a radar detector available late in the War and (I may be mistaken) but I think it went off once in all the years I have played the game. I think the sound file is there but I would have to double check.

Art